CDA: Bergman and Conklin

We have a double header today. Alan Bergman died at 99 - - he and his wife Marilyn Bergman were a pair of lyricists who won three Oscars, four Emmy, and two Grammys. They're best known for "The Way We Were" and "The Windmills of My Mind" but did you know they also wrote the lyrics to the theme songs for Maude, Good Times, and Alice?

My favorite song of theirs is "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" This Mel Tormé recording is a slice of heaven:

And the great set and costume designer John Conklin died at the age of 88. I saw many productions that he had designed - - an imaginative Ring Cycle at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and a peculiar trio of shows at the Met: Khovanshchina, Semiramide, and Pelléas et Mélisande. I also had the pleasure or hearing him speak at UW Madison. I don't remember what he said but remember his passion in talking about his work.

This little video has him talking about his designs for La bohème at Detroit Opera: