It’s been 10 years since David Bowie made his final public appearance, just weeks before his passing. On December 7, 2015, he arrived in New York City for the opening of his off-Broadway play, Lazarus. Though the legendary singer appeared frail, one thing was clear — he was in high spirits.
Early in his career, Bowie knew he had more to offer. “I’ve rocked my roll. It’s a boring dead end,” he told Playboy in 1975. “There will be no more rock 'n' roll records or tours from me. The last thing I want to be is some useless f****** rock singer.”
Shortly after, The Man Who Fell to Earth came into his life. The 1976 film was adapted from Walter Tevis’ novel about an alien who crash-lands on Earth in search of water to bring back home to his drought-stricken family.
Nearly 40 years later, that same story would come full circle in Lazarus. The play revisited the tale of Thomas Newton, the alien Bowie had originally portrayed, featuring both classic and new Bowie songs.
During production, director Ivo van Hove became one of the very few privy to Bowie’s terminal illness. Neither the cast of Lazarus nor the public knew that the singer was battling liver cancer.
"None of us knew that he was sick," Sophia Anne Caruso, who played the Girl in Lazarus, told 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."
Knowing he was terminally ill, Bowie was determined to bring the play to the stage as soon as possible. "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.”
Bowie was overjoyed to see his hard work come to life as Lazarus opened on December 7, 2015, at the New York Theatre Workshop.
NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 12: Fans attend a showing of the David Bowie musical "Lazarus" on January 12, 2016 in New York City. Bowie passed away on Sunday, January 10th at the age of 69 after an 18 month battle with cancer.Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images
"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 recalled. "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."
Sadly, there would never be a second performance. That opening night became Bowie’s final public appearance. He died just over a month later, on January 10, 2016, two days after turning 69.
Lazarus ran through January 20, with later productions staged in London, Prague, and Amsterdam.
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