Farewell to Henry Butler, an opera director who also worked on and off Broadway. Butler, 79, died of esophagus cancer Aug. 1, according to an associated press obituary published in Newsday. Butler directed a 1973 mounting of Sigmund Romberg's Desert Song at Broadway's Uris Theatre. Other credits included Luv at the Cleveland Playhouse in 1967 and The Importance of Being Earnest at RI's Trinity Square Rep the same year, though he's best known for his work at NY's Metropolitan Opera, including penning the libretto for the 1967 opera Mourning Becomes Electra, based on Eugene O'Neill's drama.
According to the AP obituary (Aug. 11), Butler was born in Kansas and received Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundation grants for his work.
