My friend Martin Charnin, the versatile, venerable showman, most famously as the lyricist and director of the Broadway show Annie, died last week. I met him circa 1991. One day out of the blue a man called me. He had read an article I had written for Spy called “When Disney Ruled America,” a speculative piece about what would happen if Michael Eisner, then the wildly-admired head of Disney, became president. Martin said he thought I should turn the piece into a play, and together we did. The result was an thrilling afternoon when he directed a staged reading of the work at the Public Theater, starring Tony Goldwyn, Jane Kazmarek, Zach Grenier and other accomplished actors. Alas, that was the high point, but what an exciting day! The following year, my Spy colleagues Kurt Andersen and Lisa Birnbach (pictured with Martin and me) conceived of the idea of Loose Lips–taking the real transcripts of real people, many of them famous–Ronald Reagan, Prince Charles, Orson Welles, and many more–and staging them. For the next several years, Loose Lips was another thrilling adventure–productions in New York and Los Angeles, meetings at HBO, meeting Robin Williams and Al Pacino and Sharon Stone, drinks with Andy Richter, giving Bebe Neuwirth a ride home. We had a great young cast, and we had enormous fun. Martin was indisputably our ringleader–warm, funny, generous. It was a privilege to have been part of his orbit. Adios, Martin!
Love this. Thank you. Best, Sasha Charnin