Reliving a Life in ‘Show and Tell’ : Veteran performer recalls his Broadway triumphs and his alcoholism in a one-man show

Once upon a time, Paul Lyday was supposed to grow up and be a Broadway star.

Then life happened.

“I was programmed from the day I was born,” announced Lyday, 66, who relays his ups and downs in life and showbiz in “One Man Show and Tell” at Group Repertory Theatre in North Hollywood.

“My mother’s father wouldn’t let her be a singer,” he continued, “so when I was born I was going to be the singer. I was going to be the concert pianist. I was going to be the dancer. So I started out as a little kid in Iowa, tap-dancing, taking piano lessons, doing vaudeville shows. We’d travel from town to town--for my father’s work--and my mother would put me in shows and make all my costumes.”

There were a couple of dark spots in the sunny scenario. One was what Lyday describes as his limited talent. “My mother had the instrument,” he said. “I got the training. I’ve got a pretty good voice. Pretty good. I’m what you’d call a ‘personality’ singer.”

The other problem was his father’s steadfast--and sometimes violent--disapproval of his interest in show business. After years of that emotional push-pull between his parents, Lyday attended the University of Virginia, did a stint in the Army during World War II, then finally headed for New York.

For a while, it looked like the dreams would come true: His credits included the original Broadway productions of “Oklahoma!,” “Wonderful Town,” “Out of This World” and “Two on the Aisle.”

“In those days, you were either a dancer or a singer or an actor,” Lyday said. “There were 16 singers, 16 dancers and a company of principals--maybe 10 singing actors. I was a dancer, and I worked with the greatest people. Like Rodgers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Leonard Bernstein, George Abbott and Michael Kidd.”

All that time, Lyday was battling a heavy drinking problem, which he maintains he inherited from his father.

“I started drinking at an early age,” he said matter-of-factly. “I believe if there was anything that ruined my career, it was alcohol. So I got out of the business and went to see a psychiatrist. I was a pleaser, you see. I had to please my father--and I couldn’t please my father. I had to please this choreographer, that producer. . . .”

Lyday eventually found peace--and a sense of purpose--in dance therapy. “A friend of mine told me about the program, and asked if I’d be interested in doing dance work with mental patients,” he recalled wryly. “I said, ‘What a comedown. Here I am, programmed to be this big Broadway star . . . ‘ “

In spite of the dance therapy--and his own private therapy--Lyday’s alcoholism continued. (He points out that his psychiatrist was also a drinking buddy.) Then in 1977, a car accident unrelated to alcohol shattered both his hips.

At the time, Lyday had been doing occasional shows and teaching choreography. “Suddenly my livelihood was taken from me,” he said with a sigh. “I was really angry--and boy, did I hit the vodka. I was impossible, a madman, constantly in a rage. My wife couldn’t stand it, and she divorced me. And you know what? I don’t blame her.”

Eventually, he checked himself into the Veteran’s Administration psychiatric ward--and then into an alcohol program. He has been dry seven years, and now supports himself managing two apartment buildings in Beverly Hills. There’s also a lady friend with whom he duets in occasional concerts.

This show came out of a single evening Lyday played for 60 fellow Group Rep members last November. “I thought, ‘Maybe with my theater group, I can come from an honest moment, see how much I can go with that.’ I would never have told this story 30 years ago. But now that I’m 66, retired, it’s like therapy. It doesn’t hurt to talk about it.”

Interspersed with the autobiographical fare is a smattering of song-and-dance (even with two hip replacements, Lyday says he’s good for a modest tap). The songs include “Gotta Dance,” “Pretty Woman,” “Tangerine,” “You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby” and “Memories.” Pianist Jack Elton provides the accompaniment.

Group Rep artistic director Lonny Chapman is the one who encouraged Lyday to enlarge his brief monologue into a full program. “He just knocked us out,” Chapman recalled of the original reading. The director, who helped choose the material for this show, admits: “Some of it’s very funny, some of it’s dark; it’s not namby-pamby. He’s had some life.”

Lyday himself is confessing to a little curiosity this day. “Will the audience accept this? Or are they just coming to see song and dance, fun and games? Well, I have a story to tell: about the chorus boy who didn’t make it and got hooked on booze. . . . But I survived. Sure, this is risky. If people buy it, fine. And if they don’t, fine. At least I got off the couch and did it.”

“One Man Show and Tell” plays at Group Repertory Theatre, 10900 Burbank Blvd., North Hollywood, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 5 p.m. through Feb. 10. (818) 769-PLAY. Tickets: $12, $8 for seniors and students.