Two talented actors step into the spotlight as Manoa Valley Theatre closes its 50th-anniversary season with a hana hou production of “The Rocky Horror Show.”

Jarren Amian dominates the action as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, the sexually predacious transvestite scientist from “transsexual Transylvania.” Colin Gardner as Rocky delivers a beautifully nuanced portrayal of the boy toy Frank-N-Furter reanimates in his lab for the purpose of relieving his “tension.” Gardner’s facial expressions bring great depth and poignancy to Rocky’s tentative interactions with Frank-N-Furter and other characters.

Island stage veteran LeGrand Lawrence adds a third memorable performance to the action as the narrator. Lawrence’s bravado in Act 2 makes him a scene-stealer.

The story — a satire of the classic B-movie sci-fi and horror films of the 1950s — has entertained audiences ever since the first production opened in London in 1973. MVT previously presented it it 2008.

Brad Majors and Janet Weiss, two squeaky-clean, sexually inexperienced members of the white American middle class, have a flat tire in a rainstorm at night in the middle of nowhere and seek refuge at a nearby castle. To their misfortune — and sexual undoing — it is the night Dr. Frank-N-Furter is bringing his ideal man/boy toy to life.

Jared Duldulao (Riff Raff) gives a career-best performance as Frank-N-Furter’s sneering and malevolent butler. Ixchel Samaniego (Magenta) and Natalie Borsky (Columbia) are vibrant presences as the women on the edges of Frank-N-Furter’s life.

Montana West Rizzuto fills two key roles: He appears as Frank-N-Furter’s ex-boy toy, Eddie, in Act 1 and returns as investigative scientist Dr. Scott in Act 2.

Nick Amador (Brad Majors) and Alexandria Zinov (Janet Weiss) personify innocence as the virginal protagonists of the story. They wear much more 1950s-style underwear than their MVT counterparts did in 2008 and make Gardner’s commitment to spending almost the entire show dressed only in the traditional gold-lame wrestler’s trunks all the more admirable.

Anyone going to see “Rocky Horror” for the first time should know it has evolved into an audience-participation show in which certain props — available for purchase at the door, no outside items allowed — are tossed carefully so as not to hurt anyone — repeat, so as not to hurt anyone — at key places in the show; information on what to toss and when is included in the playbill.

Director Rob Duval has his actors hold their lines in the many places where the audience is expected to yell comments or insults — some of the latter not suitable to share here.

That worked reasonably well at Thursday’s opening-night performance when members of the production crew were ensconced in the prime rows of elevated seating and available to yell on cue. How well it will go without “cheerleaders” in the audience is a matter of conjecture.