As Mayor of Baltimore in 1890s swim- suit, William Donald Schaefer swam with the seals of the National Aquarium. The late mayor and governor is subject of a new musical previewed here earlier this week.
LOCAL SHOW DEPICTS BALTO. MAYOR
AS COLORFUL CAPTAIN OF CHANGE
FOR LANGUISHING CHARM CITY
By Anthony C. Hayes
In the twilight of his years at City Hall, before going on to become governor and later state comptroller of Maryland, William Donald Schaefer garnered a well deserved national reputation as one of the great mayors of the 20th century in America.
Earlier this week Hizzoner, now deceased, was once again at center stage, this time in the footlights at Germano’s Trattoria in Little Italy where a near capacity crowd of 90 spectators saw a preview of scenes from a new musical based on Schaefer’s life entitled, “Do It Now.”
Composed by Baltimore Symphony Orchestra multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Jensen, with book by award-winning local playwright Rich Espey, the show seeks to recall the tumult and triumph of Schaefer’s last decades at City Hall, where he presided as Mayor of Baltimore for 15 years.
The “musical in development” was narrated by Aaron Henkin of WYPR.
Boiling nearly a score of years of the iconic mayor’s life down to a two-hour play is indeed a tall order. With Schaefer, the possibilities might seem endless.
In a telephone interview subsequent to the opening at Germano’s, Jensen told Voice of Baltimore he initially got the idea to write the show from his wife.
“In the weeks after Schaefer’s death” — which occurred a year ago this week — “with all the tributes and press coverage,” Jensen said, “I felt there is a story here with a very broad appeal.”
So, following his wife’s suggestion, he mentioned the idea to Schaefer biographer C. Fraser Smith, who, as a reporter at the Baltimore Sun, had covered the former mayor and governor for much of his political career. (Smith is now a senior editor and news analyst at WYPR-88.1-FM.)
