By: Anne M. Raso
I was lucky enough to get seats for the first night of the Rascals' 15-night reunion run called
Once Upon A Dream at the Richard Rogers Theater in New York City. Outside of one private charity show at the Tribeca Grill and a run in Port Chester, NY, back in December, the original four Rascals have not performed together since lead singer and lyricist Eddie Brigati left the group in 1970--the same day the group made the transition from Atlantic to Columbia Records. It was said that he was not happy that he was not happy that singer/songwriter/keyboardist Felix Cavaliere sold the publishing rights to the group's body of material for only 200K (and it is not estimated to be worth 20 million)! Everyone has put their differences behind them thanks to actor/musician Steven Van Zandt and his wife Maureen having, what he calls, "a lifelong dream to reunite The Rascals." Van Zandt told me "they are like the American Beatles" and indeed The Fab Four's promoter Sid Bernstein was the group's manager back in their heyday from 1965 to 1970. At the final sound check before opening night, guitarist Gene Cornish told me that there would be lots of surprises in the show, "There are 28 songs so there is something for everyone. It goes from covers we were doing back at places like The Choo Choo Club (in Garfield, NJ, which is Brigati's hometown) and The Barge (in East Quoque, LI). There are the hits and the more psychedelic stuff and the covers and everything in between."
