My Son The Gangster: Brett Young Plays “Duke Cunningham” in Nice Work If You Can Get It!
Let me set the scene for you: It’s 1927, and the audience is transported to a riotous bachelor party for the oft-married Jimmy Winter. Outside, a trio of bootleggers are lurking in the shadows – Cookie, Billie and Duke Cunningham – and they’re trying to figure out where to hide the 400 cases of gin they have stashed on their boat. A drunken Jimmy staggers outside of the party and comes across the pants-wearing, independently-minded Billie, and he’s immediately smitten. He explains his plight – he must marry someone respectable or his mother will disinherit him, so he’s marrying someone he doesn’t truly love. Madness ensues 🙂 This is the beginning of the musical comedy “Nice Work If You Can Get It”, with classic roaring 20’s tunes from George and Ira Gershwin. The show debuted on Broadway in 2012, and it’s been produced all over the world in various forms since that time. Imagine my joy as the father of New York-based actor Brett Cole Young when I heard that Brett was going to be part of the cast of the latest rendition of the show, opening at The Coachella Repertory Theatre in Palm Springs in mid-April! Getting to show off his singing and tap-dancing skills along with his acting chops, this is a cool role for Brett to be cast in…and it just so happens the show closes on the day before my birthday in late April! The perfect present, assuming we can still get tickets…I better lean on my gangster son for some comps 🙂
