Karin Brusletten
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So many people who were fortunate to know and love Karin were deeply saddened by the news of her passing on July 15, 2017. Her warmth, graciousness, kindness and sublime singing voice were gifts she shared generously. Vashon Island mourns one of its great artists.
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She and her husband, whom everyone knew as "Buzz," lived free, daring and creative lives. For over a decade they lived happily in and around Florence, Italy, where, among other things, they joined in creating the Angel Band. In 1979, they released a vinyl LP entitled, "All the Good Times," which was eventually made available on CD.
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Below are the tracks from that CD. Two of the songs, "Lizbie Brown" and "I'll Fly Away" have new special meanings for us now. How like Karin this:
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Sweet Lizbie Browne
How you could smile,
How you could sing!
- How archly wile
In glance-giving,
Sweet Lizbie Browne!
To Karin -- and yes, to Buzz -- from all of us who love you -- thank you for
All the Good Times...
"Golde"
"Do you love me?"
A major highlight for me in shows I've been in was playing Tevye opposite Karin as "my Golde" in "Fiddler on the Roof," directed by genius and true mensch, Lou Hetler. He himself experienced the stedtl life where pogroms were a random but not infrequent occurrence. That stark reality lurks just behind the lighter scenes in Act I, inspired by Sholem Aleichem's stories of Tevye the Dairyman and enhanced with dreamlike qualities from the Marc Chagall-like set.
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Below are some scenes from a faded video of the 1981 Vashon Island Drama Dock performance. It seems fitting that the video should be so faded and sometimes blurred, for such is memory itself. And it is also fitting that the audio remains clear, because that is how memory can work, too.
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A wonderful thing about community theater is that is often a family affair. In the first video below, you see Buzz Brusletten take the podium as the musical director [video for that still to be added here], and in the orchestra is Buzz and Karin's son, Andrew. The set design and (for a major part) construction was done by my then-wife Hita, and daughter Hillery played Sprintze, while Buzz and Karin's daughter, Ture, played Bielke.
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Here are clips from Act I:
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The "dream" Tevye cooks up to get Golde to approve the Tailor Motel Camzoil over the butcher Lazar Wolf as husband for daughter Tzeitl:
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Karin's beautiful voice enriches this performance of "Sunrise, Sunset":
For more videos from the complete Act I of the 1981 Drama Dock performance of "Fiddler on the Roof," click here. The search for the DVD with Act II continues.
Celebrating the 25th wedding anniversary of friends Ron Falberg and Vakerie Vigesaa: