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Name: BarryNet Message Board Date/Time: 3/12/2022 12:03 PM Subject: Barry Manilow tells WINS his long-awaited musical is 'the climax of a career'
Audacy - 1010 WINS, 11 March 2022 NEW YORK - Barry Manilow's latest venture is "the cherry" on top of his decades-long career as an award-winning singer-songwriter. The 78-year-old Brooklyn native, who co-created the musical "Copacabana" with his longtime collaborator, Bruce Sussman, has teamed up with the lyricist once again on their latest musical, "Harmony," which makes its New York City debut later this month. "Harmony: A New Musical" is based on The Comedian Harmonists, a six-member group of both Jewish and non-Jewish men who came together in Germany in the 1920s and gained international fame before the Nazi regime took the vocal ensemble down in the 1930s. "We've never heard of them," Manilow told 1010 WINS' Brigitte Quinn. "We had no idea they existed and that's the story. They were incredibly famous, incredibly inventive, and they were the Manhattan Transfer meets the Marx Brothers. They were so popular, so famous and we had never heard of them and we needed to find out why we had never heard of them." Sussman described the project as "the most fulfilling" of his career, noting that the story "remains fresh" in light of the war in Ukraine. "There's something about this piece that just, you know, despite how long it's taken to get it on, has sustained us, and [it] remains fresh and, I'm sorry to say, remains more relevant today than it ever was. What with the headlines such as they are," he said. Sussman said he first learned about the ensemble from a documentary he watched years ago and was inspired to write a musical about it. However, the show took years to make its upcoming New York debut. "I went to a pay phone to call Barry and said, 'I think I found it, I think I found the story we want to musicalize,'" he added. "I, like Barry said, how can I not know this story and the reason why it was so effectively extinguished." While Manilow said that writing a pop song that's "lucky" enough to have a catchy melody can be a challenge, the Emmy, Grammy and Tony winner added that writing a musical score is "difficult in its own way, but very rewarding." Though he said that he isn't retiring yet, Manilow called the show "the climax of a career." It will be presented off-Broadway in Edmond J. Safra Hall at the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in Battery Park City, with previews beginning on March 23 and the seven-week run show beginning on April 13. It is produced by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene. For tickets and more information click here. 
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