Jerry Orbach R.I.P
This is turning into a bad year for those of us who love the theatre. First Fred Ebb dies, then Cy Coleman, now Jerry Orbach has died at the age of 69. Orbach was of course best known to most as the star of “Law & Order,” and his voice was heard by millions of children as the candlestick in Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast”.
But to me, he was the great star of The Fantasticks, in which he sang “Try To Remember.” And the man who created the role of Billy Flynn in Bob Fosse’s original production of Chicago (the part Richard Gere played in the movie). And perhaps most personally important to me, he was Paul the puppeteer in the Broadway production of one of my favorite musicals, Carnival. It was his first role on “the great white way.”
He will be missed.
