Plaza Suite

Long, long ago, my first job was at the Drake Hotel as the night bellman. It was a very glamorous job and I met many celebrities and made lots and lots of money. Then a landed in my first show and gave the job up, but I've always remembered it fondly.

So, it was very strange to be asked to go back to the Drake to do the pre-production publicity shots for the upcoming Eclipse Theatre's production of Plaza Suite that opens on July 17th at the Victory Gardens Greenhouse. The shoot was done in one of the larger suites in the hotel, one I'd been in many times and one that had not changed. For this occasion it was standing in for the Plaza, circa 1968. It was perfect.

I had a great time with this shoot. It took a couple of hours as we waited for various actors to arrive, and at the end there was a bottle of champagne. Hopefully, as the opening comes closer you'll see all of the selected shots in the media, but this picture has particular meaning for me. It's like looking through a prism in time and seeing a fragmented version of my former self.

The Eclipse company is filled with some really great people and it's my honor to have been asked to take these pictures. I've seen the designs, read the script, and met the actors. This will be a wonderful production, just the thing for a summer outing. Don't miss it