ROYAL THINGS

While in London I managed to squeeze in The Royal Ballet (La Fille Mal Gardée), The Royal Shakespeare Company (Breakfast With Mugabe), The Royal Opera (Götterdämmrung), The Royal Haymarket Theatre (Dame Judi Dench in Hayfever) and The Royal Academy of Art. The only thing I missed was The Royal Horseguards.

In England theatrical producers and artists are treated like royalty. They are knighted by The Queen! In America they get invited to The White House. In 1968 Richard Nixon saw my Broadway show "GEORGE M!" with Joel Grey and Bernadette Peters. He invited me to bring it to the White House and to produce his inaugural gala. I produced a show in The Washington Armory on the Saturday night before the Monday inauguration. There were ten thousand people in the audience including members of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, members of Congress, members of the Supreme Court, leaders from around the world, and president-elect Richard Nixon.

The show lasted nine hours and included some of the biggest names in the entertainment business. For the finale Buddy Epson, the cowboy movie star, stepped forward to speak the closing words: "I am delighted and honored to have been invited here to the inauguration. And I think I'll stick around for the impeachment."