Grammy winner Marvin Hamlisch performs with TSO
When Marvin Hamlisch steps in front of the Toledo Symphony Saturday night to conduct in the season finale of the KeyBank Pops Series, the audience can expect several things to happen on the Stranahan Theater stage.
First, Hamlisch will be very, very well warmed up.
His debut leading the New York Philharmonic took place Tuesday in Avery Fisher Hall, a tribute to the best of show business that also featured Kristin Chenoweth, Michael Esparza, Michel Bell, and Mark McVey.
After all, what better place to get in shape for Midwest audiences than Lincoln Center?
Today, New York City.
Tomorrow, Toledo!
These days, having bagged Emmys, Grammys, a Tony, Oscars, and a Pulitzer Prize for his music, Hamlisch is becoming ubiquitous on the podium, coast to coast.
The brilliant, friendly Manhattan native is principal pops conductor for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He is active with the National and Milwaukee symphony orchestras, and the San Diego Symphony. And he just added the Seattle Symphony to his pops leadership roster.
Second, for all the "pop" fizzing his long and distinguished career, Hamlisch is concerned about the fate of classical orchestras.
He'd like nothing more than to disassemble the formality that many players, conductors, and some audience members feel is necessary for high-quality music performance.
For starters, he's likely to chat with audiences face to face before turning to address the musicians.
"One of the things that I do works well for pops concerts but also should be done in the classical world," he said recently. "It allows for more of a give and take. It gives each piece a certain context."
Recalling one of the New York Phil's most luminous leaders, Hamlisch says, "What was so great about Leonard Bernstein's Young People's concerts was the introductions he gave to the music."
Hamlisch, born in 1944, the year after Bernstein's first appearance with the New York orchestra, grew up amid the cultural richness of the post-war period. Immensely talented, this son of a musician began playing the piano and writing original tunes by the time he was ready for kindergarten.
At age 7 he was enrolled in the Juilliard School, the youngest person ever accepted by the prestigious institution. During his studies he switched from a performing track to composition. The rest is history.
His score for A Chorus Line won the Pulitzer. And his compositions for movies including The Way We Were, The Sting, Ordinary People, and several Woody Allen films rocketed him to fame. Adding to his allure was musical work with pop divas Barbra Streisand and Liza Minnelli.
Today, watching the demise of orchestras coast to coast, Hamlisch says orchestras which survive and thrive are those which reach out to audiences in any way possible.
"Already, you have people looking up," he says of the typical audience-stage relationship. "I try to break down the wall. I tell stories about the music, anecdotes about the people.
"People love to be let into the music world. I do think talking to the audience is important.
"It makes it more than a concert. It makes it a concert and a half. It makes people say, 'Oh, the music was great and I learned something new."
Saturday's program, to be announced from the stage, will range from classics to pops.
And joining Hamlisch will be tenor Mark McVey, who made his name in Les Miserables, and is a frequent concert collaborator with the conductor.
Resident conductor Chelsea Tipton II, who has built broad community support for the Toledo Symphony with his own insider insights into music, will conduct the first half of the program.
Tickets for the Toledo Symphony Pops with Marvin Hamlisch at 8 p.m. Saturday in the Stranahan Theater are $22-$60 at 419-246-8000 or www.toledosymphony.com.
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Contact Sally Vallongo at: svallongo@theblade.com.
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