Richie Walters is a combination of the original, Ron Denis and a woman, Candy Brown.
Candy was originally involved in the tape session and first workshop, and the character was named "Angel" She was the only Afro-American. An army brat, she moved around alot with her family until they finally settled in Brooklyn. She had a
lot of dance experience where they taught "six o'clock splits and plenty of teeth" She found a real joy in dancing.
Now, when she was in the workshop, everyone had all these sob stories about broken homes and stuff, but Candy said "I know everyone expected me to be from the ghetto or something, but everything was just hunky-dory. I was a cheerleader, National
honor society, band, theater--the most all-American kid there was!" Then, when she got a scholarship to college, she was going to be a kindergarten
teacher. But then she realized "I didn't want to do that. That was soft and nice again. I saw in college not everyone was a Brownie or had a close family." So, she took the plunge and started dancing professionally.
Her first audition was for the all-black version of Hello Dolly with Pearl Baily (A famous revival). Even though she ended up backwards in ballet combination, she said "well, then, I'll give them teeth! What do you know? I got the gig!!" She also
told a humorous story of having to go on unemployment after the show closed. "It was terrible. I
thought I died. Still, I was glad I went into theater, it exposed me to so much. I had never seen a homosexual before! I just loved these people."
Candy was one of Bob Fosse's dancers and appeared in Pippin as well as Chicago. In fact, she decided to do Chicago instead of ACL, so when they recast the role based on her life, they hired Ron Denis. Baayork Lee said "Why does it have to be a girl? Ron has the same type of all-american background and enthusiasm
that Candy has." So 'Angel' was changed to Richie.
Ron Denis similarly felt that everyone was so serious, but he said "I didn't care about that shit. I felt too much joy from dancing!" Similar to Candy, Ron felt glad that he was a black dancer involved with the project. "I mean, at least
they hired one." The early 70s were the peak of the Black power era, so Richie is very proud to be there.
By the way, Candy Brown also told a funny story of how after working with Bob Fosse, he introduced her to Gwen Verdon. She says she "Fell apart. I was just stunned! I mean-Gwen Verdon!! She was my idol!"
On to more specifics for Richie...
Obviously, Richie is a proud, enthusiastic, and good-natured fellow with a good sense of humor. He can overdo things sometimes, as is shown in the jazz combo when he's SO big that he gets yelled at. Sometimes I've seen it where Richie also starts to dance with one of the girl groups like in the movie. However,
I don't know if this is because it's in the movie or if original Richie did this in the play. (I think it's funny, if done right)
Richie is pretty experienced, and has been working for eight years. He knows Bobby, Greg, Judy,Connie and others. He recently worked with Mark in an industrial show, so he's about the only person Mark has met before. He would certainly know of Sheila,
Cassie, Diana, and Al and
Kristine and possibly others.
He considers Connie his biggest competition, because often shows won't cast more than one ethnic actor in an ensmble (Paul and Diana don't count, apparently) Richie and Connie had a duet number (where "And..." is) called "Confidence" about their rivalry. See the post on Connie for more details.
Since Richie is from Missouri, you might consider if he knows Judy and Kristine from his homestate, since they're both from Missouri too.
The "Gimme the Ball" solo was the only music in the show not written by Marvin Hamlisch. Michael Bennett actually wrote the basics, and handed it over to Ron Denis to tailor and tweak to his own ability. Ron tried was to go for the highs and lows of Aretha Franklin.
Richie wears a low cut white tank and brown dance pants. He stands just left of center. He represents the joy of dancing and a cool, fun presence which is irrepressable.
