Rocky 1, 2, 3, and 4

movie had been released. There were four Rockies in the Japan/Australia tour, the Bochum production and the later Japan tour. However the fourth Rocky was cut from the remaining Bochum production in 1990. He was never inserted into the London production.

In the latest US tour and UK tour productions, the Rockies have been replaced by the Hip Hoppers. In 2007 they took over on the Bochum stage.

Musical Numbers

The Rockies sing during Freight. However, their featured numbers are The Rap and Right Place, Right Time.

Costume

The Rockies draw inspiration from boxers, being box cars (as Richard Stilgoe is fond of his puns), in their padded hats and cropped vests. Their costumes are based on a unitard of wood-grain painted lycra, to give the impression that parts of their bodies are made from planks of wood. They have boxer shorts in metallic leather, decorated with studs to look like riveted panels of wood. Their accessories reflect their status as strong weight-carriers, with gloves, gauntlets and kneepads all bigger than other characters'. The London Rockies are all identical apart from their belts, which label them by number. In London they had no shoulder boxes, and no sleeves. The Broadway Rockies were redesigned to show no skin, which allowed the insertion of padding into their new sleeves to make their muscles look bigger. They were generally made more square and boxy, with shoulder pads and bigger hats. They all say Rock Island on them, adding to the Rock pun. They were all individual colours, red, yellow, green and blue respective to numbers. All other productions' Rockies are this design. They have two sets of shoulders each - a large one with jointed ends that can flip up for Freight(see left), and streamlined armour with no jutting out ends for greater flexibility in the song Right Place, Right Time(see below).

Hip Hoppers

The Hip Hoppers were invented for the second US Tour(2003), in an attempt to bring the show more up to date. Based on 1990s rappers, their costumes bear a strong resemblance to the On Ice Rockies with baggy shirts, parachute pants(unfortunately held in at the knee by their kneepads, which disrupts the line) and headwraps. They originally had fast rapping to replace the Rockies' dialogue and recitative, but this was removed shortly into the US tour and never made it onto the UK tour. Now they have the same lines and tracks as the Rockies, but say 'Hip Hopper' instead of 'Rocky' - they even now say that they are box cars. The choreography to Freight and Right Place, Right Time was updated to remove boxing references. When they arrived on the Bochum stage in 2006, the choreography was further overhauled to fill in the gaps left by the removal of the Rockies' signature moves, and now looks much more like commercial dance.

Actors

"Rocky I"

London

* Danny John Jules
* Attlee Baptiste
* Sebastian Craig
* Rory Williams
* Anthony Garfield
* Mykal Rand
* KFTD
* David Obinyan
* Michael Skyers
* Martin Boothe
* Scott Murtaugh

Broadway

* Frank Mastrocola

Japan/Australia

* Keith Tyrone

Bochum

* Lamott Atkins
* Martin Boothe
* Ron Garza
* Dwight Toppin
* Christian Hante
* Tony Cordell

First US Tour

* Ronald Garza

Japan Tour

* Winston

Las Vegas

* Michael Carl King
* Troy V McLaughlin

On Ice

* Luke Craig

Mexico

* Héctor Ocampo

"Rocky II"

London

* Attlee Baptiste
* Ruel George Campbell
* Tristan Rafael
* Mykal Rand
* KFTD
* Algernon Williams
* David Obinyan
* Tim Noble
* Rob Grose
* Leo Bidwell

Broadway

* Sean Grant

Japan/Australia

* Marvin Engram

Bochum

* Sebastian Craig
* Martin Boothe
* Rodney McGuire
* Gary Forbes
* Wilton Anderson
* Michael Carl King
* Devin Richards
* Peter Liciaga
* Troy McLaughlin
* Christian Hante
* Tony Cordell
* Dwight Toppin
* Alex Lee Burgos
* Luigi Scarano
* Alexander Soehnle

First US Tour

* Dwight Toppin

Japan Tour

* Algernon Williams

Las Vegas

* David Enriquez
* Tony Cordell
* Allen Lev

On Ice

* Phillip Garvis

Mexico

* Berch Skerly

"Rocky III"

London

* Richard Bodkin
* Sebastian Craig
* Winston Pitt
* Rory Williams
* Trevor Hodge
* Jason Pennycooke
* Algernon Williams

Broadway

* Ronald Garza

Japan/Australia

* Antoni Garfield Henry

Bochum

* Gregory McKinnon
* Rodney McGuire
* Windsor Robinson
* Jim Harrison
* Yilmaz Aktepe
* RT Smith
* Leroy Ricardo Jones
* Kellan Davis
* Garland Days
* Giuliano Mercoli
* Brime Reatus
* Craig McDermott
* Hunter Jaques
* Tristan Adams
* Luigi Scarano

First US Tour

* Angel Vargas

Japan Tour

* Jim Harrison

Las Vegas

* Jim Harrison
* Leo Alvarez
* Angelo Rivera

On Ice

* Richard Stringer

Mexico

* Mario Tadeo

"Rocky IV"

Broadway

* Angel Vargas

Japan/Australia

* KFTD

Bochum

* Rodney McGuire
* Windsor Robinson

Japan

* Mitsuto Tokuhisa

"Hip Hopper 1"

US tour 2003

* Orren Webber

UK Tour

* Johnny Shentall
* Robert Nurse
* Damian Winter-Higgins

Bochum

* Aaron Piper
* Reginald Holden Jennings

"Hip Hopper 2"

US Tour 2003

* Walter Louis

UK Tour

* Tyman Boatwright
* Carlton Connell
* Ben Harrold
* Robert Nurse

Bochum

* Alexander Burgos (left the cast in summer '07)
* Adam Sheffield

"Hip Hopper 3"

US tour 2003

* Stephen Maestas

UK Tour

* Craig McDermott
* Tony Andrade
* Robert Nurse
* Christian Hante

Bochum

* Dennis Gradtke
* Hunter Jaques
* Daniel Smith

External links

* [http://www.bellesdomain.co.uk/rockies.htm Belle's Domain] character gallery on dedicated fansite