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In 2006, Samuel Garza Bernstein wrote a book about 1950s gossip and scandal magazine Confidential.
Among possible adaptations—a documentary film or scripted limited series for a streaming platform, perhaps—a musical was the way to go, Garza Bernstein said.
Headlines crafted by magazine founder Bob Harrison conveyed what Garza Bernstein calls a fizzy tone that fits the inherent buzz of Broadway. Among them: “Here’s why Frank Sinatra is the Tarzan of the boudoir,” “Mae West’s open door policy—for muscle men,” “What makes Ava Gardner run for Sammy Davis Jr.?” and “Robert Mitchum … the nude who came to dinner!”
On May 3, the Actors Theatre of Indiana will present the world premiere of the “Mr. Confidential” musical at Carmel’s Center for the Performing Arts. An original opening date of April 28 was postponed because of illness in the show’s cast.
Garza Bernstein, who collaborated with composer David Snyder to create the musical, said Harrison’s magazine sparked controversy but also pumped up Hollywood careers by detailing behind-the-scenes behavior. As the saying goes, there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
“It was all part of their branding,” Garza Bernstein said. “If you have a story about Bob Mitchum getting drunk at a party and taking off his clothes, well, that’s on brand for Bob Mitchum. No one would say, ‘I’m not going to see a Bob Mitchum movie because he did that.’”
Confidential magazine proved to be a smash hit for a few dizzying years, partly because of an assist from newspaper and radio gossip king Walter Winchell who sent tips and readers its way.
Garza Bernstein read a 2003 Vanity Fair article titled “Confidential’s Reign of Terror” and and realized he knew Marjorie Meade, Harrison’s niece and the magazine’s top West Coast correspondent back in the ’50s. In the 21st century, Garza Bernstein and Meade worked together at a charitable foundation in Beverly Hills.
Interviews with Meade provided the framework for the 2006 book “Mr. Confidential: The Man, His Magazine & the Movieland Massacre that Changed Hollywood Forever.”
The musical offers this disclaimer: “This is a fable, but almost all of it really happened.”
“All of the things that seem the most unbelievable and most impossible are completely true,” Garza Bernstein said.
The evolution of the “Mr. Confidential” musical involves Indiana because actress Amy Bodnar participated in a 2014 developmental workshop for the project in New York City and later appeared in a 2018 Actors Theatre of Indiana presentation of “A Comedy of Tenors.”
Bodnar advised Garza Bernstein to check out the possibility of working with ATI, the resident professional theatre company at Carmel’s Center for the Performing Arts.
Don Farrell, who co-founded the Actors Theatre of Indiana in 2005 with Judy Fitzgerald and Cynthia Collins, portrays Confidential founder Harrison in the musical. Fitzgerald and Collins are cast members, and Garza Bernstein credited Fitzgerald for making suggestions that improved storytelling that’s been in the works for a decade.
Farrell said his company is grateful to be part of “Mr. Confidential’s” journey to future performances. Garza Bernstein said a realistic next step would be a production in Chicago or London, noting that an immediate move to New York would be too expensive.
“I believe there’s a certain responsibility upon professional equity theatre companies, when they have the opportunity to do so, to support new stories and support playwrights and composers in musical situations,” Farrell said. “We don’t want to always tell the same stories over and over again.”
Before he sold Confidential in 1958, Harrison cut corners, paid informants and made up stories in the interest of selling copies of the magazine. Farrell refers to Harrison as a complex character.
“There’s so much gray in there,” he said. “People who might not have done great things may be thinking they are doing great things. Sam wrote Bob’s rationalization in the show: ‘Look, everybody wins. They get attention. We get attention. Everybody’s going to win. Yes, there are lawsuits. But look at what I’m doing for everybody. I’m making you all stars.’”
Garza Bernstein recalled the conflicted reaction of someone who attended a reading of “Mr. Confidential” last year.
“She said, ‘I was watching the story and this guy was doing all of these things that I thought were really terrible. But I wanted him to win. I wanted him to get what he wanted. That’s very confusing,’ ” Garza Bernstein said. “That’s when I thought, ‘OK, we’re in the right place with the right people.”
‘Mr. Confidential’
- When: May 3-7,10-14.
- Where: The Studio Theater at the Center for the Performing Arts, 1 Carter Green, Carmel.
- Tickets: $30 to $48.
- Info: Visit thecenterpresents.org.
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