These theater veterans made their final exits in 2023
At the close of any year, it's natural to reflect on those artists who made their final exit. The sense of loss we can't help feeling is suffused with gratitude for all they left behind. Their memories are indeed a blessing, as the Jewish phrase of mourning has it, because their work lives on to nourish our souls.
When a theater actor or director dies, however, it is as if a color has been removed from the palette of theatrical possibilities.
The ephemeral nature of the stage is part of its power. Prospero in Shakespeare's "The Tempest" compares actors to "spirits" who melt into "thin air" once the revels are ended. Puck in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" likens performers to "shadows" who rise up as audiences succumb to the collective dream of theater.
A playwright, lyricist or composer leaves behind something indelible. All year we've been basking in the brilliance, who by the magic of revivals seems more alive two years after his death than when he was still with us. I was grieved by the passing of the brilliant , who wrote the lyrics for "Fiddler on the Roof" and "She Loves Me," but I can console myself by listening to the original cast albums of these shows and marvel once again at Harnick's gift for achieving profundity through lyrical simplicity.
