Writer and producer Ken Wydro passed away January 21, at the age of 81.
Mr. Wydro was a familiar face in the Off-Broadway scene, having co-created the smash hit Mama, I Want to Sing with his wife, Vy Higginsen. Mr. Wydro directed the piece, which ran for more than 2,000 performances from 1983 to 1991 at the Hechscher Theatre.
Based on the life and times of Doris Troy, the musical was a gospel tribute to the bumpy road many African-American stars traveled in the 60s and 70s. Troy, known colloquially as Mama Soul, was Higginsen's sister, and her 1963 hit song "Just One Look" launched her into international fame, leading to her signing by The Beatles' Apple Records. Her international popularity did not, however, lead to similar success in the American market. For much of Troy's career, her talent was relegated to the backing tracks and liner notes of recordings released by white artists, including The Rolling Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want," Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, and Carly Simon's "You're So Vain."
While Mr. Wydro and Higginsen had conceived of the musical by early 1979, they were rejected by nearly every major producer in the city, who did not foresee an audience for a gospel-driven production. Undeterred, the couple invested their life savings to produce the show themselves, putting it up in a nearly abandoned theatre in East Harlem that had been without a tenant for 15 years.
Thankfully, their gamble paid off: When Mama, I Want to Sing! opened March 23, 1983, word of mouth became inescapable. In addition to the hit Off-Broadway run, the musical has played more than 1,000 performances throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. The musical inspired two sequels, Mama, I Want to Sing: Part II and Born to Sing, creating a trilogy of musicals following Doris' life on the edge of the spotlight. In 2011, a film adaptation was released by 20th Century Fox, starring Ciara, Lynn Whitfield, Patti LaBelle, Billy Zane, Juanita Bynum, and Hill Harper.
Outside of Mama, I Want to Sing!, Mr. Wydro was the author of three books and two plays (Secrets: The Untold Story of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, and Vice Versa). Alongside Higginsen, he formed the Mama Foundation for the Arts in 1998 to uplift artists working in traditionally Black music genres, including gospel, jazz, and rhythm and blues. The Mama Foundation remains a thriving intergenerational and interracial Harlem institution.
Mr. Wydro and Higginsen would, on occasion use the profits from Mama, I Want to Sing! to invest in larger commercial productions, including Broadway runs of The Mountaintop, Evita, The Best Man, American Buffalo, An American in Paris, All The Way, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and Joe Turner's Come and Gone.
He is survived by his wife of 44 years, Higginsen, and their daughter, Ahmaya Knoelle Higginson-Wydro. Information on a public memorial is forthcoming.