By Bruce Hawkins
Last night was another magical night orchestrated by Carmen De Lavallade and Leo Holder to celebrate the home going of her husband and his Father, the brilliant and talented Geoffrey Holder. Everyone was instructed to wear colorful clothing. No black.
At 7:45pm, all the lights on Broadway went dark to celebrate the life and legacy of the legendary, Trinidadian Renaissance man, Geoffrey Holder. The crowd went into a spontaneous applause on West 44th Street. As Leo Holder so eloquently said about his Father, “The Majestic Theater was “Ground Zero” for all the hundreds of Black Broadway performers who got their Actor’s Equity cards” and took the magical journey his Father created in The Wiz. That doesn’t even count the many Black performers from the film adaptation and the many road companies.
As Leo Holder so eloquently said about his Father, “The Majestic Theater was “Ground Zero” for all the hundreds of Black Broadway performers who got their Actor’s Equity cards” and took the magical journey his Father created in The Wiz. That doesn’t even count the many Black performers from the film adaptation and the many road companies.
Among the throng of Black theater celebrities were Carmen De Lavallade and Leo Holder, Adrian Bailey, Chapman Roberts, Vanessa Shaw, Sherry “Peaches” Bronfman, Thelma Pollard, Vivian Reed, Ted Williams, Lynda Karen, Dyane- Harvey Salaam, Maria Nelson and Ellen Marshall Long, Harrison Lee and Mitch Weiss, Jeffrey Thompson, Bruce Hawkins, Leslie Dockery, Kirk Taylor, Hank Smith, Dr. Glory Van Scott, Joan Peters, Loretta Abbott, and a throng of long time friends and admirers. Even Broadway star Norm Lewis stuck his head out of his third floor dressing room window during his half hour prep to join in the celebration. Norm is the first African-American Phantom on Broadway in the long running hit, The Phantom of the Opera, which is currently playing at the Majestic Theater.
Everyone had stories and history to share of their time and memories of Geoffrey Holder and The Wiz … And true to the Holder form, it was once again a beautiful, magical evening.
