Karl Held refined his artistic craft on Broadway and used his magic to improve his hometown of Gettysburg. Strangers benefited from his work in New York City and Adams County, and close friends cherished his warm embraces and lavish, intimate dinner parties.
“Gettysburg was not always the arts-rich community it is today. We owe a debt of gratitude to Karl the trailblazer, the creative spark who helped ignite the transformation,” Chris Glatfelter, Adams County Arts Council founding executive director emerita, said.
The curtain closed on Held’s life earlier this week.
“Karl was a truly gifted theater visionary and producer who envisioned and marshalled highly complex events with hundreds of people for the curtain to go up on time to tumultuous audience applause and on budget…almost,” said his friend and colleague Jeffrey Gabel, founding executive director emeritus of Gettysburg College’s Majestic Theater.
Held first left Gettysburg in 1984 to pursue work in New York City. According to an article on iBerkshires.com, he worked for Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood, the Spoleto Festivals in South Carolina and Italy, the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Early Arts Council Supporter
In the early 1990s, art in Adams County was an unorganized dream. A small group of volunteers banded together to form the Adams County Arts Council in 1993 to promote and support the area’s citizens’ creative works. Held, with his big city experience, was one of the first to answer the call, Glatfelter recalled. He served on its board as a member and chair.
“Karl was always looking to create partnerships between his professional connections and the local community,” Glatfelter said. “He played a vital role in the Arts Council’s early efforts and forged the path with his boundless enthusiasm and good humor.”
Majestic Return
Held returned to Gettysburg in 1996 to serve as Gettysburg College President Gordon Haaland’s senior advisor for art and culture.
He saw potential in the poorly-maintained Majestic Theater on Carlisle Street. Glatfelter recalls Held imagining the Majestic’s return to former glory when he was still in high school.
Its grand ballroom had been divided into three cineplexes, but Held and others knew restoring the building to its 1925 grandeur would bring crowds to downtown Gettysburg and give the college’s music and theater departments much-needed space. Haaland, College Board of Trustees Chair David LeVan, and others supported exploring the idea and realized it was feasible and affordable, Gabel said. Held also served on the committee that hired Gabel.
“From my first day on campus, Karl greeted me with open arms and introduced me to community leaders and his friends around town, which was just about everyone,” Gabel said.
With Gabel busy overseeing the theater’s renovation, hiring staff, and creating an operating plan, he needed someone else to produce a grand reopening gala on Nov. 14, 2005-the theater’s 90th birthday. Held was the perfect choice and reached out to some Broadway friends for help, including a 35-piece Broadway union orchestra, TV fashion ju-ju star Carson Kressley, Tony award-winning legend Elaine Stritch, husband and wife Broadway singing stars Jason Daniely and Marin Maxzie, and Tony award-winning composer and lyricist of “Godspell” Stephen Schwartz.
“It was truly a starry night that Gettysburg will always remember,” Gabel said.
In 2007, Governor Ed Rendell saluted Majestic’s successful revival by selecting the theater to host the annual Governor’s Arts Awards. The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts hired Held to produce the gala, which honored Pennsylvania distinguished artists including: Rob Marshall, director, producer and choreographer of the film version of the Broadway hit “Chicago;” his sister Kathleen Marshall, a three time Tony awarding-winning choreographer; and Gettysburg’s own Jennifer and David LeVan.
The next year, in 2008, Held kept the momentum going and launched The Gettysburg Festival, a 10-day celebration of music and art held on the Gettysburg College campus and other venues in downtown Gettysburg.
Back to the City
In 2010, Held became a Tony and Drama Desk-nominated producer for the Broadway revival of “Ragtime,” and a 2010 Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs Award winner for his production of “Hysterical Blondness.” That year, he was also named president of The American Boychoir School in Princeton, New Jersey. The Newark Boys Chorus School named him head of school in 2014.
And Home Again
The 2010s found Held in Gettysburg caring for his beloved mother, Dottie. During that time, he embraced the role of Chef Held and worked at The Blue Parrot Bistro, Swope Manor, Mamma Ventura’s Restaurant and Lounge, The Hideway, and Savor Gettysburg Food Tours.
“He crafted the most memorable meals for our special food tours and made it a point to come out, greet our guests, and engage them in thoughtful, welcoming conversation,” Lori Mitchell, former owner of Savor Gettysburg Food Tours said. “He was loved by all!”
Held was loved by all because he gave love, friend Karen Land said.
“Every time we would get together, he would greet me with a big hug and a kiss on each cheek. Then we would say, in tandem, with a Yiddish accent, “Sweetheart, you never call, you never write,” Land remembered. “We would sit for hours and talk about beauty, art, theatre, music, food, or nothing at all.”
Land is an active member of the Gettysburg Community Theatre community. Whenever she directed a show or performed with an improv troupe, she could count on Held being in the audience.
“He sat in the back row, aisle seat, in case he wanted to slip out for a drink,” she said. “We all knew when Karl was in the house because he had the most incredible and contagious laugh. And, he yelled out the most highly inappropriate scene suggestions!”
Return to Broadway, Lasting Legacy
Dorothy died in July 2023, and Held once again set out for the big city. He became a producer of the show “Kowalski,” a play that examines the dynamic between playwright Tennessee Williams and actor Marlon Brando. The show debuted off-Broadway earlier this year and is expected to transfer to Broadway this fall.
“He sent it to me to read, and he said, ‘This is going all the way, sweetheart. All the way! And, guess what? I’m a producer!” Land said. “When he told me it was going to Broadway, I said, ‘you did it my friend, one last hit!’ It was his deepest desire to have “one last hit!” Bravo, my friend!”
Held’s professional accolades were indeed impressive, Gabel said, but he will be remembered most for his personal warmth.
“We all loved Karl for being a loyal friend and a generous host of countless dinner parties, which brought us all together with love, laughter, and libations,” Gabel said.
Alex J. Hayes has spent almost two decades in the Adams County news business. He is passionate about sharing stories focused on the people in our communities and following local governments in an age when few journalists report on their meetings. Alex is also a freelance writer for several other publications in South Central Pennsylvania. Alex encourages readers to contact him at [email protected].
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