Reincarnation

When I was just a callow youth of 16 & in the throes of my deeply demented Musical Theatre obsession, I collected the original cast albums for every musical released on vinyl. In my collection was the Broadway cast of Lerner & Lane's 1965 musical- On A Clear Day You Can See Forever. I was simply hypnotized by the delicious, dreamy, delightful score. That year, 1970, I was over-the-moon for the movie version with Barbra Streisand & Yves Montand, directed Vincente Minnelli. I held this brilliant idea that I could make quite a splash with a star turn in the role of ditsy Daisy Gamble, if the role was simply switched to a guy. Easy, there would only be a change of the name & a few pronouns, & in a year's time, I would be collecting my Tony Award.

John Cullum & Barbara Harris in the original in 1965

In the original 1965 On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, the very talented Barbara Harris* played the irrepressible Daisy Gamble, who discovers with the help of the psychiatrist Dr. Mark Bruckner that she was, in a past life, Melinda Wells, a woman who lived in 18th-century Britain. I assured myself that I could add a dimension to the role & demonstrate my considerable sing skills & comic chops. The Broadway World would be mine!

Fast forward 41 years, I am shocked, stunned, stymied to find that my Seattle acting acquaintance-Tom Hulce has the same idea & is producing a new version of the musical on Broadway this fall... without me in a role I was born to play. Yes, I am conscious of the reality of my being just a bit long in the tooth to pull this one off.

In this new production directed &re-conceived by Michael Mayer, the director of Spring Awakening & American Idiot, the story now has David Gamble, a florist’s assistant who turns to a psychiatrist to help him quit smoking so he can move in with his boyfriend, Warren. When Dr. Bruckner puts him under hypnosis, he learns that David might have been Melinda Wells, a 1940s jazz singer, with whom the doctor promptly falls in love.

Harry Connick Jr, the 3 time Tony nominated, Grammy winning musician will play Dr. Bruckner in the new Clear Day (I love the way "theatre people" shorten the names of musicals). This production features a new book by Hulce's buddy Peter Parnell & will include many songs from the original 1965 score & songs created for the 1970 film: Love With All the Trimmings & Go to Sleep, as well as numbers that Mr. Lerner & Mr. Lane composed for Stanley Donen’s musical film Royal Wedding: Ev’ry Night at 7, You’re All the World To Me, Open Your Eyes & Too Late Now.

You think Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is expensive? When On a Clear Day You Can See Forever made its Broadway debut in 1965, it cost theatergoers a then record $11.90, the most for a Broadway ticket at that time, to see that season’s costliest production at $600,000.

our hero at 16 year old & hurrying to his audition

This gender-bending "revisal" will apparently go up with out me in the lead  role. This gives me a sad face, as I had rehearsed this role for over a year in my bedroom, when I was 16 years old.

* Footnote: Today is Barbara Harris's 76th birthday. She is retired from acting. If you are not familiar with her work, check out my favorite of her performances in Nashville. She was deservedly Oscar nominated for this, one of my favorite films. Harris on giving up show biz: "Well, if someone handed me something fantastic for 10 million dollars, I'd work again. But I haven't worked in a long time as an actor. I don't miss it. I think the only thing that drew me to acting in the first place was the group of people I was working with: Ed Asner, Paul Sills, Mike Nichols, Elaine May. & all I really wanted to do back then was rehearsal. I was in it for the process, and I really resented having to go out and do a performance for an audience, because the process stopped; it had to freeze and be the same every night. It wasn't as interesting."