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| April 21, 2013 | Your Houston News | "Manilow holds musical instrument drive, concert May 19" by Kimberly Sutton |
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| Music students of Conroe Independent School District are on Barry Manilow’s priority list. The legendary singer-songwriter plans to donate a new Yamaha piano to kick off a music instrument drive for students of CISD through May 19. Anyone who donates a new or gently used musical instrument to the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion will receive two free tickets (valid for pre-selected seat locations) for Manilow’s concert at the Pavilion on Sunday, May 19. "I’m thrilled to be able to help bring the gift of music to these kids," Manilow said. The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion will be the base for the instrument drive, from now through May 19th. The instrument drop off location is open between 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, at the guard shack and at the north and south plazas the day of the show. "In Conroe ISD, we feel all students should have the opportunity to study and enjoy Fine Arts; and we are fortunate to have the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion within our school district," Dr. Don Stockton said, CISD Superintendent. The Manilow Music Project (MMP) is part of The Manilow Fund for Health and Hope. It was formed as a grass roots organization to assist local charities and programs. Its primary focus is to provide musical instruments to high schools and middle schools and to provide music scholarships at universities throughout the US, Canada, and the UK. More information on the Manilow Music Project can be found at http://www.manilowmusicproject.org/. Tickets are available online at Manilow.com or Ticketmaster.com, in person at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, or by calling 1-800-745-3000. With worldwide record sales exceeding 80 million, Manilow is ranked as the top adult contemporary chart artist of all time with a staggering fifty ‘Top 40’ hits. Manilow has produced, arranged, and released over 40 albums over the course of his career. His hits, "Mandy," "I Write the Songs," and "Copacabana (At The Copa)" have been enjoyed by many through the years. "From ‘Fine Arts Education Day’ and student scholarships to hosting musical legends like Barry Manilow, the Pavilion provides an array of Fine Arts events, programs, and entertainment," Stockton said. "We are thrilled that the Manilow Music Project is working with the Cynthia Woods Pavilion and the community to contribute to the enrichment of our students’ lives through music. The donated instruments will greatly benefit students throughout the District," he said. To donate Instruments... When: Now through May 19, M-F, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Where: Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion Guard Shack. What: New or gently used musical instruments. Why: To benefit CISD music students. For more information, call the Pavilion office at 936-363-3300. |
| April 20, 2013 | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | "Concert review: Barry Manilow shows he still has it" by Scott Mervis |
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| After a week filled with one horrific news event after another, a Barry Manilow concert was like an escape into some kind of soft pop time warp. The New Yorker was an easy-listening throwback even while scoring his amazing string of hits between 1974 and 1983. Thanks to his legion of devoted Fanilows, he has endured three decades later, like Neil Diamond, as a rare middle-of-the-road arena headliner. His concert Friday night at Consol Energy Center was the second on his current tour, which follows six weeks on Broadway. A report from the first night in Indiana said he was suffering from laryngitis. He appears to have made a quick recovery. He burst out in his shiny purple jacket showing no ill effects, dancing to thumping disco versions of "It's a Miracle" and "Could it Be Magic." The Fanilows greeted him like kids at a rave, excitedly waving around their free glowsticks -- a nice touch to go with the nice vibe. The first few songs were unabashedly happy: "Looks Like We Made It" surging into "Can't Smile Without You" and a swinging "Bandstand Boogie," backed by an old clip of him on "American Bandstand." "Don't you love these old songs?" he said "I never get tired of singing them. I hope you don't get tired of hearing them." We can say unequivocally that, unless he's a tremendous actor (and there's no reason to think he is), Barry Manilow seemed generally delirious to be singing these old songs, from "Old Songs" to "Stay" to "This One's for You" to "Weekend in New England." Looking at an old album cover on the screen, he cracked people up declaring, "I was the Justin Bieber of the '70s ... Just ask your mother." Then he got into a heart-shaped contraption and flew over the audience ... No, he didn't do that! He's 69, old school enough to know better, and has the stage personality to make it unnecessary. You can bet his soaring vocal on "Even Now" had at least a few ladies maybe not high-fiving but looking at each other and saying, "Justin Bieber can't do THAT." He was in great voice and funny all night, joking about his first album coming out in 1821 and how big his nose is. In a swinging version of "Brooklyn Blues," he talked about growing up in a rough section of Brooklyn and being saved by the high school orchestra, which kept him out of gangs. "Can you imagine me joining a gang?" he said. There are a lot of slick, snazzy, over-the-top moments in a Manilow show ("Tryin' to Get the Feeling Again"), but there are heartfelt ones, too, especially his raw, spare version of "Somewhere Down the Road." Late in the set, he and his band brought out the big show-stoppers: "I Made it Through the Rain," "Mandy", "Could it Be Magic," "Copacabana" and "I Write the Songs." Even the people who appeared to have been dragged there looked reasonably entertained. My mom, who was there celebrating her birthday and knows about these things (having seen Sinatra and all the greats), waved her glowstick and declared, "He still has it." I wouldn't argue with my mom! |
| April 19, 2013 | The News-Sentinel | "Concert review: Barry Manilow shares his music, memories in reminiscent concert at Fort Wayne's Memorial Coliseum" by Sheryl Krieg |
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| For as corny as this may sound, I made it through the rain Thursday night to experience "Barry Manilow: Manilow on Broadway" at Memorial Coliseum. I thought the thunderstorms would keep people away, but Fanilows, as they are affectionately called, braved the storms to see Manilow perform his first concert here in about a dozen years. Thursday night's concert was the first of his newest tour resulting from his recently ended Broadway show, in which Manilow sang hits from his diverse repertoire. Manilow is well-known for "Mandy," "Could It Be Magic," "Looks Like We Made It," "Can't Smile Without You," "This One's For You" and "I Write the Songs," and he sang all of those and more to more than 5,000 people. Anyone familiar with Manilow's lengthy career (30-plus years) in the music business knows the two-hour show was merely a snippet of his life's love - music - of which he spoke so fondly during and between songs He spoke about growing up in a tough area of Brooklyn and how his Grandpa Joe introduced him to music at a young age. He spoke about how his high school orchestra class kept him out of gangs. "Can you imagine me in a gang?" he asked the crowd. He also spoke about the Manilow Music Project, which puts musical instruments into the hands of students. Audience members who donated a musical instrument received two free tickets to the concert, and about 50 instruments were collected locally through this initiative. Now, if it seems Manilow spoke a lot, he did. He was suffering from laryngitis and, possibly, a cold, which limited his singing ability. "Even Now" was cut short and his voice cut out on the end of "I'm Your Child," a dedication to his Grandpa Joe. He was able to belt out a couple of songs in true Manilow style. One was from his new musical "Harmony," which will open in September in Atlanta. He gave that song his all, and the crowd responded in kind with a standing ovation. Sitting in Section 218, I viewed one of the two available jumbotrons close to my seat. At times I noticed he could hardly keep his eyes open and he seemed stiff, while performing. At one point after announcing he had taken Sudafed and Robitussin, he said, "I feel great." The audience felt great, too. This concert was a step down memory lane for a lot of the crowd. Mary and Gene Zell, who sat next to me, came from Miller, Ind., outside Gary. They have attended about 200 of Manilow's shows and have traveled as far as California to see him. The audience sang along with many of Manilow's songs, such as "Can't Smile Without You," as they waved green glow sticks in the darkness of the coliseum. The Zells were no exception and passed some to my husband and me. In spite of his illness, Manilow was able to laugh at himself and remained the consummate showman, and the audience loved every bit of it. The screen behind him showed past album covers while he performed songs from their titles, scenes of his native New York and film clips. The audience went wild during "Bandstand Boogie," in which footage of his "American Bandstand" appearance with Dick Clark aired. He kidded about his looks and performed a duet with footage of an early performance, which was choreographed rather well. At one point, I teared up because I grew up with these songs which came from a more innocent time. For two hours, I didn't think about bombings or explosions. I only thought of my youth and about how much I enjoyed these songs. The two hours went by so fast. It reminded me of time spent with an old friend. At one point Manilow said to crowd, while sitting on a stool at center stage, "We've been friends for a long time, haven't we?" Yes, we have. |
| April 19, 2013 | Baltimore Sun | "Barry Manilow has hits and awards, but he's focused on music class: Longtime pop star and founder of Manilow Music Project performs at 1st Mariner Arena on Saturday" by Wesley Case |
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| Eight years ago, Barry Manilow was shocked to hear that a friend's daughter was futilely searching for a saxophone. The student wanted to try something new, but her school didn't have the instrument. Manilow, the veteran singer and composer with more than 80 million records sold worldwide, was dumbfounded. But after surveying the country's school-funding issues as a whole, Manilow soon realized his friend's daughter shared the same problem with kids across the country. The issue resonated with him. "I went to a dump of a high school in Brooklyn, [N.Y.], but it had an orchestra class," Manilow, 69, said in a recent interview. "And when I joined that orchestra class and hit the piano keyboards, I knew where I belonged. If I didn't have that, I don't know where I would have ended up." In 2008, the "Mandy" singer founded the Manilow Music Project, which donates instruments and music materials to public schools around the country. The foundation has helped more than 70 schools around the U.S. In late February, Baltimore City's public schools joined the list. Manilow, who rescheduled his original 1st Mariner Arena date from last September to Saturday, donated a Yamaha piano to the local school system. But rather than end the giving there, Manilow launched an instrument drive that allows fans in the Baltimore area to donate new or gently used instruments in exchange for two free tickets to his concert. Those interested can drop off instruments at the 1st Mariner Arena Box Office (201 W. Baltimore St.) between 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. Friday. (Fans can donate on Saturday, too, but should contact the arena to find out when.) It's something he's done in each city he's visited during this year's "Manilow on Broadway" tour. For the 69-year-old entertainer, it was important to include his audiences in the effort. "The problem won't just stop after I leave," he said. "Maybe it will stay in their heads, and next month, if they bump into an old trumpet in the attic, they'll bring it down." Manilow says the most fulfilling aspect of his career is philanthropy. "Fame and gold records are great, but this is much more rewarding to me as a human being," Manilow said. If fame and gold albums -- which, in his case, are actually platinum -- have lost their luster for any performer, it's the heavily decorated Manilow. Those benchmarks of success are nothing new to him: He's won Grammys, Emmys, Tonys and even garnered Oscar nominations. The now-defunct trade publication Radio & Records ranks him as the top Adult Contemporary chart artist ever, with 50 Top 40 hits. With that many hits, crafting a set list could be daunting. But Manilow sticks to the hits for the most part, because he remembers what it's like to be a fan in the crowd. "When I went to see [Frank] Sinatra back in my youth, I would have been very disappointed had he not been singing those great songs that I came to see," he said. "I keep thinking about that ... So I'm happy to do these very familiar songs all night long. Yeah, I love my new songs. Yeah, I love my album cuts. But I'm not there for me. I'm there for them." That doesn't mean Manilow doesn't try to sneak in a few songs not named "Copacabana (At the Copa)" or "Could It Be Magic." "I try putting a couple songs in from my latest album [2011's "15 Minutes"], and they put up with them," Manilow said with a laugh. "Oh, they're very polite. Then I give them 'Ready to Take a Chance Again,' and the roof blows off." Manilow says he will switch his focus after this tour to his theater production of "Harmony," which is scheduled to open in Atlanta in September. Manilow won't perform on stage, but he's excited nonetheless, since he wrote the musical with collaborator Bruce Sussman. But for Manilow, there's nothing like the thrill of performing on stage. He still believes in the power music can have on the soul, which is why his goal, every night, is to have audience members leave happier than when they arrived. "My manager once said, when I was whining about too many shows, 'Barry, you can't cure cancer, but you can make them forget that they have it for 90 minutes,' " Manilow said. "Whenever I start to whine or complain, I always think about that, and everything changes." If you go... Barry Manilow performs Saturday at 1st Mariner Arena, 201 W. Baltimore St. downtown. Doors open 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $19.99-$129.99. New or gently used instruments can also be exchanged for free tickets. Call 410-347-2020 or go to baltimorearena.com. |
| April 17, 2013 | TribLIVE | "Manilow hopes to conjure up memories, instruments in Pittsburgh tour stop" by Kellie B. Gormly |
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| If you're competing on "American Idol" or otherwise trying to break into singing, let fame be the byproduct of your talent, rather than the goal itself. That's the advice from old pro Barry Manilow, who has served as a guest singer on the hit Fox show. The singing-songwriting star's worldwide fame didn't come until he was almost 30, but Manilow, who performs April 19 at Consol Energy Center, says he is glad it happened that way, after many years of hard work and maturity. "When fame hit me, I was already 29 years old, and it knocked me over," says Manilow, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y. who now lives in Palm Springs, Calif. "I never thought about being a performer; I never wanted to sing, get up onstage," Manilow says. "For as long as I can remember, all I wanted to do was to be a musician. If ... at 19 years old, I became a very famous musician ... it probably would have driven me a little nuts. You can't do it backwards," he says. "You can't go for the fame first. You need to go for the work." Manilow explores this young-star meltdown phenomenon - inspired, he says, by often-troubled pop princess Britney Spears - in his most recent studio album, "15 Minutes," which was his first work in rock-opera style. The album's 16 songs lyrically tell the story of a fictional singer who strives to become famous, and makes it, but the euphoria doesn't last for long. Soon, the singer starts falling into the dark side of celebrity, described in "Wine Song," and his partner withdraws. He becomes demanding and delusional, and spins into ruin. But the album ends on a happy note with "Everything's Gonna Be All Right," where the singer starts to patch up his broken life, and seeks a new beginning. "15 Minutes," Manilow says, is "a story album about somebody who wants fame, gets it, blows it and starts all over again. It was more of an edgy, pop, guitar-driven album than I'd ever made," he says. "I loved doing it." Sadly, we see the results of young people trying so hard to be famous all too often, with stories about addictions, mental breakdowns, trouble with the law and other difficulties abounding in the media, Manilow says. He and lyricist Enoch Anderson explored this pattern when they were thinking about what kind of album they would write for Manilow's next project. "What we kept finding were these stories in the newspapers and on the Internet about these young people and their ambition is to be famous," he says. "You can be famous by jumping off a roof, too." When these young people become famous overnight and aren't ready for it - and they face the downside of fame, like the paparrazi stalking them - the results can be ruinous, Manilow says. "It's very, very dangerous for young people to be thrown into this world of fame without any experience," he says. "Make sure you're surrounded by your family and old friends - people who know you as the person you were before this insanity hit. People are going to treat you different when you're famous than when you're just a regular guy." Since "15 Minutes," which came out in 2011, Manilow released "The Classic Christmas Album" in October 2012. Meanwhile, Manilow is turning his tour into a charitable drive for local schoolchildren. Manilow asks Pittsburgh fans to support his Manilow Music Project charity (www.manilowmusicproject.org) by donating a new or gently used musical instrument - guitar, saxophone, drum or flute, for instance - in exchange for two free tickets to the concert. Manilow will donate the instruments, along with a Yahama piano, to Pittsburgh Public Schools for the district's music programs. Instruments can be exchanged for tickets up to 4 p.m. on the day of the show at the Dick's Sporting Goods Box Office at Consol Energy Center. Manilow's project, part of the Manilow Fund for Health and Hope, provides musical instruments to high schools and middle schools in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Many schools, facing budget cuts, are cutting music and arts classes and can't afford to replace broken down instruments, Manilow says. "Which is just killing me, to think that these young kids are not going to have music in their young lives," he says. "I don't know what I would have done had I not had that orchestra class. It pointed me in the direction I needed to go. Music classes are not just playtime," Manilow says. "Every teacher I speak to, several principals, every superintendent, they tell me that ... these kids that are in music classes, their grades go up, they become better students … they become better people." |
| April 16, 2013 | The Paper Magazine | Public Can Trade a New or Gently Used Musical Instrument For Free Tickets to Manilow’s May 19th Concert |
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Direct from Broadway, following a critically acclaimed sold out run on New York’s Great White Way, Barry Manilow, the undisputed #1 Adult Contemporary Artist of all time, brings his "Manilow In Concert" Direct from Broadway concert to cities around the nation."THE MAGIC IS BACK!" The New York Times
"THE JOINT IS JUMPING!" The New York Post
"UNDENIABLY EXCITING AND FUN!" The New Yorker
"YOU CAN'T HELP BUT DANCE IN THE AISLES!" Entertainment Weekly
Don't miss this unprecedented concert in Houston at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on May 19th as Manilow performs songs from his massive catalog of hits. From "Mandy" to "I Write the Songs" to "Copacabana (At The Copa)" and so many more. Manilow’s Broadway show has become as legendary as the man himself. The pop icon is also donating a Yamaha piano to launch a local instrument drive for Houston Public Schools. Anyone who donates a new or gently used musical instrument to the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion will receive 2 free tickets (valid for pre-selected seat locations) for Manilow’s May 19th concert in Houston, TX. "I’m thrilled to be able to help bring the gift of music to these kids," states Manilow. The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion will be the base for the instrument drive in Houston, from now through May 19th. The instrument drop off location is open between 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM Monday through Friday. "In Conroe ISD, we feel all students should have the opportunity to study and enjoy Fine Arts; and we are fortunate to have the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion within our school district," said Dr. Don Stockton, Superintendent. "From "Fine Arts Education Day" and student scholarships to hosting musical legends like Barry Manilow, the Pavilion provides an array of Fine Arts events, programs, and entertainment. We are thrilled that the Manilow Music Project is working with the Cynthia Woods Pavilion and the community to contribute to the enrichment of our students' lives through music. The donated instruments will greatly benefit students throughout the District." The Manilow Music Project (MMP) is part of The Manilow Fund for Health and Hope. It was formed as a grass roots organization to assist local charities and programs. Its primary focus is to provide musical instruments to high schools and middle schools and to provide music scholarships at universities throughout the US, Canada, and the UK. More information on the Manilow Music Project can be found at http://www.manilowmusicproject.org/. Tickets are available online at Manilow.com or Ticketmaster.com, in person at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, or by calling 1-800-745-3000. With worldwide record sales exceeding 80 million, Barry Manilow is ranked as the top Adult Contemporary chart artist of all time with a staggering 50 top 40 hits. Manilow has produced, arranged, and released over 40 albums over the course of his career. |
| April 14, 2013 | The Journal-Gazette | "Strike up the band: With fans, Manilow building up school orchestras" by Keiara Carr |
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| Although Barry Manilow sings the hit tune "I Write the Songs," he didn’t just start writing songs. Growing up in Brooklyn in a family that didn’t have much money, Manilow says that it took a little luck and a lot of education for him to find his way to stardom. "When I was in high school, I really didn’t know where I was or what I was going to do with my life," Manilow says by phone. "As soon as I joined the orchestra, I knew that music was going to do it for me. If there wasn’t an orchestra class where I grew up in the Brooklyn slums of New York, I don’t know where I would have wound up." Before Manilow was hailed as the "top adult contemporary artist of all time," before he joined the illustrious ranks of Elton John, Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond and Elvis Presley with his 50th Top 40 hit, he was a student greatly affected by his public school’s music program. Realizing the decline of music education across the country, Manilow - with the help of his fans and organization, the Manilow Music Project – is attempting to provide instruments to students in every city he performs in. For his Thursday "Manilow on Broadway" performance at Memorial Coliseum, The Manilow Music Project is offering two free tickets to anyone who donates a new or gently used instrument to Fort Wayne Community Schools before the concert. To kick things off, Manilow has donated a Yamaha piano. "We raise money to get brand new musical instruments into the hands of kids in schools where we tour or who we feel needs it. This year, I decided to ask my audiences in every city that we go to to give me a hand," Manilow says. As a part of Manilow’s grass-roots organization, the Manilow Fund for Health and Hope, the Manilow Music Project is focused on providing instruments and music scholarships to high schools and middle schools in response to school systems that have had to decrease or completely cut music and arts funding from the budget. FWCS spokeswoman Krista Stockman says the district has not reduced funding for such programs, but the donation of additional instruments benefits more students who participate in their school’s music programs. She says the school district will wait to see what instruments are brought in before it determines where they will go. "We can’t financially afford to have all the music instruments that we would like to have," Stockman says. "We value music, and it’s good for our students." Manilow, 69, says the instrument drive has received plenty of positive feedback from every community. He says the organization has collected 75 to 100 instruments in every city so far, and they will repair any instruments before they donate them to the school district. Manilow says he hopes the donation benefits students who may need some direction like he did. "When I got to the orchestra class, suddenly I knew where I belonged. There might be a lot of kids out there who feel the same way," Manilow says. "If they cut music classes, there might be a lot of kids like me who are going to be at sea for a long time." Manilow was taking accordion lessons and playing the piano by age 7. Always "filled with music," Manilow says his family didn’t have the means to further support his dream, so "they didn’t know what do with me." Inspired by high school orchestra, Manilow attended the New York College of Music and the Julliard School of Music while working in the mailroom at CBS. Manilow eventually became the musical director for CBS before becoming Bette Midler’s musical director in 1971. Four years later, Manilow’s first hit "Mandy" went to No. 1 on the pop charts. Now with 50 Top 40 hits and numerous platinum records, Manilow says all he can do is make an album and "cross my fingers" for a Top 40 hit. "It’s amazing. I thought that kind of thing would stop earlier in my career - but it seems to keep going," he says. Manilow recently finished a six-week Broadway run at the St. James Theatre, performing his extensive catalogue of songs five nights a week to sold-out crowds. Re-energized, Manilow took his Broadway performance on the road. With more than 40 albums released and 80 million records sold, Manilow knows music education has made him a better artist and an even better human being. With a career and audience that span over the generations, Manilow says he is just one of the lucky ones. "I try to make the most beautiful music I can. I try to make the best records I can. And somehow I am just one of the lucky guys who keeps landing in the Top 40," he says. |
| April 11, 2013 | News-Sentinel | "Barry Manilow's mission: To share his love of music: He brings his new touring show to town April 18 at Memorial Coliseum" by Sheryl Krieg |
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| What do you do when you're Barry Manilow and your Broadway show has just ended? Take it on the road! "Barry Manilow: Manilow on Broadway," a nearly two-hour compilation of the singer-songwriter's greatest hits, begins its nationwide tour at 7:30 p.m. April 18 at Memorial Coliseum. The Grammy, Tony, Emmy, Clio and American Music Award winner is best known for recording "Mandy," "I Write the Songs," "Could It Be Magic," "Ships," "Can't Smile Without You," "Copacabana" and "Weekend in New England." Manilow's Broadway show played to intimate audiences in the historic St. James Theater. "This was welcoming home a New York guy," he said in a phone interview. "I was Cousin Barry coming home. It was a great, great experience." Now that the show is going to bigger venues, Manilow maintains that intimate feeling with his audiences by encouraging them to participate in his personal mission to furnish schools with musical instruments that school districts cannot afford - the Manilow Music Project. Through this musical instrument drive for Fort Wayne Community Schools, anyone who brings an instrument to the coliseum box office will receive two free tickets in a designated section at next week's concert. Manilow already has indicated he will donate a Yamaha piano. The project started about eight years when a friend asked Manilow to find a saxophone for his daughter because the school she attended did not have one. Manilow researched and found art and music budgets were being cut all over the country. "Wow! I don't know what I would have done without music classes in my life," he said. Manilow then made deals with Yamaha and other organizations to raise money and donate instruments to schools in need. Now he's holding instrument drives in every city he's touring and asking for the public's help in achieving his goal to have music in middle and high schools. "I'm just one guy trying to do something that means a lot to me to keep music in the schools," he said. "I'm very grateful to the audiences for bringing these instruments down and maybe it'll make a little dent in every city." Manilow's Broadway experience may have ended March 2, but he's not done with theater productions. He and songwriting partner Bruce Sussman have written "Harmony," a Broadway musical, opening in September in Atlanta before it moves on to Los Angeles in early 2014. "I'm not in it ("Harmony"). I'm a composer, which is what I've always wanted to do," Manilow said. "When I began in this music business, this was what I was going to do. I was going to be a Broadway composer. There was something that got in my way — 'Mandy.' Suddenly, I was in another world of music. It was a great world of music… When things began to calm down, Bruce and I decided to give it a try again. It's a real beauty. This is the proudest thing I've ever been involved with." Manilow has written and recorded all types of music, including big band, show tunes, pop and jazz. "I've been very fortunate to have a record company to allow me to do those kinds of things," he said. "Over the years, I've tackled and dabbled in all sorts of genres. I do stay away from hip-hop and rap. That is not my thing." Surprisingly, the songs that have catapulted Manilow to the top of pop charts are the hardest for him to write. "How many songs can I write 'I love you' or 'I miss you' or 'I hate you'?" he asked. "It's easier to write for an animated movie or for a Broadway show because there's an idea there. These pop songs I have been making over these years are more difficult. However, I've been able to do them and I love doing them, but I don't just walk around with a melody in my head." Manilow lives to make music — even in his spare time. "My life, my world revolves around music," he said. "There's always something for me to work on... I still have the energy I had when I was in my 30s. I'm still hungry to create. I'm one of the lucky ones. I'm still just as full of energy and full of passion as I've always been. That's why I don't do very much more than make music. I just love it." What: "Barry Manilow: Manilow on Broadway," a nearly two-hour compilation of his greatest hits. When: 7:30 p.m. April 18. Where: Memorial Coliseum, 4000 Parnell Ave. Cost: $9.99-$127.99, plus fees; tickets available at the coliseum box office, Ticketmaster locations, select Walmart stores, www.ticketmaster.com or charge-by-phone at 1-800-745-3000. Parking is $4, main lot, and $8, preferred lot. Note: Bring an instrument 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday to the coliseum box office to receive two free tickets in a designated section. The instruments will then be donated to Fort Wayne Community Schools' middle and high schools' music programs. |
| April 10, 2013 | Broadway World | Barry Manilow Memorabilia Set for Auction at NY Theatre Barn Benefit, 4/14 |
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| New York Theatre Barn will live auction three rare items donated by Barry Manilow from his personal collection to raise funds for New York Theatre Barn when he headlines their benefit A Conversation with Barry Manilow: From Selling Jingles to Selling Out Broadway on Sunday, April 14, 2013 at 2pm in New York City. The three items to be auctioned are: 1) a poster for Manilow's Barry Manilow II album, 2) a photograph taken on the set of the The Dick Cavett Show of Barry Manilow, Bette Davis, and Dick Cavett, and 3) the original lead sheet of the title song of Mr. Manilow's 6th studio album, One Voice, sketched in pencil. All three items are autographed by Barry Manilow. This announcement follows a previous one made on March 23, 2013 that Grammy, Emmy, and Tony Award-winning "showman of our generation" (Rolling Stone) Barry Manilow will headline a benefit event for the New York-based non-profit theatre company New York Theatre Barn called A Conversation with Barry Manilow: From Selling Jingles To Selling Out Broadway on Sunday, April 14, 2013 at 2pm in New York City. All proceeds will support New York Theatre Barn's groundbreaking platform for new musicals and their writers NYTB in the D-Lounge, and its other mission-driven programming and outreach. With his recent return to Broadway and upcoming Manilow/Bruce Sussman-penned Harmony in mind, New York Theatre Barn brings Manilow back to his original love-the theatre and writing for the theatre. At A Conversation with Barry Manilow, Manilow will discuss his early years, his approach to songwriting, and what he's learned along the way from jingle writing to selling out Broadway, for an intimate audience of 250 emerging writers, theatre patrons, and friends of New York Theatre Barn. Attendees will be invited to send in questions for Manilow in advance, and many will be asked during a Q&A section at the end of the program. Tickets range from $100 to $250, with a limited number of $50 tickets available for emerging writers. $250 tickets include entry to an exclusive reception with Manilow following the event. For tickets visit www.nytheatrebarn.org, or call Brown Paper Tickets at (800)838-3006. Venue will be released upon purchasing a ticket. |
April 8,
2013 | Dallas Morning News | "Concert announcement: Barry Manilow brings his 'Direct From Broadway' show to Verizon Theatre May 17" by Mario Tarradell |
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| Enduring pop singer-songwiter Barry Manilow will be bringing a little of New York’s Great White Way to North Texas when his acclaimed "Direct From Broadway" concert comes May 17 at 8 p.m. to Verizon Theatre, 1001 Performance Place in Grand Prairie. The show should be all-hits, all the time as Manilow runs through "Mandy," "Could It Be Magic," "Looks Like We Made It," "I Write the Songs," "Copacabana (At the Copa)" and so many more. The Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award winning Manilow, who independently released his last studio album in 2011, the conceptual song cycle 15 Minutes, recently enjoyed a two-year run at Paris Las Vegas that ended in December 2011. He returned to Broadway this past January for the first time in decades. Tickets for Manilow’s Verizon Theatre gig are already on sale via axs.com. Prices according to the website are $9.99-$139.99. |
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