Why Tim Curry Mattered So Much to Theatre Kids
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by Chris Peterson
Over the past 24 hours, I've been thinking a lot about Tim Curry, and when I actually became aware of him.
And I don't think I can pinpoint it. Because like a lot of us kids who grew up in the 80s and 90s, Tim Curry was sort of just there.
Curry died Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles at the age of 80. His career stretched across stage, film, television, and voice work, from The Rocky Horror Picture Show to Clue, It, Muppet Treasure Island, and even Broadway’s original cast of Spamalot.
For me, one of the earliest examples was 1992’s FernGully: The Last Rainforest. He was the voice of Hexxus, which might seem like a strange place to start when talking about somebody's impact on my interest in theatre, but I really do think it mattered.
Hexxus scared the hell out of me. I also couldn't stop watching him.
That voice. The way he stretched every word. How huge the whole performance was. I obviously wasn't sitting there as a kid thinking, "Wow, what an interesting acting choice." I just knew there was something about that character I was drawn to.
Years later, I would understand why.
Because eventually I found The Rocky Horror Picture Show. And that one really did change something for me.
I think a lot of theatre kids from my generation had some version of discovering Rocky Horror. Maybe somebody showed you a VHS. Maybe you heard about the midnight screenings.
Whatever the entry point was, there was Tim Curry. Frank-N-Furter was unlike anybody I had seen before.
He was funny and sexy and bizarre and intimidating and completely comfortable being all of those things at once.
More than anything, he was theatrical. Really theatrical.
Being a theatre kid at that age already meant I felt a little different from a lot of the kids around me. I was into theatre, performances, cast recordings, all of it, and most people my age really didn't care about any of that. Which was fine. But you were aware of it.
Then you see Tim Curry and realize that maybe being weird could actually be what makes somebody interesting.
I don't remember having that exact thought at the time. I'm sure I didn't.
But looking back, I think that's part of what was happening.
And once I knew who Tim Curry was, I started realizing he had been everywhere.
Clue. Annie. It. Home Alone 2. Muppet Treasure Island.
He would pop up in something and somehow immediately make the whole thing more fun.
Even when Curry was playing completely ridiculous characters, he never treated them like they were ridiculous. That's something I've always loved about him.
He committed. Completely.
I think theatre kids respond to that because that's what we're taught to do, too. Make a choice. Commit to it. Sometimes, make the wider choice and see what happens.
And if you committed to them hard enough, maybe "too much" was exactly what made people remember you.
I think a lot of theatre kids needed to see somebody like that. I know I did.
So, thank you Tim Curry.