Scattershot Symphony #24

Theater Of The Imagination – Part 3

Welcome to:

Scattershot Symphony

The Music of Peter Link

(That’s me.)

This week being the twenty-fourth episode of this podcast, 

I prefer to let the music do the talkin’.  However, if you need to know more about me, please visit Wikipedia.com – Peter Link.   

This episode is entitled

“Theater Of The Imagination – Part 3”

 King Of Hearts

A Broadway Musical

and eventually,

A Podcast Musical

KING OF HEARTS has always been more than just another musical for me. Since I first saw the film many years ago it had become a bit of an obsession. I remember that day when the movie was over, I sat dumbfounded in the theater in awe of the story and the incredible possibilities it held for a new musical. I grabbed my pal, A.J. Antoon, a brilliant young American stage director, and dragged him into the theater that very day and watched it again with him. He wholeheartedly agreed.  

We then  spent six months trying to get the rights, probably because KING OF HEARTS was a French film and dealing with people across the pond and in a foreign language was always clumsy.. Also, at that time there were at least ten other producers around the world fighting for the same rights. But both AJ and I were committed to the project, and the thought of losing the rights to someone else was a most difficult prospect to face. 

Consequently, we both got on a plane and went to Paris, wined and dined Phillippe DeBroca, the director of the film, for a solid week, bowled him over with our enthusiasm, and came home with the bacon. We got the rights! I’ll never forget the flight home. We were both so overjoyed we celebrated like crazy people all the way to Kennedy International.

The first collaboration and the greatest creative period took place over the next three years beginning in 1976. A.J. Antoon and I brought together a book writer and a lyricist, Steve Tesich and Jacob Brackman, and together we began a work process that was many times crazier than the show itself. Steve Tesich was then a little known Yugoslavian playwright who had several plays successfully produced at the American Place Theatre in New York. Since then his career really blossomed. He won the Oscar for his screenplay for BREAKING AWAY. We found Jacob Brackman by reading the backs of Carly Simon record albums. I had always loved her lyrics and found much to my surprise that Jacob Brackman had written quite a few of the better ones.

Little did I know that I already had started one of the craziest experiences of my life. We spent three years working — casting, writing, exploring, and developing KING OF HEARTS. In that time I think I had one of the most intensely creative periods of my life. To search the hearts and minds of those lovable characters in the play every day for three years gave me a rare insight into the ways of lunacy. And the play’s theme, “Who’s really crazy?”, struck home in countless fashions.

“Crazy.” I guess that became the theme for the entire experience. The story is about an American soldier on the last day of World War I who is sent into a little French village previously occupied by the German Army. Since all knew that the armistice would be signed at midnight, the German army, in their usual dastardly way, decided to plant bombs in the town square, exit the town and have the bombs blow the town to smithereens at midnight.  The Yanks get word of this from the French underground who had already alerted the town’s people of the danger. The town’s people also exited the town which left only a German patrol behind.

So, the Yanks send in Johnny Able , our hero, with a soft heart – so soft that the army had made him the keeper of the carrier pidgeons. So, in the days of little technical communication, he is sent into the town to check it out and message back with his pigeons to let them know if and when the town is safe to enter.

So, when Johnny enters the empty town, the first thing he runs into is the leftover German patrol who begin to chase him through the streets. Running for his life with his birdcage (he doesn’t even carry a gun) he finally comes upon an open iron gate that leads into what looks like a hospital. Upon entering the hospital, he finds out that it is not a hospital, but rather the town’s insane asylum. It turns out that the nuns who run the asylum were so intent to get out of town that they too have left, leaving the inmates behind. 

With the Germans hot on his heels, our Johnny runs into the day room full of the inmates having their usual whacked out day. He knows he needs to hide, so he quickly puts on an inmate’s smock and bonnet and sits at a table where three inmates are playing cards and pretends to be one of them, just as the German patrol enters after him. The leader of the patrol goes to the table and asks one of the inmates,

Who is in charge here? Who are you?

One inmate stands, bows and says,

Duke of Clubs…my card.

(The DUKE hands him a card.)

Allow me to introduce my wife.

(She also curtsies and says,

DUCHESS

Duchess of Diamonds…my card.

(The DUCHESS hands him a card as well.)

KOST

(Then the German turns To JOHNNY.)

And you?

The DUKE says,

(To JOHNNY.)

Introduce yourself, monsieur.

(JOHNNY, in a panic, looks at the cards in his hand.)

JOHNNY

Uh … uh … uh … King of Hearts. My card.

The DUKE says

King of Hearts?

All the LUNATICS

King of Hearts? Ahhhh… The King has returned!

At that, the Germans say, “You are all crazy.” and they rush out to look elsewhere for the soldier.

On the way out, they leave the front iron gate open. And so the lunatics are free to leave the asylum and return to their homes and the business of their past lives. These lovely lunatics are actually just an assemblage of the town’s oddballs. Among the many are the gay Barber and his mate, the town Bishop, the ex- madam of the town brothel, a young girl who thinks she is a ballerina, but lives in a world of her own, and a mute named Demosthanes. They, very carefully and with great wonder, approach the front gate most warily. Thus begins our first song as they hesitantly take their first steps out the gate and to freedom.

The Lunatics – Transformation Suite

My father fought in World War I in France in the trenches. I had long detailed discussions with him about his experiences. I went to several asylums to work with the inmates and learned much from them. I studied French classical and folk music, listened to all the pop war songs of the day and to a great deal of the classical music of the age.

We four spent two years, three or four days a week, five or six hours a day, in deep discussion about the ramifications of every little scene, song, note, word and lyric. These meetings were the pure joy of the experience — and they were full of creativity, laughs, tears, revelations, and yes, some fights too. But they were the epitome of theatrical collaboration and I must say they were probably the best times I ever had with KING OF HEARTS – the writing of it.

In the course of that time, Jake and I wrote fifty or sixty songs together which we either threw out, rewrote and then threw out, or rewrote, and rewrote again and then kept. I think CLOSE UPON THE HOUR is probably the only song in the show that was begun and finished in two days. On the first day I wrote the music and melody, gave it to Jake that night, and he gave it back to me the next day with a beautiful lyric. Not a word or note was ever changed. Fortunately, that’s not always how it was. I say “fortunately” because the joy of my work often comes in the rewriting, the thickening, the deepening. That is when the great collaborative process of the theater really takes shape — when you play a new song for the other guys and they come back at you with thirty great new ideas and then you try to decide how to combine them all into one little melody or song. And so, …

Don Scardino as Johnny – his quest song –  from the Broadway production 

Close Upon The Hour

KING OF HEARTS first opened at the Westport County Playhouse where it had a two week run and starred the young movie star, Robbie Benson. I’d say the show was about seventy-five percent there. The first act went like gangbusters and the second act fell a little short. But all in all it was a very good learning experience for everyone. We had a good idea of where to take it after that in terms of revisions. At that point Joe Kipness, a wonderful man, decided to produce it on Broadway and then the downfall began. I’ve always thought that what happens in the play happened to the play.

The outside world came in with their money and machines and worldly ways and untold confusion. Antoon, my dear friend and partner, was fired and replaced by a director who never really understood the piece. Steve Tesich then quit because he refused to write the new director’s dumb ideas. Joe Stein, the bookrighter for Fiddler On The Roof replaced Steve. The worst mistake came the day the producer contracted the Minskoff Theatre, New York’s second largest, as the place to showcase this sweet, simple, little musical. This was done against the wishes of all the artists involved. Jerry Minskoff had invested the final monies needed. And so we had to present it in his theater. Money then seemed to dominate the decisions and as is the case in many Broadway shows, money rules.

During our pre-Broadway out of town tour, we opened in Boston with a new cast to great reviews (in a smaller, more intimate house) and tremendous audience reception. After a four week run we came charging into New York City with a hit. The two weeks of previews in New York went great — sold out and standing ovations every night. So, from the Broadway cast, Pam Blair as Jeunefille, Bob Gunton and Millicent Martin …

The title song – King Of Hearts

However, though I had blind hope, I knew in my heart that we had troubles.

The sound in that big barn of a theater in NY was problematic and the theater was just too big — we had resculptured the show to fit the theater and it was now coming off big and brassy. I feared the worst and hoped for the best. And even though the audiences laughed, cried, and cheered, we opened to mixed reviews – on top of that, in the middle of a three month NY newspaper strike. At a time when the newspaper reviews were everything, there were no newspapers. Also at that time there were no TV ads. No one knew about it – especially the tourists. We limped along.

The show ran another five weeks and gained each week. The story and heart had somehow managed to shine through all the brassy trappings. However, the theater owner had his own ideas about our survival. He kicked us out in favor of THE ICE CAPADES. Now there was a show that belonged in the Minskoff. It would have cost another hundred thousand to move the KING, so it closed. Two million bucks down the drain. And an incredible sadness in my heart.

Some of the cast changes worked beautifully. Others did not. Don Scardino replaced Robbie Benson as our Johnny because it was felt that though Robbie seemed perfect for the part, He did not have a voice that would fill the huge Broadway house. However, Don Scardino was a terrific replacement, totally capturing the character with a wonderful soaring tenor that people loved. 

Our original Jeunefille, female love interest in the obligatory love story between Johnny and one of the inmates, was replaced by another actress for the same reason as Robbie Benson. But the new director did not really understand the music well enough to know that the new Jeunefille, though she was quite good in the part, she simply did not have the vocal range to sing the most important love song in the show. This made me crazy because the song was and always has been the best song in the show. The real problem, however, was mine. I had written a song that was simply too rangy. The only version of the song that ever really worked for me was one recorded by my wife, Julia Wade, who had the chops to pull it off.  Julia would have been the perfect Jeunefille. Unfortunately, at the time, we had never met. So, here’s my favorite version …

Julia Wade as Jeunefille – Nothing Only Love

Consequently the musical like the film was destined to become a kind of cult classic. Normally shows that are not successful on Broadway become resigned to oblivion. In this case, the KING would not die.

For the past 40 years it has been produced in theaters around the world – Japan, London, and in the US, in colleges, in High Schools, community theaters, and first class productions … and always to the delight of its audiences/

This version offered to theaters around the world now is the result of several productions following the demise of the Broadway show. Steve Tesich came back and we threw out the Broadway script. The major changes occurred during a production at the Royal Lyceum Theater in Edinburgh, Scotland and also several years ago at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, CT. 

There are several basic themes that run through the play – anti-war, the family against the world, and there have even been those who have suggested that the play actually promotes insanity. To me, it is simply a play about the innocence of love. It speaks of the joy of living in a simple time far removed from the real craziness of the outside world. 

So, the main point of King Of Hearts is the question, “ Who is crazy?” – the people on the outside making war and all killing each other or the so-called oddball lunatics on the inside living in peace and fantasy?

And so it comes to the end of our day. Johnny has heroically saved the town in the nick of time finding and defusing the bombs, armistice has been declared and the war is over. The town’s people are returning to their town, and the lunatics realize that they must return to the asylum. Johnny, too, must go back to being a soldier. In the meantime both Johnny and our audience have fallen in love with these lovely oddball lunatics.

JOHNNY says …

Look. I see torches and lamps. The townspeople are coming back.

The MADAME responds

We better go back inside, Genevieve.

GENEVIEVE

(To JOHNNY.)

We must evacuate, sire. Our time is up.

JOHNNY

But why?

GENEVIEVE

It’s bed time and we must return to where we can dream in peace.

JEUNEFILLE

Are you coming with us, Johnny?

JOHNNY

I…don’t know what to do. I’m the one whose heart is tearing now…It hurts…But I can’t…

JEUNEFILLE

We’ve shared everything, you and I. Even pain. I am so fortunate. So long as memories live I’ll remember you.

JOHNNY

Do you think I could ever forget the Kingdom I found? And the afternoon when I was a King? You’ll dance in my dreams. All of you.

GENEVIEVE

And dreams never die, do they, sire?

JOHNNY

Never.

MADAME

Well, we’ve had ourselves a wonderful time.

(During the following the LUNATICS each approach JOHNNY to say farewell.  They take off and drop pieces of their costumes, their past identities, as they re-enter the asylum.)

The DUCHESS sings …

IT’S BEEN A MARVELOUS DAY

The DUKE sings …

IT STARTED OUT THIS MORNING

DUCHESS

AND IT’S ENDING TONIGHT

THEY BOTH

A PERFECT DELIGHT OF A DAY

The cast, led by Bob Gunton, the Duke, and Marilyn D’honau, the Duchess, sing  A DAY IN OUR LIFE

King Of Hearts, because of its mixed reviews, never recorded a cast album. When it closed, the producers just went on to the next show. But, as I said at the beginning of this podcast, this show was an obsession for me. I deeply believed in its totally inspiring message and its great power to entertain. Remember, this was 45 years ago, just after the Viet Nam War had ended. 

I had been a draft dodger and very much against the idea of anything having to do with war. I refused to let it die. A tiny record company, dedicated to the saving of musicals that might have missed their moments, gave me $10,000 to record the show. With a cast of 32? Impossible! The salaries alone, the studio time, the musicians … impossible! But we did it anyway. 

We recorded the entire album in my living room over the period of about two months – on an 8 track machine set up on a series of cardboard boxes. The entire cast gladly worked for nothing. I paid the musicians honorariums only. I rearranged the orchestrations from a 30 piece Broadway orchestra to a small little guitar based ensemble (which it always should have been anyway). On the days that we recorded the big ensemble choral numbers with all 32 people, I hung mics from my ceiling in my apartment that overlooked Central Park and packed everyone into my living room with my cardboard box set up and my grand piano and there was no room to even sit down. It was like standing on a subway platform during rush hour. But the cast had the same enthusiasm as me and we laughed and sang our way through the afternoons. I fed them out in the hall of my apartment on breaks. What you’re hearing today is that Cast Album.  Not bad for an 8 track cardboard box studio in a small NY living room.

So this show was a happy/sad affair. It took me years to forget the sad parts, but the happy parts remain. Fittingly, we shall end with a song that befits the entire experience – one of everyone’s favorites that got cut and then added and then again cut and added again … and was finally cut for good. With My Friends, sung by our Johnny Able, has been a fan favorite for nearly 50 years. We tried to make the song work in all sorts of places in the show, but it never quite worked wherever we put it. It is a song that then found its place in any number of shows after King Of Hearts, only to be cut again and again for various reasons. I’m happy to tell you that 40 years later it finally found its home in Rosemary And Thyme. But that’s a different story.

It was the perfect song for Don Scardino and his voice, so after we finished the Cast Album, I asked Don to come in and record it even though it had been cut and we added it to the album as a bonus. It perfectly nails the relationship between Johnny and the Lunatics. It’s crazy that it was ever cut in the first place. But then, “Crazy” is our theme.

Don Scardino, as Johnny Able – With My Friends

A couple of decades after its Broadway run, in a first class production, another critic for the NY Times decided to re-review the show. A little late, but certainly appreciated …

He wrote …

“Now at Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, King of Hearts is about the need for love, frivolity and grandeur. Simplicity and intimacy are recaptured with affection, authenticity and focus. The musical is pure romantic escape – into fantasy and into the fantastic…a celebratory rite of love’s redemptive power. Mr. Link’s music is a fusion of classical chorales, down-home American country style, French music hall and Viennese waltzes… Whatever may sound derivative dissolves into the ephemera of real charm and enchantment. It is worth investigating.”

~Alvin Klein / The New York Times

So there you have it.

Scattershot Symphony  – Episode 24.

Next? Episode 25. Theater Of The Imagination, Part 4

Winner of the 2016 MainStreet Musicals,

SUNDOWN, The Musical,  explores the myth and the men who unwittingly formed it: the Earps, the Clantons, the McLaurys, and the unlikely outlaw known as Doc Holliday. These larger than life figures play a part in one of the most compelling legends of the American West — the Gunfight at the OK Corral.  An unforgettable musical about fate, friendship, and, yes, again, the redemptive power of love.

Why are we calling these four episodes “Theater Of The Imagination”? Because each of these four episodes are destined to be presented in Watchfire Music’s Theater Of The Imagination forthcoming podcast musical series. Presently playing now is the first of the series. Rosemary and Thyme, a re-imagining modernization of the greatest story ever told in 16 episodes just went over 10,000 downloads and is already in 130 countries. If you love musicals, you really must try this new groundbreaking experience – the podcast musical. It is simply an amazing immersive theatrical experience. Find it on Watchfiremusic.com – Podcasts.

Also, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts … etc.

A grateful nod goes to over a hundred people who, on one level or another, gave their considerable talents to the development and continuation of King Of Hearts, The Musical. The King will live forever! Thanks too, to Julia Wade for her character help on this podcast.

A very special thanks also to Stuart Barefoot, our Associate Producer for all your invaluable knowledge and good vibes.

And a posthumous thanks to Ludwig Van Beethoven for your opening 4 bars.

Julia

(over playout music)

This podcast is presented with loving care by the staff at Watchfire Music. If you liked what you heard, we got lots more where that came from. In the meantime, you can find the songs you just heard on watchfiremusic.com. There you can purchase the singles or albums and have access to all the lyrics. Also, there you will find all previous podcasts and future scheduling.

If you just became a Scattershot fan,

tell your friends and Stay tuned!