Lawyer's musical is revived more than 40 years after its debut
A 63-year-old California lawyer who co-wrote a musical while in college was surprised to learn this month that the play was being revived by the Actors Ensemble of Berkeley.
The play, Panhandle, was about Texas cotton farmers affected by the drought and the Depression. Jere Sullivan, a criminal defense lawyer in San Luis Obispo, co-wrote the songs in 1971, the San Luis Obispo Tribune reports. The play was produced in Los Angeles, Boston, New York and Texas, and was optioned for Broadway.
The play never made it big, Sullivan said, but his co-authors went on to work in theater. The music co-writer, Marc Ream, worked as a theater composer, while the script writer, Walter Davis, went on to write several screenplays for film and television.
Sullivan pursued a legal career, becoming a prosecutor and then a defense lawyer who worked on several high-profile cases. He also plays in the band Neon Russell, but music wasn’t his priority. He says things could have been different if the play had achieved more success.
“I think I would have completed my law degree, but I don’t know if I would have ever been a practicing lawyer,” he said.
The new production ended its run on Saturday, though Davis is talking to an agent about producing it elsewhere. Sullivan tells the Tribune he’s happy even if the show’s run is over.
“This has just been an exciting ride,” he said, “because I thought the show was as dead as a doornail.”
