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Irv Clark, 74, dies after years singing in musicals
By BARBARA L. FREDRICKSEN, Times Staff Writer "Any time his name was on the marquee, people bought tickets," said Madeline Child, past president of Stage West and a longtime Clark associate. SPRING HILL -- Irv Clark, a pillar of Tampa Bay community theater, died in his sleep Friday (May 3, 2002). He was 74. Clark, a classically trained operatic tenor, was a familiar face to patrons of Stage West Community Playhouse, Richey Suncoast Theatre, Ruth Eckerd Hall, Francis Wilson Playhouse and other area theaters. He was often guest performer with the Hernando Symphony Orchestra and the Richey Community Orchestra. "Any time his name was on the marquee, people bought tickets," said Madeline Child, the past president of Stage West and a longtime associate of Clark. "We started with Stage West at the same time, in 1989," Child said. "Irv was in our first musical, The Fantasticks." Since then, Clark has put together shows that have raised tens of thousands of dollars for Stage West and for other theaters, performing arts groups and churches. His popular "Irv Clark and Friends" show is credited with raising the bulk of the money to build Stage West's $18,000 parking lot expansion a few years ago. "This was what he was so good at: getting a group of people together to do a show," Mrs. Child said. "These were always wonderful shows. Every time we did one, it sold out. He was able to raise more money than anyone else." Clark often said that his favorite role was that of the middle-aged vintner, Tony, in The Most Happy Fella, a role that won him a HAMI award at Stage West in 1993 as Best Actor in a Musical. "He was wonderful," said Betsy Glasson, a Stage West actor who performed with Clark in the musical Carousel, a show for which he won another HAMI award as Best Supporting Actor in a Musical. "He was a joy to work with," she said. In 2001, Clark was given two of area theaters' highest awards, the Marcelle Oldershaw Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual Lary Awards for Tampa Bay theaters and the 2001 American Association of Community Theatre award for his contributions to area theaters. "We lost a giant," said Charles Skelton, president of the Richey Suncoast Theatre board of directors. Clark had been in declining health for many years, a result of complications from a childhood disease that cropped up late in life. He had a heart attack in December but continued to perform as recently as April 20, when he was the guest star with the Richey Community Orchestra. "You knew he was always in pain, but he never complained," Glasson said. "He was really special. Stage West is going to miss him." Clark played leads and major supporting roles in musicals and operettas, but he was often called upon to lend heft to musical productions' choruses. "It may be a minor role, but Irv shows he's a theater trouper by taking a small role and lending his wonderful voice to our cast," Mrs. Child said after Clark joined the cast of The Red Mill in 1996 at Stage West. Clark had just held auditions for a musical revue he was set to direct with Mrs. Child at Stage West later this summer. The Stage West board is meeting today to decide whether to go ahead with that production or to do another at a later date. "He was not at all ill," said his widow, Alyce, on Friday. "We went to the cardiologist on Thursday; and he said, 'See you in six months.' This was just such a shock. He seemed all right," she said. Clark was born in Newark, N.J., and moved to Spring Hill in 1989 after he retired as senior manager of a financial company in New Jersey. He later told the Times that the main reason he moved to Hernando County was that he had spied a sign for the then-future site of Stage West Community Playhouse on Forest Oaks Boulevard. He is survived by his wife, two sons, three granddaughters and two grandsons. Viewing is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday at Brewers Funeral Home on Mariner Boulevard, Spring Hill. Services are at 1 p.m. at Temple Beth David, and interment is at Florida Hills in Spring Hill.
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