Melissa Manchester To Sing Tribute To Alan Bergman At Special Event
(Jensen) Music legend Melissa Manchester shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, the multi-talented singer-songwriter and performer, who recently dazzled audiences in the national tour of Funny Girl, is celebrating a milestone birthday (she turns 75 on February 15) in grand style - with a host of spectacular new projects and a full slate of concert appearances.
"I'm having a grand time because my spirit has no sense of time or cares about age," Manchester says. "Perhaps my superpower is that I remain curious. The only pause I hit was after Funny Girl, when I took some time to compose new material, but other than that it's full speed ahead."
On Friday, February 6, Manchester will appear at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles during the annual awards gala for the Society of Composers and Lyricists to sing "I'll Never Say Goodbye" in tribute to the late composer Alan Bergman. With his wife Marilyn, Bergman wrote scores of classic, award-winning songs, among them "I'll Never Say Goodbye," which Manchester recorded for the 1979 movie The Promise. The song was nominated for an Oscar, and in 1980 Manchester performed it, along with "Through the Eyes of Love," which she recorded for the film Ice Castles, at the Academy Awards ceremony.
"Alan and Marilyn Bergman were dear friends of mine for a long time," she says. "At various points in my life, they were kind enough to take me in and let me sleep on their couch. I watched their lovely daughter Julia grow up, and I wrote a song called 'Tears of Joy' with them.
"I'm honored to perform 'I'll Never Say Goodbye' in tribute to Alan," she continues. "I remember hearing it for the first time, and I responded to it immediately. When something is so undeniably great, you don't have to twist yourself to put yourself inside it. You're excited to be part of the journey."
Last year, Manchester saw her first-ever classical composition, Awake! - A Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, premiere to rapturous notices, and last month, her second classical piece, The Suite By and By, and By for flute, clarinet and bassoon, made its debut for the All Saints Music Guild in Beverly Hills.
"I was raised listening to the bassoon because my father was a bassoonist with the Metropolitan Opera, so that sound is very primal to me," she explains. "When I asked my friend Bill Wood if I might write a piece for him, I asked, 'You do a lot of church concerts. What's the musical combination that gets the most performances?' He said it was bassoon, clarinet and flute. It was a marvelous opportunity for me for many reasons, one of the biggest being that I really learned how to use a Sibelius file, which puts whatever you're writing down on manuscript. When I wrote Awake!, I had to use pencil and paper."
Regarding the composition's memorable title, Manchester says, "It's a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the old gospel hymn, 'The Sweet By-and-By.' We have three movements - 'By Chatter,' 'By Lamplight' and 'By Flight' - so it works on that level, too."
Since 2003, Jim Caruso's Cast Party has been the go-to event every Monday night in New York City. Led by Caruso and pianist Billy Stritch, the multi-artist impromptu variety show is held on Broadway's off nights at the famed Birdland Jazz Club, allowing theater performers a chance to drop in and let loose. On Thursday, February 19, Cast Party travels to the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert, CA., and Manchester has been announced as the evening's special guest star for its finale. She confirms that she will perform two songs, including the iconic hit "Whenever I Call You Friend," which she wrote with Kenny Loggins.
"Billy Stritch and Jim Caruso are good friends of mine, and they're both supremely talented," Manchester says. "They've hosted Cast Party at Birdland for over 20 years, and occasionally they take it on the road to other cities - even England. It's always spectacular, always unexpected. I'm usually traveling when it comes to the McCallum Theatre, so I'm thrilled to be a part of the show's finale. We're going to have a lot of fun!"
Last year, Manchester received unanimous raves when she debuted her "musical memoir" titled "Fifty Threads: An Artist's Journey" for a sold-out run at New York City's 54 Below, and next month she will stage the phenomenal one-woman show during an NYK tour of South Florida private communities. The dates for the shows are Friday, March 20, in Boynton Beach, FL; Saturday March 21 in Delray Beach, FL; and Sunday March 22 in Port St. Lucie, FL.
"I've been doing these condo tours every other year, and I have a great time," Manchester says. "The audiences are wonderful - they're so happy to see me, and I can't say enough about them. The theaters are on the premises, and they're terrific in every way possible. I'm so looking forward to doing my 'Fifty Threads' for such a receptive crowd."
Directly after those dates, from March 25-28, Manchester will take to the high seas on the '70s Rock & Romance Cruise, a star-studded affair that also features America, Don Felder of the Eagles, original Foreigner lead vocalist Lou Graham, Ambrosia, and the Marshall Tucker Band, among others. "I did a cruise a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it," she says. "It's a fun party crowd, so I'll be singing the hits."
With a laugh, Manchester recalls her previous Rock and Romance Cruise, when she was booked for a noontime performance: "That felt a little early for me - I mean, my voice is still waking up at noon - but I played the show and the place was packed. The audience couldn't have been more wonderful. In the end, I was grateful I went on at noon, because the audience was fresh and just starting their day."
From April 29 to May 4, Manchester will perform "Fifty Threads" along the Northeast (Pittsburgh, PA; Sellersville, PA; Old Saybrook, CT; and Boston, MA) before she returns to Manhattan's 54 Below, from May 6-9, for a very special encore engagement of the show.
"I had the most incredible experience with 'Fifty Threads' in New York City last year," Manchester says. "It was everything I hoped for when I conceived the show, and it was lovely to feel the audiences lean in to the story night after night. 54 Below is so physically beautiful - the lighting, the reds and purples of the room. When I plant myself at the piano, I feel the audience is right beside me as I'm saying to them, 'Once upon a time... '"
Recently, Manchester wrapped recording an upcoming album titled Audacity, a special duet project with her friend, famed jazz singing star Ann Hampton Callaway, on which the two powerhouse vocalists are backed by the hard-charging, all-female DIVA Jazz Orchestra. "I'm so excited about this album," Manchester says. "I spent five days at Ann's house in Tucson. We picked the songs we wanted to do from our catalogs - I sing lead on mine, she sings lead on hers, but we also duet - and then we started writing the title song together."
Manchester describes the song as a true performance piece. "We thought about how we would trade parts and how the orchestra would play with us," she says. "We wrote in the hopes that the audience will do a call-and-response with us, like you see in Black churches." She adds, "I think 'audacity' is such a brilliant word for the song and album. It perfectly encapsulates the spirit of the project and also the times we're in."
Manchester, Callaway and the Orchestra recorded the album during a boisterous three-day stretch at Sound on Sound Studios in Montclair, NJ. On the final recording day, the two singers belted it out for nine hours without rest. "I never did that in my life," Manchester says," but the energy was incredible. It sort of takes you over, and you don't want to stop."
The singer is crossing her fingers that the whole gang can take their act on the road upon the album's release. "That was always the intention," she says. "The DIVA Jazz Orchestra has done festivals all over, and so now you'd have these two seasoned broads fronting this formidable stage full of fierce players. What a great way to tell our story!"
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