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While news of Tim Curry’s death have sent fans down memory lane revisiting their favorite of his films, just weeks before the actor passed away, a group of Philadelphia burlesque performers put on an entire tribute show to Curry and his legacy.
Local burlesque performer HoneyTree EvilEye, co-produced the show, “We All Strip Down Here: a burlesque tribute to Tim Curry” at Silk City in Northern Liberties. She said that Tim Curry’s iconic performances throughout his career lend very well to burlesque.
“[His characters] are big and they’re wacky. And even if sometimes they’re physically colorful — like in Rocky Horror he’s literally in drag — but in some of them, he’s just a very vivid, cartoonish sort of person and in a sexy way also.”
“He’s got the whatever factor it is that makes us just drawn to look at a person,” she said. “Whatever that is. He had it.”
EvilEye put on the show with fellow producers Luci Longlegs and Victoria Reno. The idea started after one of her burlesque students wanted to do a number as Hexxus from FernGully.
“It was a really serious throwback right there,” EvilEye joked. “You can tell a lot about people obviously by which Tim Curry they respond to the most.”
Hexxus is a villainous monster, a personification of pollution and destruction, that Curry voiced in the 1992 animated film.
“He has this amazing musical number called ‘Toxic Love,’” explained Rosemary Guiser, aka Sartre Daze, the student who performed the number. “It’s this very raunchy, funky… great song, and it always struck me as a kid when I was like three or four. I was like, ‘oh, ‘I’m feeling something confusing about this.’ It’s just great.”
Co-producer Luci Longlegs happened to be at that performance. After the show, she came to EvilEye with an idea.
“In Philly, we’ve had some tributes to celebrities before, and Tim Curry has kind of always been at the top of my mind because he’s reached so many different generations,” Longlegs said. “I walked over to EvilEye and asked if she wanted to co-produce a Tim Curry burlesque show.”
Sexy Nigel Thornberry, anyone?
Curry had a talent for flaunting his sexuality in unexpected ways throughout his career — whether as Dr. Frank N. Furter in “Rocky Horror” or Rooster in “Annie.”
“This particular show kind of falls under the category of ‘nerdlesque,’” Longlegs said. Nerdlesque, she explained, is perfect for performers who “don’t really like the classic style” and may “only feel sexy when [they’re] doing something really silly.”
EvilEye believes that Curry’s characters have always been a safe space for young adults exploring their own sexuality.
“A lot of queer kids latch on to him and see a lot of possibility for themselves,” EvilEye said. “Maybe it was ‘Rocky Horror,’ maybe it was ‘The Worst Witch,’ maybe it was ‘Clue,’ whatever where they saw an expressive version of reality that allowed them to be more themselves.”
The Curry burlesque tribute featured a variety of different characters, including Long John Silver from “Muppet Treasure Island,” Lord of Darkness from “Legend,” Wadsworth from “Clue,” Pennywise from “It” and more. One performer even did a number as Nigel Thornbury — wearing a large prosthetic nose, a rhinestoned mustache and bright orange tassels on their buttcheeks.
“I also didn’t know that Tim Curry played Nigel Thornberry till we planned all this,” Guiser said. “That was really an incredible costume and makeup job.”
Fox Mystique performed her own cover from Rocky Horror as Dr. Frank N. Furter. Her favorite moment in the show during a Pennywise tribute.
“They jumped into a split, onto a balloon, and popped it,” she said. “And that was a huge crowd pleaser.”
The tribute show was such a draw that it sold out.
“They were turning people away because so many people wanted to come and see the show — to see us perform but also to celebrate Tim Curry,” Mystique said. “It was just the perfect setup for such an amazing show.”
Remembering Curry
“We All Strip Down Here: a burlesque tribute to Tim Curry” has taken on new meaning for the performers since the actor’s death.
Longlegs learned of the news through a cast group chat for the show that’s still active. For her, the feeling was visceral.
“It was this combination of just losing this absolute icon that I remember since childhood,” she said. “And then really astonishment that we had the show when we did. And that is, I think, still a bit of a shock.”
EvilEye is also still taking in the news.
“For those of us who are fans, you know, it’s been a rough week to be in a timeline where things are so harsh and cruel, and the world can feel very cold and scary right now,” she said. “To lose both him and Dolly in the same week feels like a big loss, not only of our nostalgia, our childhoods, but also like a type of public figure, someone who’s really positive and unifying and inclusive.”
The tribute show ended with all the performers together doing a number to “Easy Street” from Annie for curtain call. While there are no current plans for a second Curry tribute,” EvilEye said that it wasn’t out of the question.
“We could definitely do another one,” she said. “There’s so many [Curry] characters that we could do it a second time and not even have to repeat.”
She also noted that Rocky Horror season is just around the corner.
“He’ll continue to be relevant and beloved for a while,” EvilEye said. “It’s not like it just has to be right now. We can do this again any time because he’ll still continue to mean a lot to us.”
