The Rocky Horror Show Broadway Cast Celebrates Tim Curry’s Enduring Legacy

Six months into its Broadway run, Sam Pinkleton’s revival of The Rocky Horror Show has become a place for cast members and audiences to celebrate the late Tim Curry. Curry originated the role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter in Richard O’Brien’s musical and brought the character to the screen in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, whose midnight screenings helped create a devoted fanbase built on a sense of belonging and staying true to oneself. Now as Halloween approaches, Broadway.com spoke with members of the Studio 54 cast about his influence and the show’s enduring invitation: “Don’t dream it, be it.”

Jake Shears is making his Broadway return as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, and he knows he has big heels to fill. The adoration of the character weighs heavily on his shoulders, feeling the influence both as a performer and as the actor now playing the role. “I wouldn't be the performer that I am without Tim Curry's Frank-N-Furter,” says Shears. He was at Studio 54 on the day Curry died, an experience that deepened his sense of what the production means to its fans. “I still feel like the theater and the show is a living memorial to Tim Curry.”

For Jimin Moon, who plays Rocky, Curry’s legacy lives in the freedom Frank-N-Furter encourages others to embrace. “I think with the passing of Tim Curry and how much that affected people on our stage, people on our crew, people in our front of house and especially the audiences that have come in, it really helps amplify that message of how important it is to “don't dream it, be it,” and all those other deeply emotional and personal parts of the show,” says Moon. Whether you’re 60 or 16, Moon has seen that universal message resonate with audiences across the board. "This is so gorgeous to me and so lovely to see how it connects people across all generations in a way that's very singular."

Kevin McHale and Lorna Courtney play the comedically naive and chaste couple Brad and Janet, who are forever changed by Frank-N-Furter at the musical’s end. The actors see each performance as a chance to share both the grief and the joy of remembering Curry, who has had a similar impact on viewers of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. “Being able to share in that experience in a theater, in a show that means so much to people and a character that he created that means so much to people, feels so much like a celebration—which, I feel like in death, we often forget to also celebrate—the life and the gift that Tim gave all of us and the many parts he played,” McHale says.

Courtney adds, “His legacy is in all of us, within all of us. We are all his children, so to speak. Every night we're having the most fun in celebration of his honor.”

Next season, Pinkleton will direct a Broadway revival of Annie, whose 1982 film adaptation featured Curry as the scheming Rooster Hannigan. It’s another of the “many parts he played” that McHale hopes audiences will remember. Whether it be at Studio 54 or on screen, Curry’s impact endures—in the characters he created and in the freedom he inspired others to embrace.

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