Lou Adler & Tim Curry to Appear at 50th Anniversary Screening of ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’

The Rocky Horror Picture Show didn’t receive a single Oscar nomination when it was released in 1975, but the film has since become a cult classic, so much so that even the Motion Picture Academy has taken notice. On Sept. 26, the Academy Museum in Los Angeles will host a “50th Anniversary of The Rocky Horror Picture Show” program.

Music industry legend Lou Adler, who was one of the producers of the film; Tim Curry, who starred in the film as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a transvestite alien scientist; and Sins O’ The Flesh are scheduled to appear. “Join us for a sing-along and shadow cast experience for this one-night-only 50th anniversary program,” the event’s notes advise. “Prop kits will be sold at the theater for maximum audience participation.”

The film also starred Barry Bostwick and future Oscar winner Susan Sarandon, and helped introduce future rock star Meat Loaf. The film was based on the 1973 musical stage production The Rocky Horror Show, with music, book and lyrics by Richard O’Brien. The cast album to that show bubbled under the Billboard 200 in November 1974.

The film opened in the U.K. at the Rialto Theatre in London in August 1975 and in the U.S. the following month at the UA Westwood in Los Angeles. Initial response was mixed to negative, but it soon became a hit as a midnight movie, when audiences began participating with the film at the Waverly Theater in New York City in 1976.

Adler received a Grammy nomination in 1976 for producing the cast album, which was released on his Ode Records (through A&M). The album eventually reached No. 49 on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold. The track “Time Warp” has become a classic.

In 2005, the film was selected for the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Adler, 91, is an industry legend. He founded Dunhill Records in 1964, producing hits by such artists as The Mamas & The Papas and Scott McKenzie. He helped produce the Monterey International Pop Festival in 1967. He signed Carole King to his Ode Records in 1970 and produced eight Gold, Platinum or multiplatinum albums by her. In 1972, he and King won Grammys for album of the year (Tapestry) and record of the year (“It’s Too Late”).

Adler was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013 (receiving the Ahmet Ertegun Award, presented by Cheech & Chong, for whom he produced four Gold albums). He received a trustees award from the Recording Academy in 2019.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show has had a long afterlife. The Rocky Horror Glee Show aired on Fox in October 2010 as part of the second season of Glee. It featured cameos by Bostwick and Meat Loaf. An EP from the show, which included “Time Warp,” “Damn It, Janet” and “Sweet Transvestite,” reached No. 6 on the Billboard 200.

In October 2016, Fox aired a modern-day “reimagining” of the film titled The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again.