Interview: Marty Silvestri & Joel Higgins on THE BEAT OF A WANDERING HEART at The Laurie Beechman

Tomorrow night through Saturday November 15, you can see a brand-new 75-minute theatrical revue featuring the work of Marty Silvestri and Joel Higgins at the Laurie Beechman Theatre in the heart of Times Square. The Beat of a Wandering Heart displays the immense color and range of the team’s musical and lyrical style. The team have a 40-plus year partnership with songs spanning TV, film and musical theater. The new show is a sung-through story of the thrills of being anywhere else, being with anyone else and, eventually, finding peace by coming home. The cast includes Christine Andreas, George Dvorsky, James Harkness and Casey Borghesi.

We spoke with Silvestri and Higgins about the new show, their reflections on their long partnership, and more.

What are you most looking forward to about the debut of The Beat of a Wandering Heart?

Marty Silvestri:  I guess I love the idea of having some wonderfully talented actors and singers take material, that in a lot of instances they’re not at all familiar with, and observe them discovering ways to interpret the songs out of their original theatrical context and making them their own in performance. Not only interpreting, but relating on a personal level to the lyrics and music. What a treat! Because most of these songs were written for very specific characters and with specific scene direction, it’s been eye-opening to see how Mark directs all of them as “standalone” pieces and feels the audience will enjoy the song even if they don’t know the source or its original intention. So, we authors will get to hear these pieces in a whole new light.  

Joel Higgins: I’m looking forward to seeing how Mark has woven these several songs from different shows and venues that Marty and I wrote over the years into an entertaining format of its own.  And, of course, hearing the music interpreted in original ways by this talented ensemble of voices and musicians.

What was it like combing through your archives of old work to put this revue together?

JH: It’s actually been an enjoyable voyage of rediscovery, remembering the genesis and process that went into crafting these pieces.  Reliving the shows and collaborations and aha! moments that went into their creation.

MS: When we wrote the new title song (“The Beat of a Wandering Heart”) just a few months ago, I came to the realization that this revue would consist of material written in five different decades!  Each piece’s creation has related memories and tales that only Joel and I remember and in rehearsals, the curious and sweet inquiries from the performers allows us to recall and relive so many of them! The good … the bad … and the beautiful!!!

There was a period in the ‘80s, ‘90s, and early 2000s when Joel and I were writing daily. Sometimes for theater, sometimes for TV themes and scores and sometimes for various recording artists, so often under the pressure of deadlines. I spent days upon days in the recording studios of NYC, LA and London working with incredible performers and musicians, always exploring new musical concepts and ideas and always happy just to be making music in one fashion or another. I cherish those days because I was learning every day. I wouldn’t have the stamina for all that now, but The Beat of a Wandering Heart is certainly bringing just enough of that activity back and I’m smiling … and still learning.

How did the casting for this run at the Laurie Beechman Theatre come together?

MS: Ha!  Well…as you know, my beautiful wife will be one of our stars, but she wasn’t a first choice! Don’t get me wrong… she’s always MY first choice, but in speaking with Joel and Mark I mentioned how I felt we should try to separate the project from ourselves as much as possible and because Christine has performed our music both on stage and in recordings and cabaret over the years, I felt it might be best to find a “Christine Andreas” type and avoid any talk of nepotism! With this in mind, and after a few days of casting discussions, I came to my senses and asked the gathering, why should we go AI when the genuine living, breathing and singing article was right there in the room? That’s when I realized they all had this in mind from the start and were just waiting for me to come to my senses! So….

George Dvorsky was brilliant in a villainous role in our University of Alabama production of The Countess of Storyville, and we’ve all been friends since the Scarlet Pimpernel days. George generously did cartwheels around his incredibly busy working schedule to make our rehearsal and performance schedule work for him as well, and that gives us a great leading man with voice, looks and talent for Christine to play opposite! Casey Borghesi and James Harkness were Mark’s discovery. I didn’t know either of them, but they are so beautiful and talented they are going to force Christine and George to bring their A game to the stage! (Which of course they always do regardless!)

JH: Well, multi-awarded Christine Andreas, my old buddy, leading lady and Uber-talent, was a slam dunk and I’ve always admired George’s performances and vocal talent.  I didn’t really know James and Casey until Mark suggested them and I met them and was impressed by their voices and performances.  What a cast!

Did anything surprise you during the process of crafting the show?

JH: The crafting of the show is all Mark and what surprised me in a gratifying way is his dedication and love for the songs and for presenting them fresh and fun light.

MS: When Mark told me that he really wanted his next project to be a piece celebrating my music, I was incredibly moved. Mark has an immense musical pedigree. That someone with his wealth of knowledge both as a musician and singer: and someone who has arranged and performed some of the best songs ever written, thought what he knew of my song catalog would be worthy of a show both surprised and excited me. So we handed him all the material …  said so long … thinking our job was over!  Surprise!  Mark wants a new title song. Surprise! Mark needs a new lyric here and there. Surprise!  Mark needs a musical passage created for the bridge between these two songs! Surprise! Mark’s driving us crazy! (Just kidding).  But yes … I was somewhat SURPRISED at how much Joel and I ended up being involved creatively to help bring Mark’s vision to fruition! (Appropriate I guess, since the initial idea was told to me at a little SURPRISE party for my birthday at Mark’s home back in November.)

Can you tell us a little bit about the title song you wrote for this?

MS: Mark and I listened and reviewed over a hundred songs and some he initially chose to be in the show ended up being replaced by others as his storyline became clearer. Things also changed when we finally had our complete cast, as their individual styles and talents dictated certain pieces to the three of us. The one constant was Mark’s realization that so much of our work was set in ‘far away’ places.  The old West, turn-of-the-century New Orleans, Venice, Versailles, tropical islands and so forth. We never thought about it, but we “wandered” all over the map which not only created wonderfully exotic settings but also scores that matched that wanderlust. Mark related that need to be somewhere else geographically to a person’s desire to wander, not always for the better, from intimate relationships.  That brought us all to the double meaning of “A Wandering Heart” and Mark requested we come up with a title song.  No ballads please! And a little Jamaican rhythm (who knows how Joel’s mind works …)  entered our minds and a reggae tune was born! (It’s not just about the ‘wandering’, Mon, it’s about the BEAT of that heart too!)

Aside from this show, what have you been working on or doing lately?

MS: Just finished composing and recording music and lyrics to an original Christmas song for Christine, and we’ll have that out on social media this Christmas. The recording will be accompanied by a video that will be filmed and edited by my daughter, Emilie Silvestri. But even better news is that that song launched the commission of an entire Christmas album for Christine (her first one) that I’ll be producing with a release in time for the 2026 holiday season! We’ve rekindled our partnership with my dear friend and executive record producer Barb Beale, and though it won’t have all original songs, there will be a couple Silvestri/Higgins holiday melodies mixed in with the traditionals! The title song is called “I Remember Christmas.” Joel and I have a couple of irons in the fire musical wise, in particular, directorial interest in a regional production of our musical based on the life of Casanova!  Sometimes going after the rights of a book or film to use as source material for a musical is similar to fishing. You spend a lot of time with your line in the pond without even getting a nibble. Recently I had a “big one” on my line but tragically, I couldn’t get it in the boat!  So, baiting my hook again and back to the pond!

JH: I can’t say specifically, but there are several things percolating and scratching the creative itch.  Some of which may insist on coming to fruition and some will be best relegated to the trunk.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

JH: I would like to add that collaborating with Marty over these 40-plus years has always been a joy.  We always managed to see eye-to-eye on whatever we were working on and whether it was ultimately successful or not, we never had a cross argument. We had astounding adventures full of wild times and more laughter than should be allowed. We were each other’s biggest fans, and still are.

MS: I’m looking forward to creating act two of Wandering Heart because I think it would make a complete beautiful evening in a modest sized theater!  I saw what Joel wrote about our years of friendship and collaboration and I am touched reading his words about me, but it goes both ways. I first heard his lyrics in 1972 when he sang some of his early tunes on a guitar late at night up in Canada where we met in a production of Cabaret. His words created such beautiful imagery and storytelling, the likes I could only compare to some of my favorite songwriters… but very much his own! I guess I knew I wanted to set some of those words to the music they evoked almost immediately in my composing heart.

I regret that only a relative few got to see his performance as Jonas Candide in our ‘opera musical’ The Fields of Ambrosia when it premiered at George Street Playhouse. Audiences and critics agreed he was beyond remarkable in a tour de force role! Singing his own words made his performance SO incredibly seamless! That it never came to Broadway after the West End production is a regret I still carry in my heart!

Regrets? How do I feel about that ultimately? Well, allow me to quote Edith Piaf on “regrets” (Christine does a one-woman show called PIAF No Regrets and I take this quote from her performance before she sings Piaf’s signature piece Non, je ne regrette rien!) “So if you were to ask me if I could relive my life without the sad parts, would I? If there was even a tiny chance that I would lose one of the good parts along with the bad I would never take that chance. No. No. Never. No. No.” So many good parts have made for a good life!!!