Broadway
February 23, 2020
by David Gonci
From David Sumner, Maitland, Florida:
My great friend Richard Gonci dreamed of producing both Broadway, and cabaret
shows. Though Richard produced a plethora of shows and projects over four decades
and had co-founded Portland Stage Company, and as a young man, worked at Charles
Playhouse on their most successful show ever “Jacques Brel is Alive and Well Living in
Paris”, that Broadway dream failed to materialize until the final years of his life. When
opportunity knocked, Richard responded.
In the early spring of 2018 my close friend, Chet Walker, a famed Broadway director who
I’d known since the mid 80’s called asking if we might put our former creative team back
together. He said he had a new business partner from London, playwright, Shaun
McKenna, who had written a number of musicals they wanted to produce. One of those
scripts “Maddie and Me” was a funny romantic comedy in the Hepburn/Tracy style but
with a serious twist- Maddie was to be a projected holographic ghost. They were pitching
an idea where the lead actress in the show was a projection. This had never been
attempted on Broadway.
Shaun, Chet and I tossed out some very preliminary ideas, and shared our thoughts. Given the extreme projection challenges, I quickly suggested we bring in someone onto the team comfortable with film production. Financial experience and some knowledge behind a winning prospectus would be an added plus. Of course, I had Richard in mind.
When later that summer I broached the idea of Richard, both Chet and Shaun instantly agreed. We quickly set up a subsequent meeting for late August 2018 in New York with Richard. On a perfect summer day we four sat curbside at a small café on the upper west side in New York making our introductions, discussing Broadway shows, and outlining a road to funding a proof of concept video shoot. Richard was an instant hit as he began laying out the tasks before us.
When Richard returned to Boston he instantly caught fire. It didn’t take long before the man had lined up potential funding with School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, had interested investors lined up based upon his brilliant track record, had created a visual storyboard, informed us that he’d reached out to Industrial Light and Magic in LA for some special proof of concept special effects reels, and had consulted with numerous creative specialists about our visual challenges. Richards revised CV now read:
“Currently Executive Producer for a (hopefully) Broadway–bound musical comedy now under development.”
We four spoke numerous times in the subsequent months, each of us with a mission. By the late spring of 2019 our new LLC.“Maddie and Me” was born. It was a joyous day. That joy proved short lived. With summer Richard started having serious medical issues. Yet, still, we kept at it. That fall we agreed to meet in Florida come mid-January because David had moved to Florida earlier that year and Shaun announced that he had plans to in be in Florida as well. But when we turned around next, Richard was suddenly gone.
That our dearest friend spent the final months of his life filled with so much hope and joy and that he got so very close to such a life-long dream means everything.
Richard, we remaining three are agreed, you were such a bright light, are truly missed, and were so very loved. RIP.
- David Sumner, Maitland FL 2/2020
Shaun, Chet and I tossed out some very preliminary ideas, and shared our thoughts. Given the extreme projection challenges, I quickly suggested we bring in someone onto the team comfortable with film production. Financial experience and some knowledge behind a winning prospectus would be an added plus. Of course, I had Richard in mind.
When later that summer I broached the idea of Richard, both Chet and Shaun instantly agreed. We quickly set up a subsequent meeting for late August 2018 in New York with Richard. On a perfect summer day we four sat curbside at a small café on the upper west side in New York making our introductions, discussing Broadway shows, and outlining a road to funding a proof of concept video shoot. Richard was an instant hit as he began laying out the tasks before us.
When Richard returned to Boston he instantly caught fire. It didn’t take long before the man had lined up potential funding with School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, had interested investors lined up based upon his brilliant track record, had created a visual storyboard, informed us that he’d reached out to Industrial Light and Magic in LA for some special proof of concept special effects reels, and had consulted with numerous creative specialists about our visual challenges. Richards revised CV now read:
“Currently Executive Producer for a (hopefully) Broadway–bound musical comedy now under development.”
We four spoke numerous times in the subsequent months, each of us with a mission. By the late spring of 2019 our new LLC.“Maddie and Me” was born. It was a joyous day. That joy proved short lived. With summer Richard started having serious medical issues. Yet, still, we kept at it. That fall we agreed to meet in Florida come mid-January because David had moved to Florida earlier that year and Shaun announced that he had plans to in be in Florida as well. But when we turned around next, Richard was suddenly gone.
That our dearest friend spent the final months of his life filled with so much hope and joy and that he got so very close to such a life-long dream means everything.
Richard, we remaining three are agreed, you were such a bright light, are truly missed, and were so very loved. RIP.
- David Sumner, Maitland FL 2/2020
