He was informed at very short notice about a Hoboken High School performance of his multi-award-winning musical "Raisin" and he had just seen it.
"Raisin," the musical version of Lorraine Hansberry's 1959 hit play "A Raisin in the Sun," ran for three years on Broadway in the mid 1970s, garnering nine Tony Award nominations, winning Best Musical and Best Musical Actress awards and a Grammy. It has had countless productions all over the world since its original run.
"Judd," I said, "somebody is always playing one of your tunes."
"This one is different," he said excitedly. "I know it's just a high school in Hoboken, but it's an awesome production. You have to come see this. I'm going back again tomorrow."
"I'll meet you at the show tomorrow afternoon," I said.
I had not seen any of Judd's work performed since I moved from near Ground Zero to Hoboken. I had also not seen Judd and his wife since the day the moving truck came to relocate me to the more peaceful side of the Hudson. Judd, a New Jersey resident until he began working in musical theater, had become a diehard downtown New Yorker. After 9/11 he had held his ground. Feeling that same ground move under my feet, I opted to leave. At the school, slick, professional looking posters seemed to shout "Raisin!" from the walls. Students scurried about, selling tickets, giving out programs, whispering in excitement. Musicians filed to their places, greeting Judd in recognition as they walked by him.
"You made my year," he smiled at them.
I had a feeling they were about to make mine too.
One look at the stage told me the audience was in for a treat. This was a set that could compete with the best. As I sat admiring it, I remembered how long it took to put everything together for my own long-running one-piano show, "Carren?o!," on New York City's Theater Row. I remembered the months of workshops and preparations before we took the show from the Gene Frankel Theatre, downtown, up to 42nd Street. I remembered how long it took to find the right theater, setting, lighting, sound, and people to help run it all.
Hoboken High School's "Raisin" reached out and grabbed me from the beginning. Hansberry's drama of a poor, African American Chicago family in the 1950s, clutching at the straw of a dream, of $10,000 coming from the family patriarch's insurance, is a great work, and the musical version is true to its heritage. The visions, the hopes, the disappointments, all came through under a fine cast and stylish, focused directing. Hansberry, who died in 1965 at age 35, would have been proud. I know Judd was beaming.
The entire company was strong, particularly in singing, but the prize in my opinion went to Diandra Soto as the lead, Mama Lena, the 60-ish family matriarch. Her voice and presence took over the stage. This "Mama," still just a young teen, was, as Woldin had pronounced, simply brilliant. In the final scene Soto's powerful voice singing "Measure the Valleys," a musical tour-de-force, brought down the house.
"Well, what did you think of that?" Judd asked me when the performance was over.
"Wow!" was all I could say.
"I'm working on a new musical comedy version of 'The Merchant of Venice.' It's set in Prohibition Chicago," he continued. "Maybe I'll bring the score to the Theater Department here and have them try it out first."
"Great idea," I agreed with him.
"Well," he said hurriedly, "I have to go and catch the cast and crew and give them all some silver raisins. That's what I did for everybody on Broadway, too."
He held up a box and shook it. I could hear the "raisins" jingling.
"Oh, and one more thing. This Hoboken you've moved to? What a nice little town you found to live in!" he said. And with that he disappeared backstage.
Outside, in the mild April air, I had to remind myself to go east to get to Washington Street. This was, after all, Hoboken and not 42nd Street, New York City.
Still singing "Measure the Valleys" in my head, I made my way home.
Hoboken resident Pamela Ross is an actress and pianist.
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