Fans of Dolly Parton and Tim Curry can celebrate their lives at two different events happening locally over the Labor Day weekend. At M&J Tavern, there’ll be a pop-up karaoke and dance party on Saturday, Sept. 5, while Regal Old Mill will have special screenings of Parton’s “Steel Magnolias” on Sept. 4, 6 and 8.
Parton and Curry both passed away on Aug. 25 at the age of 80. Parton, dubbed the “Queen of Country,” was a legendary musical icon, actress and well-known philanthropist. Her representatives said she passed away in Nashville, Tennessee after a brief, private battle with cancer. Curry, a prolific actor and singer, passed away in Los Angeles, California from coronary artery disease. He had previously suffered several strokes and battled kidney cancer.
Curry, nominated for several Tony, Emmy and Olivier awards during his lengthy career, starred in numerous stage and screen productions, including notably as Dr. Frank-N-Furter in “Rocky Horror Picture Show” on both the stage and screen. Parton, a singer and songwriter who penned more than 3,000 songs and sold more than 100 million records, had numerous muti-platinum recordings; starred in, and won awards for, countless movies and TV shows; and was a well-documented philanthropist and advocate for children, animals and the LGBTQ+ community, among other causes.
Both Curry and Parton will be celebrated on Saturday, Sept. 5 at a pop-up karaoke and dance party from 8pm to 1am at M&J Tavern, located at 102 NW Greenwood Ave. in Bend. There’s no cover charge or minimum purchase required, said CJ Hitchcock, general manager of M&J Tavern. The night is all about celebrating the two iconic artists. There’ll be a prize of $100 each to the best Parton and Curry lookalikes, with the winners picked at 11pm, followed by a DJ BlackMVNV dance party until 1am. Hitchcock said there’d also be some partygoers dressed as Kenny Rogers and Sylvester Stallone, who were Parton co-stars during her career.
“We want everyone to be a part of this, however they choose to be. We expect some really fun surprises,” Hitchcock said. “They were such icons. They both just did their best to lift up everyone around them, and you can’t find anything about either one of them ever being negative. They were such positive people and were really iconic from the 80s to now. It’s a loss that’s touching a lot of people.”
Those who want to celebrate Parton’s life and work but prefer a more sit-down approach can catch a special screening at Regal Old Mill of “Steel Magnolias,” Parton’s 1989 movie in which she starred with Olympia Dukakis, Sally Field, Daryl Hannah, Shirley MacLaine and Julia Roberts. The story centers around a group of women living in a small southern town. Parton plays a feisty owner of the local beauty salon where the women congregate. Tickets are $9.25 in a nod to another classic Parton movie, “9 to 5.”
Regal Cinemas, which is based in Knoxville, Tennessee, initially held a weekend of screenings of Parton’s movies across that state right after her death. The company then decided to expand the celebration of Parton’s work across the nation and is donating 100% of the screenings’ proceeds to The Dollywood Foundation, home of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which the star founded in 1995 in her native Sevier County, Tennessee. Imagination Library has grown into an international program that provides free books each month to children, including in Central Oregon.
“It was incredible to watch our Tennessee community show up in such a big way to celebrate Dolly Parton and support a cause so close to her heart,” said Vikki Neil, senior vice president of marketing at Regal. “As a company headquartered in East Tennessee, Dolly’s impact has always felt especially close to home for Regal. Now, as we expand these screenings nationwide, we’re excited to give audiences across the country a way to celebrate her legacy while supporting the Imagination Library.”
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