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10th August 2010
Local students to rub shoulders with Manilow - Press of Atlantic City
Dozens of local music students from the Atlantic City Unified School District will be attending the rehearsal for Barry Manilow's Saturday night show at Boardwalk Hall as part of his ongoing commitment to preserving music education.
This behind-the-scenes glimpse of a professional musician crafting a live show is something Manilow and The Manilow Music Project (MMP) have offered these students throughout the school district. Manilow will be performing with the country's largest pops orchestra, The New York Pops, at 8 p.m. in his only East Coast appearance this year. The show is sponsored by Caesars Atlantic City. "Music has shaped my life, and to give these kids a window into what professional musicians experience is a genuine gift," Manilow says.
Atlantic City's high-school music programs will benefit from Manilow's show by sharing in the proceeds of the special Platinum Experience Tickets. Proceeds from Platinum Experience Tickets go directly to the Manilow Music Project. For tickets to the show, go to www.pressofatlanticcity.com/tickets.
10th August 2010
"Barry Manilow says he's thrilled to sing before a full orchestra in Atlantic City" by Chuck Darrow - Philadelphia Daily News
POP QUIZ time: What's the hippest show this summer at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall? A. Lady Gaga. B. Black Eyed Peas. C. Barry Manilow. Take a bow if you answered C.
The beloved crooner's Caesars Atlantic City-sponsored show on Saturday night at the historic oceanside auditorium is the coolest gig because it is far and away the most exclusive. While Gaga and the Peas are in the midst of full-blown, multiple-city tours, Manilow's program is the only one he's doing on the East Coast this year and, as you read this, the only one of its kind even scheduled.
"A couple of months ago I did the Hollywood Bowl for the very first time. We did it with the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, and it was one of the thrills of my life. I would put it up there in the top two of my life," said Manilow during a recent phone call. "To hear my arrangements played by 75 talented musicians ... When these musicians started to play the arrangements, "Even Now" and ['Copacabana'] and all the hits . . . it just brought me to my knees. I said to my manager, 'If you can [book] another night like this, I'd be happy to leave [his residency at the Paris casino-hotel in Las Vegas] for that night and do it. The first one we got was the New York Pops in Atlantic City."
Manilow rhapsodized about the experience of hearing his formidable canon of hits recreated by an army of symphonic instruments. "It's like floating. I can barely sing," he offered. "As beautiful as the arrangement is, you can't imagine what it sounds like with real string players, and real harps and oboes. It's like hearing it for the first time. Sometimes I forget to sing."
Traveling clear across the country for a one-night stand with a full orchestra seems a bit extravagant, not to mention inconvenient. But the 67-year-old pop titan, whose latest CD is "The Greatest Love Songs of All Time" (Arista), explained he's happy to do it because, unlike past tours, this show won't emphasize nonmusical elements. "There's not very much production ... it's all about the music," he said. "There will be some beautiful lighting, but it's not a big production with props and stuff like that. It really is all about these musicians on stage with me."
With hundreds of songs from which to choose, one would think selecting the repertoire for orchestral performances would be difficult for the singer-composer-pianist who famously wrote commercial jingles before becoming singer Bette Midler's musical director in the early 1970s. But, Manilow suggested, it was really a piece of cake, because he never lost sight of his audience's needs and desires. "I would go for 30 [songs]. I think 30 is a good number. After 30, you're going to the album cuts, and I think the audience will get tired."
He added that he wasn't worried about any of the songs not being appropriate for the symphonic treatment. "Because I've been making songs and records like this for so many years, all of them work, all of them. From the little 'When October Goes' to the huge 'I Write the Songs,' they all work beautifully."
Incidentally, unlike other stars who need arrangers, Manilow did his own charts using computer software. "It's a lot of fun," he said. "That's what I did for Bette. That's what I did for [the singers] I played with before I became a recording artist. That was gonna be my life."
For so many of Manilow's contemporaries, be they pop or rock artists, a common trick has been to compensate for the passage of time by lowering the keys of their songs. Manilow boasted he hasn't yet needed to do that. "If I have a good monitor guy - thank God, I do - my voice stays alive as long as I want it to. I don't even warm up."
He claimed that's because "I don't consider myself a singer. I consider myself a musician. The singing part always surprises me. It always surprises me that anybody likes that part. I've always believed ... I connect with an audience. I'm an acting singer. Even if my voice goes away, what I try to do is tell the story of the song. If you do that, I think [the audience] forgives you if you can't hit the high notes."
It can be assumed that Manilow, who said he's fully recovered from several hip operations during the past few years, isn't coming to Atlantic City in search of a big jackpot. Besides having to pay the members of the New York Pops, his own band and the crew it takes to mount such an extravaganza, he has pledged a chunk of change for a cause near and dear to his heart: helping fund music programs in eight Atlantic City public schools.
"Over the last four years I realized the government is cutting the music classes [from public schools]. It's just killing me," he said. "When I speak to the music directors and principals of various schools, they tell me the music classes keep [students] coming back, and that if they didn't have music classes, they doubt very much if the children would come back."
This concern, he insisted, isn't just a case of trying to be a celebrity do-gooder. Instead, it stems from his own life. "I don't know where I would have been without the music classes," said the Brooklyn, N.Y., native. "I wasn't very good at sports, I really wasn't Mr. Personality, but I joined the orchestra. I didn't join a gang, I joined the orchestra. The orchestra was my gang, and it made me a better person."
Boardwalk Hall, Boardwalk at Florida Avenue, 8 p.m. Saturday, $255, $155, $95 and $65, 800-736-1420, www.ticketmaster.com.
10th August 2010
"Manilow owes his career to Bijou Cafe debut" by Chuck Darrow - Philadelphia Daily News
There is no debating that in the 1970s, Philadelphia was as important to the development of musical careers as anyplace on earth. That Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, David Bowie, Yes and Genesis all found stardom here before breaking out across the country is well-known to music fans and historians. But another megastar who is seldom mentioned with the others also owes much to the ears of Delaware Valley music fans. "I broke out of Philadelphia," proclaimed Barry Manilow during a recent phone interview.
If it were up to him, Manilow admitted, he would have never made it to Philly in 1973 for a weeklong run at the old Bijou Cafe at Broad and Lombard streets. During the '70s and early 1980s, the Bijou was our city's premier showcase for up-and-coming artists (among them Bette Midler, Steely Dan, Jerry Seinfeld, U2 and Prince).
At the time, Manilow recalled, he wasn't convinced he wanted to be a singer. After all, he had established himself as a leading composer of TV ad jingles (including the iconic McDonald's ditty that began, "You deserve a break today"), and he was having fun serving as the then relatively unknown Midler's musical director.
His first foray as a front man at a Boston venue called Paul's Mall hardly changed his mind. Remembering the club as "a dump," he compared his singing debut - as the ostensible opener for jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard - to such disasters as the San Francisco earthquake and the sinking of the Titanic. The booking, he explained, proved particularly nettlesome to Hubbard. "Freddie Hubbard hated me," recalled Manilow. "He said, 'I will not go onstage following anyone who does [commercial jingles].' So we had to make a deal with him that I would do the early show and he would do the late show."
Manilow struggled through the engagement and was ready to declare his singing career DOA. "And then my manager said, 'Just give it one more week.' And we were coming to the Bijou. So we got to the Bijou, and ... you know who was opening for me? [The late absurdist comic] Andy Kaufman! Another great booking!"
According to Manilow, Kaufman did not put the opening night audience in a receptive mood. "By the time he's done, people are throwing rolls at him. They're throwing food at him! Now I have to come out." And there at the Bijou, Manilow struck gold.
"We came out [and the audience] liked it. By the end of the week, we were sold out, and people were on their feet screaming ... It was wildly successful by the end. The reviews were like love letters. It started for me right then. If Philadelphia hadn't done that, you would have never heard from me again. I would have gone back to Bette, I would have gone back to doing commercials. From there on in ... my life changed."
8th August 2010
"Barry Manilow's still seeking out new projects - like a concert with an orchestra as the backing band" by Tris McCall - NJ.com
For Barry Manilow, song lyrics are like lines in a play. "I have my entire scene set for everything I sing," he says.
Not the New York of a low-budget art flick, either. Manilow's New York is cinematic in the grandest possible manner. The film that Manilow's music scores could be sepia-toned, opening with a commanding crane shot of Midtown skyscrapers. The camera might soar through traffic, sweeping over taxis and past corner bodegas, into an outer-borough backyard where neighbors are talking to each other, hanging out the laundry, gazing lovingly at old photographs. "I have that energy that won't leave me alone," says the Gotham-born Manilow. "It's the energy of Brooklyn and Manhattan. We're shot out of the cannon at birth."
He's put it to good use. Manilow has been writing, arranging and performing nonstop for half a century. One of the biggest pop stars of the '70s and early '80s, Manilow has sold more than 75 million records and scored 29 platinum discs. He's taken his commercial winning streak into the current millennium: His "Greatest Songs of the Fifties" collection, released in 2006, made its debut at No. 1 on the Billboard album charts.
Despite the sustained success, Manilow has never become jaded. He is still overwhelmed by the power of music, and he's still searching for new ways to present world-famous material. In late 2009, he performed at the Hollywood Bowl with a full orchestra — an experience that the 67-year-old singer calls one of the great thrills of his life. "After making a record, I'd usually go on tour with a nine-person band," says Manilow, "and my synthesizer player would play all the string lines. It's always sounded beautiful. But to hear 75 musicians playing these arrangements that I've worked so hard on — it brought me to my knees. I was ecstatic. I said to my manager, 'Get me a couple more shows like that one.'"
His manager came through. On Saturday, Manilow appears at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. There he'll be backed by the New York Pops, the biggest popular-music symphony in the United States.
For Manilow, these orchestral performances are more than just another ambitious diversion. They're an opportunity to realize the sound he's been carrying in his head for decades. They're also a return to the musician's symphonic roots. "This is where I started," says Manilow, who studied at Juilliard. "Initially, the last thing I imagined myself doing was singing. I wanted to be a composer and arranger. After I did get my record contract, I worked with some very talented orchestrators, but the arrangements on the songs were always mine. Everybody who came backstage after the Hollywood Bowl show told me the same thing. They finally understand what I do."
Crowds at Barry Manilow concerts are famous for their enthusiasm, and the pop star has been lauded for his charisma. While Manilow feels he's grown into the role of a performing frontman over the years, he admits that, at first, he didn't have much confidence in his voice or his stage presence. "I came to public attention during the decade of the singer-songwriter," says Manilow. "Carole King, James Taylor, all of those amazing artists and performers. I knew at the time that I was not a great singer. I don't know how to behave onstage, either. I felt so awkward. What was I supposed to do with my legs when I got up from the piano?"
Manilow, who has always believed in training, turned to a stage expert for assistance: respected drama teacher and former leading woman Nina Foch. In the early '70s, the screen actress taught the budding singer how to inhabit a lyric and communicate its essence to an audience. Foch also helped Manilow recognize his strength. He was a natural storyteller, able to breathe life into complicated scenarios and sketch, within the limited context of three and a half-minute pop songs, elaborated and occasionally complicated characters.
"Nina really taught me how to break down a lyric as if it were a script written by the greatest writer in the world," says Manilow. "And I still do that with all of my songs, every time I perform them. I treat my lyrics as if they were a script in a play. It's that element that makes me different. I tell the story, night after night, and album after album. I am an 'acting' singer, and I've gotten better at it."
His material is well-suited for a performer's approach. A song such as "Weekend in New England," a Top 10 hit in 1978, is intentionally ambiguous: It isn't clear whether the narrator is cheating on his wife, engaging in a dalliance with a married woman or trapped in a long-distance love affair. The main character could be sympathetic, or he could be a two-timer, or neither or both. We're never told. But Manilow says he always knows.
"Before performing, I figure out exactly what's going on in all the songs. Every night, I know exactly where Mandy is standing," says Manilow, referring to the title character of his first No. 1 hit. "And when I move, it's because Mandy moves. I have my entire scene set for everything I sing. I think it makes a difference. It happens all the time on the Broadway stage, but I really don't know if anybody has done that with pop."
Manilow's commitment to specificity has sometimes put his style out of step with popular trends. It's no secret that his music has often been slammed by critics who accuse him of overselling his stories. Those who prefer understatement and occasional obscurity can find it hard to listen to Manilow. But the veteran singer doesn't back down. "When I'm given material, it had better have good lyrics. Because when I sing it, you're going to hear every word."
In fairness, for every over-the-top performance Manilow has committed to record, he's done another that required subtlety from him: the poignant "Studio Musician," for instance, or the often misunderstood "Looks Like We Made It." For young people growing up in the '70s and '80s, Manilow's music offered a window to adult experience; a sort of emotional Rosetta stone whereby kids could apprehend the relationship riddles their parents were struggling with. "Looks Like We Made It" is bittersweet; it chronicles a meeting between two former lovers who have found qualified happiness with other people.
It's exactly the sort of urbane lyric that's unwelcome on contemporary radio. As for the Broadway stage, well, that's the one destination that Manilow has found it difficult to reach. "That's my last goal," says Manilow, "to see a Broadway musical I've written on a stage. I've co-written a show called 'Harmony,' and I believe in it completely. I put more heart and soul into this project than anything I've ever done — and I've done a lot of projects. But getting a brand-new musical up in a New York theater is as difficult as anything I've ever imagined. You've got to have a strong stomach to attempt it. I don't know if it will ever happen."
Fans do have something else to look forward to. Manilow is in the midst of recording an album of original material. It's the spiritual successor to the "Here at the Mayflower" LP: a 2001 song cycle set in a single apartment building. The singer and songwriter promises no violins and no old-fashioned approach, just original, energetic pop. "I don't think a guy like me can get away with releasing a pop album of 12 nice songs," says Manilow. "I think it would just die. So many of my contemporaries have tried it, and their albums don't do anything. I think that the only way is to make an album that's an event, something to talk about, an idea that gets people excited."
The album in the works is about fame, and the young people who get it and subsequently blow it. Manilow is sympathetic: He's been there himself, and, as always, he's got plenty to say on the subject. He's calling the set "15 Minutes," and he hopes it'll be ready for a winter 2011 release.
A new album means a new release event. Manilow has never had the full hipster rehabilitation that many of his peers have gotten, which is ironic, since he was born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn — the current incubator of new musical projects. The singer describes the Williamsburg of his childhood as "scary rough," and a place that taxicabs were loath to visit. "There was certainly no place to play," remembers Manilow. "But Williamsburg has turned out to be a pretty popular location. We're looking for a spot to debut the new album. Wouldn't it be interesting if that debut took place in Williamsburg?"
Indeed. Appropriate for an iconic New York voice, too.
Barry Manilow, with the New York Pops. When: Saturday, 8 p.m. Where: Boardwalk Hall, 2301 Boardwalk, Atlantic City. How much: $65 to $225; call (800) 845-3000 or visit ticketmaster.com.
8th August 2010
"Barry Manilow: 'It's all about the music'" by Karyn D. Collins - MyCentralJersey.com
Barry Manilow had pretty much given up touring. He'd had enough, he said, of the seemingly endless routine of hotel rooms, late-night planes and just being away from his home near Palm Springs. About five years ago, the answer appeared in a long-term gig in Las Vegas. He's currently playing at the Paris Las Vegas.
But now he's taking a brief break from Vegas to make one-night-only appearance at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall.The lure? A chance to perform with a full orchestra. "Every time I make these records, then I go on the road with my band, my guys, and (we) try to emulate the arrangements, the orchestral arrangements from that particular album," Manilow said. "We do pretty well. We sound pretty close. And nobody's ever complained about it."
But about six months ago, Manilow did a concert at the Hollywood Bowl with a 75-piece orchestra. "It really brought me to my knees," he said, describing the moment when the sound hit him in rehearsals. The audience, he added, loved it, too. The success of that concert led Manilow to ask his manager to keep an eye out for any similar opportunities. The Aug. 14 concert at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall will see Manilow perform with the 60-piece New York Pops.
Manilow gets excited just talking about the prospect of this concert in a way only a real musician can. "There's very little production with this kind of show. The production is the fact that there are (60) musicians up there playing their hearts out and beautiful lighting," he said. "Basically it's all about the music this time."
Fans can expect to hear plenty of Manilow classics such as "Mandy," "Weekend in New England," "Even Now," "Copacabana," and Manilow's personal favorite, ("because it was my first hit"), "Could It Be Magic." The Atlantic City concert will follow a similar format to that at the Hollywood Bowl concert, Manilow said.
For the unfamiliar, Manilow's music is something of a bygone era, a time when pop music often meant poetically heartfelt lyrics, voices that aahhed and oohed, all framed by lush arrangements with soaring violins and even the occasional harp (as in Manilow's "Weekend in New England").
For a time, from the mid-1970s and through the early '80s, Manilow's melodies and arrangements kept the jingle writer (State Farm, McDonald's, Stridex, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pepsi) and former music director for Bette Midler at the top of the music charts.
During a telephone interview earlier this week, Manilow reflected on that magical formula where everything — songs, radio formats, the industry, audiences — came together for him. Given the drastic changes in the music business, Manilow said he's not too sure if his brand of music would have met with the same type of success if he'd started now.
"I like to believe that everybody will always respond to a good song. That's probably very naive of me," he said. "But I like to believe that if somebody put out a song that had gorgeous melodies and a great lyric, that the deejays and the audience would pick up on it. I don't know. I really don't.
"(The industry) is so far away from songs like "Mandy' and "Weekend in New England.' For many years, I would listen to those songs and say, "This could have been a hit (today).' Now, I don't know. The music business, the business of music and songwriting has changed so much that I think we're in big trouble, when it comes to finding artists, composers, arrangers that could give that to us again."
Manilow said he listens to today's music but doesn't find much of it inspiring or exciting. He sees himself as something of a standard bearer. "I have to bear the mantle and go out there and remind people of what great songwriting is," he said. Manilow said this without any sense of irony or ego. As his fans and those in the industry know, he's always been a "calls them as he sees them" type of person.
Another issue he feels strongly about is the demise of music education programs for young students. Proceeds from all of his concerts, including the Atlantic City appearance, will raise money for his Manilow Music Project, which supports music education programs. The Atlantic City concert funds will go to music programs in the city's schools. Manilow said he's also invited music directors and students to attend his sound check and was working to arrange for them to attend the concert as well.
Not that Manilow is stuck in the past. He has consistently put out new releases over the years, many of them critically acclaimed and brisk sellers on the pop charts including his most recent release, "The Greatest Love Songs of All Time."
And when asked who he likes of today's stars, Manilow said he is a fan of pop diva Lady Gaga. "I love her. I think I was the first guy on my block to discover her," he said. "I kept going on about her to my friends, "You've got to check this one out. I think she's the real deal.' I do."
Surprised? Don't be. This is, after all, the same Manilow who enthusiastically coached contestants a few seasons ago on "American Idol," offering them extensive sessions down to even personally rearranging his songs for each contestant.
Still, Manilow fans might be even more surprised to learn what's on his iPod right now. "These days, I'm studying rock 'n' roll: Bryan Adams; believe it or not; the Grateful Dead; and The Beatles, because my next album is a very energetic, original album, very guitar based," Manilow said.
Barry Manilow rocking out? "Well, I wouldn't say rock out," he said, chuckling. "But it's an energetic pop album. I haven't done one like this in a long time."
And the theme: fame and how people get it and then blow it. As enthused as he is about this idea, Manilow frankly admits he has no idea if this release will be a hit. The only person who seems to have that kind of soothsaying talent when it comes to records, he said, is producer Clive Davis, the producer who discovered Manilow among dozens of others from Janis Joplin to Whitney Houston.
But, hit or no, Manilow has definite ideas about what makes a good song. "A great song is a melody you can't skip and a lyric that speaks to you," Manilow said. "It's a combination of two elements coming together, and once they do you just want to hear it again and again."
7th August 2010
"Barry Manilow to make highly-anticipated appearance at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall" by Phil Roura - New York Daily News
It's been a career that has spanned the ironic to the iconic, from commercial jingles to the point where Barry Manilow now ranks as the most prolific pop song stylist of all time.
For a man who started out composing ditties for everything from Band-Aids to Hoover vacuum cleaners, Manilow has sold more than 80 million records — including hits like "Mandy," "I Write the Songs," "Weekend in New England" and "Copacabana," the song that seemingly everyone loves to hate but can't help dancing to.
Now, having firmly planted his foot into senior citizenry, the still-boyish-looking entertainer (thanks to a tuck here and a pull there) finds himself about to do one of those signature concerts that singers of a similar age often perform at this stage in their lives.
For the first time in his career — and for his only outing on the East Coast in 2010 — Manilow will play with the New York Pops at the venerable Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Saturday at 8. The program, sponsored by Caesars, features music from Manilow's latest album, "The Greatest Love Songs of All Time."
It is one of the most anticipated shows of the summer on the Jersey Shore and has an impressive price scale. Tickets run from $65 to $225 — and even higher if you want to do a meet and greet with the star, sip some Champagne with him and have a picture taken.
"I'm excited to get to perform in Atlantic City again and to be joined by the New York Pops," says Manilow. "There will be such energy, and it's a sheer joy to reach my East Coast-based fans."
They may not know him as well as, say, Lady Gaga, but Atlantic City middle school and high school students will benefit from Manilow's show by sharing in the proceeds of the sale of Platinum Experience Tickets, that special schmooze with the star. Proceeds go directly to the Manilow Music Project, a nonprofit that helps put instruments into the hands of students.
"Anyone can make a difference," urges Manilow. "Just call your local schools and ask them what they need. Get 'em a new set of drums! Music changes a young person's life."
He should know. After graduating from Eastern District High School in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, he enrolled at Juilliard while working at CBS to make some money. Slowly, he started writing jingles ("Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there" and "I am stuck on Band-Aid 'cause Band-Aid's stuck on me," for instance) and by 1970 he had hooked up with Bette Midler as her pianist-musical director.
Although he grew up in a tough neighborhood, Manilow wasn't into rebellious rock 'n' roll, steering instead to love songs. Eventually, he caught the eye of a promoter who nudged him toward Stan Kenton and June Christy and Broadway shows. The 13 tracks on "The Greatest Love Songs of All Time" tries to recapture that time when he was the darling of the East Coast.
But his appearances hereabouts steadily dwindled as the lure of Las Vegas grew. For five years beginning in 2005, Manilow appeared exclusively at the Las Vegas Hilton before signing a three-year deal in March to do 78 shows a year at the Paris Las Vegas.
"Music inspires me," he recently told Vegas.com. "It takes me away. It heals me. The only proof you need for the existence of God is music."
4th August 2010
"New 2010-2011 Performance Dates Announced for Barry Manilow at Paris Las Vegas" by Samantha Leffler - Broadway World
After a wildly successful first five months, AEG Live and Paris Las Vegas are pleased to announce new performance dates for legendary singer-songwriter Barry Manilow's new resident show at Paris Las Vegas. Heralded by critics and fans alike, Manilow will perform 27 new performance dates, from September 24th- January 16th. Tickets for Manilow's new, reimagined stage show that is both more intimate and more exciting than ever before go on sale Saturday, August 7th at 10am (PST). Manilow is currently performing 78 shows a year for two years at the Paris Théâtre at Paris Las Vegas. The shows are produced by STILETTO Entertainment in conjunction with AEG Live and Paris Las Vegas.
Tickets for the following performances go on sale August 7th at 10am (PST):
September 24th-26th
October 1st-3rd
November 4th-6th
November 12th-14th
November 19th-21st
November 26th-28th
December 3rd-5th
Plus these 2011 dates:
January 7th-9th
January 14th-16th
Las Vegas middle school and high school music programs will continue to benefit from Manilow's shows at Paris by sharing in the proceeds of the special, weekly Platinum Experience Tickets. Platinum Experience Tickets which include a front row seat, pre-show champagne reception, meet & greet and photo with Barry Manilow, and an autographed show program are available now at www.starz.bz/manilowfund or at 310.957.5788. Proceeds from Platinum Experience Tickets go directly to the Manilow Music Project. The Manilow Music Project is part of Manilow's non-profit, The Manilow Fund for Health and Hope and will put instruments into the hands of middle school and high school students in the Las Vegas Unified School District.
Tickets are available on-line at Vegas.com or Ticketmaster.com, in person at the Paris Théâtre box office, or by calling 1.800.745.3000. Ticket prices are $250, $175, $125, $95 and $65. Front Row tickets for these dates are available now at www.FrontRowManilow.com. Visit www.parislasvegas.com for room and ticket packages.
For more information on Barry Manilow at Paris Las Vegas visit www.ManilowParis.com.
Directed by renowned stage and film choreographer and director Jeffrey Hornaday (Flashdance, A Chorus Line, High School Musical 4), this new show casts Manilow's hits in a new light in the intimate and elegant 1,500 seat Paris Théâtre. Including exhilarating new video elements and all the songs that have made him a pop culture icon over the past 35 years, the show brings the energy, sincerity and melody of Manilow at his best to a spectacular yet personal crescendo.
With worldwide record sales exceeding 80 million, Barry Manilow is ranked as the top Adult Contemporary chart artist of all time, according to R&R (Radio & Records); with no less than 25 consecutive top 40 hits to his credit between 1975 and 1983, on the Billboard Hot 100. Manilow has worked on over 40 albums over the course of his career as a singer, songwriter, arranger and producer. He recently released "The Greatest Love Songs of All Time," a new album chronicling the most touching love songs ever written.
1st August 2010
UK TV Alert
10th August 2010
Local students to rub shoulders with Manilow - Press of Atlantic City
Dozens of local music students from the Atlantic City Unified School District will be attending the rehearsal for Barry Manilow's Saturday night show at Boardwalk Hall as part of his ongoing commitment to preserving music education.
This behind-the-scenes glimpse of a professional musician crafting a live show is something Manilow and The Manilow Music Project (MMP) have offered these students throughout the school district. Manilow will be performing with the country's largest pops orchestra, The New York Pops, at 8 p.m. in his only East Coast appearance this year. The show is sponsored by Caesars Atlantic City. "Music has shaped my life, and to give these kids a window into what professional musicians experience is a genuine gift," Manilow says.
Atlantic City's high-school music programs will benefit from Manilow's show by sharing in the proceeds of the special Platinum Experience Tickets. Proceeds from Platinum Experience Tickets go directly to the Manilow Music Project. For tickets to the show, go to www.pressofatlanticcity.com/tickets.
10th August 2010
"Barry Manilow says he's thrilled to sing before a full orchestra in Atlantic City" by Chuck Darrow - Philadelphia Daily News
POP QUIZ time: What's the hippest show this summer at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall? A. Lady Gaga. B. Black Eyed Peas. C. Barry Manilow. Take a bow if you answered C.
The beloved crooner's Caesars Atlantic City-sponsored show on Saturday night at the historic oceanside auditorium is the coolest gig because it is far and away the most exclusive. While Gaga and the Peas are in the midst of full-blown, multiple-city tours, Manilow's program is the only one he's doing on the East Coast this year and, as you read this, the only one of its kind even scheduled.
"A couple of months ago I did the Hollywood Bowl for the very first time. We did it with the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, and it was one of the thrills of my life. I would put it up there in the top two of my life," said Manilow during a recent phone call. "To hear my arrangements played by 75 talented musicians ... When these musicians started to play the arrangements, "Even Now" and ['Copacabana'] and all the hits . . . it just brought me to my knees. I said to my manager, 'If you can [book] another night like this, I'd be happy to leave [his residency at the Paris casino-hotel in Las Vegas] for that night and do it. The first one we got was the New York Pops in Atlantic City."
Manilow rhapsodized about the experience of hearing his formidable canon of hits recreated by an army of symphonic instruments. "It's like floating. I can barely sing," he offered. "As beautiful as the arrangement is, you can't imagine what it sounds like with real string players, and real harps and oboes. It's like hearing it for the first time. Sometimes I forget to sing."
Traveling clear across the country for a one-night stand with a full orchestra seems a bit extravagant, not to mention inconvenient. But the 67-year-old pop titan, whose latest CD is "The Greatest Love Songs of All Time" (Arista), explained he's happy to do it because, unlike past tours, this show won't emphasize nonmusical elements. "There's not very much production ... it's all about the music," he said. "There will be some beautiful lighting, but it's not a big production with props and stuff like that. It really is all about these musicians on stage with me."
With hundreds of songs from which to choose, one would think selecting the repertoire for orchestral performances would be difficult for the singer-composer-pianist who famously wrote commercial jingles before becoming singer Bette Midler's musical director in the early 1970s. But, Manilow suggested, it was really a piece of cake, because he never lost sight of his audience's needs and desires. "I would go for 30 [songs]. I think 30 is a good number. After 30, you're going to the album cuts, and I think the audience will get tired."
He added that he wasn't worried about any of the songs not being appropriate for the symphonic treatment. "Because I've been making songs and records like this for so many years, all of them work, all of them. From the little 'When October Goes' to the huge 'I Write the Songs,' they all work beautifully."
Incidentally, unlike other stars who need arrangers, Manilow did his own charts using computer software. "It's a lot of fun," he said. "That's what I did for Bette. That's what I did for [the singers] I played with before I became a recording artist. That was gonna be my life."
For so many of Manilow's contemporaries, be they pop or rock artists, a common trick has been to compensate for the passage of time by lowering the keys of their songs. Manilow boasted he hasn't yet needed to do that. "If I have a good monitor guy - thank God, I do - my voice stays alive as long as I want it to. I don't even warm up."
He claimed that's because "I don't consider myself a singer. I consider myself a musician. The singing part always surprises me. It always surprises me that anybody likes that part. I've always believed ... I connect with an audience. I'm an acting singer. Even if my voice goes away, what I try to do is tell the story of the song. If you do that, I think [the audience] forgives you if you can't hit the high notes."
It can be assumed that Manilow, who said he's fully recovered from several hip operations during the past few years, isn't coming to Atlantic City in search of a big jackpot. Besides having to pay the members of the New York Pops, his own band and the crew it takes to mount such an extravaganza, he has pledged a chunk of change for a cause near and dear to his heart: helping fund music programs in eight Atlantic City public schools.
"Over the last four years I realized the government is cutting the music classes [from public schools]. It's just killing me," he said. "When I speak to the music directors and principals of various schools, they tell me the music classes keep [students] coming back, and that if they didn't have music classes, they doubt very much if the children would come back."
This concern, he insisted, isn't just a case of trying to be a celebrity do-gooder. Instead, it stems from his own life. "I don't know where I would have been without the music classes," said the Brooklyn, N.Y., native. "I wasn't very good at sports, I really wasn't Mr. Personality, but I joined the orchestra. I didn't join a gang, I joined the orchestra. The orchestra was my gang, and it made me a better person."
Boardwalk Hall, Boardwalk at Florida Avenue, 8 p.m. Saturday, $255, $155, $95 and $65, 800-736-1420, www.ticketmaster.com.
10th August 2010
"Manilow owes his career to Bijou Cafe debut" by Chuck Darrow - Philadelphia Daily News
There is no debating that in the 1970s, Philadelphia was as important to the development of musical careers as anyplace on earth. That Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, David Bowie, Yes and Genesis all found stardom here before breaking out across the country is well-known to music fans and historians. But another megastar who is seldom mentioned with the others also owes much to the ears of Delaware Valley music fans. "I broke out of Philadelphia," proclaimed Barry Manilow during a recent phone interview.
If it were up to him, Manilow admitted, he would have never made it to Philly in 1973 for a weeklong run at the old Bijou Cafe at Broad and Lombard streets. During the '70s and early 1980s, the Bijou was our city's premier showcase for up-and-coming artists (among them Bette Midler, Steely Dan, Jerry Seinfeld, U2 and Prince).
At the time, Manilow recalled, he wasn't convinced he wanted to be a singer. After all, he had established himself as a leading composer of TV ad jingles (including the iconic McDonald's ditty that began, "You deserve a break today"), and he was having fun serving as the then relatively unknown Midler's musical director.
His first foray as a front man at a Boston venue called Paul's Mall hardly changed his mind. Remembering the club as "a dump," he compared his singing debut - as the ostensible opener for jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard - to such disasters as the San Francisco earthquake and the sinking of the Titanic. The booking, he explained, proved particularly nettlesome to Hubbard. "Freddie Hubbard hated me," recalled Manilow. "He said, 'I will not go onstage following anyone who does [commercial jingles].' So we had to make a deal with him that I would do the early show and he would do the late show."
Manilow struggled through the engagement and was ready to declare his singing career DOA. "And then my manager said, 'Just give it one more week.' And we were coming to the Bijou. So we got to the Bijou, and ... you know who was opening for me? [The late absurdist comic] Andy Kaufman! Another great booking!"
According to Manilow, Kaufman did not put the opening night audience in a receptive mood. "By the time he's done, people are throwing rolls at him. They're throwing food at him! Now I have to come out." And there at the Bijou, Manilow struck gold.
"We came out [and the audience] liked it. By the end of the week, we were sold out, and people were on their feet screaming ... It was wildly successful by the end. The reviews were like love letters. It started for me right then. If Philadelphia hadn't done that, you would have never heard from me again. I would have gone back to Bette, I would have gone back to doing commercials. From there on in ... my life changed."
8th August 2010
"Barry Manilow's still seeking out new projects - like a concert with an orchestra as the backing band" by Tris McCall - NJ.com
For Barry Manilow, song lyrics are like lines in a play. "I have my entire scene set for everything I sing," he says.
Not the New York of a low-budget art flick, either. Manilow's New York is cinematic in the grandest possible manner. The film that Manilow's music scores could be sepia-toned, opening with a commanding crane shot of Midtown skyscrapers. The camera might soar through traffic, sweeping over taxis and past corner bodegas, into an outer-borough backyard where neighbors are talking to each other, hanging out the laundry, gazing lovingly at old photographs. "I have that energy that won't leave me alone," says the Gotham-born Manilow. "It's the energy of Brooklyn and Manhattan. We're shot out of the cannon at birth."
He's put it to good use. Manilow has been writing, arranging and performing nonstop for half a century. One of the biggest pop stars of the '70s and early '80s, Manilow has sold more than 75 million records and scored 29 platinum discs. He's taken his commercial winning streak into the current millennium: His "Greatest Songs of the Fifties" collection, released in 2006, made its debut at No. 1 on the Billboard album charts.
Despite the sustained success, Manilow has never become jaded. He is still overwhelmed by the power of music, and he's still searching for new ways to present world-famous material. In late 2009, he performed at the Hollywood Bowl with a full orchestra — an experience that the 67-year-old singer calls one of the great thrills of his life. "After making a record, I'd usually go on tour with a nine-person band," says Manilow, "and my synthesizer player would play all the string lines. It's always sounded beautiful. But to hear 75 musicians playing these arrangements that I've worked so hard on — it brought me to my knees. I was ecstatic. I said to my manager, 'Get me a couple more shows like that one.'"
His manager came through. On Saturday, Manilow appears at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. There he'll be backed by the New York Pops, the biggest popular-music symphony in the United States.
For Manilow, these orchestral performances are more than just another ambitious diversion. They're an opportunity to realize the sound he's been carrying in his head for decades. They're also a return to the musician's symphonic roots. "This is where I started," says Manilow, who studied at Juilliard. "Initially, the last thing I imagined myself doing was singing. I wanted to be a composer and arranger. After I did get my record contract, I worked with some very talented orchestrators, but the arrangements on the songs were always mine. Everybody who came backstage after the Hollywood Bowl show told me the same thing. They finally understand what I do."
Crowds at Barry Manilow concerts are famous for their enthusiasm, and the pop star has been lauded for his charisma. While Manilow feels he's grown into the role of a performing frontman over the years, he admits that, at first, he didn't have much confidence in his voice or his stage presence. "I came to public attention during the decade of the singer-songwriter," says Manilow. "Carole King, James Taylor, all of those amazing artists and performers. I knew at the time that I was not a great singer. I don't know how to behave onstage, either. I felt so awkward. What was I supposed to do with my legs when I got up from the piano?"
Manilow, who has always believed in training, turned to a stage expert for assistance: respected drama teacher and former leading woman Nina Foch. In the early '70s, the screen actress taught the budding singer how to inhabit a lyric and communicate its essence to an audience. Foch also helped Manilow recognize his strength. He was a natural storyteller, able to breathe life into complicated scenarios and sketch, within the limited context of three and a half-minute pop songs, elaborated and occasionally complicated characters.
"Nina really taught me how to break down a lyric as if it were a script written by the greatest writer in the world," says Manilow. "And I still do that with all of my songs, every time I perform them. I treat my lyrics as if they were a script in a play. It's that element that makes me different. I tell the story, night after night, and album after album. I am an 'acting' singer, and I've gotten better at it."
His material is well-suited for a performer's approach. A song such as "Weekend in New England," a Top 10 hit in 1978, is intentionally ambiguous: It isn't clear whether the narrator is cheating on his wife, engaging in a dalliance with a married woman or trapped in a long-distance love affair. The main character could be sympathetic, or he could be a two-timer, or neither or both. We're never told. But Manilow says he always knows.
"Before performing, I figure out exactly what's going on in all the songs. Every night, I know exactly where Mandy is standing," says Manilow, referring to the title character of his first No. 1 hit. "And when I move, it's because Mandy moves. I have my entire scene set for everything I sing. I think it makes a difference. It happens all the time on the Broadway stage, but I really don't know if anybody has done that with pop."
Manilow's commitment to specificity has sometimes put his style out of step with popular trends. It's no secret that his music has often been slammed by critics who accuse him of overselling his stories. Those who prefer understatement and occasional obscurity can find it hard to listen to Manilow. But the veteran singer doesn't back down. "When I'm given material, it had better have good lyrics. Because when I sing it, you're going to hear every word."
In fairness, for every over-the-top performance Manilow has committed to record, he's done another that required subtlety from him: the poignant "Studio Musician," for instance, or the often misunderstood "Looks Like We Made It." For young people growing up in the '70s and '80s, Manilow's music offered a window to adult experience; a sort of emotional Rosetta stone whereby kids could apprehend the relationship riddles their parents were struggling with. "Looks Like We Made It" is bittersweet; it chronicles a meeting between two former lovers who have found qualified happiness with other people.
It's exactly the sort of urbane lyric that's unwelcome on contemporary radio. As for the Broadway stage, well, that's the one destination that Manilow has found it difficult to reach. "That's my last goal," says Manilow, "to see a Broadway musical I've written on a stage. I've co-written a show called 'Harmony,' and I believe in it completely. I put more heart and soul into this project than anything I've ever done — and I've done a lot of projects. But getting a brand-new musical up in a New York theater is as difficult as anything I've ever imagined. You've got to have a strong stomach to attempt it. I don't know if it will ever happen."
Fans do have something else to look forward to. Manilow is in the midst of recording an album of original material. It's the spiritual successor to the "Here at the Mayflower" LP: a 2001 song cycle set in a single apartment building. The singer and songwriter promises no violins and no old-fashioned approach, just original, energetic pop. "I don't think a guy like me can get away with releasing a pop album of 12 nice songs," says Manilow. "I think it would just die. So many of my contemporaries have tried it, and their albums don't do anything. I think that the only way is to make an album that's an event, something to talk about, an idea that gets people excited."
The album in the works is about fame, and the young people who get it and subsequently blow it. Manilow is sympathetic: He's been there himself, and, as always, he's got plenty to say on the subject. He's calling the set "15 Minutes," and he hopes it'll be ready for a winter 2011 release.
A new album means a new release event. Manilow has never had the full hipster rehabilitation that many of his peers have gotten, which is ironic, since he was born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn — the current incubator of new musical projects. The singer describes the Williamsburg of his childhood as "scary rough," and a place that taxicabs were loath to visit. "There was certainly no place to play," remembers Manilow. "But Williamsburg has turned out to be a pretty popular location. We're looking for a spot to debut the new album. Wouldn't it be interesting if that debut took place in Williamsburg?"
Indeed. Appropriate for an iconic New York voice, too.
Barry Manilow, with the New York Pops. When: Saturday, 8 p.m. Where: Boardwalk Hall, 2301 Boardwalk, Atlantic City. How much: $65 to $225; call (800) 845-3000 or visit ticketmaster.com.
8th August 2010
"Barry Manilow: 'It's all about the music'" by Karyn D. Collins - MyCentralJersey.com
Barry Manilow had pretty much given up touring. He'd had enough, he said, of the seemingly endless routine of hotel rooms, late-night planes and just being away from his home near Palm Springs. About five years ago, the answer appeared in a long-term gig in Las Vegas. He's currently playing at the Paris Las Vegas.
But now he's taking a brief break from Vegas to make one-night-only appearance at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall.The lure? A chance to perform with a full orchestra. "Every time I make these records, then I go on the road with my band, my guys, and (we) try to emulate the arrangements, the orchestral arrangements from that particular album," Manilow said. "We do pretty well. We sound pretty close. And nobody's ever complained about it."
But about six months ago, Manilow did a concert at the Hollywood Bowl with a 75-piece orchestra. "It really brought me to my knees," he said, describing the moment when the sound hit him in rehearsals. The audience, he added, loved it, too. The success of that concert led Manilow to ask his manager to keep an eye out for any similar opportunities. The Aug. 14 concert at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall will see Manilow perform with the 60-piece New York Pops.
Manilow gets excited just talking about the prospect of this concert in a way only a real musician can. "There's very little production with this kind of show. The production is the fact that there are (60) musicians up there playing their hearts out and beautiful lighting," he said. "Basically it's all about the music this time."
Fans can expect to hear plenty of Manilow classics such as "Mandy," "Weekend in New England," "Even Now," "Copacabana," and Manilow's personal favorite, ("because it was my first hit"), "Could It Be Magic." The Atlantic City concert will follow a similar format to that at the Hollywood Bowl concert, Manilow said.
For the unfamiliar, Manilow's music is something of a bygone era, a time when pop music often meant poetically heartfelt lyrics, voices that aahhed and oohed, all framed by lush arrangements with soaring violins and even the occasional harp (as in Manilow's "Weekend in New England").
For a time, from the mid-1970s and through the early '80s, Manilow's melodies and arrangements kept the jingle writer (State Farm, McDonald's, Stridex, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pepsi) and former music director for Bette Midler at the top of the music charts.
During a telephone interview earlier this week, Manilow reflected on that magical formula where everything — songs, radio formats, the industry, audiences — came together for him. Given the drastic changes in the music business, Manilow said he's not too sure if his brand of music would have met with the same type of success if he'd started now.
"I like to believe that everybody will always respond to a good song. That's probably very naive of me," he said. "But I like to believe that if somebody put out a song that had gorgeous melodies and a great lyric, that the deejays and the audience would pick up on it. I don't know. I really don't.
"(The industry) is so far away from songs like "Mandy' and "Weekend in New England.' For many years, I would listen to those songs and say, "This could have been a hit (today).' Now, I don't know. The music business, the business of music and songwriting has changed so much that I think we're in big trouble, when it comes to finding artists, composers, arrangers that could give that to us again."
Manilow said he listens to today's music but doesn't find much of it inspiring or exciting. He sees himself as something of a standard bearer. "I have to bear the mantle and go out there and remind people of what great songwriting is," he said. Manilow said this without any sense of irony or ego. As his fans and those in the industry know, he's always been a "calls them as he sees them" type of person.
Another issue he feels strongly about is the demise of music education programs for young students. Proceeds from all of his concerts, including the Atlantic City appearance, will raise money for his Manilow Music Project, which supports music education programs. The Atlantic City concert funds will go to music programs in the city's schools. Manilow said he's also invited music directors and students to attend his sound check and was working to arrange for them to attend the concert as well.
Not that Manilow is stuck in the past. He has consistently put out new releases over the years, many of them critically acclaimed and brisk sellers on the pop charts including his most recent release, "The Greatest Love Songs of All Time."
And when asked who he likes of today's stars, Manilow said he is a fan of pop diva Lady Gaga. "I love her. I think I was the first guy on my block to discover her," he said. "I kept going on about her to my friends, "You've got to check this one out. I think she's the real deal.' I do."
Surprised? Don't be. This is, after all, the same Manilow who enthusiastically coached contestants a few seasons ago on "American Idol," offering them extensive sessions down to even personally rearranging his songs for each contestant.
Still, Manilow fans might be even more surprised to learn what's on his iPod right now. "These days, I'm studying rock 'n' roll: Bryan Adams; believe it or not; the Grateful Dead; and The Beatles, because my next album is a very energetic, original album, very guitar based," Manilow said.
Barry Manilow rocking out? "Well, I wouldn't say rock out," he said, chuckling. "But it's an energetic pop album. I haven't done one like this in a long time."
And the theme: fame and how people get it and then blow it. As enthused as he is about this idea, Manilow frankly admits he has no idea if this release will be a hit. The only person who seems to have that kind of soothsaying talent when it comes to records, he said, is producer Clive Davis, the producer who discovered Manilow among dozens of others from Janis Joplin to Whitney Houston.
But, hit or no, Manilow has definite ideas about what makes a good song. "A great song is a melody you can't skip and a lyric that speaks to you," Manilow said. "It's a combination of two elements coming together, and once they do you just want to hear it again and again."
7th August 2010
"Barry Manilow to make highly-anticipated appearance at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall" by Phil Roura - New York Daily News
It's been a career that has spanned the ironic to the iconic, from commercial jingles to the point where Barry Manilow now ranks as the most prolific pop song stylist of all time.
For a man who started out composing ditties for everything from Band-Aids to Hoover vacuum cleaners, Manilow has sold more than 80 million records — including hits like "Mandy," "I Write the Songs," "Weekend in New England" and "Copacabana," the song that seemingly everyone loves to hate but can't help dancing to.
Now, having firmly planted his foot into senior citizenry, the still-boyish-looking entertainer (thanks to a tuck here and a pull there) finds himself about to do one of those signature concerts that singers of a similar age often perform at this stage in their lives.
For the first time in his career — and for his only outing on the East Coast in 2010 — Manilow will play with the New York Pops at the venerable Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on Saturday at 8. The program, sponsored by Caesars, features music from Manilow's latest album, "The Greatest Love Songs of All Time."
It is one of the most anticipated shows of the summer on the Jersey Shore and has an impressive price scale. Tickets run from $65 to $225 — and even higher if you want to do a meet and greet with the star, sip some Champagne with him and have a picture taken.
"I'm excited to get to perform in Atlantic City again and to be joined by the New York Pops," says Manilow. "There will be such energy, and it's a sheer joy to reach my East Coast-based fans."
They may not know him as well as, say, Lady Gaga, but Atlantic City middle school and high school students will benefit from Manilow's show by sharing in the proceeds of the sale of Platinum Experience Tickets, that special schmooze with the star. Proceeds go directly to the Manilow Music Project, a nonprofit that helps put instruments into the hands of students.
"Anyone can make a difference," urges Manilow. "Just call your local schools and ask them what they need. Get 'em a new set of drums! Music changes a young person's life."
He should know. After graduating from Eastern District High School in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, he enrolled at Juilliard while working at CBS to make some money. Slowly, he started writing jingles ("Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there" and "I am stuck on Band-Aid 'cause Band-Aid's stuck on me," for instance) and by 1970 he had hooked up with Bette Midler as her pianist-musical director.
Although he grew up in a tough neighborhood, Manilow wasn't into rebellious rock 'n' roll, steering instead to love songs. Eventually, he caught the eye of a promoter who nudged him toward Stan Kenton and June Christy and Broadway shows. The 13 tracks on "The Greatest Love Songs of All Time" tries to recapture that time when he was the darling of the East Coast.
But his appearances hereabouts steadily dwindled as the lure of Las Vegas grew. For five years beginning in 2005, Manilow appeared exclusively at the Las Vegas Hilton before signing a three-year deal in March to do 78 shows a year at the Paris Las Vegas.
"Music inspires me," he recently told Vegas.com. "It takes me away. It heals me. The only proof you need for the existence of God is music."
4th August 2010
"New 2010-2011 Performance Dates Announced for Barry Manilow at Paris Las Vegas" by Samantha Leffler - Broadway World
After a wildly successful first five months, AEG Live and Paris Las Vegas are pleased to announce new performance dates for legendary singer-songwriter Barry Manilow's new resident show at Paris Las Vegas. Heralded by critics and fans alike, Manilow will perform 27 new performance dates, from September 24th- January 16th. Tickets for Manilow's new, reimagined stage show that is both more intimate and more exciting than ever before go on sale Saturday, August 7th at 10am (PST). Manilow is currently performing 78 shows a year for two years at the Paris Théâtre at Paris Las Vegas. The shows are produced by STILETTO Entertainment in conjunction with AEG Live and Paris Las Vegas.
Tickets for the following performances go on sale August 7th at 10am (PST):
September 24th-26th
October 1st-3rd
November 4th-6th
November 12th-14th
November 19th-21st
November 26th-28th
December 3rd-5th
Plus these 2011 dates:
January 7th-9th
January 14th-16th
Las Vegas middle school and high school music programs will continue to benefit from Manilow's shows at Paris by sharing in the proceeds of the special, weekly Platinum Experience Tickets. Platinum Experience Tickets which include a front row seat, pre-show champagne reception, meet & greet and photo with Barry Manilow, and an autographed show program are available now at www.starz.bz/manilowfund or at 310.957.5788. Proceeds from Platinum Experience Tickets go directly to the Manilow Music Project. The Manilow Music Project is part of Manilow's non-profit, The Manilow Fund for Health and Hope and will put instruments into the hands of middle school and high school students in the Las Vegas Unified School District.
Tickets are available on-line at Vegas.com or Ticketmaster.com, in person at the Paris Théâtre box office, or by calling 1.800.745.3000. Ticket prices are $250, $175, $125, $95 and $65. Front Row tickets for these dates are available now at www.FrontRowManilow.com. Visit www.parislasvegas.com for room and ticket packages.
For more information on Barry Manilow at Paris Las Vegas visit www.ManilowParis.com.
Directed by renowned stage and film choreographer and director Jeffrey Hornaday (Flashdance, A Chorus Line, High School Musical 4), this new show casts Manilow's hits in a new light in the intimate and elegant 1,500 seat Paris Théâtre. Including exhilarating new video elements and all the songs that have made him a pop culture icon over the past 35 years, the show brings the energy, sincerity and melody of Manilow at his best to a spectacular yet personal crescendo.
With worldwide record sales exceeding 80 million, Barry Manilow is ranked as the top Adult Contemporary chart artist of all time, according to R&R (Radio & Records); with no less than 25 consecutive top 40 hits to his credit between 1975 and 1983, on the Billboard Hot 100. Manilow has worked on over 40 albums over the course of his career as a singer, songwriter, arranger and producer. He recently released "The Greatest Love Songs of All Time," a new album chronicling the most touching love songs ever written.
1st August 2010
UK TV Alert
Tonight's The Night - BBC 1 Saturday 7th August 2010 at 8.20pm
Barry will be making a dream come true on "Tonight's The Night" with John Barrowman this coming Saturday!
"A schoolteacher gives the performance of his life thanks to a masterclass with international superstar Barry Manilow".