Al Franken’s Memories of Christopher Durang

To the Editor:

Re “Christopher Durang, 75, Master Playwright With Impish Wit, Dies” (obituary, April 4):

I was so saddened to hear of Chris Durang’s passing. Chris was a wonderful, kind, hilarious man. And playwright.

In college I was in a musical he wrote about the life of Jesus. The songs were all showstoppers from famous musicals with new lyrics. I can’t remember the name of the show (this is 53 years ago), but I remember singing “That’s Incarnation” to the tune of “That’s Entertainment”:

It’s Christ who will act out the role
Who’ll save man and his immortal soul
Hip hooray!
Jesus Christ is the way!
The word became flesh
The flesh became Christ
That’s incarnation!

His plays such as “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You” and “Vanya and Sonia, and Masha and Spike,” for which he won a Tony, are classics. But mostly, Chris was a delightful man with a big heart and brilliant wit.

Al Franken
New York
The writer is the comedian, author and former senator.