With Mark O'Donnell and Marvin Hamlisch ... will there be a third?
*shudders*
Oh No! This is a huge loss to the community. I didn't even know he was sick. Very sad day indeed...
I'm shocked. I just saw him with Idina Menzel last month at Ravinia. This last weekend, I was hanging my Chorus Line window card autographed by him. A great composer and song writer and a class act all the way.
OMG...i woke up to this news...this is very sad...
may he R.I.P.
HIS MUSIC WILL LIVE ON...
Wow. Just, wow. A short illness.
Wow. RIP.
Bottom of his obit includes a video medley of his songs, and an introduction by Barbra Streisand.
And some of his quotes. In connection to his latest project, "The Nutty Professor," which is aiming for Broadway:
“Music is truly an international language and it has the ability to bring people together like nothing else…… except comedy.”
Marvin Hamlisch, 1944-2012
So very sad. I got to see him in the early 70s when he had a Las Vegas act. The world has indeed lost a major talent.
However sad, how nice that he more or less worked until the end of his life. What he leaves behind is a legacy of wonderful music. I saw him once conduct the NSO in Washington, DC.
Best12, I think he might have been the 3rd as I'm taking into account of Martin Pakledinaz as the 1st.
Wow! Way too young. I am glad I got to see him with the Columbus Symphony and Linda Eder a couple years ago. He seemed like such a nice guy and a wonderful performer.
Like so many here, "A Chorus Line" changed me from a devoted teenaged fan into someone who (at least for a spell) pursued theatre as a full-time profession.
I also remember the huge resurgence for Scott Joplin and ragtime music, due to Hamlisch's Oscar-winning adapted score for "The Sting." Suddenly, "The Entertainer" by Joplin was on the Billboard Pop Chart in 1973.
Thank you for the music.
A Chorus Line was the first show I ever saw on Broadway and pushed me into falling in love with musicals.
Very sad news.
RIP Mr. Hamlisch
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/19/05
RIP, I thought of Gilda Radner as well.
The third was Joan Stein. Her passing was the first of the three, this month.
And Marty P.
Such a huge loss all the way around.
I'm numb at this point.
In the broader sense of "theatre," I suppose we're at #4 now. Wow.
I was thinking of theatre writers, though (authors, composers, lyricists, Tony-winning at that).
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/12
I gasped seeing this news on the front page of the website. No idea he was ill.
RIP
RIP. One of the best.
Wow. They're all dead now. (Meaning all the CHORUS LINE creators.) This is very sad to hear. Best12, I would say that the producer Joan Stein was the first, then O'Donnell and then Hamlisch.
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/29/12
His music was definitely everywhere and everything in the 1970s. So sad, may he RIP. I am so going to watch the Lisa Loopner performance of "The Way We Were" now.
A Chorus Line is of course a masterpiece but I would also rate his scores for Sweet Smell of Success, The Goodbye Girl and They're Playing Our Song VERY high. The latter show will have a special poignancy now.
Why do I think he never quite got the wholehearted respect he deserved? Perhaps because he was such a public figure and we don't expect our artists to be that, I don't know.
RIP
He accomplished so much, including being an integral part of an iconic musical that to this day, I count as one of the single most incredible surprises I've ever seen on stage. There's the big accomplishments like winning Oscars and Tonys, and then there's the ones that help touch and change lives like mine. Thank you Marvin for lending your gift to one of my top 5 musicals of all time, A Chorus Line, and for your priceless contribution to theatre and the arts. <3
Rest in peace
Best12, I would say that the producer Joan Stein was the first, then O'Donnell and then Hamlisch.
If you decide not to count two-time Tony-winning costume designer Martin Pakledinaz, who died at 58 on July 8th.
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