Tony Bennett 1926-2023

I could not let this day pass without acknowledging the loss of the great Tony Bennett. While not a Broadway star per se, he did appear twice on the main stem, once at the Minskoff in 1974 in 'Tony and Lena Sing' (Lena Horne, of course), and again at the Longacre in 1993 in 'Tony Bennett: Stepping Out on Broadway.' He also recorded dozens of Broadway standards, his 'Just In Time' being a favorite of mine. He would have been 97 in two weeks.

I remember listening to this record when I was a kid. This was one of his best from the '50s.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk5V8Z6svq4

By Billy Stritch

At the beginning of 2017 I was delighted when I got the schedule of upcoming dates to find that we were going to be performing in my hometown of Sugar Land, Texas. In the years since I grew up there, the town has gone from a population of 3000 to over 100,000 and Tony was one of the first to perform at the new Smarte Financial Center there.

I was graciously provided about forty comp tickets for family and friends so you can imagine how thrilling it was to invite and perform for so many key people in my life. On the plane ride to Texas, Tony asked me if he might sing something special for my mom at the show. Can you imagine? He suggested “All The Things You Are” (perfect choice) and we rehearsed it at the soundcheck. Later on during the show, we were nearing the end of the set and Tony hadn’t called the tune yet. I thought perhaps he’d forgotten, but lo and behold toward the end he looked over to me at the piano and said, “this is Billy’s hometown and I understand his mother is in the audience. Is she here, Billy?”. He then proceeded to sing the most beautiful version of that great song just for her. Huge cheers. Tremendous emotion. It was one of the proudest moments of my life. He made me look so good for the hometown crowd and Mom was, needless to say, thrilled!

Now that she’s gone I’m even more grateful so have had that experience and will always remember Tony’s kindness to her and my family and friends that night.