David Cassidy on the Web
David Cassidy is proof you can teach an old bird new tricks
October 17, 2004
The Spokesman-Review
https://www.spokesman.com
“The Partridge Family” ended its TV run 30 years ago, but David Cassidy has been tied to his role as Keith Partridge for all of his professional life.
But rather than fall into a rut, Cassidy has parlayed that fame into a remarkably sturdy career.
Along with his own tour and performances of the theatrical presentation, “The Rat Pack Is Back!,” which he co-created, he’s executive producer of VH1’s “In Search of the Partridge Family.”
The reality show – in which contestants competed to fill the roles of the musical family originally played by Cassidy, Danny Bonaduce, Shirley Jones and Susan Dey – has its finale tonight at 9 with the new group making its concert debut.
“Perseverance, good fortune and talent” is how Cassidy explains his longevity.
“You’ve got to be able to roll with it,” he says. “I never tried to be an oldies act. I didn’t want to go backward. I want to go forward.”
He attributes his work ethic to his father, actor Jack Cassidy , who died in a fire in his Hollywood home in 1976. “Just because you become very successful, you don’t lose the desire to work,” he says. “My father was a great role model.”
When Cassidy was cast as Keith Partridge for the show that began in 1970, he quickly became one of the largest teen idols of that decade. Such Partridge Family songs as “I Think I Love You” have survived as cross-generational kitsch.
In addition to his 22 albums, Cassidy has starred on Broadway in the original “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” and “Blood Brothers” (with brother Shaun ), and in London with Sir Laurence Olivier .
In 1996, he went to Las Vegas to star in “EFX” at the MGM Grand. Under his creative direction, it became the most successful production in Las Vegas.
In 1999, he teamed with writer-producer Don Reo to create “The Rat Pack Is Back!” although he doesn’t star in it.
He’s also keeping busy with “In Search of the Partridge Family.” Originally, he wasn’t interested in recasting the group, but realized the best way to protect the show would be to get involved. Jones and Bonaduce also are on board.
“The premise of ‘The Partridge Family’ is a very good one,” Cassidy says. “It inspired an awful lot of people. … You can have disputes, beat each other over the head with a pillow, but at the end of the show you loved each other.”
Cassidy says his current concerts rival those of the 1970s, when he was at his height as a heartthrob. Female audience members still throw underwear on stage.
“Frankly, I always thought my profession is pretty insignificant,” he says. “But since 9/11, I view all the trivia we do – trivial in the world, a distraction – as being really much more important to the fabric of our lives than ever before.
“There’s something to be said about letting go – about screaming and laughing – as a diversion. Going out and losing what’s going on in our lives for a few hours.”
