Last seen by L.A. theatregoers earlier this year heading the band for the Reprise! Broadway's Best Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Peter Matz, the prolific Grammy-, Emmy-, and Garland-winning music director, died Aug. 9. He was 73.
Composer, arranger, orchestrator, and conductor for Broadway, Hollywood, and, television, Matz won an Emmy for Streisand's 1965 television special, My Name Is Barbra, and an Academy Award nomination for best original score for her 1975 film, Funny Lady. His other two Emmys were for his work on the 1970 Kraft Music Hall presentation of The Sound of Burt Bacharach and a 1973 segment of The Carol Burnett Show, for which he served as musical director for eight years. He won at least 10 other Emmy nominations for his contributions to more than 140 television movies and specials.
In recent years he served as piano accompanist for his wife, singer Marilynn Lovell, at fundraisers to benefit AIDS victims. Born in Pittsburgh, Matz earned a degree in chemical engineering at UCLA but meanwhile was earning money playing woodwinds with area dance bands. He moved to New York in 1954 to study piano and music theory; soon he was working as rehearsal pianist for Harold Arlen's Broadway musical House of Flowers. Arlen introduced Matz to Marlene Dietrich, who used his arrangements for her shows. She in turn introduced him to Noël Coward; Matz served as arranger and pianist for Coward's engagement in the young Las Vegas of 1955 and then worked with Coward on Coward's 1961 Broadway musical, Sail Away.
Matz composed scores and themes for nearly 50 films and television series, including Marlowe, Funny Lady, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Plaza Suite, and Mama's Family.
The family has asked that any memorial donations be made to Aid for AIDS.
Valley Theatre League to the Rescue
The 35 professional theatres that constitute the Valley Theatre League have joined together in an agreement to honor the unused subscriptions that were sold by the theatre company previously producing at the El Portal Center for the Arts. Shadow Box Productions, the successor to the former producing organization, presented 70, Girls, 70 in May and is now unable to fulfill its obligation to its 2,030 subscribers, each owed a total of three shows. Because the previous producers are unable to offer refunds, the Valley Theatre League, representing the NoHo theatres, in association with the entire NoHo community, has stepped in to offer El Portal subscribers the opportunity to use unused subscription tickets at any of the other participating area theatres. In co-operation with the El Portal management, the Community Redevelopment Agency and Bianconi & Assoc., a theatrical consulting firm, Valley Theatre League will enable these subscriptions to be honored at no further cost to subscribers. Subscribers will soon be notified of further details.
Off the Wire…
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA—The 2002 Theatre LA Ovation Awards will be held on Nov. 24 at the recently restored Orpheum Theatre in the historic theatre district in Downtown Los Angeles. The 2,000-seat Orpheum, opened in 1926, has been enhanced with state-of-the art theatre technology, new seating, and a complete restoration of the auditorium and lobby. The theme of the 2002 Ovations Awards is "L.A.'s Back on Broadway!" heralding the cultural and economic resurgence of Downtown L.A.…
Steven Nash has been named the new president of the Talent Managers Association (TMA), replacing Scott-Arthur Allen. The TMA was formed in 1954 to promote and encourage the highest standards of ethics and professionalism in the practice of talent management. Nash heads Art and Letters Management in Hollywood…
The Mark Taper Forum's Other Voices Project will present Chautauqua 2002—The Theatrical Landscape of Disability and Deafness: Future, Past and Present, a one-day gathering of artists, scholars, and activists from the disabled and deaf theatre communities, on Aug. 17 at the El Portal Center for the Arts in North Hollywood. Featured in the Chautauqua will be a staged reading of a new play commissioned by Other Voices: Elena Minor's Evolution Piques, directed by Luis Alfaro, as well as performance excerpts from famous and forgotten classic plays that feature disabled characters. Post-play discussion panelists will include Lenora Inez Brown, Sharon Jensen, Corey Madden, Charles L. Mee, Dr. David Mitchell, and Ed Waterstreet. All readings will be sign-language interpreted. Admission is free. Reservations are strongly advised. (213) 972-0790 or TDD (213) 680-4017…
Susan Egan and Lisa Richard will appear in concert on Aug. 19 at the Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach. (949) 497-2787, ext. 1…
A new talk show dedicated to aspiring actors will make its debut on Aug. 20 at midnight on Smart Talk 870 KRLA. Hosted by L.A. radio personality Bob Shannon, the show will focus primarily on topics like headshots, resumés, auditions, workshops, agents, casting directors, unions, as well as other related subjects. Back Stage West editor in chief/ associate publisher Rob Kendt will join Shannon in fielding questions and comments from listeners. Future guests will include producers, agents, CDs, directors, and acting coaches. (866) 870-5752…
Filmmaker Michael Mann will join Mark Steensland to sign and discuss Steenland's book, Michael Mann, on Aug. 24 at Take One! Film & Theater Books in West L.A. (310) 445-4050.
—Rosa Fernandez