For a queer country lad with a taste for heavy metal and glam rock, the role of Dr Frank-n-Furter is to die for. The iconic lead in The Rocky Horror Show is the embodiment of sex and debauchery.

This time around, rock sensation and darling of the music theatre scene iOTA takes on the challenge.

It's a role he has long wanted to play.

"I've been playing Frank-n-Furter since I was 13 in various lounge rooms around the country when my parents were out," he says. "I bought the album, saw the movie at midnight drive-ins with my mum - it's just something that I've been waiting for and I didn't know how that was ever going to happen but it just always felt like it had to."

iOTA first saw Daniel Abineri play the role in the 1981 production at the State Theatre in Perth. He joins a long list of Aussie talent to don Dr Frank-n-Furter's fishnets including Reg Livermore, Craig McLachlan, Jason Donovan, Tim Ferguson and Marcus Graham.

So what is the attraction? iOTA has thought long and hard on that very question.
"It's really hard to put your finger on his appeal - he's just sexy, he's a villain and I am attracted to bad boys," he says.

iOTA cites Marilyn Manson and Kiss as his own rock gender bender influences.
"I've just always been attracted to that, and to actually see Frank-n-Furter so proudly strutting his stuff is very attractive to me."

In fishnets and heels, the sweet transvestite from Transylvania has been seducing audiences for over thirty-five years. Screenings of the Rocky Horror film still attract a big crowd, many of whom dress up as their favourite character and recite the famous script line-for-line.

When the new big-budget Sydney production was announced late last year, the excitement was palpable. Joining iOTA are Paul Capsis, Tamsin Lewis, Sharon Millerchip and Jon Waters.

"It's such a pleasure to be working with these people," says iOTA. "I've known Paul's work for quite some time and I've just been gagging to do something with him - it's a period at the moment where a lot of dreams are coming true."

Following an award-winning stint playing the title role in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, iOTA (who insists on the capital sensitive spelling) has been warmly embraced by the musical theatre world. A background in rock, with countess live gigs under his belt, make him an irresistible proposition in an industry hungry for raw talent.

But the man himself is determined not to let success and adoration go to his head.
"I'm certainly not at the point where I've got paparazzi waiting outside for me," he says. "But if I were, I just couldn't stand that - I'd be one of those people that would be photographed at 3am in the morning swinging at a camera man."

By DAREN POPE

Rocky Horror opens in Melbourne on September 14
Tickets on sale now
www.ticketek.com.au