Al Hirschfeld: A Preliminary Sketch of Tony Azito from Joseph Papp's "The Pirates of Penzance"

Tony Azito (1948-1995) became famous seemingly overnight playing the Police Sergeant in Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival production of Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance." The 1887 comic opera was presented at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park in the summer of 1980 with a nontraditional staging and pop score. Azito's over-the-top performance was very athletic, more madcap than anything in the D'Oyly Carte tradition. The show also starred Linda Ronstadt, Rex Smith, Kevin Kline, and George Rose. It was a hit and was later restaged for Broadway. Ultimately it was made into a movie released in 1983.

Theater caricaturist Al Hirschfeld covered the original Shakespeare in the Park production for the New York Times. On July 16, Bradford's Auction Gallery of Sun City, Arizona, sold a preliminary sketch of Azito in costume, one of the six characters in the finished drawing, and the smallest. Hirschfeld roughs don't come to the market very often. This one gives an insight into his working process.

Al Hirschfeld
Bradford's Auction Gallery, July 16, 2023

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/al-hirschfeld-tony-azito-study-for-the-pirates-of-2198-c-5774d228c8?objectID=180710813&algIndex=upcoming_lots_prod&queryID=dc839a92feb8044fd03185a5d5edecba

The full Hirschfeld illustration for the Times was deliberately folded over on itself by the auction house, perhaps in order to make the Police Sergeant appear to be a more prominent figure in the composition. The complete image is available on the website of the Al Hirschfeld Foundation:

         

https://www.alhirschfeldfoundation.org/piece/pirates-penzance-2

"When the Foeman Bares His Steel"

Note:  There are five Ninas. Make sure you count them all.

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