Rupert Holmes brings Ruth Bader Ginsburg play to Bay Street

For the longest time, Rupert Holmes had wanted to write a play that would do justice to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He finally got the chance with "All Things Equal," a one-woman show about the late Supreme Court Justice running at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor through Nov. 27.

"I’d always been interested in the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. One reason is because my wife’s journey in life has had a number of parallels with RBG's," said the Levittown-raised Holmes, who made piña coladas the umbrella drink of choice in the late '70s thanks to his hit "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)." Like Ginsburg, Liza — Holmes' wife of 53 years — also was orphaned as a teenager, raised a daughter while attending law school and became a successful defense attorney.

It was during the 2020 lockdown that "All Things Equal" began to materialize. Holmes, who had written a few one-actor plays — including "Say Goodnight Gracie," a show about George Burns that ran on Broadway from October 2002 to August 2003 — saw Ginsburg's story as a perfect solo acting vehicle.

"It was completely the wrong image," he said. "I thought the couple in this song is looking for something colorful, a fantasy, a vacation in the islands. When you're on vacation, you order an escape drink. So I thought what are escape drinks. I had recently spent a couple of days at Gurney’s out in the Hamptons. There was a little thing on the table that said, 'Enjoy a piña colada, mai tai, daiquiri.' I had never had a piña colada but I thought, 'I wonder what’s that like?' "

So he subbed "piña colada" for "Humphrey Bogart," and the rest was musical history.

Gurney's isn't Holmes' only Long Island connection. Though he was born in Cheshire, England, where his father was stationed in the U.S. Army, Holmes' family moved to Long Island when he was 3 years old.

"My parents said, 'We're going to move now to a place called Long Island.' I pictured palm trees and pirate ships and lagoons. And then we moved to Levittown," he said. "My British accent lasted about 22 seconds."