Jason Donovan is back onstage once again in a show he first appeared in way back in the late ’90s. The former Neighbours star is dusting off the corset ready to take on the role of Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show, beginning in London next month and then travelling the UK through til January.
Jason, 56, is a seasoned pro at musicals – no one could forget him as Joseph in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. He’s also a mega-popstar and famously dated pop queen Kylie Minogue back in the ’80s.
We sat down with Jason – who’s dad to Jemma, 24, Zac, 23, and Molly, 13, with his wife Angela Malloch – to find about slipping back into those fishnets once again…
You’re back playing Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show…
I’m a fan. I love the show, I love the music, I love the character. I was touring my own show about five years ago and included Sweet Transvestite from Rocky Horror as a key moment in my musical career. It went down a storm. Rocky Horror is like panto for adults.
Does is feel strange doing a role you first did 25 years ago?
To be honest, I can’t really remember much about 1998, but that’s another story. In many ways, though, taking on the role was very easy, I put on the costume and there’s Frank all over again.
You’ve been very open about your battle with drink and drugs at that time…
It just got to the point where it was becoming boring. I saw an opportunity and I grabbed it [with Rocky Horror]. I have personal reasons for being grateful to that show.
And you’d just met your wife Angela at that time, right?
I’d be backstage waiting to go on and I’d get chatting to Ange. She told me if the relationship had any chance of working, and if I was going to have any involvement in the life of our child, I would have to give up the self- indulgent hedonistic lifestyle of the ’90s and take greater control of my life. And I did. Elton John said it [about addiction] and it’s true: ‘Nobody can do it for you’.
And now you’re a dad to three children…
But the problem with having the good fortune to have three healthy kids is the anxiety that immediately kicks in. Now, I pick up a newspaper or turn on the news on TV and I see the world through their eyes. And it frightens me.
Is it quite tough on the body being back onstage every night?
I spend a lot more time in physio, something I’ve added as a clause in my contract. I’m in my mid-fifties. I’m aware of having to look after myself. I don’t go to the gym – I’m not interested in lifting weights. But I swim, I ride my bike, I stretch, I steam – I do those things more or less on a daily basis. And, of course, doing the show is a workout in itself.
Do you enjoy touring?
Yes. On tour, I wake up a little later. There are no domestic chores to tackle – no trimming the ivy or doing the washing. And I’m a seasoned professional when it comes to locating any M&S or Waitrose. After The Rocky Horror Show I’ve got my Doin’ Fine 25 tour – that’s 35 concerts throughout February, March and into April across the UK and Ireland. It’s a greatest hits show, a celebration of 35 years of live work.
You sound really content at the moment…
As long as I have my family and my health, as long as I have a good life/work balance, I’m happy. I like to think I work to live, not the other way around.
For tickets and venues, go to the Rocky Horror website.