Okay...a few of the plays listed were performed in 1969, but not a decade's worth, so I tossed them in here! Also, where I have performed a show for a second time, the pictures follow after the first production, no matter how many years afterwards I did the next.

1969

Oliver

Karnes Theatre - Kansas City, MO

Fagin

This productions of Oliver was very unique at its time. Karnes Inner City Theater, created a forum  that provided theatrical education and opportunities for the inner-city youths of Kansas City, who might not have otherwise experienced the wonderful world of the theater both on and backstage. I was a volunteer and a very young Fagin, all of 23 years old.

Nine years later, by 1978, I grew more into the role and had been acting professionally. (Scroll down to see photos.)

1970

Bald Soprano

Northland Civic Theater - North Kansas City, MO

Fire Chief

1970

Curious Savage

Northland Civic Theater - North Kansas City, MO

Joseph Savage

1970

Guys and Dolls

Limelight Dinner Theatre - Kansas City, MO

Owned by Geri Eicher, it was she who gave me my professional head start! I got to be in some terrific musicals and comedies and played some wonderful characters! Noah, in Two by Two, Nicely, Nicely Johnson, in Guys and Dolls, Cass Henderson, in Any Wednesday, The Emcee in Cabaret, The Reverend Arthur Humphrey, in See How They Run and I even stepped in one night, script in hand, to perform in "Stop the World I Want to Get Off", when the male lead, Duke Howze, fell ill!

1970

High Spirits

Northland Civic Theater - North Kansas City, MO

Hippie #1

1971

Savage Dilemma

Northland Civic Theater - North Kansas City, MO

Joseph Savage

1971

Boys in the Band

Barn Players - Johnson City, Kansas

"Connie Casserole...don't ask!"

I was the 'stand in' and understudy for the role of Emory!

I also drew the cover and inside artwork for the program

1972

Kind Sir

Barn Players - Johnson City, Kansas

Speedy

(This character is not in the original stage production. It was created and written in to the script for me to be a wise-cracking delivery boy and to use my Paul Lynde vocal impression.)

1973

The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd

Barn Players - Kansas City, MO

Cocky

(Won best Actor that year)

My partner, Drew, volunteered to help us by donning the drag for this publicity shot when the actor couldn't make it. This was his first and only time he would do so again!

1972

Cabaret

Limelight Dinner Theater - Kansas City, MO

Owned by Geri Eicher, it was she who gave me my professional head start! I got to be in some terrific musicals and comedies and played some wonderful characters! Noah, in Two by Two, Nicely, Nicely Johnson, in Guys and Dolls, Cass Henderson, in Any Wednesday, The Emcee in Cabaret, The Reverend Arthur Humphrey, in See How They Run and I even stepped in one night, script in hand, to perform in "Stop the World I Want to Get Off", when the male lead, Duke Howze, fell ill!

Emcee

(A few years later, 1975) Geri and I would team up together in "The Drunkard" in Branson, MO.)

1973

Mousetrap

Resident Theater - Kansas City, MO

1973

What the Butler Saw

Resident Theater - Kansas City, MO

Nicholas Beckett

1974

I had come to visit my family and wound up playing Mordred in the Sherburne Community Theater Playhouse. King Arthur was played by Bob Evans, who has become a well known local actor in Binghamton, playing multiple productions at the Cider Mill Dinner Theater.

Camelot

Sherburne Playhouse - Sherburne, NY

Mordred

1975

Jesus Christ Superstar

Colonia Theater - Norwich, NY

Judas

Jesus was played by a young talented singer named Doug Carkuff. A year later, I returned and performed in Godspell, as Jesus, with Doug playing the Judas/Peter role.

About this photo. One night, during a performance, I had, as in every previous performance, placed the noose (it was a real one) over my head while standing on my toes behind a scrim on top of an eight foot platform. A spot would come up and I would "drop" and spin on my toes to appear as if I had been hung within the circular silhouette.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, the platform was about to give way and but for a very large and strong backstage grip, it would have toppled. He literally held up the platform with the strength of his Herculean arms. If he hadn't seen the legs of the platform starting to fold and held it up, I would have truly been hung. When the lights went out, I removed the noose, got off the platform and quickly ran backstage to change into the costume for the big, JC Superstar number. I didn't find out about my near death experience until after the show was over. Needless to say, the stage was reinforced.

Doug Carkuff, (Jesus) and I returned the following year to play opposite roles in "Godspell".

1975

South Pacific

Theater Under the Stars - Kansas City, MO

Sailor (Chorus)

1975

The Drunkard

Branson, Missouri

Geri Eicher, was the owner and director for the Limelight Dinner Theatre who gave me my professional head start! I got to be in some terrific musicals and comedies and played some wonderful characters! Noah, in Two by Two, Nicely, Nicely Johnson, in Guys and Dolls, Cass Henderson, in Any Wednesday, The Emcee in Cabaret, The Reverend Arthur Humphrey, in See How They Run and I even stepped in one night, script in hand, to perform in "Stop the World I Want to Get Off", when the male lead, Duke Howze, fell ill!

A few years later, Geri Eicher and I teamed up with another couple and brought this show to Branson, Missouri. We performed this musical melodrama in a small room upstairs from a restaurant/bar whose name I can't remember now.

Cribbs

1975

110 in the Shade

Theater Under the Stars - Kansas City, MO

1976

1776

John Dickenson

Starlight Theatre - Kansas City, MO.

1976

Our Town

Northland Civic Theater - North Kansas City, MO

Simon Stimson

I also got to portray John Dickinson in the musical 1776 that year. Someday, ask me to tell you the story about the "ebony cane"!

Sadly, like many other shows I've done, I have no photos of that production. Many of my photos were lost or damaged irreparably in the flood of '90.

1977

Westport Landing

Kansas City Parks and Recreations Dept. - Kansas City, MO

Billy

This was an original musical to celebrate the founding of Westport in Kansas City. We used other recordings and wrote our own lyrics. I wrote two songs for this show.

1977

Fiddler on the Roof

Jewish Community Center - Kansas City, MO

Tevya

(This particular photo was taken while singing "If I Were a Rich Man" during the 2003 Taylor and Taylor revue in Deposit, NY. The originals were also lost in the flood.

1978

Anderson Schoolhouse Dinner Theater - Anderson, Iowa

Fagin

1978

Two By Two

Anderson Schoolhouse Dinner Theater - Anderson, Iowa

Noah

1978

Cabaret

Anderson Schoolhouse Dinner Theater - Anderson, Iowa

Emcee

1979

Little Me

Anderson Schoolhouse Dinner Theater - Anderson, Iowa

(Seven characters)

1979

Anything Goes

In between the above Little Me and the below, My Fair Lady,  I also played Sir Evelyn Oakley in Anything Goes but sadly, have no photos from that show.

1979

My Fair Lady

Anderson Schoolhouse Dinner Theater - Anderson, Iowa

Doolittle

The end of this show would be a big change in my life.

As last year, we performed three show at Anderson. They were Little Me, (see above) Anything Goes, and My Fair Lady. It was at the end My Fair Lady, that I had had an accident which would alter my appearance from now on.

I  had a room on the third floor of the theatre and  sometime during the evening I'd remembered leaving something on the stage that I needed to pack and didn't want to forget. So I had gone downstairs to the theatre and, thinking I knew my around blindfolded, I went on stage in the dark. The walkway that connected the two separate stages between Higgins' home and the mainstage street area, had been taken up and I didn't know that. I wound up busting my nose on the lip of one of the stages as I fell in between the two. Fortunately, the theatre was insured and I had corrective surgery done shortly afterwards. Gone was my classic nose.

So many shows, and yet so few pictures! I hadn't realized how many productions I'd done and had no pictures around to show for them! Ah well, perhaps my fellow actors who performed in those shows will see this page and send my what pix they have! We can hope!

And that's the end of the 70s. Oh yes, there are loads more pictures and you're welcome to peruse at your leisure!

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