Obituaries

Beloved baritone Ken Page dies at age 70

The Broadway alum’s golden vocals produced Old Deuteronomy CATS and the Lion of The Wiz to life, together with Oogie Boogie in The nightmare before Christmas.

Beloved baritone, stage star and voice actor Ken Page died on September 30 at the age of 70. The death of Mr. Page was confirmed by his longtime friend, producer Dorian Hannaway.

Mr. Page possessed one of the most recognizable voices on Broadway, with a booming resonance that commanded respect from the first note. Born and raised in St. Louis, Mr. Page began his career in the choir at The Muny before coming to New York, where he quickly became the toast of the town as the Lion on the original Broadway run of The Wiz.

From then on, his Broadway career was varied, winning a Drama Desk award for his performance as Nicely-Nicely Johnson Boys and dollsperforming in the original company of Isn’t it misbehaving, introduce the American public to the wise Old Deuteronomy in Catsand perform in the review It’s nothing but the blues.

Preferring personal achievements, Mr. Page scarce, including the one from 1988 Torch Song Trilogy, the 2006 film adaptation of Dream girlsand the filmed stage performance of Cats. He appeared on television Give Me a Break!, Sable, Family Affairs, Adventures in Wonderland, Touched by an Angeland more.

In the recording booth, Mr. Page made an everlasting impact as the voice of Oogie Boogie in Tim Burton’s classic stop-motion film The nightmare before Christmas. Indelibly linked to the month of October since the film’s premiere in 1993, Mr. Page regularly reprises his role for Disney, providing fresh vocal lines for Halloween parties and video games as the spooky voice of the spooky season.

In his later years, Mr. Page developed a cabaret show entitled Page by pagewith which he toured the country. Mr. Page returned regularly to the Muny and performed in more than 35 different productions (including several star returns). Cats), and had pursued a career in directing on the regional circuit.

Information about a public commemoration will follow.