Broadway Shows

Entr'act II... Back in LA

• "Introduction of the Pontiac Fiero" Tour with Nick Perito, conductor and Russ Freeman, piano. We played shows in Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, and Detroit
• Dance Rehearsals for a "Love Boat" TV Movie with D'Vaughn Pershing... Juliette Prowse was the star
• Dance rehearsals on the feature film, "Fast Forward", directed by Sidney Poitier, with Quincy Jones as executive music supervisor.
• Woman of the Year
  This was the show that started my Broadway experiences... I subbed a lot for Mark Stevens on Woman of the Year at the Dorothy Chandler (left, top)... reconnected with the music contractor, Joe Soldo... Joe recommended me to the show's NYC contractor, John Monaco, who was the music contractor for the First National Tour of the Broadway show, La Cage Aux Folles scheduled to come to the West Coast... the rest, as they say, is history!!

• First National Company -- rehearsed in NYC at 860 Broadway, played 3 months in San Francisco at the Golden Gate Theater, and 9 months in Los Angeles at the Pantages Theater (slide 3).
• Music Staff:
  Larry Blank - conductor
  Don Chan, pianist/assistant conductor
  Richard Riskin - rehearsal pianist
  Don Pippin, music supervisor
  John Monaco - production music contractor
  
• La Cage National Tour Itinerary
• San Francisco was a HOOT!! The Golden Gate Theater was a dowdy but beautiful theater just off Market in downtown San Francisco... a few minutes walk to great restaurants, shops, bars, etc., etc... Artie Storch was the house drummer / percussionist... lots of great players in the orchestra... weekly sessions across the street at an Irish pub...
• Opening Night was outrageous... goes without saying that all of SF's Gay and Lesbian community turned out to support the show... there was a pre-show parade featuring the G/L Marching Band and "Dykes on Bikes", the Lesbian motorcycle club... all topped off by a FABULOUS party at City Hall!!! (where Ann Doucette and I were later married later during the run.)
• La Cage Aux Folles opened at the Pantages Theater (site of the Academy Awards for years) in September 1984 and ran until May 1985. Mickey Nadel and his wife Ann split the orchestra contracting job. The band was mostly LA studio players and was REALLY excellent!!
• Video -- La Cage Aux Folles cast at the Merv Griffin Show

• National Touring company with many of the original cast and company including:
  Donna McKechnie --  Recent reviews: PaperMill -- Arci's Place, NYC
  Nicholas Dante - book co-author
  Baayork Lee - original Connie Wong -- Production Choreographer
  John Mineo
  Carol Schweid
  ACL National Tour Cast
• Musicians:
  Tom Hancock - conductor
  Greg DLugos - pianist/assistant conductor, a very funny person...
  Tony Lujan - it was a luxury to have a great lead trumpet player
  
• A Chorus Line Unofficially Official Web Site Check it out... it's GREAT!!
• Ann and I decided that she would accompany me on the tour and that we would drive our new Jeep from city to city. She would use some of the time to finish her thesis for the completion of requirements for her bachelor's degree from Antioch University in LA.
• We bought a new Jeep CJ7 and a new computer, loaded up (subletted our apartment to the LA "La Cage" Jacob) and headed across country for two weeks of rehearsals in NYC at the Minskoff Theater / office building/ rehearsal studios at 1515 Broadway, right in the middle of Times Square. I unloaded my drums, said good-bye to Ann who was going to spend the two weeks with her family in Boston, and got to work.
• I stayed in a friend's apartment at about 118th and Amsterday where there was a LOT of activity on the street at night. Being a NYC newbee I wasn't comfortable and would not take the subway down to Times Square... what an idiot!!! When we later moved into the Columbia University neighborhood I discovered our apartment was only 8 blocks away from the first apartment... and that the subway was a perfectly cool way to get around!!!
• Rehearsals are finished and the Tour begins... ACL National Tour Itinerary (You will notice some mileage numbers on this schedule). As the travel was originally planned we were scheduled to have Mondays off for travel days. After a couple of weeks it was decided that the musicians would travel ahead of the company on Monday and have an advance orchestra rehearsal in the next city... this caused enormous problems often requiring us to drive all night after closing Sunday in order to get to the next city!!
• In addition to the travel challenges the change in the schedule meant I needed to get a second set of drums. I negotiated with the production company and they agreed to "front" the cost of a set from Pearl (my last "endorsement" set) and take the repayment out of the drum rental due me. I called Pearl and ordered a black piano-finish inside and out GLX set, 22" kick, 10", 12", 13", 14", 15" power toms and a 6 1/2" brass shell snare, stands, pedals, cases, etc., a really great set!!!
• The good news is that Ann got to meet and spend some time with the show's (legendary) dresser, David Barnard, eventually becoming David's "assistant," the company "shrink," and the "new age portraitist".
• ACL was a hard show in many ways... when the orchestra was good like the Dallas one (contracted by Ernie Chapman - mostly North Texas alums) or the band in Boston (contracted by Fred Buda, included players from Berklee - Dean Anderson, the percussion chairman and from the New England Conservatory). We really PLAYED the music these weeks!!

• John Monaco hired me for the touring company of Zorba the Greek -- a typical show where the drummer is really the percussionist... there were lots of percussion doubles in this show - (see the photos) I needed to get a set of 2 timpani (trunks from LA percussionist Mike Fisher) with tuning gauges, xylophone and orchestra bells (with stands to hold them), a gong, and various other "ethnic" instruments. I eventually ordered a heavy-duty electronic keyboard rack to hold the two mallet instruments positioned within reach of my drum-kit.
• Hurried back to LA when ACL closed, arranged financing at Musician's Credit Union in LA and ordered the instruments from Steve Weiss Music in Philadelphia (along with a $1250 Sonor Daniel Humair Double-Bass-Drum Pedal), who had the best prices and (most importantly) the instruments in stock. They were shipped to the Proctor Theater in (COLD!!!) Schenectady, NY where the final rehearsals and the first week of performances were scheduled.
• Ann and I packed up in LA and headed off to "the Big Apple"... Ann to Columbia University's Teachers College to start her Masters/PhD trevail while I was back on the road with Zorba. We found an apartment (<300 sq ft) at 110th and Riverside Drive. It was basically a room with a kitchen, a bath, and a "bedroom" that was only wide enough for a twin bed. The one window looked out into a the brick wall of a shaft -- the wall of the apartment across from ours. We could NOT see the sky from this one "exterior" window!!
• The last preparation I had to make was to get a "road trunk". The Zorba Tour was designated a "National Tour" which meant the production company was required to transport a trunk from city to city for each person. I found an old steamer trunk at an antique store in NYC which had drawers, hangers, etc. It was like having a little bit of "home" along on the tour - coffee pot, casette player and tapes, practice material, tools, lots of underwear and socks, etc., etc.. I used the trunk on the Cabaret and Fiddler tours as well.

• Toured with the First National of Zorba the Greek
• Starring Anthony Quinn, Lila Kedrova
• Words and Music by Fred Ebb and John Kander
• Directed by Joel Grey
• Produced by Fran & Barry Weissler/NAMCO, NYC
• Musicians:
  Al Cavaliere - Conductor
  Fred Barton - pianist/assistant conductor
  Angelo Saridis - authentic bouzouki player!
  John Monaco - music contractor
• Sanity provided by: Carmel Vargyas ("fur burner"/hair),
  Paul Straney (actor),
  Donna Theodore (actor/singer),
  Leila Martin (actor),
  Panchalli Null (actor/singer),
  Sharon Lawrence (actor)
• Zorba National Tour Itinerary
• A fun part of playing Zorba was the ad-libbed timpani-high tom solo during the fight scene with Zorba... when I couldn't see the stage I used a video monitor

• Starring Peter Marshall (Hollwood Squares) and Keene Curtis (Annie)
• Don Chan, conductor (Don was the assistant in the San Francisco/Los Angeles version)
• La Cage National Tour Itinerary
• Producer Alan Carr "pulled the plug" on the tour as it was headed into Los Angeles leaving EVERYONE unexpectedly out of work.
• I returned to NYC and sat idle until...

• Cabaret on Broadway
• Complete "Cabaret" National Tour Itinerary
• Starring Joel Grey in his Tony-Award winning role as the "Emcee"
• Musicians:
  Don Chan - Conductor
  Fred Barton - pianist/assistant conductor
  Barbara Merjan - Kit Kat Klub drummer
  Panchalli Null - Kit Kat Klub trombonist
  John Monaco - music contractor
• Cabaret required a LOT of percussion instruments just like Zorba. When the Tour was over in Baltimore I sold the timps back to Steve Weiss rather than storing them again.

• I played Fiddler on Broadway and The National Tour including a month in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan
• Fiddler starred Topol who played the role in the film version.
• Musicians:
  Kevin Farrell - Conductor -- on the road
  Milton Greene - Conductor - on Broadway -- "Fiddler's" original conductor
  Paul Woodiel, Jr. -- Solo violinist, mandolin
  Sheila Walker -- keyboards, accordion, accompanist
  John Monaco - music contractor
  
• Fiddler went to Japan for 4 weeks (3 in Tokyo, 1 in Osaka) before heading to Broadway. Ann went to Tokyo, met with colleagues from the Larry Kohlberg / Harvard experience... I was glad to find "Americanized fast food restaurants" and even a Hard Rock Cafe (slide 28)!!! Ran into my Chicago percussionist buddy Richard Garcia as I was checking into the hotel Tomanako (slide 19)... he had been appearing in Tokyo with John Denver and was on his way to the airport... what a "happenstance"!!! We did a good job of finding our way around Tokyo on the subways using the oragami-folded maps (slide 23). Ann returned to NYC when the show went to Osaka. There was an unbelievable sculpture garden along the street where the hotel was located (slides 31 & 32) in Osaka.
• Listed below is the orchestra that played Fiddler in Tokyo and Osaka (slide 22 above). These were amazing folks... dealing with our inability to speak their language, our frustrations with logistical issues (somehow my gear -- instruments, sticks, and various other pieces of equipment -- got left in NYC???), and our need for "western food" did NOT get in the way of their hospitality and supurb musicianship! All I can say is "Domo Arigato"!!!