Godspell
While moping in my dorm room during my freshman year at Binghamton the phone rang. The caller introduced herself as a member of a methodist church in the nearby tiny town of Windsor. They were putting on a production of "Godspell" and needed a bass player. So they reached out to campus and contacted the jazz ensemble director who in turn recommended me. Flattered at many levels, I couldn't help but say yes. It was my first cold call, and my first real professional gig.
I had no car so I got picked up by one of the congregants who was also one of the stars of the production. The church was simple and small, and I quickly set up in the "pit," i.e. four chairs off the side of the the 10' x 10' performance area. The whole orchestra led by an older woman playing keyboards, her daughter on drums, and a local high school senior, Chad, on guitar. I set up my bass and met everybody who were all so nice. The actors and actresses were incredibly welcoming and sweet as well. The first couple rehearsals were rough but we slogged through the material. No divas or drama. I was even more shy back then than I am now, so I didn't really talk to anybody.
During the second rehearsal I was noodling on bass during some down time. Chad recognized my riff and said, "King Crimson! Right on." Turns out Chad is a total proghead. We did the usual sizing up of each other, comparing our album collections. I didn't let on how little I knew about prog compared to him, since he was just some 17 year old high school kid and I'm an 18 year old big man on campus. He asked if I was into Frank Zappa. I couldn't fake that one and said I didn't really know much about his catalog. Chad commanded me: "Listen to 'Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch,' side two."
The next day at the campus radio station I dug out that Zappa album and gave side two a spin. Holy shit Chad was right.
Anyway there was about eight rehearsals total and the church players were really knocking it out of the park. I mean, it wasn't Broadway, but they really gave it their all and were having fun. The band was solid, too. A couple nervous tech rehearsals and some prayers and then it was showtime.
I was invited to join the whole cast and crew for dinner at the church before opening night. As I waited in the buffet line one of the practitioners had a sudden scared expression on her face. She cried, "Oh no! I'm really sorry but we're serving ham tonight!" I was completely confused, then I realized she correctly guessed that I'm a Jew, but wrongly assumed I was kosher. I insisted it was okay and that I eat bacon all the time. She gushed with relief. I felt honored by her concern.
There were hilarious and almost predictable little mishaps during the shows, but the audiences ate it up, and we musicians got all kinds of accolades during the post-show mingling. It was a unique and unexpected experience, and I got $100 for all my efforts.
I figured that small chapter of my life was over but a month later they called me again. A sister church in Pennsylvania wanted us to reunite and recreate our version of "Godspell" down there. After one refresher rehearsal we piled into vans and brought the whole production over the border. So yeah that one little church in the middle of nowhere was responsible for not only my first real gig, but also my first tour, such as it was. And also responsible for turning me on to Zappa.