Description
Adventures in the Wild & Wonderful World of Theater
Introduction by Richard Rose, Producing Artistic Director, Barter Theatre
Whether it was the opening night of Breath of Life with Judi Dench and Maggie Smith in London, or the pre-Broadway opening of Carol Channing’s Hello Dolly! in Washington, D.C., or experiencing Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh in Macbeth at Stratford-upon-Avon, C. Robert Jones has enjoyed a lifetime of adventures as playwright, director, teacher, composer, and avid theater-goer—adventures that have taken him to fascinating places filled with fascinating people.
- At fifteen, he asked for an interview with Metropolitan Opera singer Lily Pons for his high school newspaper … and got it!
- In graduate school, he was in a USIA film about the Supreme Court, his scenes being filmed in the DC jail.
- Twenty years later he was hosted for the opening of his musical, Mandy Lou, in Charleston, SC by Alicia Rhett (India Wilkes in Gone with the Wind) and then acted with Peter Sellers in Being There.
There are probably few playwrights who can say that the playbill for their first play was printed in the White House. Along the way, he crossed paths in illuminating ways with such legends as Marcel Marceau, Johnny Mercer, Julie Harris, Edward Albee, Sherwood Schwartz, Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine, Claire Bloom, Rosemary Harris, and Hal Holbrook. I Like It Here! chronicles these stories, along with many others, and also tells the backgrounds of several world-premiere productions he directed: Bernard Sabath’s You Caught Me Dancing, Steve Bouser’s Senator Sam, and his own musical, The Clown. Taken as a whole, C. Robert’s adventures provide a charming slice of theater life in the last half of the 20th century.
