Well, dear readers, those who’ve been following these here notes since November of 2001 (we are about to have our tenth year of these notes) know that I rarely get too serious here – that’s not what this has ever been about, and I will do my best not to get too maudlin right now, even though I’ve been weepy all day. Yesterday, the world lost one of the most beautiful, giving, warm, and caring human beings it has ever been my privilege to work with, know, and love – Michelle Nicastro. She bravely fought cancer for years, and yesterday that most disgusting of diseases claimed her. If that means no more suffering for her, then it was probably for the best. She deserved no suffering, not someone like her. In a world that has lost control, in a world where crazy people can kill and maim and do the most horrible things and LIVE, someone who was a genuine kind and gentle spirit, the kind the world needs, has to be taken, rather than the useless scum that make the world an evil and horrible place. I met Michelle back around 1991, I think. I was attending the Robbie Awards, I think, whatever they were. And Michelle, who I’d heard wonderful things about but had never seen, sang Can You Read My Mind and blew the roof off the joint. I filed her name in my head because I knew we had to work together. At that time, I was chomping at the bit to take my record label, Bay Cities, into recording original albums. I talked to Liz Callaway about doing one, I had a Sondheim rarity album I wanted to do, and I called Michelle about doing one. My Bay Cities cohort Nick Redman and I went to lunch and talked for quite a while, and she was over the moon about doing a solo album – and somehow out of that meeting we came up with the idea that would become her first album – great songs from animated classics. But Bay Cities could never get it together and in late 1992 I saw that these albums were never going to happen. In early 1993 we closed Bay Cities because I’d gotten an offer to start my own division at Varese Sarabande – I agreed to shut down Bay Cities only if I didn’t have to dip my toe in the water – only if I could come out swinging and record those first three albums. Liz and Sondheim were first, in June of 1993, but Michelle was right on their heels. I’d come up with the title of her album – Toonful. I’d hired a musical director we’d both worked with, but he turned out not to be a good choice for a whole slew of reasons, and I fired him. While in New York, I was visiting a friend in some small town, and his neighbor asked if there were any projects he might be involved in with me – his name was Lanny Meyers. So, I called him out of the blue and told him if he could get to LA he could do Michelle’s album – it was a total flyer – I had no idea if he was good or bad, I just liked him, his sense of humor and his energy. And so did Michelle – it was instant love between the three of us, and we spent a couple of months figuring out the song list, doing the arrangements, and then finally going into the studio.
Michelle was pregnant with her first child during all of the planning, and I while I’m not sure my memory is completely correct here, I think we did the band sessions and her scratch vocals, and then I think she had Callie. I do know that when we did her final vocal sessions she was nursing Callie between takes. Doing that album was magical – it was just one of those things – everything came together and just worked. Lanny’s charts were perfect, our band was perfect (well, the drummer was problematic, and I remember Lanny getting so angry that he walked to the drummer to say something and walked right into the glass of the booth – it was painful for him, but hilarious just the same), and Michelle, the new mommy, was luminous and brilliant. You could give her any kind of direction and she’d just know instantly how to make it her own and give the song exactly the right stuff. We knew we had something special and soon after the release hit the streets we were proven correct – that CD sold over 50,000 copies, unheard of for a basically unknown singer. It was just the right album at the right time and the right singer and the right concept. She performed all over LA doing stuff from the album and was cheered and fawned over wherever she went. Toonful became the only CD sold at the Disney Store at Disneyland that wasn’t produced by Disney. She became the one and only artist at Varese to actually receive royalties on an album, and I’m not talking about chump change either. Additionally, I suggested we sign her to an exclusive contract, the only singer we ever did that with.
Over the next few years, she appeared on a lot of my multi-singer albums, and when we did Shakespeare on Broadway (songs from musicals based on Shakespeare) and I’d decided to record a song I’d written for The Comedy of Errors – the first song of mine I’d recorded at Varese – my first and only choice to do the vocal was Michelle. We put together a little act for her, which she performed beautifully. We did a sequel to Toonful called Toonful, Too, and then we did Reel Imagination, an album of great songs from live-action children’s films. Both were good, but I felt we were repeating ourselves because Varese wanted more of the same. I finally put a stop to it, and her fourth album was a real, old-fashioned Broadway album, and she finally got to record On My Own from Les Miz – she’d played Eponine in the first national tour of the show, the one that played the Shubert here in LA. She had her second child, and then we didn’t see each other as much as we had, especially as the 2000s began – I was out of Varese and starting a new label and things were just crazy, and she was a busy mom. I’d run into her at Gelson’s or we’d speak on the phone. When I wrote the first three songs for The Brain From Planet X she was the one who recorded the demos, and I asked her if she’d play the lead – she really couldn’t commit that kind of time, though, and she was at the beginning stages of her illness (I hope I’m getting the chronology right here – I may not be, and apologies if I’ve got the timeline screwy). Happily, she had the most wonderful husband, Steve Stark, and I know she loved him and her kids more than anything. She still did some of the STAGE benefits here in LA and appeared on Jeepers Creepers: Great Songs from the Horror Films album I did. Her illness got worse, she had some surgery, but she bounced back, despite losing several inches off her height due to the surgery.
I hadn’t seen her in quite a while when I called her to see if she’d do the LACCTAA Two’s Company benefit at the Alex three years ago, in December of 2007. I badgered her until she finally said yes. When she came in for her rehearsal, despite all she’d been through, and the height loss, she was still so incredibly beautiful and sweet. It was just like old times, having her at the piano and listening to her glorious voice. We’d decided she’d do Part Of Your World (the benefit featured the songs of Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz), the arrangement she’d done on Toonful. She came on in the second act and, as she always did, just blew people away – she was radiant and her performance that night was unforgettable (and you can see it on You Tube). And that, as it turned out, was the last time I ever saw her, which truly saddens me.
When it was time to begin the Kritzerland at the Gardenia series in August, of course she was the first person I asked to be in it. She wrote me that the cancer had gone into her brain, she was blind in one eye, in a wheelchair, and she couldn’t sing anymore. It was just so sad to hear – and I think she knew she was heading toward the end. In response, I wrote what turned out to be the last thing I would write to her:
“Oh, Michelle. I hope you know how much I adore you and how special I think and know you are. If there’s anything I can do (I know, I know), I will do it. I send you all my love and prayers.”
And yesterday, she passed, but wherever she is now I know she will be in peace and that her light will continue to shine through Steve and her children and everyone who knew her. Anyone who ever met her fell head over heels in love – you just couldn’t help it. If you have her albums, put one on and listen to that voice – the voice of an angel. I know she wouldn’t like it if everyone was weepy – so I think we should just celebrate her vibrancy, her joy, her talent, and everything she was about. She was one-of-a-kind. I will treasure the memory of her as long as I live.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because, you know, for once in my life I’m sort of at a loss for words.
There wasn’t much else to yesterday. I heard the news fairly early in the morning, and I just let people know – on Facebook, on Broadwayworld, on All That Chat. The outpouring of love was extraordinary all day and evening long. I picked up a lot of tapes for two upcoming projects, but my mind was really not functioning well. So, I did what I tend to do when I’m sad – went and ate. After that, I didn’t even have the energy to pick up the mail and package that were waiting for me. Instead, I just sort of sat around, remembering Michelle stuff. Later I jogged and watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray (but I’ll write about that in tomorrow’s notes), then went to Hugo’s and ate more food.
Today, she of the Evil Eye will be here bright and early and also early and bright, and I’ll go do errands and whatnot and hopefully pick up an important envelope. I may or may not be having dinner with a friend. I also have to finish choosing the songs for December’s Gardenia show and then pick up the charts and get them Xeroxed. I’ve chosen twelve of the sixteen songs, thus far, but am pretty light on uptempo songs at the moment. I’ll fix that today.
Tomorrow, I hope to just relax, because this next week is crazy busy and then I’m on my way to Portland to do the JMK event. And before I go, I have to lock in our next release and get it prepped and ready to go, and I haven’t even begun yet, since I still haven’t decided exactly what it’s going to be. I’m hoping that on Monday, when I hear these tapes, I can make an instant decision.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do errands and whatnot, pick up charts, jog, watch movies, and maybe have dinner with a friend. Today’s topic of discussion: For those who know her albums, what are your favorite Michelle Nicastro vocals? For me, two always stand out – the hidden track of Disneyland, and Part Of Your World. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst we send our most profound excellent vibes and xylophones that Michelle is in a happy land doing what she always did in life – enriching people’s lives and shining her light on everything around her. Rest in peace, sweet Michelle.