Marin Mazzie Dies: Broadway Star of Passion, Ragtime
by Greg Evans
September 13, 2018 1:24pm
Deadline Hollywood
AP
Broadway actress and three-time Tony
nominee Marin Mazzie died this morning in New
York. She was 57.
Her death
was announced by her husband, actor Jason Danieley. Mazzie had been fighting
ovarian cancer since her diagnosis three years ago.
Lauded
for her unforgettable performances in Ragtime, Kiss Me, Kate and, perhaps most
of all, Stephen Sondheim’s 1994 musical Passion, Mazzie
was mourned today by Broadway. “This is absolutely devastating,” tweeted Patti
Murin of Frozen. “What a bright, shining light she was…”
“Beautiful,
brave and inspiring,” wrote Harvey Fierstein. “A glorious voice and an even
better human being…”
Mazzie
made her Broadway debut in 1985 in the Huckleberry Finn musical Big
River. She earned her first Tony nomination nine years later for her
performance as Clara in Passion, and her second in 1998 as Mother in
Ragtime. Her starring role in 1999’s Kiss Me, Kate brought her third
nomination.
Other
stage credits include 2002’s Man of La Mancha (which reteamed her with
Ragtime’s Brian Stokes Mitchell), Spamalot, Next to Normal, Off Broadway’s
revival of Carrie and, just this year and also Off Broadway, Terrence
McNally’s Fire and Air.
Mazzie
was inducted into New York’s Theater Hall of Fame last year. She met
Danieley when both appeared in the Off Broadway 1996 production Trojan Women: A
Love Story. They married the following year, and later would perform in concert
together.
The
actress is survived by Danieley, her mother and a brother.
Editor’s
note:
I first met Marin
Mazzie in the ladies room of the Hilton Hotel during the 1995 Drama Desk awards.
I lavished her
companion, Donna Murphy, with compliments on her performance in Passion. To be
polite I asked the woman with her if she were connected to theater. You can
imagine my embarrassment when I learned who she was.
I must have
experienced a Sapphic moment, shocked and mesmerized when Mazzie, appeared
partially nude onstage. She was perfection. And so, like so many others, I paid
little attention to her face
But I did
pay attention after that to all her roles and most recently saw her in a
concert in Carnegie Hall, shocked by her beauty and vitality into believing she
was better. Alas! Now she is gone – yet another shock.
Jeanne Lieberman
BROADWAY
TO DIM ITS LIGHTS
ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 30,
2018
AT 6:45 PM
IN MEMORY
OF LEGENDARY PLAYWRIGHT
NEIL
SIMON
New York,
NY – August
27, 2018 -- The Broadway community mourns the loss of
Tony Award® and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, librettist, lyricist,
producer and theatre owner/operator Neil Simon, who passed away on Sunday,
August 26 at age 91. The Committee of Theatre Owners has decided to dim
the lights of Broadway theatres in New York in his memory on Thursday,
August 30 at exactly 6:45pm for one minute.
"Neil Simon’s
plays are a testament to the human experience: he made audiences laugh, cry and
think. No other American playwright has had as many performances or as
many shows in production simultaneously on Broadway. The outpouring of
accolades and personal memories being shared since his death are a tribute to
how deeply he influenced our culture and touched the lives of literally
millions of theatregoers," said Thomas Schumacher, Chairman of the Broadway League. "His
legacy will continue for years to come, and the Broadway industry is proud to
dim the lights of our theatres in his honor.”
On Broadway, Mr. Simon was known for his iconic
works such as Lost in Yonkers (1991), Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983; Revival, 2009), (1985), Broadway
Bound (1986), Come
Blow Your Horn (1961), Barefoot
in the Park (1963;
Revival 2006), The Odd Couple (1965; Revivals 1985, 2005), The
Star-Spangled Girl (1966), Plaza
Suite (1968), Last
of the Red-Hot Lovers (1969), The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1971), The Sunshine Boys (1972; Revival, 1997), The
Good Doctor (1973), California
Suite (1976), Little
Me (1961; Revivals 1982,
1998), Sweet Charity (1966; Revivals 1986, 2005), Promises,
Promises (1968; Revival,
2010), They're Playing
Our Song (1979), Rumors (1988), God's
Favorite (1974), Chapter Two (1977), I Ought to Be in Pictures (1980) and many more.
He received 17 Tony Award nominations and won the
award three times: in 1965 for The Odd Couple, in 1985 for Biloxi
Blues, and in
1991 for Lost in Yonkers which also received the Pulitzer Prize for
Drama. He also received a special Tony Award in 1975 for his contributions
to the theatre.
Mr. Simon's plays were frequently adapted for film and television and
beyond Broadway his numerous, influential screenwriting credits
include: “Your Show of Shows,” “The Phil Silvers Show,” The
Out-of-Towners, The
Heartbreak Kid, Murder
by Death, The
Cheap Detective, Seems
Like Old Times, Max Dugan Returns, The Lonely Guy, The Slugger’s Wife, and The
Odd Couple II among
many others. In addition, he also wrote the memoirs Rewrites and The Play Goes On.
Mr. Simon was the recipient of several Writers Guild of America
Awards, an American Comedy Awards Lifetime Achievement honor, the Mark Twain
Prize for American Humor, and the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s Monte Cristo
Award.
He is survived by his wife, Elaine;
his children Ellen, Nancy, and Bryn; and three
grandchildren and one great-grandson.
His full Broadway biography can be found on the
Internet Broadway Database: https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/neil-simon-7879
