The Connection (play)
play written by Jack Gelber
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, designed by co-founder Julian Beck, and featured music by jazz pianist Freddie Redd.
Synopsis
The play has a play-within-a-play format, with characters Jim Dunn as the "producer" and Jaybird as the "writer" 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 for their drug dealer, their "connection". The dialogue of the characters is interspersed with jazz music.
Original cast
Source:
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 – Jimmy Corbett (bass)
First Photographer – Louis McKenzie
Second Photographer – Jamil Zakkai
2nd Musician – Jackie McLean (alto saxophone)
3rd Musician – Clyde Harris (drums)
Harry – Henry Proach
Sister Salvation – Barbara Winchester
Cowboy – Carl Lee
Man in audience – Martin Sheen (uncredited)
Original production credits
Written by Jack Gelber
Directed by Judith Malina
Designed by Julian Beck
Other performances of The Connection
Revised Cast, 1961
Redd's score, new cast
Freddie Redd, composer/piano
Howard McGhee, trumpet
Tina Brooks (originally Jackie McLean's understudy), tenor saxophone
Milt Hinton, bass
Osie Johnson, drums
Touring Cast, 1961/62
Score by Cecil Payne and Kenny Drew, Conducted by Cecil Payne
Cecil Payne, baritone sax
Clark Terry, trumpet
Bennie Green, trombone
Duke Jordan, piano
Ron Carter, bass
Charlie Persip, drums
Los Angeles Production
The score to accompany the Los Angeles production was performed by Dexter Gordon who also played "Number One Musician". He later recorded several pieces from this production for his Blue Note release Dexter Calling... (1961).
Quote (from the liner notes to the Blue Note album):
"Soul Sister," the original that launches the first side is one of the themes Dexter wrote for the score of the Hollywood version of The Connection in which he had an acting, playing, and writing role; it is the equivalent of Freddie Redd's "(Theme for) Sister Salvation"...
The public source identifies “The Connection (play)” as play written by Jack Gelber. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Connection, play and written.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Connection (play)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.