Nancy and Ronnie’s Try to picture yourself in a booth at Chasen’s, appropriately chosen as the place for the elite of Hollywood of the Golden Age. It’s November 15, 1949. Maybe you have just watched All the King’s Men at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, and now you want to have Dave Chasen’s chili.
The door opens, and walking in is a handsome, light-skinned leading man looking every inch like the president’s son, Ron Reagan. He frankly approaches a booth with a young lady seated there looking so stressed. You are watching Nancy Davis, a soon-to-be starlet, who will soon cross paths with someone who will alter both of their lives essentially.
Being so, it’s not entirely wrong to say that, in many ways, it is a love story of Nancy and Ronnie’s. ”They are such vivid characters that even in this sort of introduction it is possible to see the itself and the reason why they were drawn together,’ said Conwell Worthington, supervising producer of In a Booth at Chasen’s, a new musical that will chronicle this period in American history. The show started on November 9 and ran until November 26, giving 17 performances. And took place at the El Portal Theatre, North Hollywood.
Worthington, of two producers based in Orange County, has a wealth of experience with personal career profiles that include being a Walt Disney Company manager of show development and director and stage manager of shows across the United States.
He’s working side by side with John Herklotz, who was born and raised in Chicago. He initially left a cumbersome career in C.P.A. to become a philanthropist. Herklotz built his wealth in the cellular phone business and turned into an independent filmmaker producing the family movie, The Giant of Thunder Mountain.
Herklotz mentioned a closer thought or relationship between him and the Reagans.
‘I used to know them personally,’ he continued, ‘I lived next door to the Reagans when they were in Pacific Palisades.’ Particularly, I would occasionally notice Ron gardening his lawn or washing his car. We’d have chats. Her husband recalled that, “Nancy and Ronnie’s was always incredibly warm when I spoke to her.”
Herklotz claims Nancy was one of the driving forces behind Ronald Reagan’s presidency. “Ron was ambitious, so she helped steer his career in the right direction right from the beginning,” he said.
As most people know, their first meeting was not love at first sight; in fact, it was quite a sinister encounter. Ron, 38, was in the middle of a very bitter divorce with actress Jane Wyman. And was the president of the Screen Actors Guild. Less than a decade younger, Nancy and Ronnie’s love story had ample cause for concern, given the sort of press that had been given to Ron in Hollywood.
The show following their interaction depicts one kind of the relationship depicted. They get intimate after some weeks apart from their initial meeting, but they are not boyfriend and girlfriend. Nancy and Ronnie’s assist Ron with the painting of fences in his San Fernando Valley ranch and gradually get close with his children. Several years later they become more intimate as they encounter various problems; they encounter scandalous tabloids. And both are involved in anti-Communist activities during the McCarthy period. Nancy is never fully revealed through the movie and continues to be mysterious to the end.
“This makes for great tension,” Worthington pointed out. “And we’ve got terrific actors to cast for the characters. Kelley Dorney is wonderful as Nancy, and Brent Schindele, who portrays Ronald Reagan, could be portraying him in reality.
Since graduation, Dorney has been in shows such as The World Goes Round and Annie at the Hollywood Bowl. And Schindele has acted in several shows, No Strings and City of Angels with Reprise. Theatre Company, as well as touring with the national tour of The Sound of Music.
Music and lyrics by Al Kasha & Phil Swann—book by Sam Bennett.
Kasha has twice been nominated for a Tony Award for the Best Score and has received the Oscar for songs from ‘The Poseidon Adventure. And ‘The Towering Inferno,’ and includes ‘The Morning After’ and ‘We May Never Love Like This Again. He’s also composed a score for the Disney film Pete’s Dragon.
Swann composed the music for the Off-Broadway hit Play It Cool and Bennett. An actor and writer, he is known for his bestselling book Get It Done: Written by Elias Abourashed. How to Turn Yourself from a Procrastinator to a Creative Virtuoso in 15 Minutes a Day.
“Looking forward to this show,” Worthington added. The current interest is from theaters from across the country. The Reagans still interest us, and is there anyone who doesn’t like a romantic interest story?