Richard Adler: The Music Man - by R.B. Stuart

Richard Adler, Broadway’s legendary show tune composer and lyricist’s is celebrating his 85^th year and says, “I’m busier now than when I was in my 40’s.”

From the 1950’s era when Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hammerstein, George Gershwin and Irving Berlin ruled musical theatre, even if they have performed their last act, this legend is still going to bat with a third Broadway production of The Pajama Game which previewed in February and ran sold out till June. “It could have run for 10 years. It made me happy,” Adler remarked. “It was a bigger hit now then it was 53 years ago when it first opened.”

When it was originally brought to Broadway in 1955 it won three Tony awards, and how could it not with George Abbott and Jerome Robbins directing, Bob Fosse choreographing and the dream team of Adler and Jerry Ross penning the lyrics and music.

On Saturday for one night only, Adler will be at the Guild Hall in East Hampton for the benefit event, CancerCare, “An Evening with Richard Adler.” Adler had throat cancer a number of years ago and wanted to help the organization that’s dedicated to helping people survive cancer, so when Gary Wohl, President of the Hampton’s Board of Managers for CancerCare asked him, he happily accepted. “I’ve got the best singers in the world singing my songs for the night,” Adler boasted. “It will start off with my career 54 years ago…..and is still going strong.” Lee Davis, will emcee the event.

September 2005, Adler received a lifetime achievement award from his old school, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, but he still feels his best work was at 6 years-old when he wrote his first poem, The Moon, which was later put to music by Jules Heilner. He sat before me reciting it, ‘The moon, the moon, the moon, the moon, the moon came up in the afternoon. Why isn’t it funny, it’s so nice and sunny, that the moon came up in the afternoon.’ As a child he wrote poetry, but it wasn’t until he was 19 did his father say, ‘Why don’t you write lyrics….you could make more money at it.’

Adler spends 40 minutes everyday swimming laps, “And that’s without stopping. I’m 85….so that’s not too bad,” he says with pride. Adler splits his time between Southampton and New York City where he was born during the roaring 1920’s and grew up watching musical theatre.

“My great mentor, friend and teacher George Abbott, literally invented musical theatre. In my estimate the Broadway musicals of today is nothing like it was 50 years ago. When there were great musicals by Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hammerstein and Cole Porter, who incidentally became a very close friend of mine,” Adler said, adding. “I was sitting in the barber shop one day getting a hair cut when a call came in for me. I went to the phone and in a high pitch tone a gentleman said, ‘Hi, this is Cole Porter.’ I thought Sammy Davis Jr. was playing a joke on me so I replied, ‘Ya, and I’m Irving Berlin.’ But he insisted he was Porter and said that he’d seen my musical Damn Yankee’s five times and wanted me to meet him for dinner. So I did and we became close friends. Porter became obsessed with Whatever Lola Wants the song from the show. One day over lunch he took it apart to figure out how I wrote it,” Adler reminisced.

The works that have influenced him the most, “Irwin Shaw, was a great writer. Clifford Odetes one of the founders of The Group Theatre, they helped a lot of people. But at 16 when I read Look Homeward Angel by Thomas Wolfe I decided to go to Chapel Hill,” Adler reflected.

“I wrote because it was in my blood….that’s all I know how to do,” he said. “If it wasn’t for Stella Adler, who is no relation, I’d be selling shoes,” he reasoned. “She introduced me to theatre in the right way, by introducing me to Lawrence Olivia, Merle Oberon, Charlie Chaplain, Tyron Power and Geraldine Fitzgerald.”

“I’m in my 85^th year and I feel very fortunate. I’m excited. For me it’s fun. It’s like a game you try to win, and if you don’t---you don’t beat yourself in the head. However, it’s a lot more fun to win, in spite of the title of my new song from The Pajama Game, If You Win You Loose. But I must add, I do have a lot of hopes and good people to lean on,” Adler concedes.

“The Pajama Game opened on Broadway in February with Harry Connick Jr., Sid Sorokin and Kelly O’Hara, who in a year from now will be a big star. The book has been somewhat revised but the 1950’s time period has stayed the same. Peter Ackerman did some touch-ups on the script. Kathleen Marshall was director and choreographer, and in the 1973 version Jeffrey Richards was the press agent, and was now the producer. I’ve added a new song called The Three of Us, which I originally wrote for Jimmy Durante in the late 1960’s, but he died three days before the recording session,” Adler informed breaking into a Durante rendition of the 16 bar song, synchronized like a pair of cymbals, was the vibrant clapping of his hands.

Adler didn’t spend the last year working only on the Pajama Game, but another film version of Damn Yankees he hopes will be starring Billy Crystal, and a Broadway revival of Damn Yankee’s for 2007, “That’s if we can get a theatre big enough to support the production,” he chimed. Adler’s also involved with the album, A Mothers Kisses produced by the multi Grammy nominee Robert Sher with a 2007 release. The score for the album was recorded in Brati Slava, Chek Republic by Debbie Reynolds, Tad Hunter, Jerry Stiller, Robert Morris, Florence Henderson and Rue McClanahan.

“I’m a very lucky man, I’ve had a career for over a half of century and it keeps going. These revivals are terrific because they have brought a younger audience who are not familiar with the shows….and it will give it more continuity,” Adler said.

“I’m not afraid like I used to be. I don’t place that much importance on it any more. I don’t need to worry any longer about money or acclaim. All that is important to me is good health, that’s why I swim, eat good and get enough rest my,” he confided. “All of my hero’s have died, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Frank Loesser, Dick Rodgers, George Abbott and of course my late partner Jerry Ross who died 50 years ago at the age of 29. He left me stranded to write alone…and I’ve been writing alone ever since and loving it!” he exclaimed.

In his 350-page autobiography released in 1990 entitled, “You Gotta Have Heart,” by Fair Lea Publishing, Adler takes you on a world wind journey of bumpy roads to smooth sailing. The book spans his life from Chapel Hill to Broadway and onto the White House, with such icon’s as Richard Burton, Fred Astaire, Perry Como, Lena Horne, President Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe and dozens more.

 

R. B. STUART is a New York author, freelance writer, and columnist whose first love is poetry and letters. She specializes in human interest stories, artist profiles, essays, and memoir. In her two blogs she attempts to quench her search for truth: http://writingsbyrbstuart.blogspot.com and http://sistersoldier.blogspot.com. She can be contacted by email at rbsnywriter@hotmail.com.