Out to Lunch

With Michael Bennett, who confides to JOHN HEILPERN about a major Scandal to come

JOHN HEILPERN

As I watched Michael Bennett, of A Chorus Line and Dreamgirls fame, rehearse the opening number of his latest show, Scandal, at his downtownManhattan studios, it dawned on me that I was witnessing a form of showbiz history. About two feet from my nose, the young company, led by Treat Williams and Swoosie Kurtz, was in the midst of an orgy. It was a sexy dreamdance-musical full-out terrific orgy they were having, and it will be a first as the opening of a Broadway show. When this runthrough ended after twenty-two minutes, everyone broke for lunch.

Mr. Bennett, looking fit in dance pants and sneakers, humming cheerfully to himself, strolled across the corridor, past his private gym, and into his office, which is the size of a skating rink. There, among various trees, a Yamaha grand piano, and posters of his hit musicals of the last twenty years, I joined him for his diet lunch of chicken and salad (which he looked at, rather than ate). Scrawled in chalk across a blackboard that covered one wall were the words "Today's message: Version 'A' of the opening is done— thank God."

"How did you like it?" he asked. "Very nice. And you?"

"Well, sex has been done very well in dance, and done a great deal. And Scandal is about sex. So an orgy is O.K. for an opening number. I sort of like what we've done, actually— which is rare for me. I usually try to hate everything when I'm rehearsing. In a way, I like to see the show as the enemy."

"As material to be conquered?" "Yes. I don't want to like it too much, in case I settle for it. The question is, Can it be better?"

"How long did that opening twentytwo minutes take you?"

"Ten weeks."

"Which is as long as it normally takes to rehearse a complete musical."

"Longer. And the opening isn't finished yet. We have an expression in theater, 'to freeze a show.' That's when it's set. Well, I have a habit of freezing the show about three days before opening night. My father was a gambler, so I gamble, too. I don't mean I play the stock market. I play and gamble with this great invention called the American musical. And can I help it if I happen to think the American musical is the greatest thing ever?"

"No."

"I mean, I don't know much about painting."

"Right."

"So I do musicals."

"In this case, about sex."

"That's because there's an awful lot of it about."

"But what will be the difference between Scandal and Oh! Calcutta!"

"Well, it's time for something new. Also, Oh! Calcutta! is a revue made up of sex sketches written by different writers. Scandal is a story written by one writer, Treva Silverman, who's one of the funniest writers I've come across. It has a story with a beginning, middle, and end, which I like in theater. It has

music by Jimmy Webb, which is great. And it has a happy ending, which I believe all musicals should have. For forty dollars a ticket, it's the least they should have!"

Is Mr. Bennett perhaps a ham?

"What can I tell you? It's true. On the other hand, it isn't easy. I used to get scared to death every show. Now I get terrified less. Maybe it's biorhythms. My whole game is to §try not to repeat anything I've gdone in a musical before. Repeating myself would be the most 8 horrible death for me. I'd sooner give up and play golf—and I hate golf. There are times when I go into the rehearsal studio and I think I really understand, and it flows, you know? It's there! But there are other times when I couldn't do a flap-ball-changeshuffle-hop-skip."

"What's that?"

"The most basic step in tap dance. A three-year-old could do it. So all rehearsals can get scary. When Scandal opens next year the cast will have been in workshop for almost twelve months. All I know is, if the show works it'll have been worth it."

"What if the show doesn't work?"

"Then we'll go on rehearsing," he answered, laughing, and added, a little hesitantly: "May I mention the word art?"

"Please do."

"I truly believe the difference between Hollywood and New York is that, more often than not, art creates business in New York, whereas in Hollywood it's the other way around. Scandal may end up costing millions, but that's not what it's about right now. This may sound presumptuous, but it's about a group of Broadway artists trying to do their work."

"The best possible work."

"You got it!" Michael Bennett replied, and returned to the rehearsal. He looked most eager (and very hungry). □