Luke Evans and Sam Pinkleton on Reviving The Rocky Horror Show

The Run-Through with Vogue

Vogue

Fashion & Beauty, Arts

4.1 • 764 Ratings

🗓️ 17 April 2026

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s less than a week to go until opening night for the cast of the Rocky Horror Show on Broadway and Luke Evans who plays Dr. Frank-N-Furter is ready to march out on stage in his fishnets and 7 inch platform heels.

“I think I enjoy the process of tech…because you still have the license and the freedom to try things and change things up,” says Evans, “but if we open tomorrow, I feel very, very good about what we have.”

“I feel giddy,” echos director Sam Pinkleton. “Always with live theater, you could tinker until death…And at a certain point you have to be like, "Pencils down." And I think with this show especially, I mean, we've had such a good time making it.”

The duo joined guest host Marley Marius, Vogue’s Senior Editor, Features & News on The Run Through podcast to talk about their collaboration in Rocky Horror Show on Broadway. Recently, the cast photographed for Vogue by Norman Jean Roy and styled by Tonne Goodman. The photo shoot took place on the first day that the ensemble met each other.

“I'm not just saying this because I'm on the Vogue podcast. Tonne and Norman got it on a molecular level,” explains Pinkleton. “And I was like, oh, it's like the DNA of the thing… That shoot set a path for making the show in a way that I didn't totally expect.”

And while the cast prepares for opening night, Pinkleton has also started working this week with Maya Rudolph as she is set to take over the titular role in the hit play ‘Oh Mary!’

"You know, when Cole [Escola] and I were first making “Oh, Mary!”, we were like, 'Well, no one will ever play this part other than Cole.' I mean, no one could really do it other than, I don't know, like Maya Rudolph." So we're really eating our words now,” says Pinkleton who sees parallels between the two shows.

“Mary Todd Lincoln is such an amazing character. There's no one like her…Much like Dr. Frank-N-Furter.” says Pinkleton. “She is a character who is largely misunderstood by the world. Who knows that she contains greatness. Who wants to show the world and the audience all of the things she's capable of…Much like Dr. Frank-N-Furter.”

The Run-Through with Vogue is your go-to podcast where fashion meets culture. Hosted by Chloe Malle, Head of Editorial Content, Vogue U.S.; Chioma Nnadi, Head of British Vogue; and Nicole Phelps, Director of Vogue Runway, each episode features the latest fashion news and exclusive designer and celebrity interviews.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is The Run Through. I'm Marley Marius, senior editor of Features and News.
0:10.0	Today I'm joined in the studio by Luke Evans and Sam Pinkleton, the star and director, respectively,
0:16.0	of the Rocky Horror Show on Broadway, which has actually just been extended through July 19th,
0:20.0	very exciting, due to
0:21.2	untamed demand, as the press release said. Untamed. And I was like, honestly, sure. Totally, I see that.
0:28.7	Before we really get into it, what are we wearing today? Because I let's start with you, Luke.
0:33.7	Oh, I'm wearing Todd Snyder. Oh, Fab. And some Levi's. Okay, cool. Yeah, I like this jaunty tie. I like this jaunty jacket. Yeah, I love it. I chose it out of a pile of ties. I love the Paisley, little homage, part of the Paisley design. It's just nice, you know, when you're wearing fishnets, jock strap and corset eight times a week to sort of put clothes on. You can do it all. You can wear it all. It's amazing. And you, Sam, what's the shirt? The shirt is acne. It's acne from the, like, super headquarters in Stockholm. Oh, I love that. And I've never seen it anywhere else, and I love it so much. I love it. Did you go to Stockholm to buy it? I did. I mean, not, I didn't just go to Stockholm to buy a show. If you go to Stockholm and you're like closed, you have to go to the act. Correct. This is fab. Well, okay, congratulations to you both certainly on this show. I went with my mom to the matinee on Sunday and we had such a good time. I was so fab. It's funny to walk into a show on 3 p.m. on a Sunday and just sort of be like, what am I in for? And then it being amazing, and you walk out, and it's fat. We staged oared. It was the whole thing. Incredible. Yeah. My mom is obsessed with doing this. Like, she loves to have everything signed. And so we had the whole experience, and it was, yeah, it was so exciting. So congratulations on Mike.
1:45.7	Did I sign it?
1:46.6	You sure did.
1:47.4	He sort of saw your adorable dog. Oh, you had a Lala. You had a Lala. You had a Lala for a dog. It's a sure did. More on her later. We're going to like circle right back to that. But at the time of recording, we are, I think, a week out from opening night.
2:01.9	One week. How are we feeling, guys? I'm good. I'm ready. I'm like every day we finish the show.
2:10.7	We spend every afternoon rehearsing for five hours, tweaking, layering, adding nuance and, you know, doing all these fun, exciting things,
2:20.0	and then we put them in every night. And I go home and I decompress, send Sam about 300 text
2:25.1	messages as I'm, and I'm sure he's like closing his eyes in the phone, read texts again.
2:31.5	Just because I'm present in that moment and talk about the experience and what I think worked.
2:36.2	And I love it.
2:37.7	And I think you enjoy it too, the process of tech.
2:40.1	Of course.
2:41.1	Because it's like you still have the license and the freedom to try things and change things up.
2:47.8	But if we open tomorrow, I feel very, very good about what we have, where we are at, and how I feel when I walk out on that stage. So that's a nice feeling.
2:56.6	How are you feeling? I feel giddy. It's like always with live theater, you could tinker until death. And at a certain point, you have to be like, pencils down. And I think with this show especially,
3:08.5	I mean, we've had such a good time making it. And we have such deep love, not only for each other,
	...

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