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I suggested - after much discussion - that we should work on him and bring him back at a later date to re-audition. At the same time, let's be practical. Let's keep searching for a Tony Manero. Immediately there was a problem. Arlene couldn't work with Adam because she was contracted to go off and work on the show EFX, the Michael Crawford extravaganza at the MGM Hotel in Las Vegas. We needed Adam ready within four weeks and Arlene was committed. I suggested we use a director that I had worked with to prepare Adam but Robert wasn't happy with that. He thought bringing someone else in would undermine Arlene. So he asked me to do it instead. I had a new role and I was delighted with it. I could not be more hands-on. It was like being in one of those Judy Garland-Mickey Rooney 1940s movies when all the kids jump up and down and decide to put on a show. The difference for me was that this was very serious show business. I set up a series of daily rehearsals for three weeks. I arranged for Adam to work on three numbers and three scenes. Although Adam's audition wasn't fantastic, when he sang 'Night Fever' it had worked. One of my fears prior to Adam's audition, was that anybody other than the Bees Gees singing the songs from Saturday Night Fever might sound ordinary. The Bee Gees' falsetto voices were so identifiable. What became clear to me at Adam's first audition and what I found very exciting was that it sounded perfectly natural for those songs to be sung without falsetto. That was a big moment and I said to myself, 'This is going to work. Musically this is going to work.' But from then on my job was to help Adam become Tony Manero. The potential was all there; he just had to find it. I understood Adam and what he was going through. When you are a young performer, you can fool yourself into believing you are being real and natural. The thing Adam lacked above all else was projection, both with singing and acting and, to a lesser extent, with his dancing. It might have sounded great in his head but we needed to get it as well. We started rehearsing. We worked on all facets of his performance. We started at ten in the morning and worked through until four. A long physical day for him and for me. I wanted him to convince everyone else and Adam himself that he could play the part. We worked on his singing and his acting. I kept telling him, 'Adam this is a fantastic opportunity for you. Big opportunities come along once in a lifetime. It's very important that you get this part. I think you're right for the part. I know that Robert believes you're right for the part. However, you have to know you're right for the part. Arlene certainly needs to be convinced because she's going to have to work with you.' It was a psychological thing with him. I don't think he really believed that he had it in him to play the role. I think there was a lack of self-belief. The part had been created by John Travolta and it was a lot to live up to. The big day arrived and they were all going to be there: Robert, Arlene, Phil Edwards - the musical supervisor -David lan and Robert's right-hand man, Patrick Bywalski, Arlene's assistants, Tony Edge and Karen Bruce. All the creative people were there to see Adam re-audition. I couldn't sit still. I was very nervous. We got to the Cambridge Theatre early We rehearsed and we rehearsed and even as Robert was walking through the door with Arlene, we were still at it. I asked Robert to wait outside. I was beginning to lose it. This had become an 'us-and-them situation' and there was no way we were going to lose. It was a bit like being a boxing trainer. I heard myself saying ridiculous things like, 'Go on my son. Knock 'em out.' If he hadn't, I certainly would have done! Adam came on stage. I was thinking, 'Be strong. Be positive. Just do it.' I sat at the back of the theatre. I was too nervous to sit with the others. We put the backing tape on to 'Stayin' Alive' and he came out and he sang it. He bowled them over. A complete transformation had taken place. I was starting to fill up. I could sense that the audience, even though there were only eight of them, were getting excited too. He did a couple of dialogue scenes which worked well and then 'Night Fever'. He was brilliant. They were in shock as to how much Adam had improved in three weeks. I was completely and utterly thrilled. Robert was so knocked out that he came up to me and said, 'You've done a fantastic job. I want you to co-direct the show. In fact I'm going to get Arlene to ask you now.' I think the excitement had got to him. Arlene took me aside and said how impressed she was and would I co-direct the show, and I said, 'I think you need to go away and think about this. I think we are all riding on a high.' Which we were. We were all so relieved that Adam had shown that he could do it. I didn't want to be the co-director. I believed that Arlene should be the sole director. It was her gig. Robert embraced me. He felt the problem was solved. |
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