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| May 22, 2003 | Press Release | "First Lady of Jazz," Diane Schuur, Releases Much-Anticipated Midnight |
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| On July 22, Concord Records and "First Lady of Jazz" Diane Schuur release Midnight, a CD co-written and produced by the legendary Barry Manilow and his long-time collaborator Eddie Arkin. A year in the making, Midnight is a beautifully crafted and lush recording of 13 original tracks, including duets with multi-platinum R&B sensation Brian McKnight, perennial jazz favorite Karrin Allyson, and Manilow himself. Midnight is a musical collaboration that delights, surprises and seems destined to have a lasting appeal for music audiences worldwide. Much like he did with his own first full jazz album, "2:00 A.M. Paradise Caf�," Manilow teamed with Arkin to this time create a "suite" concept album that would take the listener from the front door of a smoky jazz club with the opening cut, "Meet Me, Midnight," to the end of their evening with "Anytime," a warm and loving duet featuring Manilow. Other highlights on Midnight include Schuur's take on the Manilow classic, "When October Goes," the Brazilian-inspired "What Is Love?" and the touching "Life is Good," which has quickly become Schuur's anthem. McKnight is featured on the R&B tinged "I'll Be There," and Allyson duets with Schuur for the battling jazz-diva tune, "Stay Away From Bill." Midnight proves to be the perfect showcase for Schuur's luminous three-and-a-half octave range and sophisticated phrasing. Add to the mix, lush orchestrations with vibrant string, rhythms and horn sections, and Diane just might be right when she predicts, "I think these tunes are new standards, on their way to becoming classics in the annals of jazz and pop." "For Barry and I, this project presented a platform to create songs we didn't have to tone down," explains Arkin. "The plus point was that we knew Diane had the chops to meet anything we created musically." Since first stepping onstage to sing at age nine, Deedles, as she has been known since childhood, has earned respect and garnered praise from such legendary musicians as Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie and B.B. King. Stan Getz became an important mentor after hearing her perform at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1979. Leonard Feather, the venerable father of contemporary jazz criticism, rightly dubbed Schuur, "a singer with all the right qualities-technique, range, adaptability to various pop, gospel, jazz and blues concepts." Deedles, who has been blind since birth, first worked with Manilow on Swing Street, when she performed "Summertime" with Getz. Recalling how the Midnight project first began, Manilow says, "I called Deedles, told her I'd love to produce her, and she said, 'let's go.'" Following one pre-production session, he writes in an email to her about his awe for his close friend: "Yesterday was a revelation for me. I'd known how wonderful a singer you are, but I really had no idea about the depth and brilliance of your musicianship. You blew all of us away. Most of all me." Manilow is regarded as one of the most successful and universally recognized entertainers of all time. With over 60 million albums sold and numerous Top 10 Hits, his career skyrocketed with the hit single "Mandy" in 1974 and just never stopped. Every project he has produced (Bette Midler, Dionne Warwick and Nancy Wilson) has been nominated for a GRAMMY�. In 2002, he was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame. An Emmy nominated composer, Arkin has teamed with Manilow previously, co-producing his albums Swing Street, Showstoppers, Because It's Christmas, as well as Nancy Wilson's With My Lover Beside Me. |
| May 17, 2003 | Yahoo! News | Pop Stars Shine on Broadway" by Carla Hay |
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| Successful musicals written by or about pop hitmakers are taking the stage in growing numbers in New York and the West End of London. The list of names in pop music who have migrated to the stage reads like a who's who of chart-toppers: Elton John (The Lion King, Aida), Billy Joel (Movin' Out), Boy George (Taboo), Queen (We Will Rock You), and Barry Manilow (Harmony) are only a few. Although pop hitmakers are invigorating musical theater, their famous names are not always a guarantee of success ... More recently, consumer spending has been challenged by the unpredictability of world events. Attendance on Broadway -- and New York tourism in general -- took a major hit from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11... Multi-platinum hitmaker Barry Manilow knows first-hand the rigors and challenges of bringing a musical to the stage. Harmony, a musical he co-wrote with lyricist Bruce Sussman, has been in the works for years. "I always wanted to write a musical and work on Broadway, but then I found myself in the pop world writing songs like 'Copacabana.' I became a pop singer almost by accident ... When you tell people you want to do a musical, you'll get doubters. Mounting a Broadway musical of this size means that you need a hero who's going to back you no matter what, because you're going to hit a lot of brick walls." Manilow credits his manager, Garry Kief, and theater producer Mark Schwartz for being particularly instrumental in making the musical a reality. Schwartz says that staging Harmony in smaller markets before hitting Broadway is an insurance policy. "You do the $1.5 million smaller production before you do the $10 million Broadway production," he says. "The acid test will be the audience; they're the real barometer of success." Sussman says writing for the stage is unlike writing pop songs: "We're essentially writing songs for a character. But with musicals, it's more like art by committee."
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| May 8, 2003 | Press Release | "Concord Records Releases New Barry Manilow Single: 'Welcome Home' From 'Here at the Mayflower' Goes to Radio As U.S. Troops Return" (Source: Concord Records) |
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| LOS ANGELES, May 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Concord Records will release a new Barry Manilow single, "Welcome Home" from his critically acclaimed album "Here at the Mayflower." "I wrote the song to close my concept album," states Manilow. "But with the troops coming home, it just feels so appropriate and emotional right now." "Welcome Home" was written by Manilow, Eddie Arkin and Mindy Sterling. The poignant lyrics include, "Welcome home to that place that's safe and warm -- always a shelter from the storm." There are no plans to make "Welcome Home" available as a commercial single. Acclaimed by Radio & Records magazine as the Number One Adult Contemporary Artist Of All Time, Manilow has received Grammy, Emmy and Tony Awards and has been nominated for an Academy Award. He is a 2002 inductee into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Concord Records is widely regarded as one of the pre-eminent record companies in the industry today, committed to offering the adult music audience inspiring, innovative and high quality recordings of jazz and popular music. With a family of labels that now includes several partnerships and imprints (Peak Records, Stretch, Playboy Jazz, Concord Picante and more), Concord has amassed a catalog of over 1,000 albums by an ever-expanding roster of world-class vocal and instrumental artists. The label's roster includes: Karrin Allyson, Patti Austin, Ray Brown, Charlie Byrd, Peter Cincotti, Rosemary Clooney, Robben Ford, Gene Harris, Barry Manilow, Nnenna Freelon, Curtis Stigers and Tito Puente, among others. |
| May 4, 2003 | L.A. Times | "Looks like he made it" by Ann Conway |
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| Surprising hundreds of fans, pop singer and composer Barry Manilow turned a thank-you speech into a 30-minute set after receiving the Ella Award from the Society of Singers. "This is overwhelming. I just don't know what to say," Manilow said as he segued into a lively show featuring "Could It Be Magic" -- "You're the magic!" he hollered at the crowd -- "Copacabana (At the Copa)," "Mandy" and "Let Freedom Ring." Earlier, singers hand-picked by the star had performed a selection of his hits on-stage as Manilow sat with pals at a rose-covered table in the back of the ballroom at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. There was a sultry Suzanne Somers making love to a grand piano in a peach satin number as she vocalized "I Was a Fool (To Let You Go)"; Broadway diva Linda Eder singing a wistful "Weekend in New England"; pianist Brian McKnight crooning an aching "Even Now." Also on the playlist: vocals by Diane Schuur, Michael Feinstein and Monica Mancini. RCA Music Group Chairman Clive Davis presented Manilow with the award, first given to Ella Fitzgerald. "This is for all the songs you've written and all the songs you've sung," the man on whose labels Manilow had his greatest success said at the Monday event. Manilow told guests in the tiered, palm-festooned ballroom � la the famed '40s nightclub the Copacabana, he never dreamed he'd turn out to be a famous singer. "If it weren't for Clive, I don't know if I would have ever had a career. Maybe as a composer. The music just kept coming out of my ears. I couldn't stop it." The pre-dinner cocktail buzz was all Manilow-fan-club. "I adore him," gushed comedian Phyllis Diller. Her favorite Manilow hit? " 'Daybreak'! They used to make us exercise to that at the Golden Door," she quipped. Fifties balladeer Tony Martin, whose hits included the provocative "I Get Ideas," called Manilow "a wonderful interpreter of songs." Eder said she admired the singer's ability to thrill fans in a stadium or the intimacy of a room. "He's uniquely talented -- more than a singer, he is a classic songwriter," she said. Founded 19 years ago by Ginny Mancini, the Society of Singers seeks to provide emergency financial aid to "singers in trouble," said CEO and President Jerry F. Sharell ... The society also awards scholarships to "young people with talent who want to study vocal arts." Joining a roster of former honorees that includes Martin, Frank Sinatra, Julie Andrews, Pl�cido Domingo, Lena Horne and Peggy Lee, Manilow was chosen for the award because "he's one of the most giving guys in the business," said Sharell. "He must give more benefits than regular gigs. He's a man with great compassion, and we wanted to honor him as a singer who helps singers." |
| April 27, 2003 | The Desert Sun | "Barry Manilow enchants under the stars" by Pamela Bieri |
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| Not long ago, on another Evening Under the Stars, Barry Manilow gave a command performance on the grounds of a private home in Palm Springs. Twin palms silhouetted against a full moon, and stars seemed to float down to earth to back the stage, as this generous performer sang his heart out to several hundred guests. The romance of that evening was captured once again Saturday night when Manilow sang to nearly 1,000 guests entranced under the stars at the foot of Mt. San Jacinto on the O'Donnell Golf Course. Evening Under the Stars is a major benefit for the AIDS Assistance Program (AAP). His familiar voice and music -- "I Write the Songs," "Copacabana," "Looks Like We Made It" and "Mandy" -- stretched across the evening sky like a galaxy of memories. Lorna Luft (Judy Garland's daughter), and singer/actress Suzanne Somers joined Manilow in a surprise performance and skits. Backed by his 14-piece orchestra, Manilow's finale with the Caballeros Gay Men's Choir sent fireworks rocketing into the night. Before the show, three distinguished desert community members received recognition from the AAP. President Daniel Warn presented longtime HIV/AIDS community supporter Russell Van Hooser with the 2003 Jeannette Rockefeller Humanitarian Award. Local resident, businessman and president of Gay Associated Youth, Kevin Bass, received the 2003 Herb Lazenby Community Service Award. Joining them, Manilow was honored with the 2003 Gloria Greene Inspiration award for his continued support of AAP's work. "I find this evening full of emotion, articulate people and a host of truth," Manilow said. "It's an honor to receive this award from this organization in a city that I love." Now in its 12th year, the AIDS Assistance Program provides nutrition support in the form of food vouchers to some 475 low-income Coachella Valley men and women living with HIV/AIDS, and their dependent children. AAP also sponsors seminars and back-to-work training programs. |
| April 25, 2003 | The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles | "Manilow Finds �Harmony' on the Stage: The former pop star and his longtime lyricist delve into the story of the Comedian Harmonists" by Naomi Pfefferman, promoting the Society of Singers dinner (April 28) where Barry will receive the 12th Annual ELLA Award |
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| Barry Manilow returns to his musical theater roots with "Harmony," which heads to Broadway in 2004. A funny thing happened to Barry Manilow on the way to Broadway: He wound up a pop star instead. "I set out to write for the musical theater, but I got sidetracked," said Manilow, 57, who'll be honored by the Society of Singers April 28 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. At 18, he wrote the score for off-Broadway's "The Drunkard," then drifted into conducting, arranging and producing. Ten years later, he was working as Bette Midler's pianist and record producer when he chanced to open for her act and drew attention to himself as a soloist. The result was his own solo tour and the syrupy 1974 hit, "Mandy," which propelled Manilow to superstardom and launched his reputation as king of the schmaltzy �70s ballad. "But I had never listened to pop music," he said from his Palm Springs home. "I was snobby about it. I didn't respect it. It didn't turn me on." Today, Manilow is finally returning to his musical theater roots with "Harmony," which he hopes will help shake his lingering pop image. The show is based on the true story of the Comedian Harmonists, the virtuostic German singing group that rose to meteoric fame in the 1920s but was disbanded by the Nazis. Three of the six members were Jewish, including the group's founder, Harry Frommermann, and Josef Roman Cycowski, a Pole who later worked as a cantor in San Francisco. Created by Manilow and his longtime lyricist, Bruce Sussman, "Harmony" was well-received at the La Jolla Playhouse in 1997 and will reopen in Ft. Lauderdale in October. Manilow describes his protagonists as "the Marx brothers meets the Manhattan Transfer. But the Germans virtually eradicated their memory. They destroyed every album except for the ones people hid under their beds." While the group has reemerged in popular culture with works such as the 1997 feature film, "The Comedian Harmonists," they were obscure when Manilow received an urgent telephone call from Sussman one night in April 1991. The lyricist told Manilow he'd been reading The New York Times that morning when a photograph caught his eye: "It was six young men with hair brilliantined, in white tie and tails," Sussman told the Journal. "I realized that while I know pop music history pretty well, I knew nothing about these guys. So I was inspired to go see this three-and-a-half hour German-language documentary about them." Afterward, he rushed out of the Manhattan theater and braved the rain to call Manilow from a pay phone. "Bruce said, 'I think I've got our musical theater project,'" Manilow recalled. "He said, 'This is a compelling story with a lot of emotion.' I got a copy of the film and I agreed." Like Sussman, Manilow said he was moved by "the irony of these people trying to find harmony in the most discordant of times. As a musician, I was horrified by the idea of not being able to make music and being destroyed because of other people's judgements. As a man raised in the Jewish faith, I also found the subject matter profoundly moving." Since the story touches on the Holocaust, Manilow felt the stakes were especially high. "It was a bit daunting," he said. "There were many moments when I had to shut down my computer, close the lid of the piano and just leave for a while." Manilow's relatives left Europe before the Holocaust, but he grew up surrounded by survivors who had resettled in his low-income neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. "They seemed grateful to be alive, but somehow paralyzed," he recalled. "It was all about getting and keeping things and the fear of somebody taking something or someone away from you." Manilow, for his part, was raised by his Yiddish-speaking Russian grandparents and his mother, Edna, who had aspired to become a singer before becoming pregnant with Barry as a teenager. When Manilow was 7, she gave him an accordion, the only instrument the family could afford; while he loathed it, the lessons at least taught him how to work a keyboard. Around the time of his bar mitzvah, he enthusiastically switched to the upright piano his Irish stepfather, Willy Murphy, brought with him when he moved in. Murphy also brought an impressive record collection into the household, which introduced young Barry to the musical theater. Years before he could afford to attend a Broadway show, he had memorized all the lyrics to productions such as "Fiddler on the Roof" and "The King and I." After he unexpectedly became a pop icon, tall, tanned Manilow sold more than 58 million albums, won Tony and Grammy awards and posted 38 Top 40 hits, including the campily fun "Copacabana." He also endured his share of critical barbs. As "Harmony" director David Warren told the Los Angeles Times, in high school in the '70s, "It was so uncool to like Barry ... that I did the best I could not to like him." Music reviewers routinely dissed Manilow: "It was infuriating, crazy-making" he said, his voice rising for the first time during an interview. "I was a terribly angry guy, and so were all the people around me, because they knew pop was only the tip of the iceberg for me. It eclipsed everything else I wanted to do." Finally, in 1984, Manilow told recording industry legend Clive Davis he'd run out of pop ideas and went off to make a jazz record with Gerry Mulligan, Sarah Vaughan and Mel Torme. While his popularity waned, he continued cranking out records and filling concert halls, winning a public reassessment when Rolling Stone dubbed him "the showman of our generation" in 1990. Several years later, he and Sussman collaborated on the animated films "Thumbelina" and "The Pebble and the Penguin," which paved the way for "Harmony." "It reminded us of how much we loved writing songs that were character- and situation-driven," Manilow said. While Sussman went off on a research trip to Berlin, Manilow immersed himself in klezmer and cantorial melodies as well as German music of the '20s and '30s. He went on to write some 19 songs, based on the kind of numbers the Comedian Harmonists might have sung, striving for realism but not mimicry. "My biggest challenge was to convey, to a contemporary audience, just how innovative these guys were," Manilow said. Also challenging was tracking down the last living Harmonist, Cycowski (1901-1998), who was no longer at his synagogue in San Francisco. On a lark, Sussman called directory assistance in Palm Springs and got a number for a "Rev. Josef R. Cycowski"; it turned out the ex-Harmonist lived practically walking distance from Manilow. The singer-songwriter promptly visited the ailing nonagenarian, who told him the group was once "bigger than the Beatles." These days, Manilow is preparing for the summer release of "Midnight," the jazz album he co-produced for singer Diane Schuur, and "Two Nights Live," recorded during his sold-out LIVE2002! tour. But he is most excited about "Harmony's anticipated 2004 Broadway debut. "It's the most challenging project I've ever done," he said. "It's made me feel that my career has come full circle." |
| April 24, 2003 | News Tribune
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The Desert Sun | "Barry Manilow getting music-humanitarian award" (The Associated Press)
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"Manilow on the move " |
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| NEW YORK (April 24) - Barry Manilow will be presented with the Society of Singers' 12th annual ELLA Award Monday in Beverly Hills, Calif. The ELLA Award, named after its first recipient, Ella Fitzgerald, is presented to singers whose contributions to the music world are equaled by their dedication to humanitarian causes and community support. "We are thrilled to honor Barry Manilow for his accomplishments as a performer, composer, arranger, producer and musician," said Society of Singers' President Jerry F. Sharell. "He has also been actively involved with charities and humanitarian efforts around the world," Sharell said Tuesday. "There is no better person who typifies what the ELLA Award stands for than Barry Manilow." Michael Feinstein, Brian McKnight and Dave Koz are among those scheduled to perform Manilow's songs. The 56-year-old singer will do a special solo set. Previous recipients include Julie Andrews, Tony Bennett, Lena Horn, Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney and Peggy Lee. |
| April 23, 2003 | Playbill.com | "Manilow's Harmony to Sing in Florida in Fall; Broadway Next?" by Robert Simonson |
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| Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman's long-in-development musical, Harmony, which has been actively courting a Broadway house since last fall, has taken another step in New York's direction. The show will play Fort Lauderdale's Parker Playhouse beginning Oct. 21, Variety reported. The plan is to reach Broadway by winter 2004. The new scheduling marks a change from previous arrangements, which had the show possibly opening this season sans an out-of-town tryout. Harmony played the La Jolla Playhouse in the fall of 1997 with plans to come to Broadway. Rebecca Luker and Danny Burstein starred in the California production. David Warren directed. Producers at SFX had once hoped to bring the show to Broadway in spring 1999, but the lack of an appropriate theatre made that impossible, and the starting date was pushed back to fall 1999. However, when fall came, all that emerged was a December backers' audition starring Christiane Noll. David Warren was still at the helm, although with an assist by La Jolla Playhouse's Des McAnuff. At one point in 2001, Manilow was trying to convince Chicago's Goodman Theater to stage the show... Bruce Sussman penned the book and lyrics for Harmony. Harmony is inspired by the true story of the Comedian Harmonists, six young men in 1920s Germany who rose from unemployed street musicians to become world-famous entertainers. While at the height of their fame, they played to sold-out shows in world-class concert halls, made a dozen films and sold millions of records. But the group's mixture of Jews and Gentiles inevitably led to clashes with the newly established Nazi party... Manilow, a Brooklyn native, wrote such pop hits as "Mandy" and "Copacabana." He penned a musical score for Off-Broadway's The Drunkard when he was 18. In 1994, he wrote the score for the Warner Brothers animated feature, "Thumbelina." Sussman scored the Off-Broadway musical Miami (book by Wendy Wasserstein) and Ted Tally play, Coming Attractions. |
| April 23, 2003 | The Philippine Star | "A feast of Manilow" by Baby A. Gil |
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| I always enjoyed listening to [Barry] Manilow's fast songs like Let's Hang On, Bermuda Triangle and who can forget the love story of Lola, Tony and Rico in Copacabana? They tell stories and he delivers them with a kind of mock seriousness. They come across as extended jingles which is not surprising since Manilow started out writing commercials like the Bowlene Toilet Cleaner and singing a McDonald's tune. Although I suspect he would have wanted to do more of them, the songs that truly made Manilow a big star were his lovelorn ballads. These are just too-too romantic, they might have been written and performed by a Filipino. Passion in his songs rarely goes beyond a soft glow but it is the kind that lasts. Proof is the Manilow Greatest Hits released recently in Arista's Platinum Collection Series. The amusing fast numbers, all still good for a smile, are present, Could It Be Magic, Bermuda Triangle, Hey Mambo, I Wanna Do It with You, Let's Hang On, Some Kind of Friend, Copacabana and I'm Your Man. I doubt though if these are what the Pinoy Manilow fan wants in his collection. What will sell the album are the 10 ballads, which are among his biggest hits. Get your kicks by indulging your hearts' desire for those old memories by listening to Mandy, Manilow's first number one seller plus Can't Smile Without You, Tryin' to Get the Feeling Again, I Made It Through the Rain, Read 'em and Weep, Somewhere in the Night, Lonely Together, Stay, If I Should Love Again, I Write the Songs also a number one hit, and One Voice. I am sure you will miss Looks Like We Made It, Weekend in New England, Even Now and Somewhere Down the Road but nobody gets everything in one package. For those, you have to check out the other Manilow compilations now available. |
| April 22, 2003 | Broadway.com | Barry Manilow's Harmony Sets Pre-Broadway Run" by Cara Joy David |
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| Harmony, Barry Manilow's Broadway-bound musical about a singing group in Nazi Germany, is finally getting another full production. Broadway.com has learned that the show will begin performances at Fort Lauderdale's Parker Playhouse on October 21. Harmony is based on the real-life story of the Comedian Harmonists: six young men in the 1920s who rose from unemployed street musicians to become world-famous entertainers. Their sophisticated music and physical comedy made them stars, but their religious composition--a mixture of Jews and gentiles--inevitably led to drama as the Nazi party rose to power. Harmony features music by Manilow and book and lyrics by Bruce Sussman. Harmony ran at the La Jolla Playhouse from October 7, 1997 through November 23, 1997. The cast featured many young performers who are now familiar Broadway names, including Danny Burstein, Rebecca Luker and Patrick Wilson. That world premiere production, directed by David Warren, received mostly positive reviews. In his analysis of the show, Charles Isherwood of Variety wrote: "Harmony remains a show with almost everything in place, from [Derek] McLane's spare, fluidly elegant sets to Mark Wendland's richly varied costumes, supporting a cast of talented, expressive performers -- all orchestrated by director Warren along the eloquent lines of Sussman's generally intelligent, carefully crafted book. It doesn't shy away from the power of its tale, but Harmony doesn't press too heavily on the idea of musical harmony as metaphor. That turns out to be a good thing, since music is the only facet of this show that doesn't make a sufficiently strong statement." Despite the success of this initial engagement and numerous reports of a Broadway birth for the tuner, Harmony has never been done again. If all goes according to plan in Fort Lauderdale, it may finally hit the Great White Way late next season. |
| April 22, 2003 | Variety.com | "Manilow makes B'way move with 'Harmony': Prod'n visits Fort Lauderdale in October before Gotham bow" by Robert Hofler
Broadway can add Barry Manilow's "Harmony" to the growing list of new tuners ready to open next season... |
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| January 23, 2003 | Dallas Jewish Week | "Awaiting Manilow's view of 'Harmonists'" by Harriet P. Gross (compliments of "Cousin Barb") |
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| When I was a kid, I had an older cousin who today would probably be called a "groupie." But back then, the term was "bobby-soxer"; my cousin was one of the female teen-age herd that ran after Frankie and "swooned" at his concerts. She actually belonged to a group called S.S.S. - "Souls Suffering from Sinatra-itis"! Well, that cousin is long gone; today I have a younger one who is something of a Barry Manilow "groupie." She thinks little of flying long distances to visit relatives - like me - in places where she can see various productions of his "Copacabana." She thinks nothing of driving a couple of hundred miles by herself to see more "local" productions. And, as a card-carrying member of his fan club, she gets regular recorded messages from Manilow himself. From Cousin Barb, I learned that Barry Manilow is following "Copacabana" with a stage version of the story about six German musicians - including a couple of Jewish ones - who made it big time in pre-World War II Europe. This impossibly diverse group, dubbed "The Comedian Harmonists," included one certified musical genius plus a doctor, a rabbi, a singing waiter, an opera basso and a pianist from what used to be termed "a house of ill-repute." There is already a film about them, "The Harmonists," that details their unlikely coming together to create what Manilow's Web site calls "a new brand of entertainment which ... combined the physical humor of the Marx Brothers with the musical sophistication of a singing group like our modern-day Manhattan Transfer." Manilow's take on the entertainers he says "were completely unique and remain so to this day" is called, simply enough, "Harmony." According to Robert Simonson on the Web site, it was first tried out late in 1997 at the La Jolla (Calif.) Playhouse. Manilow had high hopes of taking his newest baby to Broadway in 1999 and, when that didn't pan out, to Chicago in 2001. But that didn't happen either. Maybe, Simonson opines, "The fortunes of 'Harmony' may have been slowed by the failure which met the 1999 Broadway bow of 'Band in Berlin', another musical retelling of the Comedian Harmonists' tale." I never heard of "Band in Berlin." But I know that we will all soon hear about "Harmony," because its fortunes are looking up now. Even as I was writing this, Cousin Barb posted an excited e-mail: a message direct from Barry to his fan club members announces that the show will finally open in mid-October of this year at Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale, and after a three-month run, will indeed move on to New York. The nice Jewish boy from Brooklyn who has been scoring musical shows since he was 18 - the man who was able to turn a single hit song with a rather thin plot line into a full evening of entertainment - is certainly the one who'll be able to bring the Comedian Harmonists to real life on stage. |
| December 24, 2002 | CBSNews.com | Barry Manilow's "Gift Of Love": Barry Manilow gave all his fans the perfect Christmas gift this year, a brand new CD of holiday classics called, "A Christmas Gift Of Love." ... a collection of holiday classics and soon-to-be classics, including his newly composed single, "A Gift Of Love," which is the only original song on the album. It features more than 50 musicians. In early 2002, his collection of 20 hits, "Ultimate Manilow," entered the Billboard album chart at No. 3 between country artist Alan Jackson and pop singer Jennifer Lopez. That album has sold more than 1.5 million copies. Also this year, he was inducted into the 2002 Songwriters Hall of Fame ... In 2003, he has a new double live album coming out as well as a musical called, "Harmony," to be performed in New York. Recently, he wrote and produced an original album of music for singer Dianne Schuur. |
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| December 6, 2002 | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | "Christmas Music: Sounds a lot like Christmas", article includes a review of Barry Manilow's "A Christmas Gift Of Love" by Rosa Colucci. |
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| A surprising holiday disc that begins simply and beautifully with joyful sleigh bells and Manilow singing the opening lines of "Winter Wonderland," holding the promise that you want to perk up your ears to this winning Christmas disc. The album is a mix of classics and soon-to-be classics, including his newly penned "The Gift of Love," which has all the qualities that make a Manilow signature tune: beautiful, swelling string arrangements, great vocal arrangements and a lovely piano. Other selections include the "My Favorite Things," "The Christmas Waltz," and "I'll Be Home for Christmas." Not to be forgotten is the melancholy "River" by Joni Mitchell. Manilow's exquisite handling of tunes, some that have been around a lot longer than many of us, shows why he continues to be around a lot longer than most pop stars. |
| December 6, 2002 | The New York Observer | "CD's That Will Keep on Giving" by Rex Reed, includes a review of Barry Manilow's "A Christmas Gift Of Love" |
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| A Christmas Gift of Love by Barry Manilow (Columbia) is chock full of stunning arrangements by Ray Ellis, Jorge Calandrelli and [Patrick] Williams. Such an amalgamation of talent pays off for Mr. Manilow. He's never sounded warmer, more relaxed or cloudless than on the sumptuously mounted "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?", Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn's "The Christmas Waltz" and Joni Mitchell's "River." The big surprise is a rousing "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," inspired by the original Bing Crosby recording with the Andrews Sisters, that must be heard to be believed. Visions of sugarplums abound throughout, but there's unexpected spice along with the requisite sugar. |
| December 3, 2002 | New York Post | "Barry Manilow: A Christmas Gift Of Love (Columbia)" by Dan Aquilante - Barry Manilow's Christmas album is big, brash and sappy, just the way a holiday album should be. A no-risk evergreen, this old-fashioned collection recalls the flashy arrangements and style that made Fred dance with Ginger way back when. |
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| December 1, 2002 | Union-News Sunday Republican | "Holiday CDs really sleigh 'em" by Kevin O'Hare, a review of a few "notables who released Christmas albums this year" including Barry Manilow, "A Christmas Gift of Love" (Columbia) - He released a Christmas album in 1990 ("Because It's Christmas") and Manilow liked it so much he's back again with this set of holiday faves. The arrangements are lush ("I'll Be Home For Christmas") and they sometimes swing, as heard on "(There's No Place Like Home) For the Holidays." The surprise? Check out his touching take of Joni Mitchell's "River," which is slowly becoming a Christmas classic on it own. |
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| December 1, 2002 | The Washington Post | "A Holiday Bonus: Santa's Bag Is Filled With Christmas CDs" by Richard Harrington, a review of Christmas albums this year, including Barry Manilow's "A Christmas Gift of Love" (Sony). Manilow, a long-time fan of pop standards, big bands, musical theater and sentimental occasions, brings his passions together on this sometimes sugary, more frequently charming collection. "Happy Holiday/White Christmas" sounds like it was recorded on 42nd Street, the swinging "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" at the Palladium, the easy-going "Home for the Holidays" at the Copa. |
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