Bob Holiday
|
Bob was proud to sing the opening number in "It's a Bird It's a Plane It's Superman©" |
In his book Superman on Broadway (© 2003, co-authored with Chuck Harter), Bob detailed his excitement about opening the show:
I loved flying in at the beginning of the show. In Fiorello, I opened the show as well. It was exciting. In "Doing Good," I had to change from Superman to Clark during the song. I came up with the idea to cut the backs off some [rain shoes] and slide into them like slippers. It worked.
Note from the webmaster: It did work. In the revivals I've seen, the switch from Superman to Clark has never run smoothly. Toes get hung up in pant legs, fingers fumble with buttons. And how do you tie those wingtips? Bob, on the other hand, was able to slide into his Clark Kent clothes with ease. The rain shoe idea was sheer brilliance, and Bob rightfully remained proud of this contribution decades later.
The show's opening was indeed exciting. There were so many clever, really magical moments. It was wondrous to see Superman was there in flesh and blood, and right in front of our eyes, he changed into Clark Kent.
This wasn't a celluloid movie, this was real live Superman. And theatre magic has its own special style. Clark Kent's clothes literally flew to Superman on their own, his shirt from one side, his tie from another. A telephone booth danced around the stage following him. And beat by beat, perfectly choreographed and executed, we watched Superman transform into Clark Kent.
All the while, Superman sang about how important it is to be "Doing Good." It was a lesson that every child in the audience tried to live up to for the rest of their lives.
