The Connection (1959 play)
Encyclopedia
The Connection is a 1959 play by Jack Gelber
. It was first produced by the Living Theatre, directed by Living Theatre co-founder Judith Malina
, and designed by co-founder Julian Beck
. The play has a play-within-a-play format, with characters Jim Dunn as the "producer" and Jaybird as the "writer." They are attempting to stage a production about the underbelly of society using "real" addicts. Some of the addicts are jazz musicians. They all (except for the "producer," "writer," and two "photographers") have one thing in common: they are waiting around for their drug dealer, their "connection." The dialogue of the characters is interspersed with performances of jazz.
Directed by Judith Malina
Designed by Julian Beck
Original Cast:
Jim Dunn - Leonard Hicks
Jaybird - Ira Lewis
Leach - Warren Finnerty
Solly - Jerome Raphel
Sam - John McCurry
Ernie - Garry Goodrow
1st Musician - Freddie Redd
(composer, piano)
4th Musician - Michael Mattos (bass)
First Photographer - Louis McKenzie
Second Photographer - Jamil Zakkai
2nd Musician - Jackie McLean
(alto saxophone)
3rd Musician - Larry Ritchie
(drums)
Harry - Henry Proach
Sister Salvation - Barbara Winchester
Cowboy - Carl Lee
Man in audience - Martin Sheen
(uncredited)
Recordings
Other Productions
Jack Gelber
Jack Gelber was an American playwright best known for his 1959 drama The Connection, depicting the life of drug-addicted jazz musicians. The first great success of the Living Theatre, the play was translated into five languages and produced in ten nations...
. It was first produced by the Living Theatre, directed by Living Theatre co-founder Judith Malina
Judith Malina
Judith Malina is an American theater and film actress, writer, and director, who was one of the founders of The Living Theatre.-Early life:...
, and designed by co-founder Julian Beck
Julian Beck
Julian Beck was an American actor, director, poet, and painter.-Early life:Beck was born in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan in New York City, the son of Mabel Lucille , a teacher, and Irving Beck, a businessman. He briefly attended Yale University, but dropped out to pursue writing and...
. The play has a play-within-a-play format, with characters Jim Dunn as the "producer" and Jaybird as the "writer." They are attempting to stage a production about the underbelly of society using "real" addicts. Some of the addicts are jazz musicians. They all (except for the "producer," "writer," and two "photographers") have one thing in common: they are waiting around for their drug dealer, their "connection." The dialogue of the characters is interspersed with performances of jazz.
Production credits
Written by Jack GelberJack Gelber
Jack Gelber was an American playwright best known for his 1959 drama The Connection, depicting the life of drug-addicted jazz musicians. The first great success of the Living Theatre, the play was translated into five languages and produced in ten nations...
Directed by Judith Malina
Judith Malina
Judith Malina is an American theater and film actress, writer, and director, who was one of the founders of The Living Theatre.-Early life:...
Designed by Julian Beck
Julian Beck
Julian Beck was an American actor, director, poet, and painter.-Early life:Beck was born in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan in New York City, the son of Mabel Lucille , a teacher, and Irving Beck, a businessman. He briefly attended Yale University, but dropped out to pursue writing and...
Original Cast:
Jim Dunn - Leonard Hicks
Jaybird - Ira Lewis
Leach - Warren Finnerty
Warren Finnerty
Warren Finnerty was an American actor best known for his Obie award-winning performance in The Connection . After making his film debut in Murder, Inc. , he made a few television appearances before starring in the film adaption of The Connection , reprising his role from the stage production...
Solly - Jerome Raphel
Sam - John McCurry
Ernie - Garry Goodrow
Garry Goodrow
Garry Goodrow is an American actor best known for his role in the original stage production of the Obie Award-winning play The Connection, and as one of the original cast members of The Committee. In The Connection Goodrow played the young, intense, morose, would-be jazz musician Ernie, a heroin...
1st Musician - Freddie Redd
Freddie Redd
Freddie Redd is an American hard bop pianist and composer.His greatest success came in the late 1950s in the play and movie The Connection, in which he both played and acted in New York City, London, and Paris. He also played on the soundtrack album...
(composer, piano)
4th Musician - Michael Mattos (bass)
First Photographer - Louis McKenzie
Second Photographer - Jamil Zakkai
2nd Musician - Jackie McLean
Jackie McLean
John Lenwood McLean was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader and educator, born in New York City.-Biography:McLean's father, John Sr., played guitar in Tiny Bradshaw's orchestra...
(alto saxophone)
3rd Musician - Larry Ritchie
Larry Ritchie
Larry Ritchie is a jazz drummer and record/CD producer.He has recorded with John Coltrane, Ray Draper, and Jackie McLean. Examples of his jazz work are provided by McLean's Strange Blues and Freddie Redd's Music from The Connection ....
(drums)
Harry - Henry Proach
Sister Salvation - Barbara Winchester
Cowboy - Carl Lee
Carl Lee (actor)
Carl Lee , born Carl Vincent Canegata, was an African-American actor. He was also the son of late pioneering African American actor/professional boxer Canada Lee .-Career:...
Man in audience - Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
(uncredited)
1959-1960 Village Voice Obie Awards
- Obie AwardObie AwardThe Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
for Best New Play - Obie AwardObie AwardThe Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
for Best All-Around Production - Obie AwardObie AwardThe Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
for Best Actor - Warren Finnerty
1959-1960 Vernon Rice Awards
- Vernon Rice AwardDrama Desk AwardThe Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
for outstanding achievement in the off-broadway theatre - Jack Gelber
Related Works
Film adaptation- The ConnectionThe Connection (1961 film)The Connection is a 1961 feature film by the noted American experimental filmmaker Shirley Clarke. It was Clarke's first feature; she had made several shorts over the previous decade....
, produced by Lewis M. Allen, directed by Shirley ClarkeShirley ClarkeShirley Clarke was an American independent filmmaker.-Early life:Born Shirley Brimberg in New York City, Shirley Clarke was the daughter of a Polish-immigrant father who made his fortune in manufacturing. Her mother was the daughter of a multimillionaire Jewish manufacturer and inventor. Her...
, 1961. Released on DVD, Jazz Movie Classics/EFORFILMS 2869032
Recordings
- The Music from "The Connection"The Connection (Soundtrack)The Connection is an album of music composed for Jack Gelber's 1959 play of the same name by jazz pianist Freddie Redd which was released on the Blue Note label in 1960...
, music composed by Freddie ReddFreddie ReddFreddie Redd is an American hard bop pianist and composer.His greatest success came in the late 1950s in the play and movie The Connection, in which he both played and acted in New York City, London, and Paris. He also played on the soundtrack album...
, with Freddie Redd, Jackie McLeanJackie McLeanJohn Lenwood McLean was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader and educator, born in New York City.-Biography:McLean's father, John Sr., played guitar in Tiny Bradshaw's orchestra...
, Michael Mattos and Larry RitchieLarry RitchieLarry Ritchie is a jazz drummer and record/CD producer.He has recorded with John Coltrane, Ray Draper, and Jackie McLean. Examples of his jazz work are provided by McLean's Strange Blues and Freddie Redd's Music from The Connection ....
, February 15, 1960, Blue NoteBlue noteIn jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres. Country blues, in particular, features wide variations from the...
, BN 4027. Released on CD, Blue Note 89392. - The Music from "The Connection", rewritten score by Cecil PayneCecil PayneCecil Payne was a jazz baritone saxophonist born in Brooklyn, NY. Payne also played the alto saxophone and flute...
and Kenny DrewKenny DrewKenneth Sidney "Kenny" Drew was an American jazz pianist.-Biography:Born in New York City, New York, he first recorded with Howard McGhee in 1949, and over the next two years recorded with Buddy DeFranco, Coleman Hawkins, Milt Jackson, Charlie Parker, Buddy Rich, and Dinah Washington...
, Conducted by Cecil Payne, with Cecil Payne, Clark TerryClark TerryClark Terry is an American swing and bop trumpeter, a pioneer of the fluegelhorn in jazz, educator, NEA Jazz Masters inductee, and recipient of the 2010 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award...
, Bennie GreenBennie GreenBennie Green was an American jazz trombonist.Born in Chicago, Illinois, Green worked in the orchestras of Earl Hines and Charlie Ventura, and recorded as bandleader through the 1950s and 1960s.-As leader:...
, Duke JordanDuke JordanIrving Sidney "Duke" Jordan was an American jazz pianist.-Biography:An imaginative and gifted pianist, Jordan was a regular member of Charlie Parker's so-called "classic quintet" , featuring Miles Davis...
, Ron CarterRon CarterRon Carter is an American jazz double-bassist. His appearances on over 2,500 albums make him one of the most-recorded bassists in jazz history, along with Milt Hinton, Ray Brown and Leroy Vinnegar. Carter is also an acclaimed cellist who has recorded numerous times on that...
, and Charlie PersipCharlie PersipCharli Persip , is an American jazz drummer. Born in Morristown, New Jersey as Charles Lawrence Persip, he changed his name to Charli Persip in the early 1980s.-Biography:...
, 1962, Charlie Parker Records PLP 806
Other Productions
- London, 1960
- Los Angeles, 1961
- European Tour 1962: Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, The Netherlands
- New York, 1981 w/Morgan FreemanMorgan FreemanMorgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
as Cowboy - Chicago, 1992 the inaugural production of A Red Orchid Theatre, featuring Michael ShannonMichael Shannon (actor)Michael Corbett Shannon is an American stage, film, and television actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Revolutionary Road...
and Guy Van Swearingen - New York, 2009 50th Anniversary Production at the Living Theatre, directed by Judith Malina, music director Rene McLeanRené McLeanRené McLean is a hard bop saxophonist and flutist. He was born in New York City. He started playing guitar later received his alto saxophone, also had instruction from his father, noted alto saxophonist Jackie McLean....
- Seattle, 2011 Sight by Sound productions directed by Gavin Reub in The Little Theater