The Real Legacy of Helen Thomas

I had the pleasure of meeting Helen Thomas on two different occasions: once was in the classroom; the other was in her arena otherwise known as The White House Press Briefing Room.  While many are focusing on her legacy as a trailblazing female journalist, I would assert that Thomas’ real legacy is more a reflection on the downfall of journalism itself.

Thomas had a solid reporting career for more than six decades.  She was THE reporter who asked the tough questions, followed the story, always reported “the facts” and ended every presidential press conference with, “Thank you Mr. President.”  One time I asked Reagan and Bush (41) White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater about his worst day at The White House.  He quipped, “Anytime I walked in to find Helen Thomas sitting outside my office door.”

By the time I first met Thomas in late 2007, it was clear she had changed.  During the last weeks of my White House internship, I was given the opportunity to sit in and observe a live White House Press Briefing.  Being the only kid in Pittsburgh who would run home from school to watch the briefings on C-SPAN, this was a dream come true.

I had known about Helen Thomas long before I ever came to Washington and had devoured her columns and books.  But that day I was amazed at her behavior in the press room.  This wasn’t the women who broke the gender barrier in journalism, or who covered every president since Kennedy.  No this was a bitter, argumentative, combative old lady screaming at an administration official.

Several months later, I was formerly introduced to her through my undergraduate electronic journalism professor.  He had been Helen’s former bureau chef at UPI and she was our guest professor for the day.  I had the honor of the “first question” and asked her, “A lot of reporters no longer report the facts.  They go on television and provide their opinions under the label of ‘political analysts.’  Is this practice ethical, or should reporters stick to the facts?”

She obviously didn’t like my question, and got the underlying subtext.

Without missing a beat she fired back, “NO!  More opinion columnists should come down to The White House and see how it’s done!  You know they’re all crooked (the presidents).  They come to office and never fulfill their promises.”

Much of the tributes to Helen Thomas have focused on her role as a trailblazer.  The praise is well deserved.

However, it would be wrong to ignore that her career, which once practiced the gold standard of journalism, devolved into the opinion based reporting that currently poisons our media.  Furthermore, that the lowering of her professional standards occurred at a time when the public’s trust and faith in the media sunk to an all-time low.   There’s not a doubt in my mind that’s due to the movement from “political reporters” to “political analysts.”

This to me this is the real legacy of Helen Thomas.  At a time when the nation needed solid reporters chasing the facts, she deserted journalism.

Helen Thomas was 92 years old.

My Favorite Things

MarqueePolitics is turning two this month, and this blogger is turning the big 27. With these milestones on the horizon, it got me thinking.

I’m often asked about my favorite performances, and to identify which ones made the biggest impact on me.  With my birthday right around the corner, I thought that this would be an appropriate time to reflect on the performances that have never quite left me.

Phantom/Miss. Saigon/Cats

“Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.”

All it took was: a crashing chandelier, helicopter landing and dancing cats.  These were first shows I ever saw (ages 3, 6, 7).  Their combination of: high emotions, grand spectacle and memorable pop scores sent my young imagination soaring.  I often call them the holy trinity of musicals, because it was these three shows that introduced me to the great love of my life, the theater.

Evita – 1979 Original Broadway Cast Recording

I had an epiphany in high school, and it was the first time I ever listened to the original Broadway cast recording of Evita.

The rock opera’s themes of politics, revolution and media manipulation hooked this young politico at age 16.  Evita was further electrified by Patti LuPone’s fierce portrayal as Argentina’s First Lady and her ambition to succeed at all costs.  Despite having the album for the 11 years, not a week goes by when LuPone and the original Broadway cast of Evita can been heard from my apartment, giving this show a touch of star quality!

Elaine Stritch at Liberty – 2002 Broadway Production

Rare, intense, humorous, honest and a triumph of the human soul.

I was lucky enough to attend the last Broadway matinee performance of this show.  From that Sunday afternoon, I learned that human’s can triumph over any adversity as long as we don’t stop fighting.  Accompanied by a songbook of classic Broadway hits, Stritch walked the audience thru her: fights with alcoholism, struggles with love, triumphs working with Noel Coward and Stephen Sondheim, and life’s journey from being raised in Detroit to having her name adorn Broadway marquees.

Great actors leave it all out on the stage and Stritch set the bar for generations to come.

 Company – 2006 Broadway Revival

Company, more than any other show, changed my perspective on life.

My parents split when I was very young, and what understanding of marriage I had came from television.  Because of that, I never understood the emotional complexity involved when two people enter into a relationship, and what I did know was very one-sided.   Company threw cold-water on that idea, teaching me that relationships are about sharing your life with somebody, not just some-body.  Theater is often a reflection of life through art, and its through art that we learn so much about ourselves as individuals.

The Audience

The one constant in all these productions is the audience, and I’ve been lucky to have always had a supporting audience of my own.  While I won’t use their names, I want recognize the friends and family who have encouraged my love of the theater: My parents who introduced me to the musical at age 3, grandparents who were always game to see a show on Broadway – even if they didn’t quite “get it”, Chief of Staff, and dear friends living across the country in: New York, Pittsburgh, Rockville, San Diego, Seattle and Washington, DC.  All of which I owe a debt a gratitude for indulging in my life’s great passion!

The cast albums to all shows mentioned above are available on amazon.com.

Furthermore, video productions of: Cats, Company, Elaine Stritch at Liberty and Phantom may also be found at amazon.com.

Welcome to our first and last reunion

“Welcome to our first and last reunion”

In the Rose Garden on my final day at The White House

It’s those words, the opening line to the musical Follies, which I keep replaying in my head while packing my suitcase.  Surrounded in my apartment by mementos, trinkets and pictures, a feeling of anxiety fills my stomach.  Four years ago, I said goodbye to my dream job after an all too brief rendezvous.  Now, four years older (and maybe a bit wiser), I re-enter what was once hallowed ground, the administration of George W. Bush.

Currently, I’m en route to Dallas for the opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum.  For staffers who worked in the administration, this is one of only two reunions we’ll ever have to celebrate the work of the 43^rd president together.  And with the next reunion being a state funeral, it’s the more joyous of the occasions.  So why then am I so nervous about attending this reunion?

Marine One Landing on the South Lawn of The White House

Reunions are funny things because they’re time lapses.  Unfortunately though, they can also become a state of mind.  I know too many colleagues who have never moved beyond The White House years, forever defining themselves by their brief encounter with the executive branch.

Yet in fairness though, it’s hard to move beyond The White House.  No job will EVER top it.  From the moment you leave, every job interview onward we’ll include at least one White House related question.  I can’t count the number of interviews I’ve been on where the interviewer disclosed to me that they are a Bush Republican!

Working in The White House means, you’re one of the lucky few who was on the inside gate of history looking out, and it’s that perspective on history which can define you, but only if you let it. It’s easy to become paralyzed by this state of mind, and maybe that’s my real worry.

Not that I’ve let the experience define me: but rather, the opposite.  That I haven’t branched out enough or sought tougher goals. By attending this reunion, maybe it’s a reminder to make my post-White House life as rich and fulfilling as was my Bush Administration experience.

On Thursday morning, President and Mrs. Bush will be joined by former Presidents Clinton, Bush (41) and Carter.  They each dreamed of reaching The White House, and after leaving, faced the challenge of being defined by that goal.   Their post-presidency work is a reminder that our past exists only to inform and motivate us, to use our experiences to create a better present and future.

As Bush Administration alumni, this is our first and last reunion with President Bush.  It will be, as one of the Follies characters says at the show’s opening, “A final chance to glamorize the old days…and lie about ourselves, a little.”  For me, it will be one last chance to remember the people and the experience that came to define my early professional career.  To use this final reunion as a reminder of the standards set by President George W. Bush and continuing to personally and professionally progress forward on the ideals I first held at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

The George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum

SPECIAL EDITION: A Hero Passes, A Legacy Left

Everyone has heroes.  Some people look up to athletes and others celebrities.  I admired Margaret Thatcher.  Now with her passing, I’m left to use her example as one of the guiding principles of my life.

I never met Lady Thatcher, and in fact am really too young to remember her tenure as Prime Minister.  What I know of her has been learned through various books, documentaries and watching clips of her parliament debates on YouTube, all of which confirm that her legacy was the consistency with which she held to her conservative vision.

This is a lesson I have to remind myself of daily as a young conservative living in the Obama era.  Too often I’m left to believe that the core values I was raised on, personal responsibility, hard work and professional success no longer seemed to be championed in our country.  Like many of my “conservative” political friends, I could sway and adopt today’s populist beliefs or be consumed by cynicism only to become disenchanted with our democracy.  But then again, I’m reminded of Lady Thatcher.

The England she inherited as Prime Minister in 1979 was in even worse shape then the post-recession United States of today.  Garbage piles filled the streets, rolling blackouts consumed the country and an attitude of self-doubt filed the British psyche.  Similar to today’s political conservatives, Thatcher could have championed impractical populism to solidify political support.  Instead her course was one of consistency, consistency for the beliefs she had held long before ever becoming Prime Minister:

“My policies are based not on some economics theory, but on things I and millions like me were brought up with: an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay; live within your means; put by a nest egg for a rainy day; pay your bills on time; support the police.”

Lady Thatcher’s beliefs were controversial and her legacy will forever be debated. But I ask, what is life without a few bumps?  The fact remains that when she left office, England had been transformed to enter the new century in a much stronger position and the world was at peace.  Could any leader ask for much more?

My task remains clear, that to honor her legacy, I need to remain true to my beliefs: that government should be small and efficient, fiscal management is necessary for our democracy’s survival, and personal responsibility is core to the character of our country. As someone who currently opposes most of the Obama Administration’s policies, my tone must be civil while my criticisms must always contain constructive suggestions, a lesson I try to practice with every entry on this blog.

And now with Lady Thatcher’s passing, a legacy is left is to guide our country, and indeed the world, to hopefully a better place.

Passport Control SOS

Over the Easter weekend MarqueePolitics, like many of you, traveled to spend the holiday with family.  It was on this trip where he saw, up-close, the absolutely foolish effects of the sequester.

I’m not a morning person, but at 6 a.m. on Monday morning I found myself in the main terminal of Toronto’s Pearson International Airport.  Not wanting to miss my 8:30 a.m. flight back to DC, I gave myself plenty of time to clear security and also get my standard breakfast: a large iced coffee with an apple fritter.  For some unknown reason, for flights bound for the USA, passengers have to clear American customs prior to boarding in Toronto.

So at 6:15 with passport in hand, I walked toward Passport Control only to be denied entry.  When I inquired why a security agent informed me, “Due to recent budget cuts (the sequester), you are not allowed to enter customs until your flight time-range is called.”  I was then directed to a holding pen, joining well over a 100 other miserable passengers who were experiencing the same fate.

After 75 minutes of sitting and listening to the airport loudspeaker blast the greatest smooth jazz hits of the 1980’s, it was announced that those with 8:30 flight times could now enter customs.  Cognizant that it was now 7:30, that my flight was leaving in one hour and I still had to clear customs AND security, I ran to Passport Control only to find myself standing in line for another 25 minutes.  When I finally arrived at a US Border agent, the agent asked for my passport, furiously stamped it, handed it back to me, and told me I was free to go all without looking up or asking questions.

With five minutes to spare, I made my plane and sat at my gate dumbfounded.

My position on the sequester is well known: it was an absolutely foolish attempt to tackle America’s debt problem.  The sequester is the equivalent of telling an alcoholic to quit drinking hard liquor and stick to beer!  Sequestration inadvertently cuts the wrong areas, rather than address the heart of America’s debt problem.  What’s even more embarrassing is that the stupidity of this law is now being seen by citizens from around the world when they travel through America’s borders.

The financial catastrophes of Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Italy and Portugal should serve as a warning to America.  Our time to fix the debt is running out.   Cutting border security and TSA staff, furloughing government employees and across the board cuts are the wrong approach.  If you disagree, try going through American customs or boarding an American-bound international flight.  If you do, bring a book, cause you’ll be there a while!  But don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of time to read the sign about how this delay was made possible due to budget cuts.

My Cabbage Patch Doll, The Phantom and I

When I was a kid, the basement of our house used to flood after every major thunderstorm.  Naturally, I would become paranoid that the Phantom of the Opera was going to kidnap me.  This fear was instilled in me at age three when my parents took me to see my first-ever musical, The Phantom of Opera.  Over the weekend, the Broadway production of Phantom celebrated its 25^th anniversary, a remarkable milestone for the show that embedded in me, along with so many others, a love for musical theater.

After the smashing success of Phantom on Broadway and in London, the producers decided to launch two America touring productions and a sit-down production in Toronto, Canada.  In 1989 my parents scored tickets to see the show with its original Canadian cast in Toronto.  Despite only being three, and ignoring the fact that the main character was a deformed madman, my parents decided to introduce me to live theater.  To calm my fears, they bribed me into good behavior by allowing me to bring my cabbage doll named Hannibal (ironically enough, that’s also the name of the first act opera in Phantom).

What my parents failed to tell me was that our seats were two rows from the stage, center orchestra.  Due to the proximity of our seats to the stage, my three-year old self was introduced to live theater by: having a chandelier rise and fall on-top of us, the stage get set on fire, fireballs shot at us from the Phantom himself, the Phantom taking his curtain call without his mask – thus waving at me with his deformed face, and the infamous gondola journey to the underground where he takes Christine to his lair.

Poor Hannibal, he got squashed that evening by me hugging him so tightly.  After that night, and after every rain storm when our basement would flood, I was terrified the Phantom would come and kidnap me, like he did Christine, in his gondola.  Growing up I had numerous sightings of the Phantom in our basement, although none were ever confirmed by my parents.

It wasn’t until the movie version of Phantom came out, when I started re-listening to the cast album and finally decided to revisit the show.  When the tour came to Pittsburgh the next year, my father scored two tickets for my mother and I (Hannibal stayed home).  Same seats, second row, center orchestra, and this time I loved every minute.

Prior to the show, Mom and I went for dinner at a restaurant near the theater.  Sitting at the table next to us was a young boy (age 3) and his mother.  We started chatting with them, and the boy proceeded to talk non-stop about the show, movie and cast album.  This was his first time seeing the show and he could barely contain his excitement.  Leaving dinner, I turned to the woman and said, “You’re not going to believe this, but that was mom and I 15 years ago.”  My mother and I got up and then proceeded to the theater.

I am so proud of Phantom’s 25^th anniversary, and even prouder that it was the first musical I ever saw.  Since originally opening in London in 1986 (three months after I was born), the show has been seen by more than 100 million theatergoers in 150 cities located worldwide in 25 countries.  In a world so wrought with division, Phantom’s success reminds me of the power of the arts to unify us.  We all may have seen the same show, but our takeaways are all different and this allows us to have a dialogue and forge relationships we might have otherwise passed up.

I was unable to attend Phantom’s 25^th anniversary gala in New York City, but could not be happier for their milestone.  With each year that passes, and each performance where the chandelier crashes, I am constantly reminded how special this show is as fellow fans return again, often bringing along their children and continuing the tradition.  The Phantom never did come and kidnap me with his gondola through our flooded basement, but as the years pass I have gone back to the Opera Populaire many times to revisit my old friend and remember how I fell in love with the music of the night.

For tickets to Phantom, please visit: http://www.thephantomoftheopera.com/

Review: War Horse, A Journey Back to Childhood

Growing up in the theater during the 1980’s I was a child of the mega-musical: an era where productions used special effects to enhance shows with simplistic plots. The last show I ever saw do this to do great effect, was the first national tour of Miss Saigon. That is until I saw the current touring production of the Tony award winning Best Play, War Horse, currently performing at Washington, DC’s John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

War Horse’s plot is simple; a boy grows attached to his horse named Joey, Joey gets shipped off to the front during World War I and the boy joins the army to find Joey.  As one theater friend recently stated to me, “It’s the story of Shiloh retold with a horse.”

What makes War Horse so special is how the production team tells the story. Rather than using real horses (to0 tricky), stuff animals (too camp), they instead use puppets to great effect. The horse is life-size and the design is so successful that you feel the audience’s emotional attachment to Joey. For a non-speaking puppet, there was no doubt as to the kind of horse Joey would be in real life.  I took a friend who was raised on a ranch in Nebraska to see War Horse, and even she remarked that what made the show so believable was the puppet’s behavior was so realistic.

Enhancing War Horse, and adding a sense of epic urgency to the story, is the fact that much of Act I and all of Act II takes place in the battlefields of World War I. Using a combination of lights, sounds and projections, the creative team takes the audience on Joey’s journey through War without using a literal stage design and going overboard on set pieces.  This challenges the audience, in a good way, to use their imaginations to enhance Joey’s surroundings at the British and German fronts.

Watching War Horse I was transported back to my childhood when crashing chandeliers, a turntable, dancing cats and helicopters landing on stage brought the theater to life. Despite its critics, the mega-musical fueled my imagination and forever bonded me to live theater. War Horse doesn’t have a complicated story, what it has is a heart.  And for one theatergoer, it was a journey back to childhood, all thanks to a life-size horse puppet named Joey.

To learn more about War Horse, or to purchase tickets, please visit: http://warhorseonstage.com/tickets/us_tour

The Music and Marvin

Composer Marvin Hamlisch is being remembered today as one of the saviors of Broadway.  In yesterday’s New York Post, theater columnist Michael Reidel paid tribute to Hamlisch saying, “It was, as his song ‘One’ goes, a ‘singular sensation’ that saved the Great White Way — and, in some ways, New York City itself.”  And while Hamlisch may forever be associated with his musical A Chorus Line, I’ll forever remember him and his music for the guidance they provided my life during a time of uncertainty.

When I was 20 years old I moved to New York City for a summer.  I had just worked on Rick Santorum’s 2006 senate campaign, where we lost by 16%.  The loss broke me, and really made me question whether a life in politics, in public service, was really worth it.

On my first night in New York City I saw A Chorus Line at Broadway’s Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre.  Towards the end of the show, there’s a song called, “What I Did Love” where the auditioning dancers are asked, how would you feel if you could no longer dance?  One of the aspiring chorus girls, Diana, steps forward and sings:

Kiss today goodbye,
And point me t’ward tomorrow.
We did what we had to do.
Won’t forget, can’t regret
What I did for love

Even though I was standing in the last row of the orchestra, behind a packed house, I felt that song was directed at me.  The message that life’s passions are worth fighting for, that ups and downs will occur, that I should never regret a choice, struck a chord with me.  Politics was always my first love and if I was going to make a difference, I had to preserve through difficulties.

A Chorus Line was groundbreaking for a myriad of reasons, but I feel none more than for its honesty.  The show’s portrayal of the so-called ‘gypsies’ of Broadway, the dancers, was so honest and real.  Everyone who ever saw A Chorus Line related to their dreams, struggles, hopes and failures.  We may all not have been dancers, but we understood what it meant when life puts us on the line.

The Great White Way paid tribute to Marvin Hamlisch last night when Broadway marquees were dimed in his honor.  I’ll always remember him for the life lesson his music taught me about persevering and never losing sight of my dream.  After leaving New York, I returned to Washington, DC for a political job that would forever change my life.  However I did so remembering that I won’t forget, can’t regret, what I did for love.

Marvin Hamlisch was 68.

In Memoriam: Gore Vidal

Playwright, author, activist and politician Gore Vidal died on Wednesday.  A few months ago I had the thrill of seeing his 1960 play The Best Man on Broadway, where it continues to play in a star-studded revival.  And while Vidal may have been an outspoken left-wing activist, I appreciated his brutal portrayal of politics and honesty with the audience about the consequence of making public service a zero-sum game.

Gore Vidal and I shared differing political beliefs.  I viewed him as a leftist, arrogant, faux-intellectual.  Even though we never met, I’m sure Mr. Vidal would have had choice words for me as well.  And while I disagreed with his politics, I respect the passion in which he communicated his thoughts and beliefs.

In my April review of The Best Man I praised the prophetic nature in which Vidal foreshadowed the future of American politics.  The play can be hard to swallow because it doesn’t feel like we’re watching theatre, rather instead an episode of Meet the Press.  Good theatre shouldn’t just entertain, it should move us.  Seeing The Best Man accomplishes that, and makes us reckon the ongoing consequences currently endured by the tone of our politics.

Our nation is at a point where politics, and politicians, are held in such low regard that the American public is desensitized to the ongoing divineness.  Indeed Gore Vidal once said, “Every four years the naive half who vote are encouraged to believe that if we can elect a really nice man or woman President everything will be all right. But it won’t be.”  I doubt any voter truly believes that either President Obama or Governor Romney can really solve the malaise that has fallen over our capital.

And while Vidal may have hated the tone of American politics, he was fond to quip, “There is no human problem which could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise.”  So this weekend, in a tribute to him, go see The Best Man on Broadway or watch the 1964 movie version with Henry Fonda.  But while doing so remember, that while we can’t change a play/movie, we can change the present.  Perhaps that is Vidal’s lasting legacy.

The Best Man will close on September 9, 2012.  Tickets and further information maybe found by visiting: http://thebestmanonbroadway.com/

To learn more about Gore Vidal, please visit: http://www.gorevidalnow.com/

The Phantom from My Past

44^th Street between Broadway and 8^th Avenue is one of the great theatrical streets.  Turning left off of Broadway you are instantly greeted by the theater marquees for the Majestic,  St. James, Helen Hayes, Shubert and Broadhurst theaters.  Each with a history so rich and vivid that it’s no wonder the Great White Way has such a lush folklore in American history.  I mean there’s the St. James where Anna first asked the King, “Shall we dance,” and the Majestic where Richard Burton held court as King Arthur in Camelot.  On Sunday September 25^th,  44^th Street took on an added aura with the energy and buzz of the 25^th Annual Broadway Flea Market and I was ready to soak it all in!

The Broadway Flea Market is a yearly event sponsored by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids, a nonprofit which raises money for AIDS related support services in the theater community and throughout the United States.   Broadway shows, theatrical stores/service companies all host tables where they sale memorabilia.  Examples of such include: old playbills, show posters, props, autographs, books, clothing items and even baked goods made by Broadway stars.  Now there are two general rules when preparing for the Flea Market: come prepared with a wish list of items of and budget yourself.  Don’t spend the train money home on an old Starlight Express playbill.

This year two friends joined me and we began making our way through the crowds and the tables.   Aside from having a place to shop for theater memorabilia, I love the atmosphere surrounding the market.  It’s a thrill to connect with old friends, and make new ones, all while discussing topics like: can Chess be successfully revived on Broadway or will Ricky Martin actually cut it as Che in the upcoming revival or Evita.  It’s hard to meet passionate theatergoers, such as myself, and the Flea Market provides me with the opportunity to do just that.

One of my favorite places to shop is The Phantom of the Opera table.  Being Broadway’s longest running show; they always have great collectibles for sale and know exactly what their “Phans” are looking for.  This year was no exception having purchased two posters (pictured below) for a total of $11.  Online, both posters normally range anywhere from $25 to $100 and are quite hard to find.  However, much like the deformed maestro himself, the Phantom’s table still had another surprise in store for me.

I notice the women selling me the posters had a badge that read, “Backstage Employee,” and so I stupidly asked, “So, are you involved with the show.”  Immediately, I felt foolish and knew that I looked like an idiot.  The woman, appropriately reading my emotional response, replied and said yes.  She introduced herself as Marilyn Caskey, although to audiences she’s better known by her on-stage alter ego, Madame Giry in the long running musical.

In talking with Marilyn, I shared how Phantom was my first Broadway musical EVER, and how I have gone on to see it in Toronto and Pittsburgh.   I even lamented about having seen the show’s lackluster sequel Love Never Dies.  Even more astonishing was the fact that during our conversation, I discovered that Marilyn had been in the cast I saw 22 years ago.  It was an amazing moment to connect with someone who was a part of an experience that literally changed my life.

Prior to 2011, I had only been to the Flea Market once before in 2009.  I so enjoyed the atmosphere that once I completed graduate school, I swore I would return.  It’s not just the shopping, or even the fact that it benefits a great cause that makes this event so special.  For me, the Broadway Flea Market is another opportunity to remind myself about the importance of art in life.

By 2 p.m. though my thoughts were beginning to drift from ghosts of my theatrical past to the show I never thought would be revived on Broadway, Follies.  While the Flea Market was fantastic my day had only just begun.  In DC Follies was warmly received but everyone agreed something was missing.  Now was the moment of truth, could the producers make this revival click, or would it forever loom in the shadows of the past with the opulent 1971 original Broadway production.

 

Other items purchased:

Posters: Next to Normal, Mamma Mia, A Little Night Music and Follies

Playbills: 1776 (OBC), Les Miserables (OLC), Chess (OBC), Side by Side by Sondheim (OBC)

Books: 6th Annual Broadway Yearbook

Part III: I Should Not Be Here