ACTOR, presenter and winner of Strictly Come Dancing Ore Oduba has been delighting audiences and receiving rave reviews as Brad Majors up and down the country in Richard O'Brien's Rocky Horror Show and he will be at Southend's Cliff's Pavilion in June.

Ore said: "I'm so excited to be performing with such an amazing Rocky family. Truth is, when you know how it feels to wear a corset and heels it's very hard to take them off!! (at least it is in my case!) It's been a wild ride so far; the audiences have been incredible and I can't wait to time warp around even more corners of the country."

Alongside Ore as Frank is West End star Stephen Webb (Jersey Boys / Legally Blonde), with actor Philip Franks (The Darling Buds of May) as The Narrator. They are joined by fan favourite Haley Flaherty (Mamma Mia / Chicago) as Janet.

Kristian Lavercombe (Jersey Boys / Jesus Christ Superstar) once again reprises his role as Riff Raff, following more than 1,800 performances around the world, with Lauren Ingram (Beauty and the Beast / My Fair Lady) as Columbia. Ben Westhead (Oliver / The Sound of Music) as Rocky, with Joe Allen (Little Shop of Horrors / Charlie & The Chocolate Factory) as Eddie & Dr Scott.The cast as Phantoms are Reece Budin (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical / Man of La Mancha), Jordan Fox (Kinky Boots / Hairspray) and Rachel Grundy (Starlight Express / Peter Pan), Darcy Finden  who is making her professional debut, Danny Knott (Saturday Night Fever / A Midsummer Nights' Dream) as Male Swing and Stefania Du Toit (Starlight Express / Singing in the Rain), as Female Swing and Dance Captain.

Since it first opened in London in June 1973 at the Royal Court's Theatre Upstairs, Richard O'Brien's Rocky Horror Show has become the world's favourite Rock 'N' Roll musical, having been performed worldwide for over 45 years in more than 30 countries and translated into 20 languages.

It will run at the Cliffs from Monday, 6 June to Saturday 11, June.

You can book tickets via this link. https://southendtheatres.org.uk/Online/tickets-rocky-horror-show-southend-2022

As lockdown eases and theatres begin reopening, Ore Oduba believes The Rocky Horror Show is just the tonic audiences around the country are in need of. "Theatregoers are gagging for a great night out," says the Strictly Come Dancing champion, who stars in the legendary musical when it hits the road again this summer. "They're desperate and clawing at the walls, and this show is the perfect remedy to everything we've all been through. People want to laugh and be uplifted and to be able to forget about everything for a couple of hours. It's all about 'Leave your inhibitions at the door - we haven't got time for that'."

In the risqué and riotously funny show, Ore plays squeaky-clean Brad Majors - who, along with his fiancée Janet Weiss, inadvertently cross paths with mad scientist Frank-N-Furter and his bunch of outrageous followers. Cue fun, frolics, frocks and frivolity, classic songs like The Time Warp and Sweet Transvestite, and Oduba in various states of undress.

The TV and radio presenter, musical theatre star and possessor of the coveted Strictly Glitterball Trophy was quick to say yes when the offer to play Brad came in, although he did consult with his wife first. "It's such an iconic show and so well-loved," says the man who has been married to TV researcher Portia since 2015, "but I thought 'I wonder what my wife is going to say about audiences seeing me in stockings'. I needn't have worried because what I'd forgotten is that Rocky Horror is one of her and her family's favourite shows of all time. She was beside herself." Ore laughs. "She also started chuckling at the idea of me being on stage in just my briefs for the early part of the show, then coming out later in stockings and high heels."

Can he relate to the nerdy character whose visit to Frank-N-Furter's castle proves to be an inhibition-shedding experience? "I think there's a lot of Brad in me and in a lot of people," the 35-year-old admits. "It's the idea of being kind of caged animals, because we all have a lot of reservations and inhibitions and things we hold back. We're just waiting to be unleashed."

Not that Oduba has ever been the shy sort. Born in London and raised in Dorset, he studied sports and social sciences at Loughborough University before his first job as a sports broadcaster in Edinburgh. In 2008 he joined the Newsround team before going on to present BBC Breakfast, Radio 5 Live and The One Show among many other credits.

Partnering with Joanne Clifton on the 14th series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2016, he jived his way to victory, then both performed in and hosted Strictly live tours. He has continued to work as a presenter as well as branching out into musical theatre, playing crooner Teen Angel in the 2019 Grease UK tour and songwriter Aaron Fox in the 2019/2020 tour and West End production of Curtains.

Doing theatre feels like things have come full circle for Ore, since one of his proudest moments was when at age 13 he won the school drama prize for his performance in the musical Seven Golden Dragons. He said: "Then at secondary school I did every production under the sun. It was only when I went to university that I turned my attention to broadcasting, but Strictly reminded me 'Oh my gosh, I love being on stage'."