In John Raitt’s career marked by extraordinary good fortune and theatrical success, one wonders what decisions the Broadway legend made along the way that proved to be pivotal. ”’My first decision was to leave Fullerton Junior College for USC,’ Raitt told the Palisadian-Post. ‘I was standing in line at Fullerton Junior College trying to get to people who were important, and was getting bored. So, right then, I left the line and decided to go to USC.’ That decision was just part one of what turned out to be a two-part change of life course for the young man. ‘After a semester at USC, I decided I didn’t want to be a guy in the fraternity house so I gave up my athletic scholarship and transferred to the University of Redlands,’ where he began what would turn out to be a 60-plus-year career on the stage. ”This Sunday, Pepperdine University Center for the Arts will present a tribute to the Palisadian and much loved Pepperdine benefactor at 2 p.m. at the campus’ Smothers Theatre, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway. ”The concert will feature a special 35-minute acoustic performance by his daughter, the nine-time Grammy Award-winner Bonnie Raitt. Additionally, several former Pepperdine musical theater students who have been inspired or influenced in some way by Raitt will perform a pastiche of some of his great stage numbers under the direction of veteran Broadway performer Jon Engstrom. ”Raitt was born in Santa Ana in 1917. He began his professional career in the chorus of ‘H. M. S. Pinafore’ for the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera in 1940, and has not stopped performing since. ”After a period as an MGM contract player, he auditioned for the plum role of Curly in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1944 tour of ‘Oklahoma!’ and won the part, which helped pay his college bills. ‘When I graduated, I told Redlands that when I could pay them off, I would pay all at once with one check. And then came ‘Oklahoma’ three or four years later.’ ”After performing the lead role in ‘Oklahoma’ in Chicago for 10 months, Raitt went to New York and within a short time was cast as Billy Bigelow in the Broadway-bound ‘Carousel.’ ”For his work in ‘Carousel,’ in which he introduced such songs as ‘If I Loved You’ and ‘Soliloquy,’ Raitt received awards from the New York Drama Critics, Theatre World and Donaldson Awards Committee. When MGM head Louis. B. Mayer came to see the show, he sent an aide backstage to ask where they had discovered the talented young man. To Mayer’s surprise, he was informed that Raitt had been plucked from his own backlot. ”The baritone appeared in three more Broadway musicals’ ‘Magdalena’ (1948) ‘Three Wishes for Jamie’ (1952) and ‘Carnival in Flanders (1953)’before striking gold in ‘The Pajama Game’ (1954). He performed the latter over 1,000 times, and his spirited and sensitive renditions of ‘There Once Was A Man,’ ‘Small Talk’ and ‘Hey There”his duet with a Dictaphone machine’impressed Hollywood enough for him to be cast opposite Doris Day in the 1957 film version. ”His success catapulted him into national company roles in such hits as ‘The Music Man,’ ‘Camelot,’ ‘Man of La Mancha’ and ‘Destry Rides Again.’ Television beckoned for the 1957 production of ‘Annie Get Your Gun’ with Mary Martin, one of Raitt’s many leading ladies who also include Janis Paige, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Constance Towers and Anne Jeffreys. ”John and his first wife had three children, including singer/songwriter Bonnie. He and his second wife, Rosemary had met and fallen in love many years before as students at Redlands, but it life’s currents did not bring them back together for 41 years when they were finally reintroduced by a mutual friend. They were married in 1981 with Pepperdine chancellor Charles Runnels presiding.” ”Perhaps John’s most endearing and enduring trait is his indomitable energy and his generosity in performing for Broadway and for community theater. ”Raitt has returned to Broadway for many encore performances and has been in constant demand for roles in summer stock, musical theatre (including the first production of the California Music Theatre in ‘The Most Happy Fella’ in 1987), and civic light opera. This past year on the 50th anniversary of ‘Pajama Game’ at Pierson Playhouse, he made a surprise appearance. ”He can be heard on dozens of recordings, including original cast recordings of ‘Oklahoma,’ ‘Carousel,’ ‘The Pajama Game’ as well as ‘The Best of John Raitt’ and ‘Broadway Legend.’ He is most known for his memorable love songs, including his favorite ‘You’re My Heart’s Darling’ from ‘Three Wishes for Jamie,’ which he says he sang at his wedding. Actually, the truth is that he sang it for his first marriage but for Rosemary, Bonnie sang it, saying that he hadn’t had too much luck singing it himself. ”In 1992 Raitt received an Ovation Award in Hollywood for his contributions to Los Angeles theater, and a year later was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in New York. In 1998 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle. ”At Pepperdine University’with his wife Rosemary’he co-founded the Center for Arts Guild and the donated Raitt Recital Hall. He has generously given master classes, performed in gala concerts and guest starred in student musicals, including ‘Man of La Mancha’ and ‘Guys and Dolls.’ ”For tickets for the benefit concert ($50), call 506-4522. Proceeds will benefit scholarships for Pepperdine University theater students.
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