Tony Award winner Ben Vereen has been cast in Fox’s adaptation of the ’70s musical “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” TheWrap has learned.
Vereen will play Dr. Everett Scott, an ex-science teacher now working for the Bureau of Investigation looking into UFOs who ends up at the castle while searching for his nephew, Eddie.
He joins joins previously announced cast members Laverne Cox (Dr. Frank-N-Furter), Victoria Justice (Janet), Ryan McCartan (Brad), Adam Lambert (Eddie), Reeve Carney (Riff Raff) and Staz Nair (Rocky).
Tim Curry, the original Dr. Frank-N-Furter, will return to the campy horror musical as the Criminologist Narrator.
“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” follows sweethearts Janet and Brad, who stumble upon Dr. Frank-N-Furter’s bizarre abode. Frank-N-Furter, a sexually ambiguous, flirtatious alien mad scientist, is holding an annual, Transylvanian science convention to showcase the birth of Rocky Horror, a fit, attractive man created solely to fulfill Frank’s desires.
“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” has been in theatrical distribution since it was released in 1975, longer than any other film in history. It’s based on a stage musical first performed in London in 1973.
The TV version is produced by Fox 21 Television Studios and The Jackal Group. Adler and Gail Berman, along with Kenny Ortega, will serve as executive producers. Ortega will also direct and choreograph. It will air on Fox this fall.