Could It Be Forever? My Story (39 page)
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Authors: David Cassidy
Appearing with my brother Shaun in
Blood Brothers
gave me about nine of the ten jolts anyone could possibly get from a creative project. It was a terrific opportunity for both of us. It was the first and only time we ever worked together. We played twin brothers who’d been raised apart. My character had grown up in a poorer home and had experienced far more problems with his marriage, he loses his job, and his life falls apart. As you can imagine, I could relate.
I’d never felt as close to Shaun as I did then. From time to time we would have dinner together after the show. We would contemplate having our grandchildren on our laps, telling them about the time that we did
Blood Brothers
together on Broadway. Ironically, we had come back to the place where our father had built his reputation, where he’d lived and breathed.
Shaun Cassidy:
The
Blood Brothers
experience was perfect, and I hadn’t wanted to do it initially. I had gotten a foothold as a writer/producer, with an office at Universal. I was on a different career track and David called and said, ‘They want me to do this show in New York called
Blood Brothers
and I think it would be great for us to do it together.’
I said, ‘Thanks but no thanks, I’m doing something else now.’
He said, ‘Well, just come and see the show.’
I said, ‘David, I really don’t want to do it.’
He said, ‘Just come and see the show.’
I said, ‘When do you want me to come?’
He said, ‘Next week.’
And I said, ‘I can’t, I have a date.’ This was when I was single and dating.
I only went to New York because I got the girl to go with me. I ended up having a terrible weekend with her, but loved the show and I called my studio and said, ‘Look, how would you feel if I went to New York for a few months to do a show?’ I told them I’d keep writing because I was working on a movie for television at the time. Thankfully they said OK.
I got a little apartment in New York and David and I went off on this
Blood Brothers
adventure, which ended up being amazing in every way. It was great living in New York. It was great working with him. I think the reason it was so successful was the fact that we were actually brothers. That resonated for the audience and it imbued the show with a layer of reality. The characters were as different as David and I are, although neither of us are like those characters.
Petula Clark:
Bill Kenwright, the producer of
Blood Brothers
, had this brilliant idea of casting David and Shaun in the show and asked me to do it with them. I thought that was great, but I didn’t quite know what to expect. David surprised me very much with his talent.
The whole play takes place in Liverpool and we’re all supposed to be Liverpudlians. I’ve always found the accent to be a little bit difficult. In walks David and goes through his lines in a perfect Liverpool accent and I was totally blown away by that. In fact, his accent was almost too good. Taking the play to America, from London, I think the accent might have been too much for the Americans, so we all had to water down our Liverpool accents.
From the beginning to the end it was a sheer joy working with David. It was not an easy role for him. In his first scene he had to play this rough little boy from Liverpool in short trousers. It was not what people might have expected to see. They’d come to see David Cassidy. But he carried it off so well. When he’s an adolescent, he comes on in his blue jeans – then the audience can start relating to him. He was extremely funny and in the later scenes his acting was absolutely superb. I’ve worked with some pretty good people through the years and I thought he was brilliant throughout, and consistent.
The audiences adored him. It was definitely a triumph for David. I have to say he and Shaun together were amazing, just incredible.
We all know David is a great pop singer. But the music in this play was not particularly poppy. It’s poppy here and there. But the great thing about playing a role is you can put your own stamp on it. I had heard these songs sung several times before by other performers –
Blood Brothers
had been performed for many years in London before we took it to New York and then on tour. But suddenly they sounded totally fresh and wonderful because it was David. Every night he used to listen
to me sing and I was listening to him. There was a mutual admiration. I got to know him quite well. We worked together for two years. That’s a long time. We had fun together. We had a lot of laughs. We also went through difficulties doing the show because it’s not always easy on tour. We had a different band every week and sometimes it wasn’t always up to scratch.
I would work with David again any time. He is a perfectionist and so am I. Perfectionists are those who are a bit tortured because they can never quite reach that point where they think they’ve got it right. It’s a difficult way to be. He’s constantly trying to be better and that’s what drives him. That’s also what drives me and what drives a lot of the great performers in this business.
I loved being on the road with Petula Clark. What a wonderful human being. We became very close, Petula and I, during that time. We were always together, either on stage or travelling. I think, out of all the great people that I have had the privilege of working with, I’ve never met anyone with more talent, who was kinder, more genuine, more deserving of success. She has style and class. She was and is a great friend and I think of her all the time now and miss her. She was a great foil. I will forever be grateful for her friendship, for her support, for her love and for her gifts to me and my family. Sue, Shaun, Beau and I will always have a spot in our hearts for her.
Patrick Cassidy:
I went to New York to see
Blood Brothers
and I was completely knocked out by David and Shaun. This
was an example of David’s talent as an actor and singer. There wasn’t a horde of screaming girls, so you could hear the music and dialogue, you could see him doing what he does best. I think if my father had seen David in
Blood Brothers
he would have been so proud of him and said, ‘Yes, that was the way to go.’
The following three years – the first year on Broadway with my brother and Petula Clark, a year of touring with Petula in the national company, three months in the West End and three months in Toronto – were arguably the most creatively and emotionally satisfying, physically debilitating, financially rewarding years of my life. I did make a lot of money but what my body suffered playing that role I can’t describe.
A week or two into our rehearsal period, I tore both my hamstrings. I had to find a way to get through it. I began taking Advil. Daily. Many, many Advil a day, to ease the pain. I didn’t want anyone to know I was suffering. It took me 10 to 15 minutes, bent over, just to get out of bed in the morning. I suffered from terrible back and neck aches. My whole body was in agony. I stretched 40 minutes in the morning. I stretched 40 minutes before each performance. I was doing eight shows a week and I think I only missed two or three days during the entire year we were on Broadway.
A few blocks away, many years before, my father had starred in a production of
She Loves Me
, during which he had become a theatrical master. It was the most powerful
performance I ever saw. Period.
She Loves Me
opened to rave reviews on Broadway. The casting director of
She Loves Me
called me towards the end of our run in
Blood Brothers
, knowing my contract was nearly up, and asked if I would take over the role my father had created. I wanted so badly to play the role of Kodaly, as a tribute to my father, to repay him for all the great things that he gave me – the talent, the work ethic, the self-absorption and creativity, the love of theatre. But alas, I had another path to take. I had to move forward. And forward I moved.
We bought a house in Connecticut, Sue, Beau and I. We loved it there. We had four and a half acres. It looked like a picture postcard. Sue was never happier. Beau began going to school.
When I was on Broadway, I would spend 45 minutes with my son before I went to the theatre. We’d play the piano, I’d read him a story and work on a puzzle with him. It really was quality time. He has always known that I’m there for him and that’s the most important thing. Even if I work a ten-hour day.
As an actor and singer, sometimes I have to protect my voice. I have to remain silent for major portions of the day, so I don’t overtax my vocal cords. My son learned at a young age to understand that there are times I have to be silent. He knew it was nothing personal. Sometimes I whisper to him, rather than speak aloud. He whispers right back to me. Sign language with him is a ball.
During this period, I spent a lot of my time writing songs on the guitar. I wrote and recorded the theme song for
The John Larroquette Show
on NBC. It’s a bluesy little song; whenever I pick up the guitar, instinctively I always end up playing the blues. That’s where my heart continues to be. Incidentally, although
The John Larroquette Show
is written and produced by a friend of mine, I wanted my work to speak for itself, so I submitted the demo tape that I’d recorded under a pseudonym, Blind Lemon Jackson. The people who made the decision listened to the tape without knowing they were actually listening to David Cassidy.
For the last production of
Blood Brothers
that I did, I moved to Toronto and came home to Connecticut on the weekends. This was in 1996 and I’d done 800 or so performances by this time. I never once walked through it. I never once disrespected the responsibility of playing that role. That opportunity that Bill Kenwright gave me changed my life forever. He gave me the platform and I sold the tickets and we did great business. Words can’t describe the profound impact that role had on my life. I think of it often. I wish I could go back and do it just once more. Shaun, Petula and I. Ah, well.
During the last month in Toronto, in August 1996, I began receiving phone calls from my attorney, John Frankenheimer at Loeb & Loeb in Los Angeles, who said the MGM Grand in Las Vegas was interested in me taking over the lead in
EFX
, a $60-million production that was failing miserably. Michael Crawford had injured himself and had had to pull out. I told him I would consider it,
but I would need to make some creative changes to the show.
We were in negotiations for about a month. Richard Sturm, the head of entertainment for the MGM Grand, and Alex Yemenidijian, the chief operating officer, flew the corporate jet to Toronto to see my final performance in
Blood Brothers
. They took me out to dinner afterwards and said, ‘We want to do this deal with you. We’d like you to move to Las Vegas with your family.’
I said, ‘OK, when?’
‘Tomorrow.’
‘Tomorrow?!’ I started laughing, it was so crazy. ‘I’m on
Live with Regis and Kathie Lee
tomorrow.’
‘OK, we’ll keep the jet here an extra day. We’ll come pick you up the day after tomorrow. Bring everything you’ve got.’
One day. Pack your bags, move to Vegas. What a concept.
Sue, Beau and I arrived in Vegas and it was 100 degrees at six in the evening. This was in early September. My wife looked at me and said, ‘Are you sure about this?’
And I answered, ‘Yeah, I think I can make this work.’
We flew there with the chief executive officer, Terry Lanni, a very bright, fantastic guy. He was in the thoroughbred business as well. We had a long talk about living in Las Vegas, working in Las Vegas and the changes that I wanted to make to create a show that would work with me as the star. He seemed very supportive. He was straightforward, sincere, extremely well-polished, arguably
one of the best minds in the gaming and hotel business. He proved his value in the ensuing decade.
I will never forget the opportunity that Terry Lanni, Alex Yemenidijian and Richard Sturm gave me to perform, create and execute the transformation of
EFX
– in three and a half weeks! I called Shaun and Don Reo, my good friend who is an Emmy Award-winning television writer and producer, and we put together a creative team and worked around the clock.
The rehearsal process was a nightmare because of the number of individuals who had to be there while we were still making changes. There were at least 75 people backstage because of all of the special effects. All of the music or any other creative aspect of the show had to be entered into computers that ran the special effects, so it was a complicated and time-consuming process.
We created a whole new story and it was an overnight sensation.
EFX
became the most successful show in Las Vegas for the 27 months I was there. Within six months, the show went from one to two performances a night, and they were selling out.
It was a dangerous show to perform. Once I fell through one of the trapdoors in the floor, which had not been secured, and nearly plummeted five stories down. Fortunately, someone was there to pull me off one of the traps. I was injured a few times.
After two years of starring in the show, ten shows a week, 50 weeks a year, I began having foot problems. The stage was made of steel in order to support sets weighing
nine tons. That caused nerve damage in my left foot. Towards the end of the run, after about 1,500 performances, I injured my foot so badly that the doctor began giving me cortisone shots between my toes, which was excruciating. And I was told that I needed surgery to remove the nerves in my foot. As time went on, I was getting more and more shots.
When I recorded my album
Old Trick, New Dog
I was working ten shows a week. We recorded a lot of it, and then started overlaying. I was also starting a record company, Slamajama Records, and creating and producing a television series for Fox,
Ask Harriet
. I’d actually written and originally copyrighted the show for myself. Had I played the role, like I wanted to and should have, I think it would’ve been a successful series. It’s a tough thing to pull off, having people believe you’re both a woman and a cigar-smoking, Scotch-drinking sports writer, but I think I could have done it because of my physical appearance.