COWBOYS & LAWYERS
(formerly titled Actor, Lawyer, Indian Chief)
COWBOYS & LAWYERS was produced in 2002 at Goodspeed’s Norma Terris Theatre, following a production in 2000 at the Landers Theatre in Springfield, Missouri. The two productions featured a number of fine actors. Among them: Hal Robinson, Reed Birney, David Naughton, Lisa Brescia, Hunter Bell, Brad Anderson, Kevin Morrow, and Roger Seyer.
The show is an original, loosely based on a true incident, with a book by David H. Bell and music and lyrics by C.C. It takes place in 1990 and tells the tale of Benjamin Gurney, an actor in his late 60s, who originated the role of a cowboy hero, Red Rock Brody, on early television. The TV show ran from 1951 to 1964. Since the show went off the air, the actor had been making his living by doing public appearances as the character he had created. In 1989, a major film company, Capitol Studios, decided to make a big-budget film of “Red Rock Brody,” which happens to be one of their old TV titles.
Act One
Jim, a 29-year-old new partner at his New York law firm, and Barry, Jim’s best friend and coworker at the firm, are at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles. Jim and Barry’s firm has done much work for Capitol, and Stanage, the head of the studio, has been impressed. So, they’ve been flown out to L.A. for a final meeting to determine if the two lawyers will be relocated to L.A. to work on-site at the studio.
As the play opens, Jim and Barry are on an old soundstage—one that is a part of the Capitol Studios tour—waiting for word. Jim, an avid Red Rock fan in his youth, notices that the artifacts on the stage are from the old TV series. Most prominently, there is a jagged cliff on which Red Rock would heroically perch. Barry has left the soundstage, and Jim sings “Waiting to Hear.”
They get the job and are soon acquainted with a rights issue that has arisen with the Red Rock property. They’re dispatched to the opening day of a new mall, where the actor Benjamin Gurney is appearing as the character. “Ev’ry Sat’day Mornin’” is sung by The Three Cowboys, an assembled promo act hired to support Gurney in his public appearances.
Jim and Barry have been tasked by Stanage with serving Benjamin with a cease and desist notice, telling him he can no longer appear as Red Rock Brody. Jim tries to quietly give the actor a bit of legal advice on how he can fight this order, but Benjamin is unfazed, saying, “I don’t need your help, son. Lawyers are for criminals.”
Weeks later, Jim watches Stanage hyping the new film to the press, while Red Rock, the “character” as played by Benjamin in his youth, catches Jim’s attention with “Partner.”
The studio has been made aware that Benjamin is advertised to be making another personal appearance. Jim finds Ben’s daughter, Jenny, and over dinner at a Mexican restaurant, tries to get her to intercede. Knowing her father all too well, she is not surprised to hear what Jim is telling her. But Jim is surprised to hear of her troubled childhood. The Three Cowboys sing as waiters in the Mexican restaurant, as Jenny sings “Dad and I.”
Next, Jim goes directly to Benjamin's house to warn him that if he appears as Red Rock again, he will be arrested. He sings “Bad Guys.” Also in the song are Benjamin, Red Rock, and The Three Cowboys, who are watching an old episode of the show on Benjamin’s TV.
Benjamin doesn’t heed Jim’s warning, and at his next appearance, a police officer, accompanied by Barry, arrests him and puts him in handcuffs. Jim jumps forward, claiming to be Benjamin's lawyer. Ben once again refuses his help, claiming “people in the right don’t need a lawyer.”
Jim is fired by Stanage and takes the red-eye back to New York (“The Man in 37A”).
Back at his old job at the firm, Jim is on the phone with Barry, who gives him an update on the Benjamin Gurney business and urges him to forget all about it. Jenny shows up at Jim’s office and tells him of her father’s legal troubles and deep depression, and implores him to come west and help him. Jim says, “Did he ask for my help?” Jenny replies, “No. He can’t. I’m asking.”
Jim sings, followed by The Three Cowboys and Red Rock. Jim, Jenny, and the boys fly back to L.A. (“Rovin’ Cowboy”).
Act Two
The act opens with Red Rock standing on the cliff singing “Cowboy Waltz.”
Jim and Jenny go looking for Ben. Having not found him anywhere, Jenny has one last idea. Ben only had one real friend all those years in the spotlight. Spurs Mackaldowney played Red Rock’s sidekick on the show. Spurs was his real name. He had been a horse wrangler in Hollywood and just fell into the role.
He owned a little shack up in the mountains, and he and Ben used to go fishing there. When Spurs died, he left the place to Ben. Jenny gives Jim directions to the place, and indeed, he finds Benjamin sitting by himself at a campfire. After some off-topic chat about campfires and Spurs, Benjamin sings (“Blood on the Moon”).
At a media event designed to introduce the press to the young actor who is going to play Red Rock in the new film, Benjamin interrupts the young man to correct him on the Red Rock lore. Jim then jumps in to announce that Gurney is suing the studio for infringing on his rights. After publicly upstaging the studio, Jenny, Jim, and Benjamin celebrate in “Red Rock Rides Again.”
Back at Ben’s place, he and Jim are preparing for the first hearing of their case while Jenny helps Ben with his memory and serves coffee. The Three Cowboys sing “No Time for a Love Song.”
The night before the case goes to court, Jenny takes Jim to her favorite spot, looking out at the Pacific from a hill. She used to find peace here while growing up, watching the whales migrate. Jim and Jenny share stories of their childhood—one in the east, one in the west, both “Looking West.”
Outside the courthouse, Jim presents Stanage with a solution to all of this. The studio will surely win the case, but their conflict with Gurney has been widely publicized, and the studio and their film have looked bad in the process. Jim suggests that Stanage offer the role of Spurs to Benjamin. After much resisting, he agrees, saying “there’s money in that idea.” Ben, Jim, and Jenny walk triumphantly up the courthouse steps as The Three Cowboys sing “Rovin' Cowboy.”