INTERVIEW: Theater stars to join Michael Lavine at special concert
Broadway vocal coach Michael Lavine will bring his successful show, Michael Lavine & Friends, to Midtown Manhattan’s Feinstein’s/54 Below on Thursday, July 13, and the night promises to be a celebration with a host of Broadway and off-Broadway stars. On the bill are Tony winners Tonya Pinkins, Daisy Eagan and Debbie Gravitte, plus Mark Blowers, Steven Brinberg, Fay DeWitt, Dianne Fraser, Heather MacRae, Christine Pedi, Clarke Thorell, Sarah Wadsley and Carol Weiss.
In addition to being a vocal coach, Lavine is a performer, musical director and sheet music archivist. At the Shanghai Theatre Academy, he musically directed productions of Rent, Sweeney Todd and Thoroughly Modern Millie. Other stages that have seen his work include the Metropolitan Room, York Theatre Company and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
His recording efforts have been extensive, including the successful Lost Broadway and More series, which finds Lavine collaborating with other theater professionals on songs from Broadway shows that have never been recorded before.
A portion of proceeds from the Feinstein’s/54 Below cabaret performance will benefit The Actors Fund, an organization that helps professionals in the performing arts and entertainment industry.
Recently, Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Lavine. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What can audiences expect at the show on July 13?
I started this series around 12 years ago in Hollywood at Feinstein’s at the Cinegrill in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. I host and narrate and tell stories about my relationships with musical theatre performers and writers like Adolph Green, Hugh Martin and Sheldon Harnick. I sing a little and bring up my friends to chat and sing with me.
How did you decide which ‘friends’ to include for the July 13 performance?
When I did the shows in L.A., I was often asked to use people I’d never met before and call them my ‘friends.’ It was important to me to actually know everyone performing and call them my friends. For the show this week, I asked people I love and respect and have worked with. Luckily, my cast of characters are all actually my friends! I’ve had such fun helping the performers decide what to sing.
I’m excited that Fay DeWitt is traveling from Los Angeles to appear. She was on Broadway in 1949 in Alive and Kicking, and she’ll be singing a song Harold Rome wrote for her in that musical this Thursday night. Joe Keenan, who was the head writer on Fraiser for many years, wrote a song with Brad Ross (Little by Little off-Broadway) that Christine Pedi will be debuting. Christine and I have known each other since long before she had done her first non-union Forbidden Broadway!
Heather MacRae and I go back well over 30 years. I musically directed her mother, Sheila, in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas in the early 1980s at the Bucks County Playhouse, and her family became friendly with mine. I used to tour with her cabaret show about her father, Gordon. She’ll be singing with me from that show in an arrangement Mark Nadler wrote for her.
What do you find special about the venue, Feinstein’s/54 Below?
I love working at 54 Below. I’ve played a few times there in the past, most recently for Bryan Batt. I love the location, right between Times Square and the Upper West Side. It’s also a beautifully constructed, elegant room, and people really enjoy coming there. When Michael Feinstein put his name on it, another touch of class was added.
The Actors Fund is an important organization. What motivated you to support The Actors Fund?
I’ve been working with The Actors Fund for many years. They often come to me looking for a piece of sheet music they can’t find anywhere for a performer who’s singing in one of their benefits. Almost all of my shows on the West Coast have been benefits in support of The Actors Fund. They’re an important organization that provides so much help to everyone in the theatre community. I’m so happy to help them again this week.
What inspired you to produce the Lost Broadway and More CDs?
I started the Lost Broadway and More series around 10 years ago. I was inspired to use my large collection of sheet music and record songs that had never been recorded before from Broadway musicals. I was able to get many of my Broadway star friends to participate, and I’ve riffed into all kinds of themes within the albums.
For example, Volume 4 was all female Broadway songwriters. Volume 5 was all [Betty] Comden & Green & [Jule] Styne, either with each other or with other collaborators. Volume 6 was all Jerome Kern.
I’m almost finished with an all Marvin Hamlisch volume. I’ve recorded Kelli O’Hara singing two cut Sweet Smell of Success songs, Randy Graff singing a song from the Carolyn Leigh score of Smile and many more. Terre Hamlisch, Marvin’s widow, gave me complete access to everything Marvin ever wrote, and I found many gems there.
I have several more volumes almost finished, including an all-Jewish-themed volume, which I’m planning on calling Hold on to Your Yarmulkes! For that volume, I have both Sheldon Harnick and Austin Pendleton singing cut Fiddler songs and many other great songs with folks like Richard Kind.
How many samples of sheet music are in your archive at this point?
I have no idea how much sheet music I have, but I have floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall shelves to house it all. And I also have a storage locker downstairs. I’m constantly running out of room to house it all, but I’m also very acquisitive. I’ve inherited a number of collections, including that of Arthur Siegel, who wrote all the New Faces revues in the ’50s and ’60s, and Peter Howard, who was my mentor for 15 years. Peter wrote the dance music to Chicago; Crazy for You; Barnum; Baby; Hello, Dolly; Carnival … and many more. He also conducted many of those shows.
I’m really looking forward to telling stories of the many people I’ve had the great fortune to work with over the years! And I hope I can bring this show back in the future. I’m blessed with a terrific cast, but everyone who couldn’t make it this time has urged me to ask them next time!
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Michael Lavine & Friends will be performed Thursday, July 13 at 7 p.m. at Feinstein’s/54 Below in Midtown Manhattan. Click here for more information and tickets.
