TOP OF THE NEWS Rapper DMX vigil set
Prayer vigil is planned Monday outside suburban New York hospital where rapper DMX remains on life support following a heart attack.
A prayer vigil was planned for Monday outside the suburban New York hospital where rapper DMX remained on life support Sunday following a heart attack.
The family of the rapper said in an email Sunday that the vigil will be held outside White Plains Hospital at 5 p.m.
“On Friday night, April 2nd, 2021, our brother, son, father, and colleague DMX, birth name of Earl Simmons, was admitted to White Plains (NY) Hospital, facing serious health issues,” the family said through a publicist. “We ask that you please keep EARL/DMX and us in your thoughts, wishes, and prayers as well as respect our privacy as we face these challenges.”
Simmons’ longtime lawyer, Murray Richman, said the rapper was admitted to the hospital’s intensive care unit after going into cardiac arrest. Richman said he could not confirm reports that DMX, 50, overdosed on drugs and was not sure what caused the heart attack.
DMX made a splash in rap music in 1998 with his first studio album “It’s Dark and Hell is Hot,” which debuted No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. The multiplatinum selling album was anchored by several hits including “Ruff Ryders’ Anthem,” “Get At Me Dog ” and “Stop Being Greedy.”
The rapper had four other chart-topping album. He has released seven albums and earned three Grammy nominations.
Along with his music career, DMX paved his way as an actor. He starred in the 1998 film “Belly” and appeared in “Romeo Must Die” a couple years later with Jet Li and the late singer Aaliyah. DMX and Aaliyah teamed up for the film’s soundtrack song “Come Back in One Piece.”
The rapper also starred
in “Exit Wounds” with Steven Seagal and “Cradle 2 the Grave” with Li.
Over the years, DMX has battled with substance abuse. The rapper canceled a series of shows to check himself into a rehabilitation facility in 2019. In an Instagram post, his team said he apologized for the canceled shows and thanked his fans for the continued support.
Last year, DMX faced off against Snoop Dogg in a Verzuz battle, which drew more than 500,000 viewers.
Playwright Arthur Kopit dies at age 83
Arthur Kopit, who found early fame with his play “Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feelin’ So Sad,” then later wrote the text for the Tony-winning musical “Nine” and also penned what has been called the most successful musical never to appear on Broadway, died April 2 at age 83.
Kopit was a Harvard engineering student in the 1950s when he began to study creative writing. He won several playwriting prizes as a student, including one for “Oh Dad, Poor Dad,” a dark comedy.
It was hailed as a modernist breakthrough by critics. In 1962, when it opened in an off-broadway
theater, it was the first nonmusical play to be directed by choreographer Jerome Robbins. “Oh Dad” won several awards, moved to Broadway in 1963 and made Kopit a rising star in the theater.
After several other plays failed to catch on with audiences or critics, Kopit’s “Indians” debuted on Broadway in 1969. His next major play, “Wings,” premiered in 1978 and reached Broadway a year later.
In 1982, Kopit collaborated with composer Maury Yeston on “Nine,” a musical about a creatively blocked Italian movie director. Kopit wrote the musical’s “book” and revised the show up until its Broadway premiere. “Nine” ran for almost two years and won five Tony Awards, including for best musical.
Soon afterward, Kopit and Yeston began to work on a musical version of Gaston Leroux’s novel “The Phantom of the Opera.”
At first, Yeston told the Baltimore Sun in 2000, he thought “Phantom” was a “terrible idea, but something strange happened. I
couldn’t stop writing it, and that told me something. I would go home and say, ‘This is a ridiculous idea. Why are we doing this?’ and a song would occur.”
Just when Yeston and Kopit were seeking investors, they read that Andrew Lloyd Webber was undertaking a musical version of “Phantom.” Investors backed out of the Yeston-kopit project.
In 1987, NBC asked Kopit if he had any ideas. He suggested a dramatic version of his “Phantom” script.
“Wouldn’t it be interesting if somebody saw it,” Kopit told Yeston, “and said it would make a great musical, and we’re all set?”
That’s what happened. By 2007, there had been more than 1,000 productions of what became known in theatrical circles as “the other ‘Phantom,’” with hundreds more in the years since. When a Long Island theater staged Yeston and Kopit’s musical in 2003, New York Times writer Alvin Klein urged people to see the show, which he called “the ‘Phantom’ of choice.”
Survivors included his wife of 53 years, writer Leslie Garis; three children; a sister; and three grandchildren.