No Business Like Show Business
It was not my first time.
I remember. It was more than 15 years ago when I produced my first show. It was in a southern province, accessible by land (8 hours) and by air (45 minutes). We partnered with someone who was introduced to us as the wife of a Brunei prince. Such was the rage at that time and many young women – some described as desperate, others gold diggers, others still victims of their own beauty (and another’s greed) – fell for the charms of dark-skinned princes, giving birth to scions of royalty.
Indeed she was beautiful and was moneyed and was very much interested in bringing to her hometown some showbiz denizens. “To make my mother happy,” she quipped.
The show was a moderate success and we learned a lot. One partner made some unnecessary trips by plane which added to the expenses; the people that we tapped to get sponsors did not deliver (they got zero sponsors); the souvenir program was overpriced (we ended up hauling the whole lot back to headquarters); it was not easy.
I was reminded again of these lessons when we did “Love in the Key of R”.