From 'Pina Colada' to Supreme Court: Rupert Holmes' new play examines Ruth Bader Ginsburg

We've all seen Ruth Bader Ginsburg patches, pins and stickers — cartoon images complete with one of her signature collars, often with the words "Notorious RBG" or "I dissent" or another of her cutting phrases.

They're used as shows of defiance and strength, signs of honoring the late Supreme Court justice's career and keeping her fights alive.

But do they really speak to her full story?

"Around the time that she died, I felt that she was becoming a meme," said Tony Award-winning playwright Rupert Holmes ("The Mystery of Edwin Drood," "Curtains"), who penned "All Things Equal: The Life & Trials of Ruth Bader Ginsburg."

"All Things Equal," on its second national tour, visits the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 1.

Shows like "Saturday Night Live" celebrated Ginsburg's actions, but "I felt like she was being moved into caricature very quickly," he said.

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So when producer Scott Stander approached him about writing a play about Ginsburg, it was both a passion project and a perfect fit for Holmes, who previously had seen success bringing real people's stories to the stage with the Tony-nominated "Say Goodnight, Gracie," examining the lives of George Burns and Gracie Allen, among other pieces.

Who really was Ruth Bader Ginsburg?

"Before this caricature is set, I'd love to write a play about this remarkable, brilliant, persuasive, humane, reasoned and reasonable individual who — especially at that time — believes that vigorous debate and civility can exist side-by-side," Holmes said.

He delved into research about Ginsburg, whose life he said he had often followed with interest because of parallels between her and his own wife. Both had lost parents in high school. Both attended law school while raising children.

As Holmes set out writing, he says he tried to create a warm project, with plenty of laughs and music, inspired by Ginsburg's life.

"She was quite a witty woman," he said, "and some of the situations she found herself in through her life play into rich comedy. There's wonderful music because her passion was opera."

In fact, he was able to work in music from pieces he knew Ginsburg attended, as his brother, Richard, is a prominent lyric baritone in the opera world.

'All Things Equal'

Holmes says when he begins a biographical project, he gets very interested in the first 20 years of their life, where they grew up, their parents.

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"She wasn't born in these robes," and the events and circumstances of Ginsburg's life growing up are equally integral to understanding her as her career in the courts is, he said.

He wanted the audience to feel that they were spending 90 minutes with Ginsburg, "this amazing and valued woman who fought so many battles, both in court and in life, and who broke through longstanding barriers that were limiting the rights of women and doing this in such an intelligent and clever way."

Michelle Azar, who stars as Ginsburg, plays no small role in lending life to the role.

"She inhabits her and channels her so authentically," Holmes said, adding he knew the instant he saw her in auditions that they had found the right actor.

He has rewritten versions of "All Things Equal" working with Azar, and values her contributions as a collaborator.

"Because she is such an embodiment of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, I sometimes ask for her opinion on something I've written as if it's coming not from the actor, but from Ruth. And when she approves, I feel like a gavel has been hit in my favor," he said. "I very much sculpted this with her interpretation of it in mind. I love to do that, to find where someone's strength is and write to that strength."

Music and Rupert Holmes

Holmes has seen success in many facets of the entertainment world, from his Tony Awards on Broadway to penning "Remember WENN" for television to being the writer and voice behind perennial earworm "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)." His tunes have been sung by everyone from Barbra Streisand to Britney Spears.

His links to New Jersey run deep, too. He wrote "Drood" in Tenafly, "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" in Fort Lee, and his three children were born in Englewood. His deep roots in North Jersey continue with a partnership with the Bergen County Players.

The writer-singer-songwriter-playwright-orchestrator-producer-screenwriter says the fact that he has created in so many different formats boils down to one thing: wanting to have his cake and eat it, too.

"Here was the game plan: I realized incredibly early that I had a problem, which is that I was madly in love with music and wanted to have music be my life and compose music," he said. "And yet, I also loved telling stories, particularly if they are funny, or in some cases, a mystery."

He realized quickly that "every time I told a story in a song, something seemed to do better in my career," leading to writing for the Partridge Family, collaborating with Streisand and more.

He was performing his story songs at Rodney Dangerfield's club when legendary producer Joe Papp approached him about writing a musical, which spawned "Drood." That parlayed into writing for television, authoring books and so much more.

"I'm one of the luckiest sods of all time," he said.

Go: "All Things Equal: The Life & Trials of Ruth Bader Ginsburg;" 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 1; Count Basie Center for the Arts, 99 Monmouth St., Red Bank, $25 to $65; thebasie.org/events/all-things-equal, scottstander.com/rbg.html.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Rupert Holmes eyes what shaped Ruth Bader Ginsburg in All Things Equal