David de Berry (1952–1995) was a U.S. composer of theater music as well as an actor and music director. De Berry is best known for the score of a 1987 adaptation of

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

's ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. It recounts the ...

,'' on which he collaborated with playwright Richard Hellesen and director Dennis Bigelow. Originally commissioned for the Sacramento Theatre Company, the work has been widely seen, with perennial productions in

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

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, among other communities. The resident composer and musical director of the Sacramento Theatre Company, de Berry wrote original music for many productions there and at other companies, including the Portland Center Stage in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

and the

Oregon Shakespeare Festival The Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) is a regional Repertory, repertory theatre in Ashland, Oregon, United States, founded in 1935 by Angus L. Bowmer. The Festival now offers matinee and evening performances of a wide range of classic and conte ...

Ashland, Oregon Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. It lies along Interstate 5 in Oregon, Interstate 5 approximately 16 miles (26 km) north of the California border and near the south end of the Rogue Valley. The city's population w ...

. His scores graced many classic works by

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

and

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...

as well as contemporary plays. He was also co-author of the musical ''A Cappella,'' also written with Hellesen. As an actor, the 6-foot-5 (196 cm) de Berry specialized in comic, often oversized roles. He gave a memorable performance in the title role of a Sacramento Theatre Company production of ''The Imaginary Invalid.'' The role of a hypochondriac was written by Molière—who, it turned out, was really ill, and who died shortly after a performance in the title role. De Berry put every ounce of himself into the role, possibly knowing that for him, too, it was almost certainly his last time on stage. He died shortly thereafter in Oregon, where he was working on a score. De Berry grew up in

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and was a graduate of the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

, and

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

. As an undergraduate at UC Davis, de Berry performed in several plays, including the role of Don Quixote in ''

Man of La Mancha ''Man of La Mancha'' is a 1965 musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh, and lyrics by Joe Darion. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay '' I, Don Quixote'', which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervan ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:De Berry, David 1952 births American male composers Musicians from Sacramento, California 1995 deaths Boston University alumni University of California, Davis alumni 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians