G: Yeah — if “9 to 5” as
Frank-N-Furter got nixed, I’d switch to songs where Frank’s
theatrical arrogance/sexual menace/camp can be laid over the
song rather than songs that merely fit Tim Curry’s voice.
A few that strike me as particularly good:
- “I Put a Spell on You” — Screamin’ Jay Hawkins —
probably my first choice. Frank barely even needs to reinterpret it.
Seductive, threatening, funny, and plenty of room for physical
acting.
- “You’re the One That I Want” — Grease — done as
Frank, particularly if you treat the other half of the duet as
someone he’s relentlessly trying to recruit/corrupt, could be
hilarious.
- “I’m Too Sexy” — Right Said Fred — almost stupidly
appropriate. The trick would be playing it completely sincerely as Frank
rather than doing it as a joke.
- “Sex Bomb” — Tom Jones — same general territory,
but gives you more actual singing and swagger.
- “The Bitch Is Back” — Elton John — excellent Frank
attitude, and the gender mismatch actually makes it better.
- “Bad to the Bone” — George Thorogood — slower and
less flamboyant, but Frank treating this macho-boasting song as his
personal manifesto could work extremely well.
- “Hot Stuff” — Donna Summer — Frank can absolutely
inhabit this without changing much except the characterization.
- “Love Potion No. 9” — The Clovers/Searchers —
mad-scientist Frank gives the entire song a second joke.
- “Devil Woman” — Cliff Richard — reverse the implied
gender and lean into Frank being the dangerous object of
fascination.
- “Hungry Like the Wolf” — Duran Duran — surprisingly
good if you make Frank predatory rather than New-Wave cool.
- “Addicted to Love” — Robert Palmer — Frank playing
the diagnosis as an invitation rather than a warning.
- “You Can Leave Your Hat On” — Randy Newman/Joe
Cocker — extremely Frank, although almost too
obvious.
- “Maneater” — Hall & Oates — again,
gender-flipping the narrator/object makes it nicely Frankish.
- “I Touch Myself” — Divinyls — shameless enough for
Frank and funny precisely because Frank would see absolutely nothing
embarrassing about announcing it.
- “Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall in Love)” — Cole Porter —
wildcard, but potentially fantastic if you want sophisticated,
louche Frank rather than rock Frank.
And there are two actual Rocky Horror fallbacks worth
remembering. “I Can Make You a Man” is only about two
minutes and is essentially Frank showing off, while “Sweet
Transvestite” is the obvious full-scale character showcase;
both have commercially released karaoke versions.
citeturn0search0
I would not choose “I’m Going Home”
tonight unless you specifically want the room to turn
emotional. It's Frank's vulnerable song already, and given Curry's death
this week—and the Broadway cast literally using “I'm Going Home” for its
Curry tribute last night—it now carries a lot more memorial
weight than it normally would. citeturn0news24turn0news26
For what I think you were trying to accomplish with “9 to
5”, my first five auditions would be I Put a Spell on
You → The Bitch Is Back → I’m Too Sexy → Sex Bomb → Love Potion No.
9. Those give you five substantially different ways of doing
Frank sings a song that was never supposed to belong to
Frank.