A dear friend, Bernie Kirsh, who happens to have been Jazz great pianist Chick Corea’s chief engineer, for the past thirty-some years sent me this picture the other day.  Bernie, who taught me much of what I know today about music engineering and sound, ran Chick’s studio, Mad Hatter, out in L.A. for many years and traveled the world with Chick mixing his many wondrous concerts.

Before meeting and working with Chick, Bernie lived in NYC and developed his own craft at Jimmy Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios down in the Village.  This was all back in the early 70s and was where our friendship started.  He came across this picture in the bottom of a drawer the other day and sent it on to me.

I’ve been staring at it ever since receiving it and flashing back.  Yes, a picture is worth a thousand words – this one, perhaps 10, 000.  Bernie probably took this picture of four guys standing in front of a mirror one day back in 1977 watching a dance rehearsal of the musical King Of Hearts as it prepared for its first out-of-town opening at the Westport County Playhouse in Connecticut on its way to Broadway.

They’re all gone now except for one.

From left to right:

Bearded one – A.J. Antoon, another of my best of friends at the time, A.J. was “an American theatre director. He attended the Yale School of Drama. Beginning in 1971, Antoon directed numerous plays at the New York Shakespeare Festival over a period of nearly 20 years. In 1973, Antoon became one of the few directors to have been nominated for two Tony Awards in the same category in the same year. In addition to winning the Tony Award with one of his nominations, Antoon was also the winner of a Drama Desk Award, a New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award, and an Obie Award. His career lasted until 1991; he died less than a year later from AIDS-related lymphoma.” – Wikipedia

A.J. was my champion and hired me consistently to write the music for his award-winning productions – Neal Simon’s The Good Doctor, William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, the longest running Shakespeare production of any kind to ever run on Broadway, and Trelawney Of The Wells at Lincoln Center starring Meryl Streep, John Lithgow, Mandy Patinkin, Michael Tucker and Mary Beth Hurt.

A.J. had left the Jesuit priesthood to direct at the New York Shakespeare Festival where I met him when I was composer-in-residence there.  At the time of this picture he was directing King Of Hearts, a project that he and I put together based on the popular French cult film of the same name.  King of Hearts still runs today in productions all over the world.

A.J. was a genius of detail and conception in his productions and I really learned my theater craft from him and from working with him.  I could write ten long posts on the fascinating experiences we had together over the years.  I will always miss him.

Sadly enough, as hard as I searched Google, I could not find anywhere a picture of my old friend.  I’m glad to have this one.

Second from the left – black t-shirt – Steve Tesich.  Steve “was a Serbian–American screenwriter, playwright and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1979 for the movie Breaking Away.” – Wikipedia

I first met Steve when he was better known as a very up and coming American playwright.  His NY production of Nourish the Beast, also performed under the title Baba Goya, won him the Drama Desk Award for Most Promising Playwright, 1973.  Also  Gorky, 1975,  Passing Game, 1977,   Touching Bottom, 1978, and especially  Division Street which opened on Broadway in 1980 starring John Lithgow and Keene Curtis, and was revived in 1987 were plays that soared in language, drama and Steve’s own wondrous sense of humor.

At the time of this picture, Steve was the book-writer (the person who crafts the story and writes the dialogue between the songs) of King Of Hearts.  Steve passed away of a heart attack at a far too young age in 1996.

He is best remembered for his magical tale of his favorite sport, bicycle racing, which he participated in until his passing.  Breaking Away won for Steve just about every major award a screenwriter can win culminating in the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 1979, two years after this picture was taken.

Third from left – tallest with the long hair – C’est moi.  Composer of the musical.  Gratefully I’m still here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Link

Far right – Miguel Godreau, Choreographer of King Of Hearts.

Miguel Godreau, lead dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, danced with a burning, sensuous intensity that earned him the nickname ”the black Nureyev.”  He danced in musicals before joining the Ailey company in 1965, and had a Broadway dancer’s knack for ‘selling’ choreography.  He was the most graceful person I’ve ever known personally.

He inevitably brought Ailey audiences to their feet around the world, particularly when he performed the lead role in Geoffrey Holder’s 1967 ”Prodigal Prince,” created for Miguel.

In 1980, he performed a most memorable role in the movie ”Altered States,” in which he played William Hurt’s monstrous alter ego, but he was probably best known for his dancing with Ailey, whose company he joined in 1965 and performed with off and on through the early 1970’s.  His last performing job was with the Cirque de Soleil in 1993 and 1994.  He too died of AIDS at a much too early age of 49 in 1996.

Miguel was married to Judith Jamison, artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and probably the best-known leading female ballerina of this great company’s history.  He was probably 5’ 4” in height and she had to be at least 6’ 2”.  As odd a couple as one might imagine, but when they danced together, oh my goodness gracious, they were grace and strength personified and appeared the same height.

I’ve had the great fortune to work with hugely talented artists in my life who have taught me so much about my craft.  These four friends in the picture along with lyricist, Jacob Brackman, (not pictured) worked for years together creating a musical that still is performed today.  We all live on in this work, in it’s laughs, in its tears, its magical story and its music.

This picture, (top) in many ways, captures the joys of that endeavor.