Reverend Alvin Allison "Al" Carmines Jr. (July 25, 1936 – August 9, 2005) was a key figure in the expansion of

off-off-Broadway Off-off-Broadway theaters are smaller New York City theaters than Broadway theatre, Broadway and off-Broadway theaters, and usually have fewer than 100 seats. The off-off-Broadway movement began in 1958 as part of a response to perceived commerc ...

theatre in the 1960s. Carmines was born in

Hampton, Virginia Hampton is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 137,148 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, seve ...

. Although his musical talent appeared early, he decided to enter the ministry, attending

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...

, majoring in English and philosophy, and then

Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Unio ...

, earning a bachelor of divinity in 1961 and a master of sacred theology in 1963. Carmines was hired by Howard Moody as an assistant minister at Judson Memorial Church on Washington Square Park, New York, to found a theater in the sanctuary of the

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

church in conjunction with playwright Robert Nichols. He began composing in 1962 and acted as well. His Bible study group grew into the Rauschenbusch Memorial

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a socially liberal mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Restorationist, Continental Reformed, and Lutheran t ...

, with Carmines as pastor. Carmines taught at Union Theological Seminary and received the Vernon Rice Award for his performance and the

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Awards are among the most esteemed honors in New York theater, recognizing outstanding achievements across Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway productions within the same categories. The awards are considered a signific ...

for Lyrics and Music and was awarded the

Obie award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theater artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. Starting just after th ...

for Life Time Achievements. Carmines is perhaps best remembered in the church for the hymn "Many Gifts, One Spirit" #114 in the United Methodist Hymnal. He was commissioned by the United Methodist Women to write this hymn for their General Assembly in 1974. Carmines'

musicals Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

reflected his eclectic interests, including: *

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

, *

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

, *

Gertrude Stein Gertrude Stein (February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946) was an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh), and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris in 1903, and ...

, *

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

, *

Winnie the Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh (also known as Edward Bear, Pooh Bear or simply Pooh) is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by ...

, * gay relationships, and * St. Joan. Carmines' Judson Poets' Theater, with other burgeoning theatres Café Cino, La MaMa E.T.C. and Theatre Genesis were experimental and vibrant challenges to the commercialization and conformity of Off Broadway and Broadway houses. His 1973 musical ''The Faggot'' was a succès d'estime which transferred from the Judson Memorial Church to the Truck and Warehouse Theatre and ran for 203 performances. In 1977, he had a cerebral aneurysm that required months of therapy. He underwent surgery a second time in 1985, which only then cured his crippling headaches. He died in St. Vincent's Hospital in New York. Carmines found as much spiritual meaning in the theater as the church: "If you want to know how to live, go to church. If you want to know how your life is in its deepest roots, go to the theater."

Theatre credits

* ''What Happened'' (1963) - composer; a setting for the works of Gertrude Stein * ''

Home Movies A home movie is a short amateur film or video typically made just to preserve a visual record of family activities, a vacation, or a special event, and intended for viewing at home by family and friends. Originally, home movies were made on ph ...

''/''Softly Consider the Nearness'' (1964) - composer, actor * ''Patter for a Soft Shoe Dance'' (1964) - composer * ''Sing Ho for a Bear'' (1964) - composer, actor (as Winnie the Pooh) * ''Gorilla Queen'' (1967) - composer, lyricist * ''San Francisco's Burning'' (1967) - composer * ''Song of Songs'' - composer; a cantata based on the Bible * ''The Sayings of Mao Tse-tung'' (1968) - composer; another cantata * '' In Circles'' (1968) - composer, actor * ''Peace'' (1969) - composer; an adaptation from

* ''Christmas Rappings'' (from 1969) - lyrics, music, actor, director; annual Xmas show held at Judson Memorial Church, and eventually taped for a television special * ''

Promenade An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortification, fortress or city walls ...

'' (1969) - composer, musical director * ''The Urban Crisis'' (1969) - composer, lyricist; a "secular oratorio" * ''About Time'' (1970) - composer; another oratorio * ''W.C.'' (1971) - composer, lyricist; a musical based on the life of W. C. Fields, which starred

Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney (born Ninnian Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nearly nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last survivi ...

and Bernadette Peters but closed out-of-town * ''The Journey of Snow White'' (1971) - composer, lyricist * ''The Duel'' (1972); composer, lyricist; an opera based on the lives of

Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the first U.S. secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795 dur ...

and

Aaron Burr Aaron Burr Jr. (February 6, 1756 – September 14, 1836) was an American politician, businessman, lawyer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805 d ...

* ''Joan'' (1972) - librettist, composer, lyricist, actor, director * ''A Look at the Fifties'' (1972) - composer, lyricist; * ''Wanted'' (1972) - composer; *"The Making of Americans" (1972 - composer and performer, text by Gertrude Stein adapted by Leon Katz, Directed by

Lawrence Kornfeld Lawrence Kornfeld (May 21, 1930 – August 14, 2023) was an American theater director known for his off-off-Broadway and underground theater performances in New York City. He was an artistic director of The Living Theater in the late 1950s and ...

* ''The Faggot'' (1973) - composer, lyricist, director, actor * ''Listen to me'' (1974) - composer; another Gertrude Stein adaptation * "A Manoir" (1977) composer, text by Gertrude Stein, directed by Lawrence Kornfeld * "Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights" (1979) composer, text by Gertrude Stein, directed by Lawrence Kornfeld, starring Jeff Weiss * ''T.S. Eliot: Midwinter Vigil(ante)'' (1981) - composer, lyricist, director; last show at Judson Church * ''Romance Language'' (1984) - actor (as Walt Whitman) * '' The Making of Americans'' (1985) - composer & lyricist, libretto by Leon Katz * ''

The Comedy of Errors ''The Comedy of Errors'' is one of William Shakespeare's early plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play ...

'' (1992) - actor (as Duke/Balthazar) *
Máslova
' (1989) - inspired by the Leo Tolstoy novel, ''Resurrection''—composer, co-lyricist with David Boles, book by David Boles * ''Martyrs and Lullabies'' (1996) - an

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

featuring

Dietrich Bonhoeffer Dietrich Bonhoeffer (; 4 February 1906 – 9 April 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, neo-orthodox theologian and anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity's role in the s ...

, and

Bessie Smith Bessie Smith (April 15, 1892 – September 26, 1937) was an African-American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Empress of the Blues" and formerly Queen of the Blues, she was t ...

Awards and nominations

* 1964 Obie Award for Best Music - for ''Home Movies''/''Softly Consider the Nearness'' * 1968 Drama Desk Award (Vernon Rice-Drama Desk Award) - the music from ''In Circles'' * 1968 Obie Award for Best Musical - for ''In Circles'' * 1969 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music - for ''Peace'' * 1974 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics - for ''The Faggot'' * 1974 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music - for ''The Faggot'' * 2003 Robert Chesley Award for gay and lesbian Playwriting

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carmines, Al 1936 births 2005 deaths American male composers Musicians from Hampton, Virginia Swarthmore College alumni 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians