Thursday, August 14, 2008

Add 'em up, Bobby. Add 'em up.

Damn! First Bernie Mac, then Isaac Hayes. And now, for another kick in the nuts, a guy I actually met died. And he, too, was a great American original.

George Furth passed away earl;ier this week. In addition to being a great character actor(maybe my brother Stu's favorite; check him out as Van Johnson in Blazing Saddles; he enters at 2:01. Here comes the funny.), he wrote the book to perhaps the most original musical ever written, as well as the book to one of the most sadly underachieving musicals ever written.

I met Furth when I did Company with Porchlight in 2003. He sat in the second row on opening night; it was impossible after a while not to notice him. Not because of anything he did to call attention to himself, he was just there. It was him. Next to having Sondheim in the house his ownself, having George Frigging Furth there was about as monolithic and absolute (which is how I often describe Company) as it gets. And he couldn't have been more complimentary afterwards.

It's a frigging shame. That's all.

1 Comments:

At 2:26 PM, Blogger Stuart Shea said...

it is a shame. He was a funny man. I'm glad you got to meet him.

He was also in a couple of Monkees episodes, as I recall.

 

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