The Day Maurice Hines Told Me My Life Was About to Change
In 1999, Maurice Hines asked me to write a few scenes.
That was all.
Maurice and I had known each other for years. We were neighbors. He knew my work as a writer and had seen From My Hometown, which had begun having some success before its eventual Off-Broadway run.
Maurice had previously created and directed Yo, Alice, a contemporary reimagining of Alice in Wonderland, in Amsterdam. That production had used existing music with no libretto, but now he wanted to develop something new, with an original book and an original score.
He asked me to write some pages.
I knew Maurice.
More importantly, I knew what made Maurice laugh.
So I wrote to that.
I went to his apartment with the pages, and Maurice asked me to read them aloud.
That’s when the actor in me kicked in.
I didn’t just read the words.
I came to life.
And Maurice started laughing.
Then he started laughing harder.
And harder.
Until finally, he fell off the sofa.
Literally.
Maurice Hines was on the floor, laughing so hard that he raised one hand in the air, signaling for me to stop reading because he couldn’t take any more.
I stopped.
Eventually, Maurice recovered.
And then he said he was taking me to lunch.
We walked to a restaurant on Columbus Avenue and sat outside on a sunny day.
At some point during that lunch, Maurice looked at me and said something I have never forgotten.
“Your life is going to change after this day.”
He wanted me to write the book, music, and lyrics for Yo, Alice, along with Timothy Graphenreed.
Just like that, I was part of the team.
Now, you have to understand something about Maurice Hines.
Maurice didn’t dream small.
This was a man who had starred on Broadway, worked with some of the greatest entertainers in the world, and spent his life thinking in terms of what was possible.
And behind Maurice was one of the most powerful talent agencies in the entertainment industry: William Morris.
Somewhere along the way, I wrote a two-page treatment for Yo, Alice.
Two pages.
That treatment made its way to Madison Square Garden.
Yes.
That Madison Square Garden.
The company behind Madison Square Garden and Radio City Music Hall decided to produce a reading of our new musical.
We brought in actors.
I wrote more scenes.
We had songs.
And we went into a room at Madison Square Garden to show them what we had.
I remember that by the third musical number, people were on their feet.
A standing ovation.
In a reading.
At Madison Square Garden.
And then we walked out of that room with a deal.
Suddenly, Yo, Alice was under option to the company behind two of the most iconic entertainment venues in New York City.
Madison Square Garden.
Radio City Music Hall.
The option would last for two years.
Sometimes I look back at the extraordinary things that have happened in my life and realize that, while I was living them, I didn’t always understand just how extraordinary they were.
I was working.
I was writing.
I was trying to figure out what came next.
But now, more than twenty-five years later, I can look back and say:
That was a big damn deal.
A few pages written to make Maurice Hines laugh.
An afternoon in his apartment.
A lunch on Columbus Avenue.
A two-page treatment.
A reading.
A standing ovation.
And a deal with Madison Square Garden and Radio City Entertainment.
Maurice had been right.
My life did change after that day.
So what happened to Yo, Alice?
Why haven’t you seen it on Broadway?
Well…
That’s another story.
And perhaps, one day, I’ll tell it.
