{"id":1762,"date":"2012-08-09T17:19:46","date_gmt":"2012-08-09T23:19:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=1762"},"modified":"2012-08-10T14:16:41","modified_gmt":"2012-08-10T20:16:41","slug":"interview-with-marvin-hamlisch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/interview-with-marvin-hamlisch\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Marvin Hamlisch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Editor&#8217;s note: In October of 2006, \u00a0prior to a fundraiser performance in Cleveland, I was fortunate to conduct a interview with Marvin Hamlisch. Through the courtesy of the <a title=\"Cleveland Jewish News\" href=\"http:\/\/www.cjn.org\" target=\"_blank\">Cleveland Jewish News<\/a>, most of that article appears here.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>By ALAN SMASON<\/p>\n<p>Marvin Hamlisch\u2019s credits read like American musical royalty, but, despite his many accomplishments, he is not content to sit on his laurels. He is happy when he is busy, and these days he is exceedingly happy.\u00a0\u201cI tend to thrive on work,\u201d said Hamlisch in a 2006 Cleveland Jewish News phone interview. \u201cMy teacher used to say \u2018The more you pump, the more beautiful and clearer is the water.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1763\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Marvin_Hamlisch.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1763\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1763 lazyload\" title=\"Marvin Hamlisch\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Marvin_Hamlisch-300x290.jpg\" alt=\"Marvin Hamlisch\" width=\"300\" height=\"290\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Marvin_Hamlisch-300x290.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Marvin_Hamlisch-1024x992.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Marvin_Hamlisch.jpg 1758w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/290;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1763\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1763\" title=\"Marvin Hamlisch\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Marvin_Hamlisch-300x290.jpg\" alt=\"Marvin Hamlisch\" width=\"300\" height=\"290\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Marvin_Hamlisch-300x290.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Marvin_Hamlisch-1024x992.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Marvin_Hamlisch.jpg 1758w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-1763\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The late Marvin Hamlisch. (\u00a9Marvin Hamlisch)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>An award-winning composer, pianist, arranger and conductor, Hamlisch admitted that he still enjoyed just making his music. \u201cI still just get a kick out of playing the piano and enjoying my music,\u201d Hamlisch said. He conceded that he tends to tell more Jewish jokes at Jewish affairs, but said he makes sure there are jokes at whatever venue he plays. \u201dThere should be laughter and enjoyment in it, because these days laughter is such a hard thing to come by,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<p>Currently the award-winning composer, pianist, arranger and conductor divides his time between working on movie projects and live performances or concerts. He has been nominated for every conceivable entertainment award. In addition to three Academy Awards, he has won four Grammy Awards, two Emmys and a Tony Award for \u201cA Chorus Line,\u201d which also garnered him a Pulitzer Prize.<\/p>\n<p>Hamlisch\u2019s diversified career in popular song, movies and theater began 63 years ago when, as a child of 5, he began to mimic the music he heard over the radio on the family piano. Hamlisch\u2019s father was an accordion player and dance bandleader and he soon arranged for piano lessons for his son.<\/p>\n<p>The next year, the child prodigy auditioned for entry to the acclaimed Juilliard School of Music and was accepted at age 7, the youngest student ever selected in the school\u2019s history. Reportedly, the judges were astounded at Hamlisch\u2019s uncanny ability to spontaneously transcribe the then current hit \u201cGoodnight, Irene\u201d from one key into another on their demand.<\/p>\n<p>Although he was considered a major musical wunderkind, Hamlisch determined that performing in public brought about high levels of anxiety. His career as a concert pianist was sidelined, while he chose to pursue a career in composition. Only in later years did he overcome inhibitions about performing in public.<\/p>\n<p>While still enrolled at Juilliard, he attracted the interest of Liza Minnelli, who recorded his song \u201cTravelin\u2019 Man\u201d on her debut album. They had already become close friends, and he began to play piano at parties at the home of her mother, Judy Garland.\u00a0At 21, he scored his first popular success with \u201cSunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows\u201d and \u201cCalifornia Nights,\u201d both Top 20 hits for teen star Leslie Gore.<\/p>\n<p>Hamlisch\u2019s movie career started with his chance encounter at a party, where he overheard Hollywood mogul Sam Spiegel remark how he needed a music score for a new film he was producing. Hamlisch went straight to his piano and composed a theme for the movie \u201con spec.\u201d Impressed, Spiegel signed him to do the score for \u201cThe Swimmer\u201d on the spot, and the rest became film history.<\/p>\n<p>Around the same time, Hamlisch became friendly with Woody Allen and composed the scores for his two earliest comedies \u201cTake the Money and Run\u201d and \u201cBananas.\u201d Since then, he has scored over 40 other motion pictures and set a record by winning his three musical Academy Awards in the same year (1973) for the song and score of \u201cThe Way We Were\u201d and his arrangement of Scott Joplin\u2019s music for \u201cThe Sting.\u201d Some of his other well known music scores include \u201cSophie\u2019s Choice,\u201d \u201cOrdinary People,\u201d \u201cThree Men and a Baby,\u201d \u201cIce Castles,\u201d \u201cPennies from Heaven,\u201d and \u201cSame Time Next Year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His work on \u201cThe Sting\u201d created such a resurgence of interest in the music of Scott Joplin that his album of Joplin\u2019s music titled \u201cThe Entertainer\u201d soared to the top of the charts.<\/p>\n<p>Hamlisch\u2019s work on Broadway began as a rehearsal pianist for \u201cFunny Girl,\u201d where he first met his longtime friend and collaborator Barbra Streisand.\u00a0The legendary Groucho Marx selected Hamlisch to be his pianist and straight man on his nationwide and college campus tours.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA Chorus Line\u201d generated one of Hamlisch\u2019s biggest hits with \u201cWhat I Did for Love,\u201d recorded by numerous high profile singing stars.\u00a0His follow-up 1978 production, \u201cThey\u2019re Playing Our Song,\u201d was a loosely autobiographical story based on his then-current marriage to Carole Bayer Sager.<\/p>\n<p>The 1980s proved to be a downturn in his career and personal life. While he started the decade by writing music for several Neil Simon films, he could not recapture the impact he had experienced in film or on the stage. Eventually, he and Sager divorced, and he married his current wife in 1989.<\/p>\n<p>With fewer movie projects being offered to him these days, Hamlisch is working hard to keep himself busy. \u201cI\u2019ve gone to doing more conducting and performing,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Hamlisch has been appointed as the first-ever principal pops conductor with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. When he is not wielding his baton there, he is winging his way to either San Diego, Dallas , Pasadena or Pittsburgh, where he is also principal pops conductor of those orchestras. \u00a0The multitalented musician is quite at home conducting symphonies in popular or classical works like a recent all-Gershwin concert. At the time he said he was especially \u00a0looking forward to an upcoming National Pops Orchestra Halloween performance where the audience was to be treated to an evening featuring \u201cThe Phantom of the Kennedy Center.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Yet Hamlisch clearly felt more comfortable at the keyboard performing his own selections. The best part about performing live, he says, \u201cis you get instant feedback.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of \u201cA Chorus Line,\u201d the revival opened in October of 2006 on Broadway. \u201cI\u2019m very proud of it,\u201d Hamlisch said at the time. The idea for the revival came from the lawyer who represented the show\u2019s original choreographer and director, the late Michael Bennett<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince some of the original players were still alive who were part of the original production, he felt it was important,\u201d Hamlisch continued, noting that over 200 people auditioned for the 17-member ensemble. \u201cIt\u2019s a very young, effective cast. They are really making it their own \u2013 it\u2019s quite wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That revival, directed by original choreographer Bob Avian, closed in August of 2008 after 759 performances and 18 previews. \u201cA Chrous Line\u201d still ranks today as the fifth longest running show in Broadway history.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Interview%20with%20Marvin%20Hamlisch\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9,25],"tags":[425,432,8790,8795,424,8788],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1762"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1762"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1872,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1762\/revisions\/1872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}