Tag Archives: Stage Manager

MTT is 80

The Symphony is having a celebration of Michael Tilson Thomas’ 80th birthday this weekend. It is bittersweet because he has brain cancer and is in bad shape. There was a rehearsal yesterday that was opened to certain people. I was invited but I chose to not attend. My little group of retirees had discussed this a few months ago and the consensus was that we preferred to remember Michael as he was and not how he is.

I found a post (linked here) that I had written in October 2023 in which I said he would never return to the podium. In fact, he did return to the SFS podium the following March and he appeared again yesterday (and presumably will for the concert tonight). Amazingly, he’s also continued to conduct other orchestras around the world as well.

In general, he does ok while actually conducting, but rehearsing specific passages is highly problematic as he can’t navigate the pages very well. There are assistant conductors to help him. Off the podium, he’s very spaced out. Even a year ago, when I last saw him, he seemed only dimly aware of his surroundings. His husband Joshua, along with other helpers, was with him constantly.

Michael was the Music Director when I was hired as Stage Manager so I had an interview with him. For complicated reasons, it was over the phone. I spent most of the time trying to establish my bona fides as someone who had long standing ties to the orchestra and understood the art form. He was cordial but nothing I said animated him. As we worked together over the next 9 months, it was more of the same. He was nice enough, but distant. He already knew it was his last year as Music Director. In truth, I already felt that he had been phoning it in for a few years.

All the plans to celebrate his last year at the Symphony were blown up by Covid-19. Our massive European tour was cancelled and the final Mahler 6 that everyone was looking forward to in June 2020 never happened.

So, Happy Birthday Michael! I do not wish him many happy returns because I don’t think there will be any. Spaced out does not mean unhappy, though. Even a year ago, with his mind failing, he seemed happy. So, I wish him what happiness he can find until his days are over. When that happens, the many people who love him will be sad. No doubt the Symphony will put on a big memorial to celebrate his life.

I will go to that.

70

I turned 70 a couple of months ago. It’s completely freaky to be referring to myself as being that age. I suppose that because I still have hair, most people I tell are amazed. They say I am well preserved for that age. I tell them I’m rotten inside!

I was a freshman in high school when the Simon and Garfunkel record ‘Bookends’ came out. It had the hits Mrs. Robinson, At the Zoo and Hazy Shade of Winter on it but it also had some different tracks that didn’t make much impression on my 14 year old self: Save the Life of My Child was a strange story about someone’s child jumping off of a building. Voices of Old People was recordings of old people talking about nothing in particular – I thought. Then there was the Bookends Theme, with the line ‘ . . . how terribly strange to be 70.’

That line has been rolling around in my head for the past few months. I don’t know what Paul Simon – then not even 30 – was referring to specifically, but it sure resonates in me now.

I get to have lunch with a group of stagehand friends every couple of months. Everyone in the group is retired except for me. The first question I am asked when I see them is, ‘Are you retired yet?’

So far, the answer has been no but that will change this year. While the Symphony Stage Manager job is tremendously rewarding in some ways, it is very stressful and I decided that last years’ Christmas Holiday programming – always the hardest month of the year – would be my last. My friend and colleague Jim J. finally retired last fall at the age of 75. Many of us thought he should have gone sooner. Not because he couldn’t do his job but because we all recognized that sometimes the body doesn’t work the way it used to. And sometimes that happens with little warning. I’m ready to enjoy life a little before it’s too late!

I think about my friend and former band mate Tim I., dead from prostate cancer at the age of 59. I’ve had my PSA checked every year since then. So far, it’s still very low.

I had three surgeries last year under general anesthesia and one more (skin cancer) under local. It’s time to not take anything for granted.

His Last Bow?

It’s always a zoo when Michael Tilson Thomas comes back to the Symphony to conduct but this week has been extraordinary. Michael was diagnosed with an agressive form of brain cancer a couple of years ago and his cognitive abilities are slipping. He was last here in February and the difference is painfully obvious.

The usual entourage has been supplemented with a male nurse and an extra assistant conductor. He needs to be shepherded carefully on and off stage. Teddy, the extra assistant conductor, has a seat in the front row and we have special stairs installed so he can get up the the podium quickly if necessary. In my role as Stage Manager, I have been the one to send him out there many times so I know his quirks. He’s not the same person.

What’s really interesting, though, is what he can do. Despite his limitations, he was still an engaged presence on the podium.

In rehearsal is when his difficulties were more evident. He lost his train of thought sometimes. He got confused about what rehearsal or measure number he wanted. He had problems articulating his desires.

The orchestra has enormous respect and love for Michael and went out of their way to be attentive and helpful. It’s an enormous strain on them, though. I had several people comment to me that, as a player, you can’t just let the music flow when his cues and tempi cannot be depended on.

But Teddy said to me early in the week that audiences aren’t coming to see the definitive performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.  They are coming to see Michael. They want to pay what might be their final respects to a giant of the classical music world who was also an outsized presence in San Francisco for 25 years. Joshua Kosman, who has written classical music reviews in San Francisco for many years, wrote a lovely review of opening night.

As I write this, we’ve done two performances with a third scheduled for this afternoon. The auditorium has been packed to the rafters and there are no tickets available for today.

One of the things I do as Stage Manager is keep timings of the shows. Opening night, the applause at the end of the show went on for 8 1/2 minutes. Most shows have 3 or 4 minutes of applause.

Last night, the rhythm of the bows were interrupted by the Mayor, who made an announcement that one block of the street in front of Davies Hall would be renamed MTT Way. Michael then got the microphone and, after thanking her, asked her if that meant he didn’t have to worry about getting parking tickets any more. Classic!

Early in the week, many people were saying that Michael would not make it to the Sunday performance. I believe he will answer the bell today. He has shown us that his performing instincts are extraordinarily strong.

MTT is scheduled to conduct here again in February but no one believes that will happen. Sadly, this week is likely to be Michael Tilson Thomas’ last bow.

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