I came to the United States with the National Theatre of Great Britain in July 1974 with its all male cast of William Shakespeare's "As You Like it." We toured the country with 26 venues and ended up on Broadway, New York, to finish the tour. All the actors and musicians returned to London and I headed out to California, where I've lived ever since.
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In order to respond to your question about "As You Like it," I need to go back to 1948 or 49 at Mersham le Hatch and the lawn out front of the house where we performed "A Midsummer's Nights Dream." I played Bottom the Weaver, but I don't remember any of the members of the cast. Then a couple of months later, the Ashford theatre held auditions for kids my age to act in a play written by the conservative MP for Ashford, whose name escapes me. I managed to get the part of "Benjy." The play lasted a couple of weeks or so with the Conservative MP showing up for the last performance and joining us on stage. Then when I left Caldecott and lived in London, I joined an amateur dramatic society run by the Oxford & Bermondsey Club where, among many roles, I played Falstaff in "Henry IV" Part One.
Fast forward to 1960 when I left the RAF and I began taking double bass lessons from John Cooper, Principal bassist at the Covent Garden Opera House. After a couple of years of playing in pubs and doing casual gigs, I turned professional. In 1974, I received a phone call from a theatrical agent who asked me if I'd like to do a tour of the United States for six months on bass guitar with three other musicians: Hammond B3 organ, Tenor/Flute, drums playing music that had been written for the play "As You Like It". An earlier production had toured the States a few years before and earned substantial profits probably based upon the novelty of an "all male cast." After rehearsing in London for three weeks we headed to San Francisco for three weeks tour opening followed by a laundry list of venues on the West Coast, the Mid-West, and the East Coast. Back in London during rehearsals, I'd talked Shakespeare with Michael Beint the actor playing "the Old Duke" and he persuaded me to become his "understudy" in the event he became ill. It's always easier to bring in a bass player who can read the music than to find an understudy for the part of the Duke.That gave me something constructive to do because the total playing time during a three hour show was about twenty minutes. Oddly enough, I can still remember the opening lines up to and including my favorite line from the play: "Sweet are the uses of adversity, which, like the Toad ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewel in his head."
Although this production didn't fare so well financially as the previous tour, I always considered it the gig of a lifetime. When Ian McClellan did a one-man show called "Acting Shakespeare" many years ago in Los Angeles, I went back stage to talk to him where he told me that one our actors, Nigel Hawthorne, had become famous doing TV work and movies back in England. McKellan, of course, was brilliant, and I told him so. This was many years before Ian did the Harry Potter and other stuff. Anyway, when we finished in New York's Mark Hellinger Theatre in December 1974, I drove out to Los Angeles and married a woman I'd met on tour and who made me an offer I couldn't possibly turn down.
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The tour started in San Francisco's Geary Theatre in July 1974 and ended at the Mark Hellinger Theatre in New York at the end of December 1974. Second stop was Los Angeles, where the entire crew was invited to the British Ambassador's residence for cocktails. The tour later moved into Canada's Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto, where the play was very well received. I seem to remember that we covered 24 or 26 American cities and universities.
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All scenery and props were trucked between venues; e.g. San Francisco to Los Angels then LA to Atlanta, Georgia and so on, into Canada and terminating in New York.
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All the scenery and props were trucked in from New York because there had been a previous National Theatre production of the all-male cast play that was a big money maker for Hurok Concerts of New York. I've enclosed a photo of me (the author) at the Ravinia Festival at a town about 20 miles north of Chicago and adjacent to Lake Michigan.
Michael Barker on the steps of the Murray Theatre, at the Ravinia Festival. The banner above reads:
"London's Most Famous Theatre at Ravinia
The National Theatre of Great Britain
As You Like It
One Week Only - August 27 - September 1
Shakespeare's Beguiling Comedy - Seats NOW"