“I asked for one thing. I got so much more.”
“I just want one thing,” I said to my LA agent at the time: “A production of Having It Almost in a major theatre in town.” Two weeks later, I was sitting at the Daily Grill on Ventura Boulevard with David Elzer.
David had notes, but he was interested. He’d produced another piece with five women called The Marvelous Wonderettes which had been a big hit for him, but he didn’t want to be known as “that guy” who did the all-women musicals. Still… if we could make these changes -- and they weren’t necessarily easy or small -- he’d look at a new draft.
“And oh -- I think the title should be ‘Having It All.’”
The thing was, the notes were smart. Really smart. You always want to be done. But you want it to be right even more. Wendy Perelman, John Kavanaugh and I set to work. The rest is a long story, but not that long.
Elzer promised he would get us a production in a major theatre in LA. He brought on Richard Israel to direct, which was pretty much the only thing you could do in LA in those days to guarantee yourself a production (probably still is, who knows). He helped us to assemble a dream cast of five of the most sought-after music-theatre actresses in LA -- Lindsey Alley, Kim Huber, Alet Taylor, Shannon Warne and Jennifer Leigh Warren. And he got us a beautiful theatre in town, the Noho Arts Center (and a second production two years later at the Laguna Playhouse).
A lot of people in this business make a lot of promises. Finding the people who keep them is a lot rarer. David Elzer was one of those people.
Wendy, John and I wrote (and rewrote) this musical pre-Access Hollywood tape, pre-#me-too… somehow, the collective “we” never seem to get women’s equality, rights, and issues resolved to the point where the subject matter ceases to be timely. I expect there will always be a need for an update on Having It All. Maybe one day…
David Elzer, who always kept his promises.