Albert Poland - Stages: A Theater Memoir

Copyrighted Material

STAGES

Copyright 2019 by Albert Poland. All Rights Reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwisewithout prior written permission from the AUTHOR, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

For information about this title or to order other books and/or electronic media, contact Author@STAGESbook.com

Publishers Cataloging-In-Publication Data
(Prepared by The Donohue Group, Inc.)

Names: Poland, Albert, author. | Riedel, Michael (Theater critic), writer of supplementary textual content.

Title: Stages : [a theater memoir] / by Albert Poland, with a foreword by Michael Riedel.

Description: [Wappingers Falls, New York] : [Albert Poland], [2019] | Subtitle from cover. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: ISBN 9781733934503 (softcover) | ISBN 9781733934510 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Poland, Albert--Career in theater. | Theatrical producers and directors--New York (State)--New York--Biography. | Theater--New York (State)--New York--History--20th century. | Actors--New York (State)--New York--History--20th century. | LCGFT: Autobiographies.

Classification: LCC PN2287.P5712 A3 2019 (print) | LCC PN2287.P5712 (ebook) | DDC 792.092--dc23

Library of Congress Preassigned Control Number: 2019908890

ISBNs
Softcover: 978-1-7339345-0-3
eBook: 978-1-7339345-1-0

Cover illustration by Paul Silva, Paul Silva Design.

Printed in the United States of America

for good friends here and gone

Preface

I sat on the tarmac of the Grand Rapids airport. I was about to embark on my first plane rideto New Yorkwhere I hoped to have a career in show business. On the observation deck, I saw my mother and father and my younger brother. Through the warped plane window, they looked like a faded kinescope, devoid of color, the essential image of this sea change in my 19-year-old life.

Reflecting on the moment, my thoughts went to the person who first let me know such journeys were possible, without even telling me. She was once and forever the heart and soul of show business, and, because I loved her so much, she was at the center of my first-ever venture into that magical world.

Her name was Judy Garland.

Foreword

By Michael Riedel

L ike many people in the theater, I owe Albert Poland a huge debt of gratitude. In 2011, I landed a contract with Simon & Schuster to write a book about Broadway and its most powerful playerthe Shubert Organizationin the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. After the glow of getting a book deal wore off, I panicked. Id never written anything longer than a thousand-word column for the New York Post. Now I had to write a book. That would require more than a thousand words.

I called a friend whod written fifteen books and asked him for advice. Calm down, he said. Take your time. Dont even think about writing. Do the research, interview everybody you can, and then youll find your story. And rememberyoure only as good as your sources.

I took a deep breath and called Albert. I hope he wont mind my writing this, but hed been around for a whilea veteran producer, as we say in the newspapersand he knew his way around the theater business. He also had been close to Bernard B. Jacobs and Gerald Schoenfeld, the lawyers who saved the Shuberts from bankruptcy in the 70s and helped turn Broadway into the multibillion-dollar empire it is today.

I went up to Dutchess County and met Albert at his elegant French manor country house. We were only ninety minutes from Manhattan, but it felt so much like Normandy I could practically smell the escargot. We settled down on the sun porch, sipped cranberry juice, and began to talk. Within ten minutes, I knew I could write my book. If youre only as good as your sources, I had found one hell of a source. Albert told hilarious storiesand he did so with flair. He also had insight into the key people who would become my cast of characters.

I left Dutchess County eager to do the research, interview everybody... and find my story. My chat with Albert gave me the confidence to tackle a book. If Razzle Dazzle: The Battle for Broadway is any good, its because of sources like Albert.

I spent about three hours with him that afternoon. The joy of reading Stages is that you get to spend a lot more time with him. He is a delightful companion. Hes a terrific writer because he instinctively understands that good writing is like having a chat with someone fun and interesting. Albert invites you to pull up a chair and listen to tales of larger-than-life theatrical characters, many long gone but brought back to life in these pages.

Ever heard of Helen Menken? Probably not, but Albert s depiction of her will send you to Google to find out more about this faded but moneyed grand dame of the theater, as Albert calls her.

Put down your luggage and make an entrance, darling, Menken tells young Albert, whos just gotten off the plane from Grand Rapids to audition for the American Theater Wing School.

Project, darling, she adds. Project, dear. We can t hear you.

After the audition, Menken tells Albert, Its a tough business, darling. But it can be good to you.

Thus begins Alberts rollicking ride through the American theater.

Albert is there for the beginnings of Off Off Broadway in Greenwich Village. You need a movie stars income to live in the Village today. But Albert evokes a neighborhood of struggling actors, writers, musicians, and painters who hang out at the San Remo Cafe (gone) and talk about Lotte Lenya and Kurt Weill or the latest play at La MaMa.

He meets Sam Shepard: He was wearing Levis and no shirt. He looked like an American god. Sensing I was a little tense, he put a soft black leather vest on over his skin. I transitioned from not being able to breathe to mild hyperventilation.

And, while only in his twenties, Albert becomes the producer of a touring company of The Fantasticks, Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidts long-running Off Broadway musical. Every aspiring producer should read Alberts chronicle of that tour. They will learn that, to make it in this rough-and-tumble (and often absurd) business, youd better have chutzpah. Albert did, and his outwitting of the powerful musicians union is David Merrick-like in its cunning and hilarity.

At the height of the battle, Albert met Schoenfeld and Jacobs, then toiling in relative obscurity as lawyers for the mothballed Shubert Organization. They staged a boardroom coup in 1972 and would eventually rise to the top of the American theater. Albert had a ringside seat at the Shubert circus, and he became one of Bernie and Jerrys closest confidants. Back then Albert, always one for the grand theatrical gesture, took to wearing a cape. Schoenfeld called him David Belasco.

They didnt always see eye to eye, however. Bernie and Jerry were fighting for their turfBroadway. Alberts heart was with Off Broadway. In the '70s he produced or general managed such seminaland sometimes controversialshows as Futz, Peace, The Unseen Hand, and The Dirtiest Show in Town.

Some are probably dated now, but back then, as the country was being torn apart by the Vietnam War, they had so much potency theyd leave mainstream critics such as Walter Kerr foaming at the mouth. Alberts chapters on these shows remind us of how vital, in a time of social upheaval, theater can be.

From their perch in their offices above the Shubert Theater, Bernie and Jerry looked down at Off Broadway with disdain.