With the New York charity scene on hiatus, here is how some patrons and society figures are spending their time and resources during the pandemic ... Barry Manilow. Age: 77. Occupation: singer-songwriter, musician, producer. Favorite charity: Children’s Diabetes Foundation in Denver.Ruth La Ferla (RLF): Where have you been hunkering down?
Barry Manilow (BM): We have two places, one in Palm Springs and one up in the mountains. We run to the mountains during the heat. We are in a bubble. I don’t think my partner, Garry Kief, and I have left the house in seven months. We’ve been together for 41 years. Staying put is much easier when there is somebody with you.
RLF: Has seclusion posed special challenges?
BM: In the first couple of months I was OK with it. I am in that 70-year-old world, so I don’t want to tempt fate. But as the time has gone on, it’s been rattling all of us. Restaurants are closed, theaters are closed, movies are closed. There is nowhere to go. I’m lucky that I don’t live in a one-room apartment. I used to when I was younger, in what was then the slum of Williamsburg, in Brooklyn. I know that plenty of people are living in one room. It must be very difficult for them, after all these months, to play by the rules.
RLF: Has this crisis been difficult professionally?
BM: I had finished a show in Las Vegas in March. We were supposed to perform again the next weekend, but that’s when the ax fell, and we never came back. All the musicians still have their instruments there. My clothes are still there. I’m in some kind of early retirement, which I never intended to be.
RLF: You performed this month for the Children’s Diabetes Foundation, alongside Usher, Burt Bacharach and Cynthia Erivo. Does this gala hold a special meaning for you?
BM: More than 35 years ago I formed a bond with Barbara Davis, the chairwoman and host, who is celebrating her 90th birthday. I have done so many benefits in the course of my career, and I know it’s difficult to get people to commit. But all these years, Barbara has never given up. That’s inspiring.
RLF: How do you envision a post-pandemic future?
BM: So many of us in my world are wondering: When will we all start up again and where are we going to go? What is this world going to look like when we all come out of our cave. Are theaters going to be open? What will happen to all the things that I used to take for granted, things that I liked to complain about: getting on a plane, living out of hotel rooms. I would kill to do that all that now.
