David Cassidy in the News
'Blood Brothers': relative success
July 05, 1994
By James M. Coram
Sun Staff Writer
Baltimore Sun
New York – Ellicott City native Ric Ryder presses the close-door button in the Manhattan elevator repeatedly in staccato-like bursts.
"We're going to have to hurry," he tells his mother, "if we're going to have dinner before I have to get to the theater."
A passenger turns and stares. "What show are you in?" he asks.
"Blood Brothers," says Mr. Ryder. "I'm playing the Shaun Cassidy role" of the affluent twin in the Broadway musical about the British class system.
"That's very good!" the passenger says, conveying genuine awe.
Mr. Ryder, 32, is tickled. "Come see it!" he says. "Buy an expensive ticket!"
Everyone laughs.
Richard Burkitt Ryder, called Ric by his mother, Ann, and everybody else, is only half joking. The award-winning show's three main attractions -- pop stars David and Shaun Cassidy and recording artist Petula Clark -- left June 5 after a 10-month run. The show's success now will depend largely on the draw of songwriter and singer Carole King, who is making her Broadway debut.
(Next April, a touring production of the show will stop at the Lyric Opera House in Baltimore, but Mr. Ryder doesn't know if he'll be in the cast. Ms. Clark is the only person named to the touring company so far).
"I'm not a star," Mr. Ryder says. "I'm opening in a show" on Broadway. He, Ms. King and Philip Lehl -- who understudied the David Cassidy role and plays opposite Mr. Ryder as the impoverished twin -- opened together June 7 after two weeks of rehearsal. They have received standing ovations ever since, although that may make little difference if critics give thumbs-down to the new cast.
The award-winning play already has had several lives independent of critics. The play has given Mr. Ryder new life, too.
Having followed the show's artistic success in London and Toronto, he wanted to be part of it. Aware that the visas of British actors playing the leads would soon expire, he called last August and asked for an audition. He was given the role of Eddie, the affluent twin in Willy Russell's musical drama, and was to open with Petula Clark and David Cassidy last Aug. 16. Or so he thought.
Tracy Combs of Columbia, a longtime friend from high school and college, remembers it this way: "He called right away to tell me the news -- 'I've got a Broadway play,' he said. I couldn't believe it. We were yelling and screaming into the phone. Word was out that they were bringing in Petula Clark and David Cassidy to boost the show." The British cast was unknown to New York audiences, and the show was losing an estimated $32,000 a week.
"We talked about how great it was for Ric -- how good they must have thought he was to cast him instead of a well-known star. A couple of days later, he called and said they had renegotiated and given the part to Shaun Cassidy."
It was the low point in his career, Mr. Ryder says. "The reality of being so close to something that didn't happen a year ago was terribly disappointing, but it turned out to be a good thing. [Ms. Clark and the Cassidy brothers] saved the show, thank God."
Not only that, but when the producers started looking for replacements this May, they remembered Mr. Ryder and called to offer him the part. "It was out of the blue -- totally unexpected," he says.
The year after the "Blood Brothers" rejection had been the leanest of his career.
Trained as a classical tenor at University of Maryland Baltimore County, Mr. Ryder has lived in four different apartments and spent a lot of time on the road in the seven years he has called New York home. He has sung in shows on round-the-world cruises, starred in a Tokyo presentation of "The Fantasticks," and won accolades for his performance in "Captains Courageous" at Ford's Theatre in Washington.
