Editor's Note: From 1969 through 1972, Judy Morgan performed with Chicago's Second City. This fall, there was a cast reunion. Below is a backstage look at the four-day event.
|
|
|
Back, from left, Joe Flaherty, John Belushi, Harold Ramis and front row, from left, Eugenie Ross-Leming, Jim Fisher, Judy Morgan are pictured in a cast group shot from 1972.
|
|
Showtime: Joe Flaherty, Eugenie Ross-Leming, Harold Ramis, Jim Staahl and Judy Morgan in the scene 'Funeral.'
|
|
Judy Morgan and Eugenie Ross-Leming in a scene from a Second City revue in 1972.
|
|
The cast is on the main stage with Second City co-founder Bernie Sahlins, who directed some of the revues between 1969 and 1972. Standing, from left, are Judy Morgan, Joe Flaherty, Roberta Maguire, Eugenie Ross-Leming. Seated are Brian Doyle Murrray, Jim Fisher, Harold Ramis, Jim Staahl.
|
|
Opening number 'The Young Totalitarians,' from left, Brian Doyle Murray, Roberta Maguire, Joe Flaherty, Jim Staahl, Eugenie Ross-Leming, Judy Morgan and Harold Ramis.
|
The newspaper clippings are yellow and brittle. Glue no longer holds them in place. They fall freely as I turn the scrapbook's pages.
I scan a revue written by Chicago Sun-Times drama critic Glenna Syse. " ... the cast, at this time, does its best work as a group rather than individually."
Little did Glenna know when she wrote those words in September 1969 that ensemble work would always be our strength. It would define our years at Second City. Cast members would come and go. Equanimity would be disturbed. But not for long.
The photographs have fared better than the clippings: Brian Murray's birthday party; Harold Ramis returning after spending a year in Greece; all of us featured on the cover of Chicago Tribune's Sunday Magazine, dated June 7, 1970. I don't remember being that young.
There are as many reasons for our Second City cast reunion as there are cast members. We were not celebrating an anniversary. The date meant nothing. We just wanted to be together. One more time.
In selecting a date, we worked around one person's film schedule. That eliminated summer. Those of us who live in milder climates refused to travel to Chicago in winter. The suggestion of waiting until 2009, when Second City celebrates its 50th anniversary, was quickly negated.
Weeks into planning our reunion, we were shocked by the death of cast member David Blum. His passing only intensified our desire to get together again. We had already lost John Belushi and director Del Close. We wanted to reunite. We wanted to reconnect.
From 1969 through 1972, we went on stage, took suggestions from the audience and created theater on the spot. That's like performing a high wire act without a net. There's nothing more thrilling or more seductive, and we thrived in that environment.
Night after night, the sound of laughter let us know if our scenes were working or not. We'd play the moment. The audience would laugh, and that sound would carry us to the next level.
Since then, those same scenes — our scenes — have been performed hundreds of times by Second City touring companies and main stage casts. Turns out, we had created classics. We had hit on those universal themes that transcend time and place, and we did it with humor.
I wanted to visit the past to verify and confirm my memories. I wanted eye contact. I wanted hugs and kisses. I wanted a seven-person variation on the theme, "We need to talk."
Second City went out of its way to welcome us. They treated us like royalty, wined and dined us and gave us tickets to the current revue. They connected us with production coordinator Monica Wilson, lent us stage manager Jeremy Smith and musical director TJ Shanoff.
Yes, that's right. We decided we'd perform some of our old classics — an easy decision for those who stayed with performance all these years, but not so easy for those of us who produce, direct or write for a living.
We last performed together in 1984 at Second City's 25th anniversary. Since then, I have come to appreciate the safety of sitting at a desk and typing. I can take my time and search for the right word. I can rewrite if I want to. No adrenaline surges. No flight or fight issues. No risk.
When our rehearsals started, energy was all over the place. Wilson, Smith and Shanoff learned the true meaning of "herding cats." We can't help it. That's who we are. Joe Flaherty makes an off-the-wall comment. We all laugh. That encourages a barrage of one-liners and witty repartee ... well, you had to be there.
Our energy never dissipated, but focus shifted as show time drew near. The day of our performance, we met at the theater to rehearse on the main stage. Old scenes were combined with new light and music cues.
I kept fumbling a line — not just any line, the one grouping of words necessary to set up Flaherty's closing remark and thereby end the scene. Thus began my terror, topped by total recall of every opening night I ever spent on stage at Second City. The pre-show crazies had arrived. They hung around until I stepped onstage. I don't know how or why that works.
The lights, the audience, the knowledge that my fellow cast members would never let me flounder or fail. And I am there to support them. Stage picture. Change focus. Move and work as one.
No, I do not miss performing. I do miss collaboration and the unmatched wit of those folks I worked with so very long ago. We shared a world view, understood the importance of humor and the necessity of laughter. We never could pass up a good joke.
After four days in Chicago, I'm happy to say those things haven't changed.
