It’s What He Does for Love

The Hollywood Hills will be alive this Friday and Saturday with the sounds of Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, George and Ira Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim as composer Marvin Hamlisch leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a “Broadway’s Best” concert at the Hollywood Bowl.

The show will feature music and arrangements by Hamlisch, who is also a noted pianist. Also appearing on the program is Broadway and cabaret singer Barbara Cook, who will sing selections from Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess,” Irving Berlin’s “Annie Get Your Gun” and Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man,” reprising songs from a role she made famous, Marion the librarian.

Hamlisch, 56, is best known as the composer of such Broadway musicals as “A Chorus Line” and “They’re Playing Our Song” and more than 40 movie scores, including “The Way We Were,” “Sophie’s Choice” and “The Swimmer.”

He’s won three Oscars (two for “The Way We Were” and one for adapting Scott Joplin’s music for “The Sting”), three Emmys, a Tony and three Golden Globe Awards. As a conductor, he’s led some of the world’s greatest orchestras and is the principal pops conductor for the Pittsburgh Symphony. He is assuming the same post with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington in September while continuing at Pittsburgh. Hamlisch was also the conductor and arranger for Barbra Streisand’s sold-out tour six years ago.

Hamlisch recently chatted over the phone about his upcoming Hollywood Bowl gig, his love of musicals and his latest Broadway endeavors.

Question: What makes the Hollywood Bowl such a special venue to play?

Answer: It’s Los Angeles! I personally love working indoors to a degree, but in terms of outdoor venues, it’s one of the best that there is, so that makes it extra special. It’s a wonderful orchestra. To be able to do this music that I really love whether it is George and Ira Gershwin or Cole Porter--it is the stuff that I really admire.

Q: You do so many pops concerts a year. What happens when you realize in rehearsal that the orchestra isn’t very good?

A: That has happened many a time to me. In that case, because I am a pianist, I can do everything solo if I need to. So if I see the orchestra having trouble with a piece of music, I will just immediately make it a solo.

Q: Have you worked with Barbara Cook before in concert?

A: I have, and I just love it. She’s one of the reasons I love Broadway, one of the reasons I am always excited about Broadway. I always remember seeing “The Music Man” and hearing that voice and saying, “I love this.”

Q: So what will you be conducting at the Bowl?

A: We are going to start off with one of the greatest overtures of all time, which is the “Gypsy” overture of Jule Styne. We are going to go from that to some Cole Porter and a big tribute to Jerome Kern. We are going to do a little section called “Songs I Wish I Had Written,” which are three of my all-time favorite songs, something by the Gershwins, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim: “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “Somewhere” and “Send in the Clowns.” And then Barbara Cook will come out. I’m not conducting for her, but I think she’ll be doing a big Gershwin section. We’ll start the second [half] with the “Candide” overture, and I am going to do my little “Rent a Composer” bit.

Q: Is that where you take requests from the audience?

A: No. We ask them to suggest a brand new title and then I write the song. Bang. Zam. Boom. We do it strictly for fun. Barbara Cook will come out again, and we’ll do something together. I will probably end with the “Chorus Line” overture, the overture there never was because it had no overture.

Q: It’s great you are doing a tribute to Jerome Kern. Save for “Show Boat,” you don’t hear as much about him as Cole Porter, Irving Berlin or the Gershwins.

A: He did some great music. “Old Man River” is one of my favorite songs ever. The hardest thing in the world is to write a simple melody that does not sound banal. When you get something like “Old Man River,” you say there is the simplest melody that absolutely goes right to the heart.

Q: Which Broadway musicals or composers have influenced you the most?

A: There are two shows--one was “Gypsy.” I knew [composer] Jule Styne and I got to work with [him]. The second is “West Side Story” and Leonard Bernstein. Not that I sound like them or even try to, but they showed me that Broadway could really aim for something. It didn’t have to be the common denominator. It could really be something special.

Q: In between all of your pop concerts, you are also doing a workshop with John Lithgow of your new musical “Sweet Smell of Success,” based on the classic 1957 film. When will that hit Broadway?

A: Because of John Lithgow’s schedule, we think we are going to go into real rehearsal next year, probably around October 2001. We’ll probably open in Chicago or Boston in December. We have a date, Feb. 7, 2002, to be on Broadway.

Q: Aren’t you also doing a musical version of the Woody Allen film “Bullets Over Broadway?”

A: As soon as I put my pen down on [“Sweet Smell”]--we finish the workshop on Aug. 2--I am going to take the rest of August off. Starting Sept. 1, I am going to start writing “Bullets Over Broadway.”

Q: Have you given up composing scores for movies?

A: To tell you the truth, there’s really only so much time, and I really want to do some more Broadway shows before I pack it in.

Q: Why do you prefer Broadway over movies?

A: In a Broadway show, you are part of the creative team from the get-go. In a movie, you usually are one of the last elements who they call. No one says to you, “Do you like the story?” No one asks your opinion. They just say, “I need music.” And you can write some of the best music in the world for an unsuccessful film. I am not saying it’s not worth it because it’s wonderful to do the work, but still in all you say, “My God, I worked real hard and what happened?”

BE THERE

“Broadway’s Best,” Friday and Saturday at 8:30 p.m. at the Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood. Admission is $3 to $30. Call (323) 850-2000.