Hamlisch Tribute on Live from Lincoln Center Tonite (12/31) — Page 2

I did a phone interview with Mr. Hamlisch around 1981 or 1982. I was working on a college radio station, and he took a good 15 minutes out of his day to speak with me. There were some audio problems and I had to edit the interview by re-recording my questions. But for a person of his stature to do the interview for a 10 Watt college radio station was so gracious and magnanimous and apparently typical. And in a box somewhere should be a cassette with a copy of the aired interview.
I recall several things: (1) that he said "It's not really the Marvin Hamlisch story" with reference to "They're Playing Our Song" (2) He loved playing for Groucho and (3) he fought to keep What I Did For Love in A Chorus Line by telling Michael Bennett that Marvin needed to have one hit song in the show..
So, when they started singing What I Did for Love last night, I smiled broadly.

Didn't see this because I forgot. But, how did Beth Behrs do? Or what did she do? Just curious because she isn't a Broadway veteran and I know her best from 2 Broke Girls.

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Beth Bohrs did Dance 10, Looks 3 and the finale and it was quite odd. They wouldn't let her say Tits, so the whole number became this hammy mess where she had to come up with things to replace the word... mits, bits, spits. It was horrible. And she wasn't terrible, but she wasn't very good either.

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Marvin really deserved better. There were times I couldnt believe the song selections and the singers. Why that woman doing NOTHING....horrendous. What happened at the end? Was this concert thrown together or did it just end early?

Well, Raul sang one of my favorite songs ever written by Hamlisch, so I was quite pleased.

You're not the only one, jv92. From Audra's and Megan's opening song butchering to the 15 dead minutes of audience shots at the end, I thought it was pretty much a non-stop train wreck.

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Just getting through on the dvr -- not terribly impressed yet and Im 25 minutes in.

Am I the only one that doesnt get Josh Groban's massive success?

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Brian D'Arcy James defintely worth waiting for!

(And can does anyone else think BDJ and Mandy Patinkin should play brothers in something? While I like the quality of BDJ more than Patinkin, they have similar stature, stylings and presence.)

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Just started watching this on my DVR.

I have to say, the orchestra is so sloppy! The pianist in the overture was racing to the finish line ahead of everyone else.

And the first arrangement of "The Way We Were" that Audra sang is completely horrific. It's like they're forcing the song and the melody to do something completely different. It doesn't fit at all.

And Megan Hilty is singing flat. And very lounge-y.

Does it get better than "Nobody Does It Better?"

I sure hope they do it better.

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Oh, she should have launched into "Clang, clang, clang ..." right at the end.

That would be doing it better.

At least Josh Groban sounds like he's in the same room with the orchestra and Paul Geminiani.

Audra makes a lovely host though. I'd like to see her host the Tonys one day. She can just give out all of her own at the ceremony and still have a few left over at the end!

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Was there anything from They're Playing our Song or The Goodbye Girl at all? No Bernadette or Martin Short?

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It was a wholly unimpressive night, I thought. Just didn't gel, and really made Marvin seem second rate to me. The performers all seemed off.

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Well, I hope someone would post clips from the show online.

For future Broadway-related broadcasts, does anyone know how someone could stream PBS without a television?

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