His darkly comic plays included “Miss Witherspoon,” a finalist for the Pulitzer, and “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” a Tony-winning homage to Chekhov.
Christopher Durang, a Tony Award-winning playwright and satirist whose blending of absurdist humor, acid wit and philosophical explorations of rage, anguish, family and faith made him a mainstay of American theater for more than four decades, died April 2 at his home in Pipersville, Pa. He was 75.
Mr. Durang’s other notable plays included “The Marriage of Bette and Boo” , an almost inconceivably buoyant comedy that was inspired by the relationship between his father, an alcoholic, and his mother, who battled depression and had multiple stillbirths. Onstage, the children’s bodies were tossed on the floor by doctors; the mother keeps a calendar recording the days in which her husband is “half drunk” or “dead drunk.”Mr.
Christopher Ferdinand Durang was born in Montclair, N.J., on Jan. 2, 1949. His mother was a secretary, and his father was an architect who fought in World War II and was part of the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Theyin an introductory essay to “Christopher Durang Explains It All for You,” which collected six of his plays. “I never knew when they were going to explode into screaming.”His mother took him to musicals at the nearby Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey, and at age 8 Mr.
Four years later, Mr. Durang made it to Broadway with the short-lived musical “A History of the American Film,” a hyperkinetic tour of Hollywood cinema that interwove references to some 200 films. The production brought him a Tony nomination for best book of a musical, although critics were mixed on the show.
For a time, Mr. Durang supported himself with acting jobs. He had performed onstage since the 1970s, headlining a cabaret show, “Das Lusitania Songspiel,” in which he and Weaver reimagined Broadway shows like “Evita” in the style of the German theatrical collaborators playwright Brecht and composer Kurt Weill.Mr. Durang later had small roles in movie comedies, including as a put-upon business executive in “The Secret of My Success” , starring Michael J.
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Tony-winning playwright Christopher Durang dies at 75Durang was a master of satire and black comedy who won a Tony Award for 'Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike' and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist with 'Miss Witherspoon.'
Read more »
Playwright Christopher Durang, a Tony winner for 'Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,' dies at 75Tony Award-winning playwright Christopher Durang has died.
Read more »
Playwright Christopher Durang, a Tony winner for 'Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,' dies at 75Tony Award-winning playwright Christopher Durang has died
Read more »
Playwright Christopher Durang, a Tony winner for 'Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,' dies at 75Tony Award-winning playwright Christopher Durang has died.
Read more »