the road," recalls Epstein, who spent three years work-
ing at the Habima Theater in Israel and made his New
York debut as a partner of Marcel Marceau. "We'd
usually be in a club, and there always was a piano.
"People, including Richard Rodgers, would sit
down and play, and we'd sing. One evening, when
Richard Rodgers was playing, someone asked for a
specific song. When he finished, he said, 'That's very
pretty; who wrote it?' Somebody answered, 'You did,
Mr. Rodgers.' He had no memory that he had writ-
ten it. He just knew he liked it."

Gerald Freedman, in a
recent picture, directed
the first production at the
Fisher Theatre. "What I
especially remember is this
spectacular proscenium
envisioned by Broadway
designer Ralph Alswang."

GERALD FREEDMAN

Gerald Freedman, dean of drama at the North
Carolina School of the Arts, was director of The Gay
Life, the Fisher's first production, and he still keeps a
show poster in his university office.
"The Fisher Theatre was part of an especially
unique and exciting time for me because it involved
my first Broadway show," says Freedman, who recent-
ly directed a production at the Globe in London.
"It was a musical starring Barbara Cook and pro-
duced by Kermit Bloomgarden, who also produced
Death of a Salesman. The music was written by
Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz, masters of
American musicals.
"I was 32 and had achieved my dream."
Although the play, based on the many romantic
affairs of a character in early 20th-century Vienna, had
a very limited run in New York, the score was more
enduring, reissued several times on CD. Freedman
recently reminisced with Barbara Cook about the play
when they met, by chance, in London.
"The title, The Gay Life, was in the European, conti-
nental sense of living high and joyously," says Freedman,
the first director of Hair and longtime artistic director of
the New York Shakespeare Festival. "It had nothing to
do with being gay as we think cf it today"
Freedman, who occasionally has taken off time
from his directing responsibilities to serve as a cantor
on the High Holy Days, felt honored to open the
Fisher.
"What I especially remember is this spectacular
proscenium envisioned by Broadway designer Ralph
Alswang, who made it very decorative and very
modern," Freedman recalls. "I was so concentrated
on the play and the theater that I don't remember
much about the city"

Behind The Scenes

A longtime employee of the Fisher Theatre
provides glimpses of life backstage.

SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News

hen Shin' Harris
first saw the list of
productions sched-
uled to celebrate the Fisher
Theatre's 40th anniversary sea-
son, she had one thought.
There would be lots for young
and new theatergoers to see,
including Saturday Night
Fever, South Pacific, Guys &
Dolls and Fiddler on the Roof
"It's so important to intro-
duce young people to legiti-
mate theater," says Harris,
public relations director for
the Fisher and a Nederlander
employee for 28 years. "That
can have a very powerful
,
effect.
Harris, who hosted her own
radio program (Shoultime With
Shill on WQRS) between
1966 and 1977, was a fre-
quent theatergoer before
working for the Nederlanders
and has seen all or parts of
every show at the Fisher in the
past three decades. Along the
way, she has had fun writing,
directing and doing choreog-
raphy for revues put on by
Hadassah, ORT and the sis-
terhood of Temple Emanu-El.
Harris' career has provided
her with many celebrity con-
tacts, and she is glad to tell
about them.
"Annie Get Your Gun had a
revival in 1966, and Irving
Berlin wrote a new song for
it," Harris recalls. "He came to
see the production here, and
people recognized him. At
intermission, when he walked
up the aisle, the audience
spontaneously applauded."
She also remembers seeing
Shirley Jones and the late Jack
Cassidy in a show that was
delayed for the second act
because Jones got stuck in an
elevator. While the crew
worked to get her out,
Cassidy did some impromptu
singing.

"I've driven celebrities for
broadcast interviews and
found Kathleen Turner
(Tallulah) to be among the
nicest," Harris says.
"Sometimes, when I've gone
to pick up the younger actors
at their hotels for early
appearances, I've had to send
up someone to wake them
because they slept through
the phone calls. I always
invite these stars for breakfast

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Shirt Harris:
At an intermission during
"Annie Get Your Gun,"
when Irving Berlin walked
up the aisle, "the audience
spontaneously applauded"

afterward, and the young peo-
ple all want lots to eat."
Harris was around the the-
ater when the critically
panned Big was being pre-
pared for its 1996 Broadway
debut. It was sad watching
the hard, but futile, work of
the cast and crew, including
Susan Stroman, director of
The Producen..
Because of her experiences
at the Fisher, A Chorus Line
remains Harris' favorite show.
"It really touched me
because it's so close to real,"
she says. "So many people
have dreams about the the-
ater, and sometimes we watch
them come true." El

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9/14
2001

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