Thread by @SamaanAshrawi

My Grandpa Dave told me he was sure he was gay when he was moving into his dorm room freshman year of college and there was a boy “with the prettiest eyes;” after Grandpa passed, I learned from my mother who that boy was.

His name was John Kander. After college, John, along with his partner Fred Ebb, would go on to compose two of the greatest Broadway musicals of all-time.

One was called ‘Chicago,’ and the other was ‘Cabaret.’

John wrote the music and Fred wrote the lyrics.

They also wrote the theme song for a 1977 Scorsese film called ‘New York, New York;’ originally sung by Liza Minnelli, Frank Sinatra would immortalize it a few years later.

I always thought that was so cool, that grandpa and this guy Kander were in love, but during the pandemic I noticed something on a bookcase.

It was a bookcase I walked by a dozen times a day, maybe more. Why had I never noticed this 7” vinyl poking out of one of the shelves? I pulled it out. It was a custom pressing and written in pencil was: “Our Boy,” the year, “1951,” and the composer’s name: “John Kander.”

My mom told me it was a song John had written for Grandpa 🥹

I put the record on and listened… some very moody piano solos, it sounded theatrical. I needed to know more.

I went online, was John even still alive?

To my amazement, the answer was yes! 94 years old.

I already knew I wouldn’t be able to find an email for John so I got in touch with a relative of his and a few days later I had an email from the man himself.

He told me the record we have isn’t just a song, it’s a whole entire one-act musical called ‘Our Boy’ that he wrote at the age of 22; and not only that, he wanted my grandfather to be the lead 🥹🥹 It was a play about a boxer grappling with the existential feelings of defeat.

Then John sent me some photos of my grandfather that we’d never seen before. There was my grandpa, Dave Fisher, in his shiny boxing shorts, looking young and curious and serious all at once. How incredible 😭😭😭

In New York just recently, my family (minus one sister) went to meet up with John, now 95, in person. My mother hadn’t seen him since she was a child.

Over lunch (and an Arnold Palmer) John opened up about their relationship. “We were honest with each other,” John told us. “Not in terms of not lying, but honest about who we were and who we were becoming. [Your grandfather] was a great gift to me.”

The End! (for now 🔮)

You can hear this story in more detail as well as hear excerpts of “Our Boy” on the @elis_audio app 🤲🏻

Thanks for reading!

spaces.elis.io/spaces/ef27712…

here's a better link for folks wanting to hear this story, the music, and more detail.

thank you, @elis_audio !