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| “ | I'm your new commander, you now are my prisoner. We return to Transylvania, prepare the Transit Beam. | „ |
| ~ Riff Raff |
Riff Raff is the secondary antagonist of the musical The Rocky Horror Show and its two film adaptations The Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do The Time Warp Again.
He is a Transylvanian and one of the two servants of Frank-N-Furter, along with his sister Magenta who he later conspires with to overthrow their master and return back to their home planet.
Portrayals[]
- In both the original productions of The Rocky Horror Show and the 1975 film The Rocky Horror Picture Show he was portrayed by his creator Richard O'Brien also played Mr. Hand, the leader of The Strangers, in Dark City.
- In the 1990 production he was portrayed by Edward Tudor-Pole.
- In the 2000 production he was portrayed by Raúl Esparza.
- In the 35th anniversary production he was portrayed by Lucas Grabeel.
- In the 2016 film The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do The Time Warp Again he was portrayed by Reeve Carney who also played Dorian Gray in Penny Dreadful.
- In numerous adaptations (most notably the 2015 and 2021 tours) he was portrayed by Kristian Lavercombe who has easily played Riff Raff the most out of any actor.
History[]
He was the first resident of Frank's castle to meet Brad and Janet. He and Magenta assist Frank when he creates Rocky (Riff Raff is implied to have done most of the work, made more explicit in the stage show when Riff, talking to Frank, calls Rocky "A credit to my--uh, your genius", but Frank takes the whole credit). Later, Riff Raff attacks Rocky with a candelabra, scares him out of the laboratory, and tells Frank that Rocky escaped. However, Frank finds out that it was Riff Raff who set Rocky free and punishes him by whipping him with a lash.
When Frank is using his guest for his macabre show, Riff Raff and Magenta appear, singing that Riff Raff is now their leader and they will return to their planet of Transsexual, Transylvania. When Frank sings that he wants to stay, Riff Raff explains that he meant that only he and Magenta will return home. In the stage show, he tries to shoot Frank but Columbia leaps in front of Frank and is killed instead. In the film, Columbia screams, startling a paranoid and trigger-happy Riff Raff into shooting her. He finally kills Frank with the weapon and also kills Rocky. Then, he tells Janet, Brad and Dr. Scott to leave. Before the house flies away, he and Magenta sing the reprise of the song "Time Warp".
Gallery[]
Images[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- He is not really evil, as he apologized to Dr. Scott after his nephew died and allowed him, Brad and Janet to leave before their house disappears.
- On the unmade sequel for The Rocky Horror Picture Show, called "Revenge of the Old Queen" (The script's first draft can be found complete on the Internet), Riff Raff has gone mad, and killed Magenta on their trip back to Transylvania. A line on the script hints that Riff Raff and Magenta are Cosmo and Nation McKinley from the indirect sequel to TRHPS, "Shock Treatment", a 1981 movie written by Richard O'Brien starring Brad and Janet, the main characters of TRHPS, but unrelated to the events of Rocky Horror.
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 Villains
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The Rocky Horror Picture Show | ||