ONE SINGULAR SENSATION
By Shawn Shepard, (Smith & Carson)
On November 16 and 17, the At-
lanta Bard Committee presented
A Bard Show Tribute: One Singular
Sensation, honoring the show’s
founder and longtime director,
Cathy O’Neil, and featuring a
lineup of greatest hits from the
show’s 20-year history. Staged at
the new Sandy Springs Perform-
ing Arts Center at City Springs, the
show offered a glimpse of “how
the sausage is made,” with scenes
from the life of a Bard show, from
inspiration to opening night. It
was a fitting tribute to O’Neil, who
made not only each show what it
was, but the entire A Courthouse
Line series what it is today.
Veteran Bardians Kevin Wilson and
Steve Lang narrated the story, pro-
viding descriptions of past shows
and setting the scenes, includ-
ing a karaoke and brainstorming
session, a Bard show production
meeting, and a meeting of Atlanta
Bar board members, complete
with cameo appearance by current
bar president Nicole Iannarone.
The show’s style harkened back
to the original Courthouse Line,
which presented songs and skits
loosely strung together by a group
of narrators.
Featured songs included “You Can’t
Stop the Law” from A Courthouse
Line X – Back in Black (Hairspray’s
“You Can’t Stop the Beat”), “Su-
perSecretExpartitiousExpedited
Motion” from A Courthouse Line
IV – The Phantom of the Courthouse
(Mary Poppin’s “Supercalifragilis-
16
November 2018
ticexpialidocious”), and “Brief
Writing” from A Courthouse Line III
– Comity Tonight (Grease’s “Greased
Lightning”).
The show brought together a cast
of nearly 70 lawyers, with local
legal celebrities gleefully strutting
their stuff. Judge Chris McFadden
and Don Samuel romped on stage
as the devil and Johnny during Clay
Thompson’s toe-tapping rendition
of “The Devil Went Down to Law
School.” Judge Robert McBurney,
dressed in pink tights and black
legwarmers, led Judge Jackson
Bedford and Terrence Croft as they
pirouetted and floss-danced their
way through several scenes. Near
the end of the show, a parade of
judges, wearing their regalia and
waving oversized gavels, was a
testament to both the place of the
Bard show and Cathy O’Neil in the
hearts of the legal community.