A certain musical holds a special place in Jake Shears’s heart. “Any late-night session around my kitchen table, once it hits around three in the morning, it turns into my one-man ‘Rocky Horror Show,’” he said, laughing.
It feels like karma, then, that the Scissor Sisters frontman has stepped into the show’s current Broadway revival. Shears plays the sexy, unhinged alien Frank-N-Furter, made famous in the film version by Tim Curry.
Like many “Rocky Horror” fans, Shears, 47, discovered this Richard O’Brien classic via its movie version, which he first saw when he was entering his teenage years.
“It did something to my imagination at the right time in my life that’s just affected me ever since,” Shears said in a video interview. “It’s always been a big part of who I am.”
In addition to his musical career, Shears hosts the “Queer the Music” podcast, in which he revisits L.G.B.T.Q. songs, albums and cultural milestones. He made his Broadway debut in “Kinky Boots” in 2018, played the Emcee in the West End production of “Cabaret” in 2023, and this year had a memorable supporting turn as a sexually submissive biker in the film “Pillion.” He also wrote the lyrics to Elton John’s music for the show “Tammy Faye” (2024).
Shears, who splits his time between London and New Orleans, took a break after a “Rocky Horror” rehearsal to discuss some of his cultural go-to’s. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
Overlook Film Festival
New Orleans is a great movie town, and this is a festival I really want to support. For people who love horror movies and darker things, it’s really worth traveling to. You see stuff that you may never hear of again or that could end up being one of the biggest movies of the year.
Spooky Games
I just finished Silent Hill f, which was terrifying and beautiful. Not for the weak of stomach. I’ve been playing this kind of evil slot-machine game called CloverPit. You are basically trapped in this room, having to play this slot machine and sort of repaying this debt. And there’s this card game I keep going back to called Inscryption that is really spooky, super-addictive.
Jade Hartley at Bleach London
I started bleaching my hair a couple years ago, and Jade Hartley at the Bleach London in Dalston gets the most amazing tone to bleached hair. She’s been a vital person in my life.
Rick Owens Shoes
They’re called DRKSHDWs and they almost look like a pair of Converse or something. They look so good when they’re really beaten up. They look good with suits, going to the grocery store or a theater premiere — they’ve been my uniform shoe. I imagine I’ll be wearing them for a long time.
Reading While Scared
I love many writers, but well-written literary horror is my favorite. I feel like Laird Barron’s stuff goes really deep, and recently I read “North American Lake Monsters” by Nathan Ballingrud, which is really frightening. It takes a lot for something to get under my skin, but I found Josh Malerman’s “Incidents Around the House” to be one of the scariest books I’ve ever read. The movie is coming out soon, it’s called “Other Mommy.”
‘American Psycho: The Musical’
Rupert Goold, who directed the original, did it at the Almeida in London this spring. The beginning of Act II was this epic sort of club movement that just blew my mind. The 11 o’clock number is called “This Is Not an Exit” and hearing it in this last production, my jaw was on the floor. I immediately went home and learned to play it on the piano.
‘The Age of Disclosure’
I love reading about U.A.P.s [Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena], and I thought this was a really cool documentary. Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve always thought about the supernatural and things that aren’t of this world. The fact that we’re sort of seeing something that might not be from this world is incredibly exciting to me.
‘Perfecth’
Queens of the Stone Age is my favorite living band, Josh Homme is like a brother to me. This new album is a unique record. Something shifted in the sound a bit. It’s still got its creepy moments, but it’s romantic and has some humor, and there’s something really uplifting about it.
‘Shock Treatment’
If you love “Rocky Horror,” this movie expands the mythology. It completely prophesizes what reality TV became and every song is an absolute banger. Jessica Harper is playing Janet and she’s absolutely brilliant. I think Richard O’Brien is an absolute mad genius.
Mysterious Mansion
When I was a kid, I went to Mysterious Mansion in Gatlinburg, Tenn. It’s still there, so I convinced my boyfriend and my cousins to go. I have never experienced anything scarier in my life — it definitely wasn’t as scary when I was a kid. We went in and lost our minds. Things happened in there that I will never forget. We literally ran out of the place screaming our faces off. It gets 15 out of 10.
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