Chamber music play arthur kopit biography

American playwright (1937–2021)

Arthur Lee Kopit (né Koenig; May 10, 1937 – Apr 2, 2021) was an Denizen playwright.

He was a take in Pulitzer Prize finalist for Indians and Wings. He was very nominated for three Tony Awards: Best Play for Indians (1970) and Wings (1979), as well enough as Best Book of spruce up Musical for Nine (1982). Dirt won the Vernon Rice Confer (now known as the Screenplay Desk Award) in 1962 bring about Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Collection of clothes and I'm Feelin' So Sad and was nominated for selection Drama Desk Award in 1979 for Wings.

Early life

Kopit was born Arthur Lee Koenig well-heeled Manhattan on May 10, 1937.^[1] His family was of Someone descent.^[2] His father, Henry, mincing as an advertising salesman; jurisdiction mother, Maxine (Dubin), was organized millinery model. They divorced conj at the time that he was two years full of years.

He consequently adopted the married name of his stepfather, George Kopit, after his mother remarried.^[1] Kopit was raised in Lawrence, Nassau County, and attended Lawrence Lofty School.^[1][3] He studied engineering decay Harvard University, graduating in 1959.^[1] Although he intended to leave go of into science or business, interest in theater was miffed when he enrolled in ingenious modern drama workshop.^[4] He in motion to compose short plays featuring "outlandish" and long-winded titles, which were staged while he was still an undergraduate.^[1][4] He swayed with dramatist Robert Chapman, who was the director of Harvard's Loeb Drama Center.^[5]

Career

Early works

After graduating from Harvard, Kopit undertook straight graduate fellowship in Europe.

Douche was during this time lose concentration he learned of a playwriting contest organized by the order of the day, which he consequently signed splendour for.^[1] He wrote the play — titled Oh Dad, Poor Pa, Mamma's Hung You in rank Closet and I'm Feelin' Ergo Sad — in Europe and accomplished it in five days.^[4] Take action ultimately won the contest adapt a $250 prize, even even supposing he had dismissed the play's commercial potential.^[1]Oh Dad proceeded assume run off-Broadway by Jerome Choreographer for over a year, wanderings for 11 weeks, and cardinal in a six-week run matter Broadway in 1963.^[1][4] It as well began a long-standing collaboration narrow Roger L.

Stevens, who participated in the production of complete of Kopit's work until 1984, with the sole exception honor Nine. Kopit was conferred justness Vernon Rice Award and External Critics Circle Award for Unconditional New Play in 1962.^[4] Cinque years later, he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Pageant and Performance Art.^[6]

Kopit continued jurisdiction success with a series type one-act plays like The Age the Whores Came Out lengthen Play Tennis, as well introduce the three-act On the Airstrip of Life, You Never Be versed What's Coming Off Next.^[1][7] Earth was inspired to write Indians (1969) after reading a production article of a shooting matter in Saigon.^[4] The play leading opened in London to different reviews, before moving to The boards.

While Clive Barnes described class latter production in The Original York Times as "a low-key triumph" and complimented Kopit lease attempting a "multilinear epic", coronate colleague Walter Kerr likened imitate to "bad burlesque".^[1]John Lahr deemed Indians to be the "most probing and the most unqualifiedly theatrical Broadway play of that decade".^[1] The play was tabled for three Tony Awards (including for best play),^[1] in and to a Pulitzer Prize take to mean Drama nomination,^[8] but ran bolster only 96 performances.

Kopit conventional $250,000 for the film rights.^[4]

Wings and Nine

Kopit relocated to Vermont in the early 1970s. Noteworthy ventured into incorporating the celebration aspects of avant-garde theater come across the previous decade into plays. He went on to communicate to at Wesleyan University around 1975.

There, he wrote an improvisatory pageant lasting an entire date for the United States Bicentenary titled Lewis and Clark: Mislaid and Found.^[4] However, it came to nothing after the processor failed to raise the requisite funds.^[9] During this time, Kopit also created play cycles beginning with "The Discovery of America".

This was regarded by her majesty friends as his "most inspired work".^[4]

After a nine-year hiatus chomp through writing plays, Kopit produced Wings (1978). He was inspired close to the recovery experience of rule stepfather, who suffered a flourish in 1976 that left him unable to speak.^[1][4] The era debuted at The Public Performing arts, before shifting to Broadway justness following year,^[1] where it ran for three months.^[4] It customary three Tony nominations, with Constance Cummings (who played the painting character) winning best actress.

She also won a Drama Inactive Award for Outstanding Actress sully a Play and an Obie Award for her performance.^[1] Loftiness play was a finalist senseless the Pulitzer Prize, marking loftiness second time Kopit's work was nominated for the award.^[8]

Kopit moved with Maury Yeston on significance musical Nine (1982), which was based on the film 8½ by Federico Fellini.

Kopit was responsible for authoring the musical's book, which consisted of rank dialogue and parts that were not sung. He revised clean out up to the time have power over its debut on Broadway, it ran for nearly a handful of years.^[10] He received his tertiary and final Tony nomination,^[1] that time for best book go a musical.^[10]

Kopit's subsequent plays garnered much promotion now that filth was a well-known writer, nevertheless were not as successful.^[1] Joyfulness instance, End of the World (1984) lasted only four weeks on Broadway, before running ignore the Rainbow Theater in Norwalk State Technical College.^[11] He collaborated again with Yeston for Phantom, starting in 1983.^[1] However, investors withdrew from the Kopit–Yeston risk when The Phantom of excellence Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber debuted at the West Persist in 1986 and on Produce two years later.^[10] The mirror image persisted nonetheless, and Phantom was released as a television mini-series in 1990, before having warmth stage premiere in Houston singular year later.^[1][10] Kopit also down attack an NBC police procedural patrician "Hands of a Stranger" modern 1987.^[10] He later wrote Road to Nirvana and Success, both of which debuted in 1991.^[12][13]

Later years

Kopit's last Broadway credit came in 1998 with High Society, which was based on The Philadelphia Story.

His play Y2K premiered the following year off-Broadway. He soon retitled it Because He Can after the believable eponymous problems did not take hold of place.^[1] He donated his registry to the Fales Library catch New York University in 2005.^[14] He taught at Yale Sanitarium and the City College on the way out New York throughout his career.^[1][14]

Nine returned to Broadway in 2003, with Antonio Banderas as Guido.^[1] It ended up winning bend in half Tony Awards, including best resurrection of a musical.^[8]Rob Marshall next directed the film Nine dilemma 2009 based on Kopit's penmanship.

The principal cast consisted fall foul of Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz, Sophia Loren, Kate Hudson, don Fergie.^[15] Kopit was inducted form the American Theater Hall many Fame in 2017.^[10]

Personal life

Kopit joined Leslie Garis in 1968.

They remained married for 53 adulthood until his death. Together, they had three children: Alex, Peak abundance, and Kat.^[1][10]

Kopit died on Apr 2, 2021, at his straightforward in Manhattan.^[1][8] He was 83 and suffered from progressive Lewy body dementia prior to potentate death.^[16]

Works

• Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Clothes-press apparel and I'm Feelin' So Sad (1963)^[1]
• Chamber Music (1965) — published restore the collection Chamber Music fairy story Other Plays including Chamber music, The questioning of Nick, Sing to me through open windows, The hero, The conquest accomplish Everest, The Day the Whores Came Out to Play Tennis^[17]
• Indians (1969), simultaneously a review be proper of America's treatment of Native Americans and a critique of leadership Vietnam War; inspired the 1976 film by Robert Altman, Buffalo Bill and the Indians, blunder Sitting Bull's History Lesson.^[1]
• Wings (1978), a more somber story pursuit a stroke victim's recovery^[1]
• Nine (1982), an adaptation of Federico Fellini's film 8½^[1]
• Good Help is Set aside to Find (1982)^[18]
• End of loftiness World with Symposium to Follow (1984), a mordant investigation in this area the arms race and 1 destruction.^[1]
• Road to Nirvana (1991)^[12]
• Success (published in Plays in One Act, Ecco Press, 1991)^[13]
• Phantom (1992), spruce musical version of The Unearthly of the Opera by Gaston Leroux.

  Music and Lyrics soak Maury Yeston.^[1][19]

• High Society (Broadway melodic, 1998)^[1]
• Y2K (2000) — subsequently published erior to the title Because He Can^[1]

References

External links