As I was watching the awesome The Partridge Family The Complete First Season DVD set that my fabulous husband bought for me, I kept wondering how I was going to rationalize doing a Partridge Family post.

Yes, I'll admit it -- I was a huge Partridge Family fan (and I have ALL the albums!) back in the bad old '70s. As I was revelling in watching the episodes, chuckling at the silly jokes, and swaying to the rhythms of "I'll Meet You Halfway" and "Come on Get Happy" I was trying to think of a way to sneak it onto Blogway Baby and keep it relevant to theater.

Of course the obvious connection to musicals is Shirley Jones, star of classic movie musicals such as Carousel and Oklahoma!, who played Shirley Partridge. She is the only other star (other than David Cassidy) who actually sang on those darn songs!

Then of course there's David Cassidy who went on to star in Blood Brothers on stage. I was so anxious to see my Tiger Beat idol in the touring production of Blood Brothers that came to Toronto that I went to see it twice! The first time I saw it, there he was in all his glory in the opening scene! But when they carried him off the stage on the stretcher, some stage hand dropped him and he was knocked out cold and we never saw him again that night (although the understudy did a fine job). So I had to go back a second time to get my full dose of Keith Partridge. I'm not proud of that, but I thought y'all should know.

Then of course, there are the guest stars -- the musical theater stars who popped in now and then to liven up an episode. Ray Bolger (the Scarecrow himself!) who played Shirley's dad was a frequent visitor. And I just finished watching an episode that starred John McMartin (he played Oscar Lindquist in the original Broadway production and movie version of Sweet Charity) as an old beau of Shirley's.

See, now that wasn't so hard!

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