Partner John Willis
Anthony Bowles, a composer and musical director for the theater. For 25 years, Bowles was a leading director of musicals in the West End of London. His credits include several early Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musicals, among them "Evita," "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." He also worked in New York, at theaters like SoHo Rep, where in 1984 he conducted "Mandrake," a musical for which he wrote the score.
Bowles studied at the Royal Academy of Music, supporting himself as a pit pianist. Later, he became an assistant to the composer Benjamin Britten and a pianist for several ballet companies, including the Stuttgart and Sadler's Wells Ballets. He was the composer of many television and movie scores, among them "The Odessa File" and "Isadora," which he also conducted.
Bowles taught at the Guildhall and other English drama schools, and in 1980 he formed the Actor's Choir, an organization of actors and singers who work on television and in film and the theater. The Love Cooperative, the choir's production company, is mounting a London revival of Bowles's 1970 musical "Love in the Country."
Anthony Bowles died on March 15 at his home in London. He was 61. The cause was AIDS, said Beth N. Bomze, a friend. He was survived by his companion of 32 years, John Willis, of London.
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