What is the tough part of working in the theatre?
Theatre is the most collaborative art form in the world. But when ego takes over or when there’s confusion, shows aren’t that good, and satisfaction is difficult to find. One of the tragedies in my life was a musical I did with Jacob Brackman (lyricist), Steve Tesich (bookwriter) who won an Oscar for “Breaking Away,” and AJ Antoon, a brilliant young director. The four of us worked on this musical based on the movie “King of Hearts” for three years. We opened up at the Westport County Playhouse, got Broadway producers, and then it got away from us. The producers fired the director and hired a new director who wasn’t any good. It opened during the 1978 NY newspaper strike, so there wasn’t any media coverage. It failed. I had put three years and lots of money into this project. It was too much for me, so I walked away from the theatre. I turned to industrial shows, worked for fifteen years, and I learned my craft. What’s an industrial show? Fortune 500 companies — GM, CocaCola, Bayer, et
