The History of "THE RESURRECTION OF JACKIE CRAMER"

By Raymond Benson

Once upon a time, there was a musical theatre piece called The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer. The script, which consisted of 98% lyrics and 2% spoken word, was written by playwright Frank Gagliano. It was meant to be entirely sung except for those few interjections. I composed all the music.

The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer dominated my life for seven years. It was produced six times between 1975-1980, even having a short Off-Broadway run for its sixth outing. For some reason, though, it never became a long-running, successful Broadway or Off-Broadway show that you may have heard of. No “original cast soundtrack” albums were recorded. Only those lucky audiences who saw these six productions even know it existed. That’s not to say it wasn’t “successful.” Those audiences did indeed love it. Perhaps the “right” people never saw it, the ones with the deep pockets who take things to Broadway. This kind of miss happens all the time. The Great White Way is littered with wannabe musicals and plays that inched toward the ultimate goal and just didn’t quite make it. The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer was one of those gems.

It began at the University of Texas at Austin’s Drama Department in 1974. I had completed my freshman year and was three months shy of turning nineteen. During that summer season, the department put on the E. P. Conkle Workshop for Playwrights, which at the time was a presentation of three new plays in repertory, penned by New York “professional” playwrights, directed by New York “professional” directors, and featuring two New York “professional” actors and supplemented by Drama Department student actors and crews. The workshop, at that time, was produced by department chairman Webster Smalley and playwriting professor Frank Gagliano.

At that time I had my sights set on being a director. But I was also a fledgling composer. I had dabbled in composing music for a show or two during my high school drama years (in fact, I was voted “Most Musical Male” my senior year). If I say so myself, my piano skills were pretty good.

During the 1974 Conkle Workshop, I had been assigned to be assistant stage manager to one of the shows. But during a production meeting with all the directors, playwrights, and stage managers, it was discovered that the composer tagged for one of the other shows was suddenly unavailable. They needed a composer. It was for a play called Out of Gas by Michael Robert David, and the director was J Ranelli (that’s right, just “J,” no period). “Does anyone know any composers?” J asked. I meekly raised my hand and said I could probably do it. Since they were desperate, I got the job. It turned out that Out of Gas needed four tunes, three of them set to lyrics that Michael had in the script. I wrote the songs, everyone was pleased, and I accompanied the actors on the piano during each performance. This established the musical side track of my college career alongside working toward becoming a director.

Later, during the fall semester of 1974, Frank Gagliano approached me with a proposition. Apparently he had been impressed with what I’d done for Out of Gas. He had written a “musical theatre piece,” as he called it, that needed music, too. It was to be entirely sung. “Like a rock opera?” I asked. He shrugged. “If that’s what it turns out to be,” he said. I said I’d give it a go.

This was The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer, a wacky fantasy comedy-drama about a fifteen year old boy, Jackie Cramer, who slips on dog doo, hits his head on a Volkswagen fender, and dies. That’s in the first few lines of the script. The problem is that Jackie could never take life seriously. He was always laughing. Laughing at his family, his town, and at the ridiculousness of life. When he tries to get into Heaven, he finds that God is a Board of Directors—a BOD—and they won’t let him in until he learns to become “serious.” And that’s the plot of the story.

I composed the score. Much of what I wrote that fall remained in every production except for a couple of pieces that eventually were cut and replaced by different text and music. It was close to being a 90-minute show, with no intermission. However, I didn’t know how to write the music on paper. It was all in my head.

Frank and I sent a tape of me singing the whole thing to J Ranelli, and he loved it. The lineup of the 1975 Conkle Workshop had already been decided, and J would be back to direct a show. But he wondered if perhaps we could do Jackie Cramer as an “after-hours” production, a sort of “midnight performance” after one of the main Conkle shows.

As it turned out, one of the main Conkle shows in 1975, Hugo Martyr by Jeffrey Kindley, was being directed by J, and it was something that needed several pieces of music sung to lyrics in the play. So I was hired to compose those. And, once again, I played the piano during the performances of Hugo Martyr.

But my main focus that summer was on Jackie Cramer. One of the New York actors hired for Hugo Martyr, David Berman, was tapped by J to play the lead role of Jackie Cramer. We cast it with other UT Drama Department students. Teaching the music to the actors was a matter of them learning it by ear—me playing the piano and singing—and them recording it on portable tape recorders or just memorizing it.

One unusual section of the piece featured a deaf character, Benjy, a boy who is one of Jackie’s friends. In the show, Jackie sings a song as Benjy signs it. We cast a local deaf boy that a teacher found for us, Kelly Abell, and he was great.

The first workshop production of The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer was in early July 1975, two performances, I believe, as “after shows” during the Conkle Workshop. It was a hit. The audiences loved it. Some said it was better than any of the other three main Conkle shows. Frank and I knew we had something, and so did J.

J Ranelli, besides directing professional theatre at many venues, taught directing at the University of Rhode Island (URI) in Kingston, RI. He thought he could get Cramer on the main season bill for the following year. And he did. It was slated to be an early 1976 production.

Since the music was not written down, they couldn’t do it without me there. But I would be in the middle of my junior year of college! I couldn’t miss what would amount to two months of the semester. I would have to take a gap semester and then resume my studies the following fall. After talking to my dean, my directing professor, and my parents, we all came to the conclusion that it would be good experience for me. Yes, it would put me behind from graduating by an entire year (because the second half of some of my junior year classes were taught only in the spring semester… and I’d have to wait until spring 1977 to take them! And then I’d have the whole senior year to do, too). I decided the experience would be worth the extra year at school.

So, at the beginning of January 1976, I flew to Providence, Rhode Island, from Austin, Texas, and lived in that state for two months. Frank, J, and I shared a rental house on the beach in Galilee, a bus ride away from Kingston. I was twenty years old, and I was a “guest artist” at another university. Weird.

The second production of Jackie Cramer at URI Theatre played at the end of February 1976 and was a full production with sets and costumes. David Berman, a Rhode Islander, once again played Jackie. His girlfriend, Jane Macdonald, played The Chorus, a key role in the show that serves as a sort of narrator. A couple of faculty members played adult roles (the priest and Jackie’s Pop) and students filled out the rest of the cast. This time, Benjy was played by Phyllis Frelich (dressed as a boy), a Broadway deaf actress who would later win a Tony for her lead role in Children of a Lesser God.  

For this production, the entire finale was scrapped and re-written with better material. We also added two new scenes/songs that were always among the strongest parts of the show (“The Ballad of Miss Lulu” and “No-Legs Willy”).

Once again, the show worked. It was a hit. I had a wonderful time being in Rhode Island and, as predicted, it was a great experience. At one point, we took the production for a one-time performance at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center in Waterford, Connecticut. When the show closed, I spent one week in New York City getting to know that wonderful place, knowing that one day I would come back to live and work there.

Back in Austin in March 1976, I figured I’d have to get a job and wait it out until the fall of ’76 to resume school again. But I wasn’t home two weeks when Frank called. We had an opportunity to put on Jackie Cramer at The New Dramatists, Inc., an off-off-Broadway theatre in New York City! J would direct it again. Could I go? Could I get lodging for another two months away from home? Again, after convincing my parents that this was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up, I was on my way. Frank and I drove together from Austin to New York.

The third production of Jackie Cramer was cast with all New York Equity actors, except for a couple of pitch-hitters from the Rhode Island production who came in for two weeks to repeat their parts or perhaps do another one they could learn quickly. David Berman again played Jackie, Jane Macdonald again played The Chorus, and Phyllis Frelich again played Benjy.

Another piece was added—“I Wanted to Live in a Time”—a ballad sung by characters other than Jackie.

The show opened in April 1976 and played the given run of a little over a week (standard for off-off-Broadway). It was a good production, but in my opinion not as stellar as the first two. It was good enough. The audience still loved it.

Back in Austin, I was gearing up for the fall semester to do my Junior Year Mach II. Frank was no longer teaching at UT. He was now the playwriting professor at West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV. He arranged for a production of Cramer to kick off that fall season of shows in his department. I simply couldn’t take off again. I had to finish college and get my degree. This fourth production of Cramer was the only one of the six with which I was not involved. The department hired a music director, Robert Schultz, to transcribe and arrange my music so that other musicians could play it. I went to West Virginia for a few days during rehearsals to “consult.” It was indeed strange hearing my music for the first time interpreted and re-arranged by others. I never saw a performance, but apparently it was very well received. Hearing a recording of that fall 1976 WVU show, I can say they did a fantastic job re-imagining my music. It was directed by John Whitty and starred Michael Brungo as Jackie.

Some time passed. I graduated from UT Austin’s Drama Department in May 1978 with a BFA in Directing. I spent the 1978-1979 season working as an Apprentice Director at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas, and then, finally, in the summer of 1979, I moved to New York City.

Right off the bat, Frank arranged for another production of Jackie Cramer, again at the New Dramatists, Inc. It had been three years since the last time it was there, and new management ran the place. This time, though, I would direct the show. Wearing the director’s hat, the composer’s hat, and the musical director’s hat was quite the feat of a juggling act, but I did it.

I have to say that I do believe this fifth production of Cramer, which opened in late September of 1979 off-off-Broadway, was the best one, in my opinion. The cast was fabulous. Barry Tarallo played Jackie. Jane Macdonald once again played The Chorus. This time Benjy was played by Peter Frechette, who had been in the Rhode Island production as one of the BOD, but he had bloomed into a fine New York actor and he knew sign language.

As a result of this production, two men who wanted to be Broadway producers latched onto the show. Jack Dana and Murray Kagel wanted Jackie Cramer to be their first foray into theatre producing. It was fortunate for Frank and me that we gained producers who could raise some money and launch the show in a more prestigious off-off-Broadway, or even off-Broadway, theatre. On the other hand, they were first time producers with no experience.

The American Theatre of Actors was technically an off-off-Broadway theatre, but certain shows were classified as off-Broadway, depending on the number of seats in the room. Jackie Cramer, produced in the spring of 1980 for its sixth and final production, was an off-Broadway showcase. I was once again directing and playing the piano, too. This time, a very pro actor, Scott Ellis (later a big time Broadway director), played Jackie. Peter Frechette once again played Benjy. The Chorus was played by Beverly Robinson, an actress I had known from UT Austin.

The producers wanted the production to be big. They raised enough money to develop an imaginative set and lighting design that, frankly, may have been too big for the kind of show Cramer really was. I got caught up in the concept, not realizing the folly until it was too late. Additionally, we messed around with the script and music. Frank added more scenes that may or may not have helped the production, we cut some stuff (including one of the supporting characters who had been in it from the beginning), and the show was a bit longer. We built up the role of Remo, Jackie’s brother. It was the most additional music and material we had added since the 1976 Rhode Island production.

Don’t get me wrong. The sixth production of The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer that opened in April 1980 was very good. It was a beautifully and professionally sung and acted show with great sets, lights, and costumes. Scott Ellis was amazing as Jackie. But something was off. Ultimately, it was the size of the production that dwarfed the simple story. It was in a big room with a big set, and it should have stayed in a smaller, more intimate setting. But audiences seemed to like it. All the feedback was good.

But no Broadway producers came to see it. No press came to see it, so there were no reviews. That kind of thing constantly happened in the theatre scene in New York in those days. You put on a showcase off-off-Broadway or even an off-Broadway production, advertise the heck out of it, and the “important” people you want to come do not show up. It was disappointing.

After that monster of a production, Frank and I were tired. Well, I was. Directing and musical directing at the same time is a lot of work. It was a very stressful production and at that point I think I was done with Jackie Cramer after it had occupied my life for six years.

But in 1981, Frank and I decided to at least get the thing on tape for posterity—me playing and singing alone—the final script as it existed so that maybe—maybe—in the future we could do it again. So I spent some time recording the piece again. We also “auditioned” the piece for a couple of big theatres, including the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. David Berman and Jane Macdonald rejoined us to help out with the auditions. But nothing ever came of it.

Jackie Cramer had finally really died and descended to heaven.

Poorly recorded cassette tape renditions exist for the 1976 Rhode Island performance, the 1976 New Dramatists performance, and the 1980 American Theatre of Actors performance. A good recording exists of the 1976 West Virginia performance. Sadly, the two productions for which we are missing recordings are the first 1975 one, and the one I felt was the best, the 1979 New Dramatists edition.

Frank, now in his nineties, still loves the piece. I will always love the piece, too. Now, over 45 years after its last production, we both have strong memories and affection for Cramer. Yes, it would be nice to see another production done (not with me directing or playing the piano, though!).

Frank and I thank all the casts and crews and other people who helped make The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer a reality, especially J Ranelli (three productions), David Berman (three productions), Jane Macdonald (three productions), Kenneth Bridges (three productions), Peter Frechette (three productions), Stuart Howard (three productions, acting in two and assistant director for a third), Phyllis Frelich (two productions), Mary Testa (two productions), Shelby Brammer (two productions), Valerie Mahaffey (two productions), Joe White (two productions), and Charles LaTourette (two productions). The piece was indeed a significant part of my life and theatre experience.

The Productions—

Raymond Benson was pianist and musical director for all of them except #4.

1.      The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer (1975) by Frank Gagliano & Raymond Benson

University of Texas at Austin, E. P. Conkle Workshop for Playwrights, Austin, TX

Directed by J Ranelli

w/ David Berman; Jaemes Washington; Michael Ray Cunningham; Valerie Mahaffey; Stuart Howard; Scott Ward; Shelby Brammer; Michael Lucus; Kelly Abell; Brian Carpenter; Cynthia Bock; David Fulk; Dawn Kendrick; Suzy Kelly; Nancy Farrer; Dock Jackson; Jeanne Campise; Karen Kittinger; Valerie Austyn

*

2.      The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer (1976) by Frank Gagliano & Raymond Benson

University of Rhode Island, URI Theatre, Kingston, RI

Directed by J Ranelli

w/ David Berman; Jane Macdonald; Mary Testa; Maury Klein; Steve Antoni; Tracey Paterson; Robert Gutchen; Phyllis Frelich; Jay Martino; Peter Frechette; Terry Ariano; Margaret Kelleher; Carol Ann Sordillo; Paul McBride; Richard Rameaka; Michael Sheridan; Joe White; Chel Chenier; Anne DePasquale; Mary Dyer; Diane Kane; Michele Lataille; Karen McKenney; Carolyn Quattrucci

*

3.      The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer (1976) by Frank Gagliano & Raymond Benson

The New Dramatists, Inc., New York, NY

Directed by J Ranelli

w/ David Berman; Jane Macdonald; John Canary; Mary Testa; Jerry McGee; Joe White; Nancy Foy; Kenneth Bridges; Phyllis Frelich; Joel Brooks; Mike Dantuono; Doug Holsclaw; Marion Lindell

*

4.      The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer (1976) by Frank Gagliano & Raymond Benson

West Virginia University, CAC Studio Theatre, Morgantown, WV

Directed by John Whitty; Music arranged by Robert Schultz, Music Direction: Jerome Shannon, Pianist: Bill Galliford; Choreography by Tanya Ward

w/ Michael Brungo; Karen Waldman; Marcy DeFrancesco; Daniel P. Petrovich; Jeannie Kaye Moninger; Alan Lee Pennington; David Porterfield; David Alberts; Michael A. Krawic; Barry Signorelli; Brian Bartone; Carole D. Clarke; Virginia Clemmer

*

5.      The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer (1979) by Frank Gagliano & Raymond Benson

The New Dramatists, Inc., New York, NY

Directed by Raymond Benson

w/ Barry Tarallo; Jane Macdonald; Barbara Niles; Robert Schenkkan; Shelby Brammer; Charles Wright; Kenneth Bridges; Peter Frechette; Charles LaTourette; Valerie Mahaffey; Stuart Howard; Gilbert Cole; Donna Pelc

*

6.      The Resurrection of Jackie Cramer (1980) by Frank Gagliano & Raymond Benson

American Theatre of Actors, New York, NY

Directed by Raymond Benson; Choreography by Cherlyn Smith

w/ Scott Ellis; Beverly Robinson; Marceline Decker; Bruce Vernon Bradley; Brian Quinn; Kenneth Bridges; Peter Frechette; Charles LaTourette; Lorrie Armstrong; Tony Calabro; Marti Campbell; Daniel Rous; (Ann-Ngaire Martin was Susie Lou until role was cut prior to opening)