Tom Waits pays tribute to Robert Wilson: “We will always be suspended in his orbit”
Tom Waits has paid tribute to his longtime theatrical collaborator Robert Wilson, saying, “We will always be suspended in his orbit.”
Wilson, with whom Waits worked on numerous projects with throughout the course of his career, who was a prolific playwright and theatre director, died on July 31st at the age of 83. Subsequently, Waits has now paid tribute to his friend in a poignant post on social media.
Writing on behalf of himself and his wife Kathleen Brennan, Waits began his lengthy tribute by saying: “Over 40 years of loving Bob and still he astounds…His vodka paintbrush of absurdity, vaudeville, heartbreak and forgiveness and imagination of the infinite is still wet and painting backdrops backwards behind the Mirror into the wee hours of the morning of his opening night!”
Going on to pay homage to Wilson’s life and character, interspersed with various pictures and pieces of art of the playwright, the prolific songwriter noted that as a friend and follower, “We will always be suspended in his orbit,” before profoundly expanding on his artistic talents.
The pair had worked on many collaborative theatre projects together over the course of decades, beginning in 1989 with a musical adaptation of The Black Rider: The Casting of The Magic Bullets. They also spearheaded an operatic version of Alice in Wonderland in 1992 and another musical adaptation, this time of Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck, in 2010.
Waits spoke of Wilson’s command of the stage by saying: “Bob s-l-o-w-e-d everything down, the actors moved as if under water… the audience experienced a flower blooming in real time. Robert Wilson. Bob. Beloved Bob. Biscuits and Gravy Bob, Elegant Bob.”
Signing off his poignant statement, the musician paid tribute to his friend by concluding: “And… with his down-home heart and pure prisms of light mind and a wild and wicked Texas cackle ripping up yellow lighting in a black sky desert… Forever Bob.”
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