Tim Curry died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles, his manager confirmed to the Associated Press. He was 80. Curry rose to fame as Frank-N-Furter in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” on Broadway and in the 1975 film, and had many, many other roles you probably remember him in, including in movies like “Clue” and the television mini-series “It.” He had dealt with health issues since a stroke in 2012.
Columbus fans gathered at Studio 35 on Indianola Ave. in Clintonville on Wednesday evening to mourn together, NBC4 reported. It’s the same theater where The Fishnet Mafia, Columbus’s only Rocky Horror shadow cast, acts out the film in front of the screen on the first Saturday of every month, with extra dates around Halloween.
The next screening falls on Saturday, Sept. 5 at 11:30 p.m. Staff told NBC4 to expect a sold-out house, and they were right: the theater’s ticketing page already lists the night as sold out. The next monthly show lands on Saturday, Oct. 3.
An October run dedicated to Curry
The stage version has its own Columbus home. Short North Stage brings “The Rocky Horror Show” back to the Garden Theater on High Street for its ninth year this fall, with performances running Oct. 22 through 31 under a special arrangement with the current Broadway production. Edward Carignan, the company’s producing artistic director, directs and choreographs the run, and he told NBC4 the company has already discussed dedicating this year’s performances to Curry.
“I think that we have to honor him and what he did to bring this amazing piece of queer cinema to the masses,” Carignan said. Tickets are sold through the CAPA Ticket Center, Short North Stage’s official box office.
For the Studio 35 crowd, Wednesday’s gathering was years in the making. “Since his stroke in 2012, we kind of loosely planned that when the day comes, we’re all going to be here at studio 35 and drink and raise a glass in his honor,” director Cora Mandragora told NBC4. On Wednesday night, that’s where they were.
