Patrick Oliver Jones:

I'm Patrick Oliver Jones, and this is closing night. And this season, I'm focused on musicals that just couldn't make it to Broadway, even when the show's marquee is already up and New York marketing has begun. But some shows prove why that last hurdle of actually making it to New York is sometimes the hardest and most difficult one to overcome. Lone Star Love is the kind of show that should have made it to Broadway and would have made it except for one person. Well, actually, two people, Randy Quaid and his wife, Evie, who you heard all about in a previous episode. And most of the firsthand accounts that you heard were from the dance captain of that show, Jeremy Benton. He had so many stories to tell that I just couldn't fit them all into that one episode. And so I wanted you to hear more of our conversation, not only about Randy Quaid, but about the other Randy in the show, director and choreographer Randy Skinner, as well as the other actors and creatives involved with Lone Star Love.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

But first, you should know a little bit about Jeremy himself and how he and Randy Skinner first began working together.

Jeremy Benton:

Randy gave me my Equity card on the national tour of 40 Second Street. I I had a callback to try on a pair of costume pants on 09/11/2001. I was flying back into the city. I had auditioned before then was flying back into the city. And, of course, that didn't happen that day. So we drove up, I think, on the fifteenth or something. I was still down in Tennessee. And, they brought the pants over and we a couple of guys and I try I was like, basically, Peggy Sawyer right out of right off the boat.

Jeremy Benton:

And, didn't fit the pants. They came up to it was like I was wearing a Newsies outfit. So Randy asked me to come on board, basically, long story short, for the national tour of 40 Second Street to be the assistant, to be the dance captain, to swing all 12 guys, understudy Andy, understudy Billy. Did that for two years on the road and then, went into the Broadway company after that. So, yeah, Randy Skinner has been a mentor of mine sort of since I hit the ground, and we, discovered each other, in auditions, for forty second Street.

Unnamed Interviewer:

Wow. Now what was his overall style and approach to directing and choreographing the show?

Jeremy Benton:

Well, his style that he always has, which is he likes to be a director of few words except when they're important. And, you know, Randy's such a mild mannered and mild tempered guy, sort of a professorial energy in the room. And he's has so much wisdom and so much knowledge and does a library of working with some of the greatest in the industry, you know, we you all sort of enter the room and trust Randy and go, okay. Here we are. We're in the hands of somebody that really has not only worked with the best, but become one of those sort of iconic, creators in the industry that now I can say, oh my gosh. I worked with Randy or others can say yes. So he brings in that level of, of respect, like, kind of instant respect for Randy. And he's such a gentle communicator that, you know, he's not somebody getting up and and sort of bombastically running the room.

Jeremy Benton:

He sits back, lets things happen, lets people create, lets us find our way and, especially in the scene work and and crafting comedy and sort of lets us shape that And then, of course, because he's a dancer and a choreographer, as well, his mind is already going about, you know, how do we get this ready for opening? We've gotta get to the dance numbers. And it's something I've learned a lot from Randy is that, you know, we all know this, dance takes a lot longer than learning a couple of lines and blocking in a scene. Right? We we can speak, when we're little kids, we're born, and we are crying using our diaphragm that turns into supporting your voice and singing. But babies aren't born doing tembe parable reglisa jete or playing the cello. It's a different kind of discipline, and it takes so much time. And, it's something that Randy learned from Gower and then I've learned from Randy is that day one, you have to be starting. If it's a big dance show, which Randy does a lot of, then you have to be starting in a choreography day one. So that's another thing I learned with Randy is usually we plow, start right into the dance, the big dance numbers, and, but then also Randy lets the actors figure out, and he'll shape, and, it's just a gentle, but very, respectful, going both ways, room when sort of Randy's in charge.

Jeremy Benton:

And plus, Randy's really good at surrounding himself, especially with his associates and assistants, if I do say so myself, with folks that are sort of low drama and good teachers, but also patient kind of like him. He'd he always does a good job at filtering out those that will make the room about them. And it becomes more about the big picture and the project. And and I you've worked with them too. So you sort of know what I'm talking about. It's, you have freedom, but you also want to respect what Randy would want. And and he'll tell you and, you know, another thing I learned from Randy is you never know, really, if something is working or it's funny until the audience comes. I mean, we could think that it's funny all day long in the room, but the audience will tell you if that comedy is really playing to the back of the house.

Jeremy Benton:

And Randy lets that sit, and he trusts that we'll find it, and we have a preview process, and that's why you have previews. And that might be a good segue into where we were with Lone Star Love because that's where we were in that very important preview process when things started to, unravel, if you will.

Unnamed Interviewer:

Well, we'll definitely get to that. But but before we get to previews, I I wanna just talk about, how finished was the script and score when you started rehearsing, and what changes did did it make throughout that process?

Jeremy Benton:

It was expanded from Off Broadway as I understood the, the progression of the script. Added a little bit more characters, fleshed out a little bit more. Of course, it's based on Shakespeare, so you can't really tinker around too much. I mean, you have to stay with the scaffolding of what the bard suggested we talk about. But I think the Red Play Ramblers had written 11 new songs from Off Broadway to, when we were going out of town to Seattle. And I don't really know exactly which ones because I don't know all 11 that they wrote specifically for that. I know the ones that landed and there was a lot of musical work, I think, that changed from Off Broadway to Broadway. And, as far as the script, I think it just expanded how many people were in the show, not necessarily big now there was a new song for Bob Cuccioli, was a great song.

Jeremy Benton:

There was a new song that the Red Clay Ramblers wrote for Falstaff called Do You Ever See a Fat Man Jump? And Randy it was fantastic. And, you know, Randy Quay came in day one, rehearsals in New York, which we rehearsed for about two, three weeks, three weeks, I think, in Manhattan before we went out of town. And he came in off book, ready to go, singing, did you ever see a Fat Man job? And, and that was wonderful. So anyway, that's, that's sort of the jump from Off Broadway to Broadway. It was a lot more music. The script was expanded just to sort of contain more bodies and ensemble. And, and then a lot of songs were written. Some were used.

Jeremy Benton:

Some were not. Little, themes and motifs were sort of used. Maybe the whole song wasn't used, but very, very musical and tuneful score. And the Red Clay Ramblers, Jack Herrick, I think, who is also a music director, such a sweet, gentle man. I can see why he and Randy, and by the way, John Rando was, creative consultant over the whole project. And another very gentle, respectful kind of director as well. It was it was that kind of energy in the room, and we had that for about three weeks in Manhattan, and then we went out to Seattle, Fifth Avenue.

Unnamed Interviewer:

Yeah. Well well well, let's talk about the cast. You you mentioned a few of them. We'll we'll start, of course, with the big name at top. They they brought in Randy Quaid to be the star of the show, to be Falstaff. What was he like in general during at least that rehearsal process before Seattle?

Jeremy Benton:

Well, during rehearsals in Manhattan, it was magical. You know? I grew up loving cousin Eddie from Christmas, vacation, of course, you know, all of these wonderful things. So we had this sort of expectation of, you know, cousin Eddie energy entering the room. And it was a little cousin Eddie, but it was also very professional. And, you could tell he'd done his homework all of he was off book. He knew his songs and music and everything. And then, Brandy's wonderful associate, Sarah Bryan's, also, her and I were in charge of sort of that was the first thing we started working on was that number, because it was basically just Falstaff and his I forget what they what they're called in Merry Wives of Windsor, but it was the Red Clay Ramblers were his little minions that followed him about through the entire play, also playing live instruments while they did that. So, that was sort of day one.

Jeremy Benton:

Sarah and I ride into giving Randy Quaid choreography for that so he could get that under his belt. And he was wonderful to work with. He was very, normal at the beginning.

Unnamed Interviewer:

At first. Right.

Jeremy Benton:

At first. And I have to say, it's when his wife showed up that his individual personality altered.

Unnamed Interviewer:

And now how involved was she during the rehearsal in Seattle? How much of a presence was she?

Jeremy Benton:

She was an immediate presence day one and week one. I just remember her being dressed like she was a lion tamer or something. She had these boots to her, knees, leather boots and sort of pants in this this sort of vest jacket. I don't know. She looked like something, she I don't know. But she was in her mind, it looks like she was dressed to run the room. And she was around and she was asking questions and she was blah blah blah this and asking, kind of basically, you know, what's Randy Quaid's star entrance gonna look like? She was very concerned about him remaining the star of the evening and all of this stuff. But when she was around, he was less social.

Jeremy Benton:

And we started everybody on the creative team started getting, you know, like in Star Wars, I have a bad feeling about this. We started getting a bad feeling about this, and, Randy and Robert Horn, one of the book writers, along with John Haber was the original creator and writer. And then John Horn, Robert Horn was brought in. It's the first time I met Robert and, we all were like, something's something is not right. So I think to satisfy Evie Quaid, give her something to do, and also remove her from New York completely for a while or at least the rehearsal room. She was given the task of creating the star entrance for Randy Quaid, which was not her invention, but she may she was in charge of making it happen, which was basically a short little silent film with Dee Hote and Lauren Kennedy, the two wives. And then here comes Randy Quaid or Falstaff to the rescue in some sort of old, silent movie disaster happening. And then so Falstaff Falstaff's riding into town in the back of, like, this Bronco and gets bucked, and you see him fly off.

Jeremy Benton:

And then he crashes through the screen and does a forward roll, and that's his entrance into the play. It was fantastic, you know, because we had this mechanism where you can come through the screen and not know that there's a slit in the screen and all that. And so she filmed that, and she green screened Lauren Kennedy, and she green screened Dee Hote, and she green screened Falstaff riding a you know, it was actually really great. And she did the filming and editing and did all of it. So once they green screened them, we didn't see her until we hit Seattle. So that preoccupied at least, like, three and a half, four weeks of her time so we could get the show finished and and choreographed and put all the numbers up and put in the new songs and not have to appease someone on a daily basis about all of this other stuff.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

When I talked about Evie Quaid in the lone star love episode, I mentioned that she was not an actor, which is true. She hadn't performed on stage before, but she had worked in the film industry and, unsurprisingly, had carved out a reputation as a provocateur. But Evie had never been one to follow the rules, whether in life or art. Growing up, she was kicked out of five elite New England boarding schools for various reasons, like escaping campus after dark, defying dress codes, and flouting curfews just for the thrill of it. And when she was finally ready to graduate, her high school actually refused to give her a diploma due to her relentless misbehavior. Nonetheless, she forced her way into the art world where she turned objectification inside out, stripping away the male gaze until her work was equal parts alluring and repellent. She was known for crafting nude portraits so aggressively confrontational that even the photographers who shot them found the images vulgar. Her self styled rebellion even caught the eye of legendary photographer, Helmut Newton, landing her in exhibitions and additions of Vogue across Europe and The US.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

Her flare for spectacle extended into film, where she wrote and directed The Debtors, a 1999 screwball comedy that charmed the Toronto International Film Festival before being banned from release, leading Evie into a legal battle to protect her vision. She was just equal parts brilliant, defiant, chaotic, and completely unwilling to compromise. So when she and her husband Randy Quaid got involved with Lone Star Love, it was only a matter of time before her unchecked ego and scorched earth mentality turned the production into a battlefield for everyone involved. And after the break, Jeremy and I will shift our focus to those other artists that saw firsthand the mighty force of Evie Quaid.

Unnamed Interviewer:

While the name of the

Patrick Oliver Jones:

show may be Lone Star Love, it's important to point out the other remarkable talents that brought this musical to life beyond its headline star, Randy Quaid. You already heard from Lauren Kennedy herself in the previous episode. And here, Jeremy and I discuss the notable talents of the other actors and creatives in the show as it prepared for its Broadway run.

Unnamed Interviewer:

So moving on to Robert Cuccioli,

Patrick Oliver Jones:

what was he like to to work with?

Jeremy Benton:

Oh, I love Bob Cuccioli. I love him. He's he's a teddy bear. He's very sweet. Incredible, incredible voice. And I think he I don't think he was involved with it before. I think it was all new. I think he was new to the company as for and so was Dee Hodie.

Jeremy Benton:

And he had a great sort of that, that Spanish vibe Western song and, which was something that we wanted to see if it worked or what the structure of that was. When we got to Seattle, we needed to see, you know, how the whole thing played out and sit in the back of the house. And Bob knew that and was very, very eager to just work on this. Let's try this. You know, see if this works. He was he was everybody, basically, except for You Know Who, was all sort of willing to participate and be playful and figure it out. Because it wasn't a musical that was going to, you know, be like activism theater or, the most important message that we could have out there today. It was like a romp in a one unit set almost.

Jeremy Benton:

It was like anything goes in Texas. You know, it was that it was a light evening of fun and Shakespearean debauchery and really good music and some hoedown dance numbers and some excellent singing and then and some comedy and then every you know, everybody goes home. It was that kind of evening. And that's also what's kind of a shame because it was such a sweet little lighthearted evening in the theater, which was the exact opposite of all the drama happening in the wings and in, you know, at the Cheesecake Factory with all the creatives around the table and then Evie and Randy. You know?

Unnamed Interviewer:

Alright. We'll we'll get to that. We'll get to that. We'll get to that. Okay. So what was it like working with Dee Hodie?

Patrick Oliver Jones:

I think she's the one who took the Beth level role.

Jeremy Benton:

Dee, I love Dee Hodie. That was I can't remember if that was our second show together, but we've done quite a few shows together. I love her. She is, like, you know, the queen of class and on Broadway. But she's also, like, a real peep I don't know if I can use this term anymore, but she's a real dame. She's a real broad she's real. I will put it that way. She looks like, you know, a statue carved out of marble, but she's really just kind of a real gal.

Jeremy Benton:

And, her professionalism, her humor, her dry wit, I mean, that came in very that was very important through some of the trauma. But Dee is fabulous. It's again, it's such a shame. Her and Lauren had a great, great duet number, in this sort of musical that's more featuring a very human kind of musical, not, you know, people dressed as cats. There were no sponges and squids dancing. Yeah. It was just very it was a simple evening with great talent being showcased. And, again, it it was something that was pretty heartbreaking because you see all this work and you know, oh my gosh.

Jeremy Benton:

This is gonna showcase everybody's gonna get their moment, sort of like the Shakespearean formula where there's not where everybody has every lead's storyline or connecting lead storyline is prominent equally throughout the evening. Everybody had that. Dee, Lauren, Bob, everybody, Randy Quaid, Clark Thorell, Kara Lindsay, that was her first show ever. She got her equity card on that. So, yeah, Dee is in that same category, and I'll probably say this a million times. It was made it made it even sadder because these performances were so solid, sort of sincere, and, you know, a lot of Dee came out in her character. A lot of Lauren came out. A lot of Bob came out.

Jeremy Benton:

So it was really highlighting everyone in a kind of individual way, including Dee. And she was just so funny and so gracious and but she also, you know, can smell BS from a mile away. So she was one of the ones early in New York going, I've got a bad faith. She's been around the block. You know? She knows.

Unnamed Interviewer:

So when it came time to get to Seattle, what were those performances like? How did the audiences receive it? What what what was the general mood of the cast at that time?

Jeremy Benton:

Well, we got to Seattle, and we had, I think, two weeks of tech, which would also in go then go into a preview situation for, like, two or three more weeks, and then it would officially open, and then it would do the run at Seattle. PS. John Rando is also sort of floating between, he was working on a film at the time, so he was in and out. So John Rando met us in Seattle as a creative consultant. So we had Rando there, we had Randy Skinner there, we had all of us there making changes, ready to start trimming the fat of the show. And we were making great progress without an audience. We had time. And the performances were solid.

Jeremy Benton:

Like, Ramona Keller, she was also in the show as well. I mean, everybody was just so highlighted. You had all these fabulous voices. And the Red Clay Ramblers on stage. We had, it was very unique, and it had its own little Baskin Robbins flavor about the whole evening. You know, bluegrass, anything goes. Unit set, beautiful barn, on the inside, beautiful play space, and the performances were solidifying, finding the comedy, finding okay. No.

Jeremy Benton:

We don't need this reprise of this. You know, all of that nuts and bolts stuff. And then when previews came along, audiences were loving it, loving it. And they loved Randy Quay, and he was really good. And he he he had a star entrance given to him by his own wife. So we thought everybody was satisfied. And then this is right before previews, actually. Evie Quaid resurfaced and came into town and was not happy with the projector that was projecting her movie from the back of the house.

Jeremy Benton:

You know, they weren't gonna buy a new $8,000 projector just for this run at Seattle before we went to Broadway. And that was sort of the beginning of the lashing out and the beginning of the group emails that were sent to all of the creative team.

Unnamed Interviewer:

So a step back. I assume at that time, it really was still a good close company. Everyone was enjoying the show. It it it was positive.

Jeremy Benton:

Yes.

Unnamed Interviewer:

It was genuine.

Jeremy Benton:

Definitely. Before we left New York, it was everybody was excited. It was we had some Broadway debuts. We had you know, it was it was solidifying into this happy company, including Randy Quaid. You know? And a lot of every a lot of folks already knew each other before this. You know? We're already friends. And the energy and spirit of the show was the same energy and spirit that was sort of solidifying the company, a lighthearted, fun romp with low stakes and lets everybody get along and kind of have a tuneful evening as we appreciate, this musicalized version of a Shakespeare classic.

Unnamed Interviewer:

You know?

Jeremy Benton:

We were all happy about it. And and so that was sincere, and that was that was legitimate. And, of course, you know, at that time, Randy Quaid was back to, being a company member and enjoying conversations with other people and staying for lunch and, you know, we had an hour lunch break. We'd share lunch and, you know, typical

Unnamed Interviewer:

Yeah. At at the beginning with this this I have a bad feeling about this. When Evie was in the room, there was just kind of a feeling, but there there weren't specific incidences really until Seattle. Would that be a fair statement?

Jeremy Benton:

Yes. There weren't any, you know, break glass in case of emergency moments. There were high, emotions about certain things when we were still in New York. This is why people started going, we've gotta get her out of here. You know, There was some rudeness. There was some not really understanding that there's a process, and we need to talk to the writers and the director and, you know, it's not just the Randy Quaid show.

Unnamed Interviewer:

Now with that in mind, from what I understand, in order to bring him on, he was given a lot of creative control of the show, and it seems like that that Evie took that literally.

Jeremy Benton:

She took it absolutely literally. And, what we discovered later at a Cheesecake Factory in Seattle, Washington, that the wording and something that the creator and the lawyer and Evie and Randy Quaid had signed was interpreted as such that Randy Quaid had a say in the final creative outcome. However, I don't know the wording. I don't know what it was, and I don't know what lawyer signed that and let that happen. But whoever missed that, there was something that said, you could do you could have all these ideas, but you have to take it through the director and the producer and Randy Quaid. And that he could also volunteer creative ideas, and they would be implemented to see if they worked or something like that, which led to a lot of insane things happening on stage. Like, well, first of all, Evie and Randy Quaid at this meeting at The Cheesecake Factory wanted to add lines. Do you remember waiting for Gufman Mhmm.

Jeremy Benton:

When they're at the thing and, what's his name? Fred Willard is giving the key to the city to the person that made the footstool. And he turns out that the audience goes, I guess you need a new travel agent. It was like that. You know? It was like Goffman. So we wanted to be in a number and then turn to the audience and say something like, I haven't seen that since Brokeback Mountain. Like, whatever it was that a a movie that Randy Quaid had been in. Mhmm. They wanted to add a dream ballet of two gay cowboys running around Randy Quaid because he was in Brokeback Mountain.

Jeremy Benton:

This this is what this is what I'm talking about. And wherever you know, can you imagine, like, Randy Skinner's face going, how do what do we do now? Because when you have the thing signed on the dotted line, what are you gonna do?

Unnamed Interviewer:

And so none of this kinda crazy, like, let let me add this and let's turn them into gay cowboys. That wasn't really part of New York. It was really Seattle that these things started to creep in. Yes. So back me up. What was going on? Why was Cheesecake Factory? Why is this, like, some central key part of

Jeremy Benton:

this? They had a they had a big meeting, and that's that was the chosen location. Now

Unnamed Interviewer:

now who was having who

Jeremy Benton:

called this meeting? The producers, Roger Gindi, the general manager at the time, the producers, the writer, John Rando, Randy Skinner, all the creative team and the money people. And I don't know if I was not there. Sarah, Brian's and I were there waited on waiting we were waiting on bated breath to hear, like, what the heck is happening at the Cheesecake Factory in Sailwatch? So there was, like, a round table at the Cheesecake Factory, and that's when I think, contracts were pulled out. Here you go. Here's the statement. This is where it says I can you know, you have to go through me. I'm part of one of the final stamps of creative approval on this project. And, also, something else tied him to the project for, like, fifteen years or something, which is why it never resurfaced because I mean, it probably could have because remember he, like, went to Canada and the star whackers and all that.

Jeremy Benton:

But but, anyway, so that was the main discovery at the Cheesecake Factory. It's like Watergate. At the Cheesecake Factory meeting was the sign on the dotted line, death knell of Lone Star Love, that would not involve Randy Quaid's craziness. That it was a sort of that every it was stuck. Everybody was stuck.

Unnamed Interviewer:

And so The Cheesecake Factory was kind of a way to address all of the issues that had been happening. Is that

Jeremy Benton:

Well, I believe before The Cheesecake Factory meeting, there was an incident on stage that I remember being burned into my eyeballs and not and thinking this is my life is when some kind of entrance and false step comes through the door and he's supposed to be in his, you know, like long johns. And then there's a whole scene after that. Without telling anyone, the director, without telling anyone at all, he entered the stage with a gigantic codpiece under the long jaws. It looked like a Christmas ham wrapped around someone's hips, like they were shoplifting a giant ham. And it got a laugh, but the audience was confused, and I gasped. And Sarah Bryant's looked at I at each other, and we just couldn't believe it. And that's that's when things started going cuckoo. This is before the meeting at The Cheesecake Factory, I believe, if I have the timeline right.

Jeremy Benton:

And we were like, you know, you can't this can't happen. You can't just start doing stuff on stage without asking, first of all. But anyway, that was that was one of the first. And it was like, oh my god. What's happening? There was another incident. This is this is finally the the incident that looking back on it probably got him removed from equity for life was adding some kind of bit with one of the Red Clay Ramblers hats. I think it was Chris. And he, like, beat him with his own hat.

Jeremy Benton:

And until Chris, like, fell down on stage. And he wasn't prepared for it. He didn't know what was gonna happen. He, like, took his hat off and hit him. He's holding an instrument, and he, like, tripped. That's probably ultimately one of the things that got him and as much hot water with equity as as he was physically hurting someone on stage, like hitting them with a hat until they fall down. But yes, in all of this and then The Cheesecake Factory meeting happened. And then Sarah and I found out first, but eventually the rest of the cast found out that what had to happen was they just froze the show.

Jeremy Benton:

We didn't make any of the cuts we were going to make or whatever we had done so far. That was the only thing they could do. And I don't know legally how that I don't know. I don't understand really the power. The owner of the show, I think, Jon Haber, decided freeze the show, stop making the changes that we want because they're going to keep doing this and they're gonna keep wanting to add stuff into the show. So while I think technically while you're in a preview process or something, but somehow they made the decision that freezing the show was the best thing to keep, you know, more cod pieces and gay cowboy dream ballets from being suggested or showing up or or stuff like

Patrick Oliver Jones:

that. And after the break, we'll find that Ebby Quaid's suggestions or rather demands were just getting started.

Unnamed Interviewer:

At this point, it's fair to

Patrick Oliver Jones:

say that Lone Star Love was crumbling in on itself. And while the creatives thought that freezing the show would help prevent any more shenanigans on stage, backstage, the drama was only just beginning.

Jeremy Benton:

Once the meeting at The Cheesecake Factory happened and the show was frozen, we noticed, like, a six foot five dressed in black bodyguard showing up at the theater and standing outside of Randy Quaid's dressing room to keep anybody from going in and giving him notes. Now I was allowed because at first, they really liked me. Randy Quaid and Abby gave me this big picture of Randy Quaid, and they had signed it and all this stuff. They liked me at first. I was coming in and out. The bow the bouncer, I called him, let me in a few times. So imagine you're at the theater and the star has, like, a bodyguard. It's like going to some, I don't know, Lower East Side bar with the velvet rope and in or out.

Jeremy Benton:

And, like, literally, I think there was what do they call them? Like, a little partition or something up where you could not go past him unless he granted you permission to go into the dressing room. That didn't happen for anyone. It only happened for me a couple of times after, and then even I was denied access. So Randy Quaid is still doing the show. This is, like, right at the beginning, in the beginning week of previews. He's still doing the show, but disaster is looming, and little weird things are happening and there's a bodyguard backstage and, like, how long can this go on? And Robert Horne I don't think he would mind me telling you this story. Robert Horne, you know, little guy going over to Randy Quaid and Evie Quaid's hotel room, who were both, like, giant people. Evie Quaid is is as tall as Randy Quaid.

Jeremy Benton:

Going to sit down with Randy and have a talk about let's not ruin this. The Marquis is already up at the Belasco. Right? So how can we salvage this? What's let's talk and let's work it out. There's a hundreds of people's jobs on the line. This is we've been trying to get this to Broadway for so many years. Like, this is it. And so they start talking. This is what Robert told me.

Jeremy Benton:

So there he's talking to, Randy Quaid in one, you know, the living room part of the hotel room. And then from the other from the bedroom, you hear Evy Quaid screaming, he's lying, Randy. He's a liar. He's a liar. And Randy Quaid going, shut up. Shut up, Evie. And then back to the conversation. So, you know, I can't I can't just imagine Robert Horn, funniest one of the funniest guys I know, thinking this is really, a, funny, and b, scared because these people are nuts.

Jeremy Benton:

So that back and forth with him trying to have the conversation gets more heated and more heated, and Evie's getting, like, closer and closer. And all of a sudden, Evie's in the room with them screaming, he's a liar. They're all liars to the point where Robert said, Randy Quaid just debt Evie right in front of him after I think she was hitting on him. Anyway, they're going at it. They're fighting, and Robert said he just got down and, like, army crawled out of the hotel room and, like, slipped away while they were, you know, this is what we were dealing with.

Unnamed Interviewer:

No. Had anything like that physical altercations ever happened at the theater in rehearsal?

Jeremy Benton:

No. We never saw them, you know, going at it. You would hear them yelling in the dressing room about something, which couldn't go in because there was a bouncer at the door. It's it's Avenue.

Unnamed Interviewer:

Well, the well, I'd I'd heard it in reports that there had been harassments. I guess the Quaids were harassing the cast or creative team or something. Were there incidents like that?

Jeremy Benton:

Yes. So it started with she wasn't gonna get the projector that she wanted, and they found out that the show was frozen. That's when the emails started. So if you can imagine this, Randy Skinner is on this email chain, myself, you know, the producers, the general manager, everybody. We open up the thing the day after the show's frozen and there is please forgive me a screen size full picture of Evie Quaid's vagina in black and white, and it says in large font, eat me. And that's how all the emails started. So first of all, I had not had enough coffee. I will never have had enough coffee to have to open an email first thing in the morning, and that is what I saw.

Jeremy Benton:

And it continued after that. So we're and, you know, of course, Sarah, Brian's, and I are, like, texting, calling each other, like, oh my god. And who saw this? Right? You know, thinking about all the eyes that eyeballs that saw this this morning. And it kind of went on from there. Like, eat me. That was, like, the debut, email. There were pictures of her standing in the kitchen with a knife saying weird, harassing things like I have all I have your number. This is not over.

Jeremy Benton:

Stuff like that. And, you know, things that they don't train you for in your musical theater major or in ballet company or anywhere ever.

Unnamed Interviewer:

No. I I didn't take that class. No.

Jeremy Benton:

Yeah. No. I I missed that day. So that's that's the beginning. And and also how stupid can you be? Because anything you write down, we're all gonna have as confidence for an eventual trial or whatever that's coming up. So that so, you know, I have a whole AOL folder of these things. So the harassing started like that. That was just the creative team.

Jeremy Benton:

But with the cast, he hit I believe his name is Chris. He, you know, hit him on stage and and other incidents about things that happened backstage. You know? A lot of stuff I don't fully remember. I just know that there was tension and weird stuff happening that would qualify as harassment, especially if somebody shows up on stage with a prop or doing something to you that you never rehearsed and there's an audience on out there that can be, I would think, considered as some kind of professional harassment. And then the physical, hitting, and then there were words exchanged. Anyway, there was a lot of stuff going on. So much so that we petitioned Equity and we had to do a formal report. So the formal report, I think, started with, you know, the actor being hit with the hat and falling, and then it we started listing everything else after that.

Jeremy Benton:

And that petition to equity, we all had to sign. And as a part of that, if you if it's if you have an equity petition that's against you, you have to also receive that document. And to say, this is how many people Well, she started doing things like she would take all of our signatures and copy them on the bottom half of a page, but write her own paragraph that says, we, the company of Lone Star Love, hereby declare that none of the accusations are true and that Randy Quaid is completely innocent of all these accusations. And then our signature, which is illegal to do, not to mention batshit crazy. Like, we wouldn't recognize that you did that. And it wasn't even like, well, like, I could see the photocopy smudge on the corner. You know, she's like put it in a Xerox. The crafting wasn't even nice.

Jeremy Benton:

And, of course, that's illegal. And, of course, we're going to all keep that because she emailed that out to as a threat. Well, then we all have it in our inbox, and so we just save it. So, yes, this all was happening during preview early at the end of tech into preview when the show was frozen. And then after all that, they disappeared in the night. They just left, which is good, but also horrible because people were coming to see the show and Randy Quaid's name was above it and all of this. And, Randy Quaid's understudy is one of the best guys in show business named Tony Lawson. And he was his understudy.

Jeremy Benton:

And Tony had been watching. We hadn't had that much because there's so much drama going on and there were a few understudy rehearsals, but it was like, we just have to get the show up. And I think Sarah and I worked with him for like an afternoon or a morning, and then he totally replaced Randy Quaid and was incredible in the role. Absolutely incredible. I mean, he's a musical theater pro, so it was in ways a lot more solid, a lot more predictable. I mean, of course, it was a lot more predictable because Tony wasn't adding, you know, the Thanksgiving turkey to his crotch for scenes. You know? So we were all amazed by Tony. But David Armstrong would come out before each show and basically say, I think the story at the time was Randy Quaid was sick or ill or had to leave.

Jeremy Benton:

There wasn't you know, you don't wanna start the show with telling the truth. It's a magical drama. You know? And so he would say, I think that we didn't get to change Randy Quaid's on the film, which is another reason why we sort of had to explain. He was out, but Tony was wonderful, and you're gonna love the show anyway. And people did, and they loved it. And audiences it was packed. People had a great time. People were saying they can't imagine anybody being better than Tony Lawson in the role.

Jeremy Benton:

So yeah. Now as it was running or as we were as the Quaids skipped town, I don't even know who knows if they paid for their hotel room. That seems seems to be like a common thing that they do as well. But, as they skipped town and Tony took over the role in Seattle, the Marquis at the Belasco came down. They told us all that because of all of this and because I think of that other clause that had Randy Quay connected to the project for at least several years, that they were not pursuing a Broadway run. So we all just finished the run-in Seattle, and that was it.

Unnamed Interviewer:

Wow. Wow. Now I would assume, though, that once Randy skipped town, the cast probably knew that the days were numbered.

Jeremy Benton:

Well yeah. And we were all most of us had been around a long time. You know, myself and Sarah Bryans and Clark Thoreau, we were like, this is, you know, this is it. This is curtains. Even before the harassment started in the emails, even before then, we were noticing the difference in behavior when Evie was present and when she wasn't. And it, you know, we got her out of the building, out of our hair for a little while, but they are an inseparable duo. I'm sure there's some sort of medical term for what relation type of relationship they have.

Unnamed Interviewer:

Codependency or whatever it is.

Jeremy Benton:

Starting at codependency, but I think there was some other chemical dependencies going on between the two of them that caused such irrational, odd behavior. W we, and we've all discussed it. Of course, a thousand times, those of us who sort of survived that whole thing, we were suspicious of, of other, mind altering events happening between the two of them. And it just seems so unpredictable that that that had to be, or at least on the list of possibilities that something was going on there. So, yeah, early on, we had this sort of thought, you know what? We're starting to get that feeling that this is one of those instances where there's too much going on to get us past the final thing to Broadway. And even when the marquee was up, we were all sort of joking, like, well, it can come back down. And it did.

Unnamed Interviewer:

And then it

Jeremy Benton:

did. And, you know, I don't have enough information about the legal situation that the owners of the show and the producers of the show were in in regards to because I never saw the language of that contract that somehow gave Randy more power than usually someone in that position has. It was abnormal. We'll put it that way. And even if it was normal, I can't imagine they wouldn't have tried to abuse that because they're both sort of, especially her, not thinking about anything other than what they want and to push an agenda. You know? And she really wanted to add a lot of stuff, like I mentioned earlier, like, looking out to the audience and talking about, you know, the shitter's full. How does that go into you know, I I don't know. That's just that's what we were dealing with.

Jeremy Benton:

We wanna do merry wives of Windsor, but we also want the lead, the star, to turn out, and, like, you know, list his resume to the audience while we're doing though. Right.

Unnamed Interviewer:

It sounds like without Quaid, without the whole debacle, that the show would have come to Broadway and probably would have done well.

Jeremy Benton:

Yes. Because Yes? Yeah. Well, who knows if anything can come to Broadway and do well? But I will say that it had its own little flavor and deserved a spot on Broadway because it added it was a it was a you know, in the bouquet of whatever's playing on Broadway, it was a specific little part of that Broadway bouquet. And it had earned its right to be there because it was a huge Off Broadway hit. I mean, the cast album is great. One of my favorite songs that Clark and Cara sang together, count on my love for you, is a gorgeous song. I mean, the the score was great. The score itself deserved that chance.

Jeremy Benton:

And then all of the work that we were doing on reshaping this sort of merry wives of Windsor, Comma, Texas, was really starting to highlight how great the score was and highlight these great performances. And to me, it it deserved a a spot. It deserved a spot. And people it had a little fan base of people that loved the show and, you know, ran off Broadway for a little while, and, I think it would have been successful. I I also sort of daydream about if they got who they wanted at first, if we had had any other star, where we would be and where the show would be and how great of a little show it would be to do regionally, and it would have had a whole life after that. And Randy Quaid, as I understand and remember, was really wanting to do Broadway. Really wanted to do, it was his first musical, first musical period. It would have been his debut on Broadway.

Jeremy Benton:

So, yeah, I just keep thinking back, like, if we had another false staff, if we'd gotten, you know, Jim Belushi or whatever, we we'd be hearing all these lone star love songs in auditions.

Unnamed Interviewer:

Oh my gosh. It just sounds like such a such a debacle that didn't need to be. It seems like with with without Evie and then and then without that clause, it I I think it still could have gone with Randy Quaid. It was so would have been fine.

Jeremy Benton:

My gut instinct says, yes, that she whatever relationship they have, she pushes him in a direction that he organically would not go. And I think that story with Robert in the hotel room and them fighting sort of displays that as he was trying to have a conversation about maybe coming to some agreement or save the show and her interjecting from the other room and getting closer and closer and interjecting and then there and the you know? And then we have Robert Horn army crawling, which I, I wish he would let me put that on a t shirt, like little Robert Horn army crawling away from big weights on whatever, you know, in their living area that they skipped out of town and probably didn't pay for. But

Unnamed Interviewer:

Oh my gosh.

Jeremy Benton:

Yeah. But, yeah, that gives you, like, the general timeline and just sort of how tragic that is. And my dream is that I keep asking about it, and I keep wondering what the situation is with the script and the score and the red clay ramblers and the rights is that if it's been enough time now that we can sort of put the drama aside and if we could give this show, you know, regionally anywhere, a new life, it just makes me sad that the whole thing had to go away because of two crazy people. But, anyway yeah. Well, thank you, Patrick. Thanks for being curious about it.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

Yeah. Well, I mean, when whenever Lauren talked about it just

Unnamed Interviewer:

a few years ago, it's always kinda stuck with me. So when when I, decided to create this podcast, I knew that I want to do a season about shows that didn't make it to Broadway, that were almost there but just didn't quite make it. And so, yeah, I knew I had to do this show. I went to Randy first, and he was like you know, he he wore it, of course, in his diplomatic way. It it was such a a tense time. I'd I I've I've been asked to speak about it, and I've always said no, and I'm I'm gonna say no again.

Jeremy Benton:

I think that's the right thing for him to do, you know, and that's very randy. Yeah. Diplomatic. There's no need to say anything if it doesn't further, Right. Like, some goodness. But here I am, you know, spilling the tea. So Well, but I haven't.

Unnamed Interviewer:

But but but I I think because I've I've been a part of shows that haven't made to

Patrick Oliver Jones:

I mean, shows don't make

Unnamed Interviewer:

it to Broadway for a multitude of reasons. Sometimes it's creative. Sometimes it's bad material. Sometimes the audiences just don't get you know? Or sometimes the actors are just crazy. Any number of things. And so I tried to pick enough variety of shows that they all failed for different reasons. Yes. And it's just like, it's the unpredictability of this business.

Jeremy Benton:

Yeah. It reminds me, doing research or looking up some stuff online before we talked. There is a Playbill article or somewhere that says the reason that this didn't come to Broadway was because audiences felt the pacing was too slow.

Unnamed Interviewer:

I think that's a producer answer. The pacing was too slow. We we don't think the material is ready.

Jeremy Benton:

Correct. All of that is exactly what you just said, a producer answer. People you know, it was new. It was fresh. You don't wanna further taint the show by having all this gossip. So when it first came out, I just wanted to maybe include that that that was that's not really the reason. And audiences in Seattle at the time, even with all the extra things we were gonna cut, loved the show. And, I don't know.

Jeremy Benton:

Hopefully, maybe somebody will hear this and go, you know, I wanna do that at my theater. So call us.

Unnamed Interviewer:

Right. Right?

Jeremy Benton:

I'll check I'll check it I'll check on the rights. Maybe it's been long enough.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

I'm Patrick Oliver Jones, writer and host of Closing Night, which is a production of WinMe Media with co producer Dan Delgado. He and I are hard at work on the next episode all about an obscure obscure musical called Senator Joe and its journey to closing night.