Patrick Oliver Jones:

I'm Patrick Oliver Jones, and this is Closing Night. For the second season, I'm taking a look at shows that never made it to Broadway, and some of the reasons behind those failures. Now, I do a lot of research online through various news stories, videos, and past interviews, and that's in addition to my own interviews with some of those involved with these shows. And in the previous episode, I talked about the wonderful yet bizarre events of Lone Star Love. And you heard from one of the stars of the show, Lauren Kennedy, who was part of the out of town tryout in Seattle as it headed to Broadway. She and I spoke back in 2019 for my other podcast called Why I'll Never Make It, which focuses on the challenges of being a theater and creative artist. And I used a couple of her quotes for the lone star love episode, but she actually had a lot more to say about that production. And you can just hear it in her voice, the frustration, but also the dismay of how everything ended with that show.

Now Lauren has had a long career both on and off Broadway, and she was briefly attached to one of the shows I featured last season, Jekyll and Hyde. And so when she and I sat down a few years ago, it was a wide ranging interview where we talked about her first two Broadway shows, Sunset Boulevard and Sideshow, in which she served as understudy and standby. But she found it difficult to find work when sideshow ended after less than three months on Broadway.

Lauren Kennedy:

And then, yes, after that, I really had a like, a dry, dry, dry, spell.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

It was like a few years.

Lauren Kennedy:

Yeah. And then mainly because I didn't wanna continue understudying. I wanna do, like, oh, maybe I should put some parameters up for myself

Lauren Kennedy:

And say, you know what? I'd rather play leads at regional theaters than being an understudy on Broadway. Otherwise, I'll always get caught in that. And, you know, I didn't work.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

Right. Right. There is that transition because you have to force casting directors to see you. Yeah. Oh, we just thought you were always gonna be the understudy. Because I I've kinda fallen into that trap as well. So for years in New York, I'm basically seen as, oh, a good cover, understudy. Mhmm. But then regionally, then it's like, okay.

Lauren Kennedy:

You're a star.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

Right. Right. Now now we'll give you some lead roles. So its...

Lauren Kennedy:

No. It's it's such a weird political game, isn't it? Yeah. So I I sort of ended up putting, like, a, like, a line in the sand about it, which now I look back and think, oh, I just I should've just worked. I should've just said yes to everything because what I really look back and think about my sort of professional career as an actress is that I just love the people. I just loved being in the room. It didn't matter in what capacity. In the end, you know, I thought it did when I was younger, but now it just what really drove me was just to be a creative voice in the room in whatever capacity I could be. So maybe that's a word to the wise. You know? Just say yes to things because, ultimately, I think that's why we do it is because we wanna be around like minded creative people and making something magical.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

Now we're gonna take just a quick break. And when we get back, Lauren and I will discuss her time with Lone Star Love. Lone Star Love had an Off Broadway run-in the 02/2004, '2 thousand '5 season, directed by Michael Bagdonov and choreographed by Randy Skinner, and featured Beth Lebel and J. O. Sanders in starring roles. And around the same time, Lauren Kennedy had replaced Sarah Ramirez as Lady of the Lake in Spamalot. And then the following year in 02/2007, Lauren was cast in a new production of Lone Star Love that was setting its sights for Broadway.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

Now one of the shows that that you took was Lone Star Love.

Lauren Kennedy:

Oh, yeah. That one. Yeah. Yeah. My god.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

That's one of those shows that had a lot of buzz. It had I mean, it had an opening date. It had a theater. Yeah. It was ready to come to Broadway.

Lauren Kennedy:

You took out my dressing room? Exactly. Dee Hodee and I went and checked it out. We picked out our dressing rooms. Oh my gosh.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

But then it kinda came crashing down a bit.

Lauren Kennedy:

Oh my god. It was just the weirdest experience that I've ever had in my entire life, and I've had weird experiences.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

Yeah. I assume at the beginning, it was just like any other rehearsal process, development. We were just kind of trying things out. Things are changing.

Lauren Kennedy:

Well, it was started off great. You know? And like you said, it was your classic Broadway, you know, four week rehearsal period. There's only a few signs early on that, you know, people involved in the show might be a little tricky.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

Just give, like, a a brief synopsis of what the show was about. So it was based on which Shakespeare

Lauren Kennedy:

On the Merry Wives of Windsor. Right. So it was sort of this Texas sort of contemporary retelling with bluegrass written by the Red Clay Ramblers who were a North Carolina band. So I think that's ultimately why I I got involved is because of my North Carolina connections. They liked that. And the piece is so funny. You know, Randy Skinner was directing it and choreographing it, and, we had great actors like Robert Cacciole, you know, and, Who

Patrick Oliver Jones:

who played your husband in it. Right?

Lauren Kennedy:

Exactly. And Dee Hote, myself. And it's just a fan Dan Sharkey, so many great people in it, and starred Randy Quaid.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

Randy Quaid.

Lauren Kennedy:

So Randy Quaid, ended up because they wanted a star to attach name. Right? That to bring it to Broadway. It was between him and Beau Bridges, apparently. And I'm sure they were wishing, you know, halfway through the process saying cap Beau Bridges. Beau. I know. Oh, Beau. But Randy, he just started, kind of, going off the rails a little bit and really started I think he was, operating out of fear that he wasn't gonna be any good, and his wife was very involved.

Lauren Kennedy:

And it was just crazy because he had creative control. So that's ultimately how it all went wrong is that they gave him final say on anything creative to get him to sign on.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

Things had to be cleared

Lauren Kennedy:

through him. Yes. They had to be cleared through him. And, when the show we were at Seattle Fifth Avenue and, things were there's a lot of things that need to be fixed, and that's the point of going out of town is to fix things. Right.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

Right. Right. Because it you know, script needs to be adjusted or why is that set piece there or all the

Lauren Kennedy:

things. And so he started I don't know what was happening, you know, behind closed doors with him and his wife, but they were coming up with some crazy ideas about the way they thought the show should go, which did not sort of coincide with the way in which the creative team thought the show should go. And so he ended up I think he'd just come off of Brokeback Mountain, by the way, too. So this Oh, okay. Be projecting, but I think he kept talking about how he thought it should be, like, Falstaff, the gay cowboy. Like, he wanted to rewrite the show. Like, so he was gonna like, Falstaff was gonna have, like, an affair with this other cowboy who was played by Clark Thorell, who was getting, like, incredible, like, response. The audience was really nuts over him. And I think he wanted to align himself with that. And they were like, that's not Shakespeare.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

Right. That's not how the story goes.

Lauren Kennedy:

So, you know, it was just bizarre. And then so, ultimately, he said, no. You can't make any changes to the show until they're my changes. And so we were caught in this crazy trap. And, you know, a lot of things ensued after that, some shenanigans on their part, lots of craziness. He was acting out on stage. He was acting out off stage. There was harassment that was happening. And it was really toxic, and it was really, really scary, but it was also kind of funny at the same time because you're like, is this real? Like, there was some crazy stuff going down.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

Yeah. What was there anything particular that that you saw or were involved in?

Lauren Kennedy:

You know, when, you know, your director calls you on the phone and tells you why you're not going to New York, and it's because the star has been crank calling the producers and saying dirty things to them on the phone. You know, that's like, is this am I even punked? Is somebody punking me? What's happening? So that was crazy. So we just pretty much knew that that was gonna be that. And but the main the real main thing was he was abusive to some people on stage and the actors and the producers, and we all got together. And, ultimately, he was kicked out of the union. And we had to go up in front of the board and, you know, at Actors' Equity and tell stories.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

Because the show was so tied to him as the star, then once he left, did did the show not have any lace to stand on?

Lauren Kennedy:

I think it's still caught in litigation, to be quite honest. I think there's still things where there was some kind of, like, deal put in place that was just hard to penetrate. And there was litigation for years. I'm not sure if it is now, but I think about it all the time because it was such a great piece. And I think, it's just a real shame. You know, the everybody put their heart and soul into it, and it's too bad that that ended up happening. But, again, it's show business. Yeah. It's like that happen all the time. Maybe not that crazy and not that, like, high profile crazy, but, I certainly have been involved in a number of other shows that were supposed to come to Broadway and did not.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

Yeah. Now now there was one that did end up coming to New York, but you did end up being a part of it, and that was the the last five years. Yeah. Because you were the original, original cast in Chicago. Correct?

Lauren Kennedy:

Yeah. We did it at the North Light Theater in 02/2001. And that was my introduction to well, I knew who Jason Robert Brown was, of course, and loved his music. But that's the first time I met him and when I auditioned for that and, was lucky enough to get cast playing opposite Norbert Butts. And, we when we were in rehearsals in New York, and I got a a call from my agent saying, Trevor Nunn, who I had worked with on Sunset Boulevard, is in town for, like, one day. He's gonna see five girls to play Nellie Forbush at the National Theatre in London, and he wants to see you. I was like, okay. Five people.

Lauren Kennedy:

Alright. Those are pretty good odds. Let me just...

Patrick Oliver Jones:

If it's Trevor Nunn's like, you're not gonna say no.

Lauren Kennedy:

Right. But there was no dates associated with it. And, also, the other crazy thing about the last five years is that, we did not have New York dates set yet because we were supposed to do it at Lincoln Center.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

Okay.

Lauren Kennedy:

But, the show had also its own sort of legal issues around Jason, his ex wife, because it was written about their relationship. And so there there were some stuff there. And so Lincoln Center had ultimately pulled out of doing it, I think, if memory serves. But there were no dates for New York. So I was like, after this run-in Chicago, I don't know when it's gonna be set.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

It's in limbo.

Lauren Kennedy:

Totally. And so I went to this audition. I spent, like, twenty minutes with Trevor standing around the piano auditioning. Then, like, two hours later, they called and said that I got it. And,

Patrick Oliver Jones:

That's amazing.

Lauren Kennedy:

And I we hadn't even gone to Northlight yet to do last five years. So I the dates were October through, you know, June. And, I was like, Jason, I've got these dates. I don't know what's happening with the last five years. And he was like, I don't know what's happening either, but we'll we'll just keep talking. Yeah. Ended up being that a lot of producers came to see last five years when we were in Chicago and loved it and wanted to bring it in right away. And I had already committed to to doing South Pacific.

Lauren Kennedy:

And you you can sit around all your whole life and be like, what if? What if? But I I have a lot of clarity about the that it worked out the way it was supposed to. But, you know, when you're sitting around for two years not working, you're like, why does it when it rains, it pours, You're like, two awesome jobs, and then there's two years where, like, nobody's calling you to do anything. Exactly. It's crazy.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

The same thing happened to me. It was, like, seven months of just I was auditioning auditioning. Nothing was coming up. And then finally, things start coming in, and it's like three things all happened in a month. I'm like, where have you been the past seven months?

Lauren Kennedy:

Yeah. Exactly.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

I could have done all three of you.

Lauren Kennedy:

Spread this out over the year. Come on.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

Yeah. Why aren't directors and theater companies

Lauren Kennedy:

know my schedule? Right.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

Don't they know I'm free?

Lauren Kennedy:

It's so true. Oh my god. But that that was definitely one of those moments where I was like, shoot. That would have been cool. But, again, I was so connected with Jason and his music and felt like that I had found sort of vocally and sort of aesthetically my place. And when I knew I couldn't do it, I wrote him before I went to London, and I was like, listen. I've always wanted to release an album. I never knew what my music was until I met you. And I feel like your music is my music. And can we can I do an album with your music? And he was like, yeah. Let's do it. So I was just asking permission to use his music. Then all of a sudden, we were doing it together, and we collaborated on it. He did the orchestrations. He played on it. You know, we mixed it, mastered it together. I mean, it was such an amazing, experience for me as a creator, quote, unquote. Yeah. And I always hearken back to that experience was what made me realize I could be a director and a producer. It was the first time I'd ever stretched any of those muscles of, like, telling a story from beginning to end with, like, a, you know, a group of songs, understanding how to, like, pay people and, like, do a budget and, you know, because I did all that.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

Yeah. You kinda had to be your own company manager, director, producer. All.

Lauren Kennedy:

Yeah. And so that I just loved it so much, and it changed everything for me. So I didn't get to do last five years in New York and be sort of synonymous with that show, but I did get this experience that sort of tipped off the rest of my creative life.

Patrick Oliver Jones:

Which is so true because Lauren became artistic director of theater Raleigh in North Carolina in 02/2008 and now serves as executive director. And this is Thank you for joining me and Lauren on this bonus interview episode, and be sure to catch my next one with dance captain, Jeremy Benton, where you'll hear even more strange stories about Lone Star Love.

Jeremy Benton:

They wanted to add a dream ballet of two gay cowboys running around Randy Quaid because he was in Brokeback Mountain. 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?

Patrick Oliver Jones:

I'm Patrick Oliver Jones, writer and host of closing night, which is a production of win me media with co producer Dan Delgado. You will find a link to Lauren Kennedy's full episode on why I'll never make it in the show notes, and you can find more podcast on the Broadway podcast network by going to bpn.fm.