Reunion (The Monkees Family Vol. 3)

Chapter 20

There was one more week of rehearsals, and the pace began to get frenzied. Days were longer and time lost its orderly quality, becoming more elastic. Gone were the regimented units of hours and now it was just "we'll do this until we get it right," which sometimes meant the clock would turn through its full revolution three times in a blink of an eye. People's moods were both edgy and determined. Nobody knew whether they'd be able to make it all come together, but nobody doubted it either.

Micky embraced the frenzy as a good thing. It gave him less time to obsess or worry about the phantoms that had bedeviled him entering into this venture, like whether he could stay sober, whether Davy would present a problem, and whether he could hack the new type of performance style. He just went about his business on autopilot and kept to his task, thankful for having the ability to stay focused on what was in front of him and avoiding extraneous drama. But this type of laser focus meant that he was unwittingly leaving himself vulnerable to those around him who did not have his best interests in mind.

For starters, Davy kept a close eye on Micky's interactions with Harry and, perceiving the close friendship the two had, seethed with jealousy. Even though Davy had the lead role, it was to Micky whom Harry turned for advice about staging, cueing, lighting and all manner of technical advice. Harry rarely joked around with Davy either. He saw Davy primarily as a performer, a cast member and a pleasant person to pal around with when Micky wasn't available.

Davy began to plot and look for ways to insert himself between Harry and Micky, or to ingratiate himself with Harry. This led to Harry and Davy invariably going out on the town almost every night, with Micky rarely joining them and opting instead to either attend an AA meeting or visit with other friends who would not drink heavily in front of him, or even to just go back to his hotel room alone. He loved Harry, but being around Davy was a strain for him, and he knew that being around a drunk Davy was dangerous and not worth the headache. Davy tried to exploit this and insinuate into Harry's mind that Micky wasn't a good mate. Fortunately, Harry mostly ignored him and in any case wasn't into drama or questioning friends' loyalty. He knew that when he had been courting his wife, he had begged Micky to accompany him to Ireland to meet her parents to help him make a good impression on them, and Micky and Gabby had dropped everything to make the trip with him. That was true friendship in his book, and he wouldn't be moved by the petty assertions of a guy like Davy who obviously had a selfish agenda.

The knock-on adverse consequence of Davy being out with Harry every night was that Davy was consuming massive amounts of liquor on a regular basis. At first, he was just waking up with hangovers and was able to show up to the theater and keep his standard of performance up to speed. But eventually, he began to take nips of alcohol from a flask throughout the day and both his mood and performance began to deteriorate. He wasn't really sure why he was doing it. He told himself he just needed a bit of shoring up to face the stress of working with Micky, to keep himself in line so he wouldn't pop off at him or do anything that would betray or upset either Jan or Gabby. But more and more, it was Davy's body rather than his mind and emotions that was craving the alcohol.

The closer they got to the end of rehearsals, the further away from polished and ready Davy felt or appeared to his colleagues. It was like that typical nightmare one has, where a person is trying to run away from something scary and the faster they run, the further away safety seems and the slower they're able to run. As opening night approached, Davy got further away from being ready to open the show.

Micky kept silent about Davy's unravelling condition and abilities, but Harry had no such compunctions. He tore into him more and more and began to question the provenance of his talent. Just why had he thought a teenybopper pop star could carry a play? Who was this poncy, overrated little song and dance man to come in and ruin Harry's magnum opus? Fortunately, Harry withheld his hostility from Micky, taking full responsibility for having made the ultimate decision to hire Davy, but Micky himself felt guilty about recommending Davy, and commiserated with Harry on the down low once. Davy caught the last bit of the conversation.