Ann Crumb, Broadway Star of 'Aspects of Love,' 'Anna Karenina,' Dies at 69
Ann Crumb, like her father George Crumb, was born in the hills of West Virginia. Ann has performed classical and jazz concerts throughout the USA and Europe, having recently appeared in Austria at the Salzburg Festival, in Holland at the Nederlandse Programma Stichting, in Germany with the Bochumer Symphoniker and in Italy with the Lirico Sinfonica Petruzelli e Teatri di Bari. An internationally known actress and singer, Ann has created numerous leading roles on Broadway and London’s West End. She starred in Aspects of Love, The Goodbye Girl, Nine, Les Miserables, Chess, and Anna Karenina, for which she received a Best Actress Tony nomination. Ann is also the recipient of a Barrymore Award, a current Barrymore nominee, has a Broadway National Theater Award nomination for Best Actress, and an Arts Recognition Award. Her extensive list of credits includes everything from the classics to post-modernist theater, Shakespeare to Shepard and Ionesco. Ann has appeared on numerous television shows including Law and Order, One Life to Live, and Criminal Intent. Her first jazz recording “A Broadway Diva Swings” with Harry Allen and his All Star Jazz Band was on the national charts, and her recording of her father’s “Three Early Songs” was on the Grammy Award winning “George Crumb’s 70th Birthday Album”. At Ann’s urging, George Crumb wrote the first of his American Songbook series, “Unto the Hills”, dedicating it to Ann and Orchestra 2001. Subsequently, the third Songbook, “The River of Life”, was also dedicated to Ann. Both cycles were recorded by Ann for Bridge Records’ “Complete Crumb Edition” with critic David Hurwitz writing that “these song cycles are masterpieces, plain and simple, and you must hear them. Ann Crumb has a beautiful voice that’s just perfect for this music.” Ann is currently completing her first novel tentatively titled “Eben, City Dog.”
