# Goldenthal accident



## choc0thrax (May 22, 2006)

I wish Elliot would get back to film scores instead of that opera or whatever he is doing but anyways part of the reason he may be slow coming back is an accident he had in December I didn't know about. Poor Goldy.  



One reason for a sort of domino effect of tardiness pervading this production was a freak accident last fall that left Goldenthal with a serious head injury just when his composing talents were most in demand.

He says his traditional working hours are "9 to 5 — that's 9 p.m. to 5 a.m." So it was not unusual that he was awake in the wee hours one December night in the couple's New York home. "I was sitting at my table in the kitchen after work. I couldn't fall asleep. I was leaning back in my chair, and the chair tipped over," he says quietly. "And that was it."

When Taymor talks about the incident, tears still pop into her eyes. "It was the most terrible, horrifying thing I've ever been through," she says in a separate conversation. "It was Dec. 13, the day before my birthday. He fell, and he got a double hematoma — we have hard ceramic floors. He couldn't speak for a while, but he had to keep composing.

"The funny thing was, when I went to the hospital, the speech therapist would have him write things down. She'd ask: 'What's your name?' and he'd write: 'Elliot.' And then she'd ask: 'Who is the president of the United States?' and he'd write: 'C-H-E-N-E-Y.' That's when I knew I still had him. He still had his humor and quick wit."

The accident slowed the 52-year-old Goldenthal down by a month or so — and, unlike Taymor, he believes the trauma left him temporarily humor-impaired. "When I am at my best, I communicate with a lot of irony and wit and that stuff, and I can't communicate that because it relies on rhythm and cadence, which I can't do right now," he complains. "I miss it."

But although the injury continues to trouble his speech, Goldenthal says it never affected his ability to compose. "I didn't lose that capacity in my brain, and the motor skills were there in my hands," he says. "But it was just the luck I had that I was writing an opera, and I prefer to sing through everything, so I can get a sense of how much the voice can sustain, just the human physicality and the endurance." Ironically, though, singing turned out to be his best speech therapy. "I had to wrap my tongue around difficult language, Old English," he says.


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## IvanP (May 22, 2006)

Amen :mrgreen:


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## PaulR (May 23, 2006)

choc0thrax @ Mon May 22 said:


> "I had to wrap my tongue around difficult language, Old English," he says.



Ain't that the truth.


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## Nick Batzdorf (May 23, 2006)

Me bet that opera is worth seeing. Quite a pair.


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## midphase (May 23, 2006)

Should be pretty cool. Opens up this Saturday, got a big write up in this past Sunday LA Times, and they actually recommend that children or easily scarable people don't attend!

The LA Opera has been through some rough times and it needs this type of new thinking with interesting ideas to gather a greater audience and public interest.

You guys won't believe what they have in store next!!! Let me just say...the "buzz" will be great!


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