BENEFIT FOR THEIR MENTOR : MIDLER & MANILOW PUT FRIENDSHIP IN SPOTLIGHT

Benefits are an everyday occurrence in this town, even those with such high-powered stars as Bette Midler and Barry Manilow. They normally reflect high ideals and raise a lot of money, but the causes are often abstract--the sense of doing good for a faceless somebody . . . somewhere.

The benefit Monday night at the Wadsworth Theatre was different. Midler and Manilow were, indeed, the stars, but the cause this time wasn’t a political issue or catastrophic disease. It was a person, a mentor--a friend--and that put a face on the benefit. This immediacy gave the evening a dramatic, compelling edge.

The benefit was for William Hennessy, the artist/consultant who helped shaped Midler’s comic persona as the Divine Miss M and helped such other stars as Manilow, Melissa Manchester and Manhattan Transfer--quite literally--get their acts together. Hennessy encouraged Manilow to develop a personality on stage rather than just sing romantic ballads, and he helped the members of Manhattan Transfer to find a distinctive look and sound.

The concert--held to pay off a $45,000 hospital bill left by Hennessy’s recent bout with colon cancer--was a well-paced blend of comedy and music, but what makes it linger in the memory is the look on the faces of several of the performers as Midler brought Hennessy--who was released from the hospital five weeks ago--up to the stage at the end of the show. The faces reflected affection and gratitude, but also concern over Hennessy’s still-frail appearance.

At the end of the two-hour program, it looked like a class reunion as performers and friends visited backstage. “What Bill had could happen to any one of us,” said Manilow, who was working as Midler’s pianist and arranger in the early ‘70s when he first met Hennessy.

“People have been saying, ‘If it were me, I would only hope my friends would turn out like this,’ ” Manilow continued. “It’s true what they say: You never know if you have friends until you need them.”

The purpose of the show--stars repaying a debt to the man who got them started--resulted in an easy camaraderie and open, generous spirit. This was especially true of Midler, whose sassy, irreverent wit has made her one of the entertainment world’s most colorful and endearing figures. Monday night, however, she revealed a soft, sentimental side.

Midler told the capacity crowd of 1,500 about first meeting Hennessy in the late ‘60s when they were performing on Broadway in “Fiddler on the Roof.” She also recounted how he later became her hairdresser and eventually started supplying comedy material for her act. Midler added shyly--as if revealing a rarely shared confidence--that Hennessy one day informed her that “in the hair world, my name is Mr. Gerard--but you can call me Mr. G. And so I became Miss M. . . . He invented most of the talent here tonight. I know he invented me.”

In one of the night’s most poignant moments, Midler sang “Sunrise, Sunset,” the nostalgic ballad from “Fiddler.” She noted, “I never thought I’d be old enough or sentimental enough to sing this song, but when you have a baby, you start to feel your mortality.” Or perhaps, when a close friend has a brush with death.

Don’t get the idea that the evening was filled solely with pathos. Midler also performed an uproarious self-parody, “Fat as I Am,” and offered a string of her ribald Soph & Ernie jokes. Ellen Greene, a singer whom Hennessy managed for two years, sang a witty, affectionate spoof of the American Dream, ‘50s style, “Somewhere That’s Green.” And Gotham, a comic group that Hennessy has worked with for 15 years, poked fun at everything--including the benefit.

Hennessy was still visibly moved as he sat on a bench in front of the theater after the show. The transplanted New Yorker, who is in his late 40s, described the night as a “waterfall of love.”

In trying to pinpoint his role helping these artists develop their routines and their personas, Hennessy noted, “Somebody once called me a creative Svengali, and I quite liked that. I guess I have the talent to see a piece of rock and shape it into a brilliant rhinestone, or occasionally even a diamond.”

Gail Kantor, who co-produced the benefit with Nancy Harris and Doris Bergman--and who was one of Midler’s backup Harlettes in 1972--was touched by the humility of the performers. “People ‘fessed up to things they’ve never said before, because the concert wasn’t about success or the business, but about friendship and love.”

Kantor acknowledged that one of the big stars could have just written out a check for $45,000 to cover Hennessy’s bills, but added that raising money was only one of the concert’s goals. “I happen to think that love and positive thinking can beat cancer,” she said. “I think he’ll heal even faster because of this night.”