David Carroll - Broadway musical star dies of AIDS
Elizabeth Lear Newman
at the BMG recording studios as he was recording a song from "Grand
Hotel" for the original cast album of the hit musical, according to
Judy Jacksina, spokeswoman for the show.
Carroll played the star role of Baron Felix von Gaigern in the musical
version of the Vicki Baum novel. He had been ailing for some time and
had dropped out of the cast of the show last year.
Friends said he was near death when he was invited to make the
original cast album but forced himself to go on with the recording
session. Jacksina said he appeared in good spirits and voice when he
arrived at the studio but collapsed during the first song he
performed, "As It Should Be." Paramedics were called but found him
unconscious. He died a few minutes later.
Carroll was nominated twice for Tony Awards, first for his performance
as the Russian chess master in "Chess" and secondly for his "Grand
Hotel" role. Among his other Broadway credits were "Cafe Crown,"
"Wind in the Willows," "Oh, Brother!" "Seven Brides for Seven
Brothers," "Where's Charley?" and "Rodgers and Hart." He sang
opposite Linda Ronstadt in the New York Shakespeare Festival
production of "La Boheme," toured in the national company of
"Deathtrap," appeared in the New York Theater Company production of
"Company" and toured Japan in the musical "Ernie Pyle."
Jacksina said details of a Broadway memorial service for Carroll
would be announced later.
--
tongue - a variety of meat, rarely served because it clearly crosses
the line between a cut of beef and a piece of dead cow.
(Bob Ekstrom, Pitt, MN)
Jon Conrad
And what fearful irony, that with a Grand Hotel recording finally
happening after two and a half years, David Carroll was unable to
complete it. His was a singular voice and talent. I remember that at
the time he stepped out of the show for a few months, I (inevitably,
alas) wondered about AIDS, but the word seemed to be "it's just that
flu that's going around," and in fact he recovered a few months later
and returned to the show. And he's been performing a lot since.
It seems almost obscene to wonder about the recording in the face of his
death, but did the article say -- will it be completed anyway? Will any
of what he recorded be used? Who will replace him? (Brent Barrett, his
first replacement and the star of the national tour, seems the likeliest
choice.)
I was just thinking of David Carroll last night, listening to the album
of "Oh, Brother," which has just been reissued and in which he starred.
I was going to post a review, but I don't think I have the heart to do
it now.
Jon Alan Conrad
Bill Rubin
> It seems almost obscene to wonder about the recording in the face of his
> death, but did the article say -- will it be completed anyway? Will any
> of what he recorded be used? Who will replace him? (Brent Barrett, his
> first replacement and the star of the national tour, seems the likeliest
> choice.)
It seems unlikely that anything he did will be usable, given that the
article said he collapsed while performing the first song. There was an
article in NY Newsday which said that they had brought him in a month ahead
of schedule because they knew he was in bad condition. Interestingly, the
NY Times obit did not mention AIDS, it gave the actual cause, which I have
forgotten at this moment.
The NY Times also mentioned that he was the originator of the title role in
the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM)'s production of Joseph and His Amazing
Technicolor Dreamcoat. I had forgotten about that, amongst the turkeys
that I had seen him in (Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and The Wind in the
Willows).
-- Bill ru...@watson.ibm.com