having recently completed a logo design for Caleigh Hernandez’s Santa
Barbara-based humanitarian shoe business, Best Foot Forward. Jeannie’s
husband, Pimm, is an anchor and host of shows on Bloomberg radio
and television, including
Taking Stock,
a daily interview show.
Ironically, the Foxes’ next-door neighbor is
Paul Blake
, producer
of the Tony Award-winning musical
Beautiful
, based on the life and
music of
Carole King
. When I was on the board of the Lobero Theatre
in the mid-’80s, I had seen Paul’s great production of
Mass Appeal
in
Aspen with
John Travolta
, so we hired Paul to stage a series of plays
and musicals at the Lobero.
Paul got us house seats for a matinee performance of
Beautiful,
and we came back to the apartment to have drinks with him, high on
Carole King’s music and the lavish production. He has a huge hit on
his hands, with a national tour of
Beautiful
launched in September,
and the show is also enjoying success in London’s West End.
I showered Paul with questions about the experience of developing
his show, the challenges it presented, and his interactions with King
and the other composers and lyricists whose work is integral to the
production. His struggles were many. Carole did not want to relive the
painful relationship she had with her collaborator and ex-husband, the
late
Gerry Goffin
. She finally granted permission but refused to see the
show or be involved with any promotion.
KING OF THE SHOW
M
any months after
Beautiful
opened, Ms. King contacted
Paul and wanted to see the musical at the Sondheim Theatre
but only with the strict provision that no one could know she was
coming. She wanted to come onstage at the end of the show to make
a pitch for funds to support AIDS but didn’t know the layout of the
theater. Paul made a videotape of how to get from her seat to the
stage door. He said she looked like Norma Desmond, disguised with
a cloak and glasses. “No one recognized her. She cried through much
of the show, and when she slipped backstage to remove her disguise,
it was clear,” Paul recounts, “that she was deeply moved. With the
entire cast onstage she walked out to join them. The audience and
cast members gasped in shock.”
Carole told the audience she would sing if they contributed
enough money for Equity Fights AIDS. In under a minute, audience
members had pledged $30,000 and she sang “You’ve Got A Friend”
with the cast and with
Jessie Mueller
, who won the Tony portraying
Ms. King. This emotional and extraordinary moment can be seen in a
video on YouTube.
CONNECTING WITH CADY
A
nother Broadway luminary who hails from Santa Barbara is
Cady Huffman
, who won a Tony for her portrayal of Ulla, the
leggy and voluptuous Swede in Mel Brooks’ Tony-sweeping hit
The
Producers
. Jeannie and I grew up in Santa Barbara with Cady, and both
winter
|
spring
29
Rod Lathim directs
Footlight Fantasy
, a 1981 Access
Theatre production at the Lobero
(from left)
Rod Lathim, Ed Waterstreet (founder of Deaf
West), Linda Bove, and Melissa Manchester, at Access
Theatre’s ten-year anniversary celebration at the Lobero
(photo: Richard Carter)
