Herald & Review (Decatur, IL)
September 9, 1994
Section: Life
Page: C1
When Marvin Hamlish was asked to be musical director for Barbra Streisand’s tour, the opportunity was ... too good to pass up
DAVID BURKE
H&R Staff Writer As part-time jobs go, you can’t beat it.
Marvin Hamlisch -performing next weekend with the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra -spent most of this year as musical director for Barbra Streisand’s colossal tour in England and the United States. “It’s great to work with the most wonderful voice in the world, who happens to be a living doll, y’know what I mean?” said Hamlisch, whose connection with Streisand began more than 30 years ago when he was the rehearsal pianist for “Funny Girl.”
They crossed paths again, of course, when he wrote the music for the 1973 Streisand movie “The Way We Were.” They were also together when Hamlisch co-wrote a special song she sang during a 1992 fundraiser for female Democratic congressional candidates.
“I think when she started thinking about the possibility of doing a concert, my name was probably up on the list because we had just worked together. And I think she was looking for somebody who could deal with the fact that this was going to be live,” he said in a phone interview from his New York office. “I’m not a studio producer as much as someone who goes live.”
Once asked, he didn’t hesitate to respond, Hamlisch said.
“I think there are certain times in one’s life when you have the chance to be a part of something that’s historic, and you just say yes,” said Hamlisch, who turned 50 in June. “There are occasions you want to do something because it’s going to be satisfying.”
He compared his role in the Streisand concert tour with another job he had early in his career.
“I used to play concerts for Groucho Marx, and I didn’t do it because of the musical vitality. I did it because I really wanted to be around a fellow like Groucho Marx, a living legend,” he said. “The same way on this. There were two reasons I wanted to do this: No. 1, Because I think she’s the greatest. And No. 2, because I now have a friend called Barbra, and I think that’s the best reason to do something.”
The Streisand-Hamlisch collaboration began at a New Year’s Eve show in Las Vegas.
“It got better and changed and she grew into it and got used to it. You’re talking about a show that at its worst was an A, at best was an A-plus,” he said. “It was not one of those tours that started out, ‘Oh, God, they booed, they hissed, they hated us.’ This thing started at an incredible height and just got better.”
Hamlisch is not resting on his laurels for the rest of 1994. He’s scoring a movie, “Open Season,” written by and starring comedian Robert Wuhl.
His first symphony, “Anatomy of Peace,” will be performed for the second time this winter in London.
“If you talk to any symphony orchestra in the world they’ll tell you that to take the time to rehearse a new piece, particularly one with a chorus, is very difficult for them,” he said. “It’s a lot of money to find that many hours to rehearse something that’s new. I’ve learned my lesson, which is now I’m going to be writing a lot of little overtures.”
In April, he will become principal conductor of the Pittsburgh Pops orchestra, and as the person who selects the music, he hopes to bring a symphony to a wider audience.
“I think pops music is a great way to get people, particularly young people, into the symphony. And I think you have to program accordingly,” he said. “I don’t see any reason why, on one given evening, you can’t have a great concerto followed by Jerry Lee Lewis. I think it’s very important to try to get a broad spectrum of music into the concert hall.”
He hopes for that same broad range when he returns to Decatur for the second time in five years.
Besides the music that made him famous, Hamlisch also will play “Rent-A-Composer,” where he’ll make up tunes on the spot from audience-suggested titles.
“There’s a lot of comedy in what I do,” he said. “It’s a fun evening, also a good evening to bring the family. Nothing’s too hot on the decibel level, you know.”
SHOW INFO
WHO: Marvin Hamlisch, with the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra
WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17
WHERE: Kirkland Fine Arts Center, Millikin University
TICKETS: $18, available from the Kirkland box office, 424-6318
PROGRAM: Prior to Hamlisch’s performance, conductor A. Wesley Tower will lead the symphony in “Open the Door,” by Gwyneth Walker; and “Nuits parisiennes,” by Jacques Offenbach
Test your Hamlisch IQ here
Ten things you might not know about Marvin Hamlisch:
1. He was accepted into Julliard School at age 7, one of the youngest ever to enroll.
2. He wrote four songs for his Professional Children’s School classmate Liza Minnelli, made them her first recording as a Christmas present to her mother, Judy Garland.
3. At 18, he wrote “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows,” a hit for Lesley Gore.
4. He played piano at a party for producer Sam Spiegel (“Lawrence of Arabia”) and was hired to compose the score for the musical “The Swimmer.”
5. He’s won Grammy, Tony and Academy awards and the Pulitzer Prize.
6. His date for the 1974 Academy Awards, where he won three Oscars for “The Way We Were” and “The Sting”: his friend, Liza Minnelli.
7. He composed the theme song for ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
8. He composed the theme song for Peaboy, a character who tossed out frozen peas, on NBC’s “Late Night With David Letterman.”
9. Besides “A Chorus Line,” he composed the music for “The Goodbye Girl” and “They’re Playing Our Song,” the latter a fictionalized version of his stormy relationship with lyricist Carole Bayer Sager.
10. He proposed to his wife, Terre, at their first face-to-face meeting, and they were married a month later. (They had made phone calls to each other -He in New York, she in Los Angeles -before meeting in New York.)
A Chorus Line’ keeps kicking Twenty years ago, Marvin Hamlisch was sitting at his piano with a tape of dancers talking about their lives.
In the two decades since, “A Chorus Line” had a record-setting Broadway run -6,238 performances in 15 years, eclipsed only by “Cats,” -heightened Hamlisch’s reputation as a composer and produced songs including “One” and “What I Did For Love.”
“The beauty of that show is that we all did it out of a passion for caring about the chorus kids,” Hamlisch recalled.
“I think that when you start to sit down and write a show and think, ‘How much money can we make?’ it’s the wrong way to go.
You have to think, ‘Why am I doing this?”‘ Writer-producer Michael Bennett based “A Chorus Line” on lengthy interviews he had with dancers who told him of their lives, loves and regrets.
“What was great about ‘Chorus Line’ is that it was born out of very pure reasons, and I think that’s why it became as successful as it did,” Hamlisch said. “It’s a very emphatic show, and Michael was the driving reason behind it, no question.”
Hamlisch said he couldn’t see any way the show could have been done better, despite the fact that his music was originally panned by Broadway critics for not being “hummable.”
“I saw the show a few years ago, and I still like what I did,” he said. “I think that it did not get early critical raves for the score, yet I’m very pleased with it because I think it’s very apropos to what’s happening in the evening, which is that people are making things up off the top of their heads.
“I’m proud of it.”
-DAVID BURKE
September 9, 1994
Section: Life
Page: C1
When Marvin Hamlish was asked to be musical director for Barbra Streisand’s tour, the opportunity was ... too good to pass up
DAVID BURKE
H&R Staff Writer As part-time jobs go, you can’t beat it.
Marvin Hamlisch -performing next weekend with the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra -spent most of this year as musical director for Barbra Streisand’s colossal tour in England and the United States. “It’s great to work with the most wonderful voice in the world, who happens to be a living doll, y’know what I mean?” said Hamlisch, whose connection with Streisand began more than 30 years ago when he was the rehearsal pianist for “Funny Girl.”
They crossed paths again, of course, when he wrote the music for the 1973 Streisand movie “The Way We Were.” They were also together when Hamlisch co-wrote a special song she sang during a 1992 fundraiser for female Democratic congressional candidates.
“I think when she started thinking about the possibility of doing a concert, my name was probably up on the list because we had just worked together. And I think she was looking for somebody who could deal with the fact that this was going to be live,” he said in a phone interview from his New York office. “I’m not a studio producer as much as someone who goes live.”
Once asked, he didn’t hesitate to respond, Hamlisch said.
“I think there are certain times in one’s life when you have the chance to be a part of something that’s historic, and you just say yes,” said Hamlisch, who turned 50 in June. “There are occasions you want to do something because it’s going to be satisfying.”
He compared his role in the Streisand concert tour with another job he had early in his career.
“I used to play concerts for Groucho Marx, and I didn’t do it because of the musical vitality. I did it because I really wanted to be around a fellow like Groucho Marx, a living legend,” he said. “The same way on this. There were two reasons I wanted to do this: No. 1, Because I think she’s the greatest. And No. 2, because I now have a friend called Barbra, and I think that’s the best reason to do something.”
The Streisand-Hamlisch collaboration began at a New Year’s Eve show in Las Vegas.
“It got better and changed and she grew into it and got used to it. You’re talking about a show that at its worst was an A, at best was an A-plus,” he said. “It was not one of those tours that started out, ‘Oh, God, they booed, they hissed, they hated us.’ This thing started at an incredible height and just got better.”
Hamlisch is not resting on his laurels for the rest of 1994. He’s scoring a movie, “Open Season,” written by and starring comedian Robert Wuhl.
His first symphony, “Anatomy of Peace,” will be performed for the second time this winter in London.
“If you talk to any symphony orchestra in the world they’ll tell you that to take the time to rehearse a new piece, particularly one with a chorus, is very difficult for them,” he said. “It’s a lot of money to find that many hours to rehearse something that’s new. I’ve learned my lesson, which is now I’m going to be writing a lot of little overtures.”
In April, he will become principal conductor of the Pittsburgh Pops orchestra, and as the person who selects the music, he hopes to bring a symphony to a wider audience.
“I think pops music is a great way to get people, particularly young people, into the symphony. And I think you have to program accordingly,” he said. “I don’t see any reason why, on one given evening, you can’t have a great concerto followed by Jerry Lee Lewis. I think it’s very important to try to get a broad spectrum of music into the concert hall.”
He hopes for that same broad range when he returns to Decatur for the second time in five years.
Besides the music that made him famous, Hamlisch also will play “Rent-A-Composer,” where he’ll make up tunes on the spot from audience-suggested titles.
“There’s a lot of comedy in what I do,” he said. “It’s a fun evening, also a good evening to bring the family. Nothing’s too hot on the decibel level, you know.”
SHOW INFO
WHO: Marvin Hamlisch, with the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra
WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17
WHERE: Kirkland Fine Arts Center, Millikin University
TICKETS: $18, available from the Kirkland box office, 424-6318
PROGRAM: Prior to Hamlisch’s performance, conductor A. Wesley Tower will lead the symphony in “Open the Door,” by Gwyneth Walker; and “Nuits parisiennes,” by Jacques Offenbach
Test your Hamlisch IQ here
Ten things you might not know about Marvin Hamlisch:
1. He was accepted into Julliard School at age 7, one of the youngest ever to enroll.
2. He wrote four songs for his Professional Children’s School classmate Liza Minnelli, made them her first recording as a Christmas present to her mother, Judy Garland.
3. At 18, he wrote “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows,” a hit for Lesley Gore.
4. He played piano at a party for producer Sam Spiegel (“Lawrence of Arabia”) and was hired to compose the score for the musical “The Swimmer.”
5. He’s won Grammy, Tony and Academy awards and the Pulitzer Prize.
6. His date for the 1974 Academy Awards, where he won three Oscars for “The Way We Were” and “The Sting”: his friend, Liza Minnelli.
7. He composed the theme song for ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
8. He composed the theme song for Peaboy, a character who tossed out frozen peas, on NBC’s “Late Night With David Letterman.”
9. Besides “A Chorus Line,” he composed the music for “The Goodbye Girl” and “They’re Playing Our Song,” the latter a fictionalized version of his stormy relationship with lyricist Carole Bayer Sager.
10. He proposed to his wife, Terre, at their first face-to-face meeting, and they were married a month later. (They had made phone calls to each other -He in New York, she in Los Angeles -before meeting in New York.)
A Chorus Line’ keeps kicking Twenty years ago, Marvin Hamlisch was sitting at his piano with a tape of dancers talking about their lives.
In the two decades since, “A Chorus Line” had a record-setting Broadway run -6,238 performances in 15 years, eclipsed only by “Cats,” -heightened Hamlisch’s reputation as a composer and produced songs including “One” and “What I Did For Love.”
“The beauty of that show is that we all did it out of a passion for caring about the chorus kids,” Hamlisch recalled.
“I think that when you start to sit down and write a show and think, ‘How much money can we make?’ it’s the wrong way to go.
You have to think, ‘Why am I doing this?”‘ Writer-producer Michael Bennett based “A Chorus Line” on lengthy interviews he had with dancers who told him of their lives, loves and regrets.
“What was great about ‘Chorus Line’ is that it was born out of very pure reasons, and I think that’s why it became as successful as it did,” Hamlisch said. “It’s a very emphatic show, and Michael was the driving reason behind it, no question.”
Hamlisch said he couldn’t see any way the show could have been done better, despite the fact that his music was originally panned by Broadway critics for not being “hummable.”
“I saw the show a few years ago, and I still like what I did,” he said. “I think that it did not get early critical raves for the score, yet I’m very pleased with it because I think it’s very apropos to what’s happening in the evening, which is that people are making things up off the top of their heads.
“I’m proud of it.”
-DAVID BURKE
Copyright, 1994, Herald & Review, Decatur, IL