Music Community Honors Randy Travis in Song
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Lifestyle FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2017 With 'love and joy,' Gyllenhaal opens Broadway theater roadway welcomed a new theatre Wednesday with a ribbon-cutting cere- Bmony led by Jake Gyllenhaal. The "Brokeback Mountain" and "Nightcrawler" star was on hand with a pair of oversize gold- en scissors to reopen the Hudson Theatre with "Sunday in the Park with George," the venue's first theatrical production in nearly 50 years. "I can't stress enough how impor- tant it is to have joy in this world and that's what this space is and that's what this show is all about," Gyllenhaal said. "It's all about love and joy so I hope people will come and expe- rience that with us." Gyllenhaal helped cut a green ribbon with co-star Annaleigh Ashford, Travis Tritt, from left, Randy Travis, Mary Travis and Ricky Traywick say goodnight at the ‘1 and his name will adorn a plaque commemo- Night. 1 Place. 1 Time.: A Heroes and Friends Tribute to Randy Travis’ at Bridgestone Arena. rating the event. The ornate, refurbished the- ater wasn't quite ready for its close-up, with garbage cans still in plastic in the lobby and signs still needing to be hung. Music community honors Opened in 1903 - a week before the New Amsterdam Theatre - the Hudson becomes both Broadway's oldest theater and its Jake Gyllenhaal participates in newest. It's the first new Broadway theater in Broadway's "Sunday in the Park with almost 20 years and becomes the 41st such George" media day and Hudson Theatre Randy Travis in song venue. The Hudson sits just off Times Square grand re-opening ceremony on - east of Broadway on 44th Street. The the- Wednesday in New York. — AP ater opened in 1903 with a production of near fatal stroke couldn't take away the his wife Mary Travis. "We sing a lot in the car," "Cousin Kate" starring Ethel Barrymore. It was first televised performance from the Hudson. signature baritone of country star Randy said Mary Travis, backstage beside her husband. built by producer Henry B. Harris, who died "We are outrageously honored to be reopen- Travis, and dozens of his friends, from "We sing a lot at home. Music is his soul. Music is aboard the Titanic. It was lost to foreclosure ing this special space with this special piece A of art," said Ashford. "We feel the ghosts of Garth Brooks to Kenny Rogers, used their voices just what he is made of." She said that it's clear in 1933 and sold at auction for $100,000. The and his songs to honor the legend. Travis that her husband still remembers how to sing Hudson changed hands many times and was those that were before us, living and breath- watched from the side of the stage Wednesday and play the guitar, but the stroke caused a con- a studio for CBS Radio. It was the home for ing and inspiring us." The revival of "Sunday in Nashville, Tennessee, as country stars from dition called aphasia that makes it difficult for the first nationwide broadcast of "The in the Park with George" starts previews multiple eras sang his classics, from "Forever him to communicate. "He knows all the words Tonight Show" starring Steve Allen and was Saturday. The Stephen Sondheim-James and Ever, Amen" to "Three Wooden Crosses." and he can chord every single song with his left home for a time to "The Price Is Right." Lapine musical imagines what the 19th-cen- Performers included Wynonna, Alabama, Chris hand," Mary Travis said. It later became a house for burlesque and tury French painter Georges Seurat went Young, Travis Tritt and Jeff Foxworthy. By the Travis, who wore a yellow jacket embroi- then a movie house in 1968. As a theater, it through to create his pointillist masterpiece, end, he had joined in the celebration by singing dered with flowers, was all smiles as he watched hosted Andy Warhol's "My Hustler" in 1968, "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La "Amazing Grace" and leading others in singing the performers, who each ended their perform- Lillian Hellman's "Toys in the Attic" with Grande Jatte." — AP "May the Circle Be Unbroken." ances with a hug or a handshake for the singer. Maureen Stapleton and Jason Robards Jr. It Travis, whose multiplatinum debut album The concert was held to raise proceeds for a ceased being a home for legitimate theater in "Storms of Life" in 1986 made him a star, suf- new foundation set up in his name to help 1968. Gyllenhaal and Ashford will share the fered a stroke in 2013 that initially took away his stroke victims. Travis suffered from a viral infec- stage that once was used by performers such ability to speak or read. But he's been steadily tion of the heart and was in a coma when the as Laurence Olivier, Louis Armstrong, Jane recovering his voice through rehabilitation, said stroke occurred. He spent over five months in Fonda and Barbra Streisand, who made her the hospital and underwent two brain surgeries, but battled back through years of rehabilitation. During his recovery, many of his fellow singers including the Oak Ridge Boys, Alabama, Josh Turner and Jamey Johnson, would come for vis- its to sing for him and pray for him, said Mary Beyonce faces $20 million Travis. Tanya Tucker said every time she visited Travis, she saw how far he had come in his progress. copyright suit from "Someone told me that I am the only one that really made him laugh, so I would go in there and tell him every dirty joke I could think of," said Tucker, who performed "I Told You So." YouTube star's estate Many artists talked about how Travis opened he estate of a late New Orleans YouTube the door for a neo-traditionalist wave in country star has filed a $20 million copyright music in the late '80s with his unmistakable infringement lawsuit against Beyonce voice. "The bottom end of his voice is so won- T over the use of his voice in her song derful," said Rogers, who sang his classic "The "Formation." The estate of Anthony Barre, who Gambler," for Travis. "Most people sing well in went by the name Messy Mya on YouTube, the middle of their range, but he got down in claims in the lawsuit filed in New Orleans feder- the bottom of his range and would just hold it. I al court Monday that Barre's voice is featured in never heard anything like that." "There isn't any- the introduction to "Formation." body in country music today that doesn't owe The complaint alleges Barre's estate has their career to Randy Travis," said Brooks from received no payment or acknowledgment. the stage. "I am one of those guys, man." At the Barre was fatally shot in 2010. Barre's estate is end of a rousing version of "Forever and Ever, demanding at least $20 million in damages, Amen," Brooks ran over to Travis to hold the royalties in addition to Beyonce, the suit microphone so Travis could sing a soft, but still names several songwriters, the video's director deep "Amen." — AP Country singer Randy Travis rides in a wheel- File photo shows Beyonce performing at a and companies owned by Warner Music chair as he leaves a meeting of the Senate Get Out the Vote concert for Democratic Group. Representatives for Beyonce and WMG Health and Welfare Committee on presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in didn't immediately respond to a request for Wednesday.— AP photos Cleveland. — AP comment. — AP.