David Bowie Makes Last Public Appearance

In the last months of his life, David Bowie appeared frail, but not unhappy. On Dec. 7, 2015 he stepped out in New York City for the opening of his brand new off-Broadway play, Lazarus.

Lazarus told the story of Thomas Newton, the alien that Bowie had played in The Man Who Fell to Earth back in 1976, and featured both old and new Bowie songs. The production was, as he described to its director Ivo van Hove in the show’s early days of formation, “my dream.”

As production and rehearsals continued, Hove became one of only a few people who knew that Bowie was terminally ill — the world, including the cast of Lazarus, had no idea the Starman had been diagnosed with liver cancer.

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“None of us knew that he was sick,” actress Sophia Anne Caruso said to NME in 2017. “I did wonder because he wasn’t there every day. He was very thin and sat down a lot, but we didn’t think much of it.”

Naturally, the diagnosis made the making of Lazarus all the more significant to Bowie.

“I felt with David, from day one, a huge urgency to do [this show],” Hove recalled to Rolling Stone in 2016. “I wanted to postpone it because of calendar issues. And he said, ‘No, no, we have to make it now, it has to happen.’ … And that’s what I really admired so much, that the man, at that moment of 68, had such a fire within himself, such a fire and an ambition — I mean, a real artistic ambition, to make something happen. Because he believed, really, that it was something important.”

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When Lazarus opened on Dec. 7, 2015 at the New York Theatre Workshop, Bowie was thrilled everything was finally coming to fruition.

“Well, we were sitting behind the stage together for quite a long time, 15, 20 minutes. And he was excited. He was really excited,” Hove explained. “It was his dream coming true. And he was dreaming of the next [play]. He said, ‘Let’s go for the second one.’ He really loved what he had seen.”

Watch the ‘Life on Mars’ Scene From ‘Lazarus’ Starring Sophia Anne Caruso and Michael C Hall

There would, unfortunately, never be a second one. That opening evening would turn out to be Bowie’s very last public appearance. Just over a month later, he passed away on Jan. 10, 2016, two days after his 69th birthday.

Lazarus continued, with performances up until Jan. 20. Subsequent productions were held in London, Prague and Amsterdam.

“I think for David Bowie fans, this is his last piece of work and they’re coming to say goodbye to him,” Amy Lennox, another Lazarus actress, said to NME. “This is the final page. When someone iconic passes, people realize what they’ve lost. If anything, I just feel really privileged to be part of this and carrying on his legacy.”