STAGE TUBE: Remembering Marvin Hamlisch

By: Aug. 07, 2012
Get Access To Every Broadway Story

Unlock access to every one of the hundreds of articles published daily on BroadwayWorld by logging in with one click.




Existing user? Just click login.




According to reports this morning, composer Marvin Hamlisch has passed away at 68 years old following a brief illness.

Hamlisch, one of only eleven EGOT winners in the history of the entertainment industry, was awarded three Oscars, four Grammys, four Emmys, a Tony and three Golden Globe awards for his work. On Broadway, he wrote the music for A Chorus Line - which received the Pulitzer Prize - as well as They're Playing Our Song, The Goodbye Girl and Sweet Smell of Success.

"Music is truly an international language," Hamlisch told BroadwayWorld in July. "It has the ability to bring people together like nothing else."

Take a look back at Hamlisch's remarkable career below: 

In 1973, THE WAY WE WERE was released in movie theaters. Starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford, Arthur Laurents' film received a lukewarm reception from critics. Hamlisch's score, however, was awarded the Academy and Grammy Awards for Best Original Dramatic Score and Best Original Song; the title song remains popular today.


In 1975, A CHORUS LINE debuted on Broadway. Although Hamlisch had worked on Broadway before as an arranger, it was his first score to hit the Great White Way. A CHORUS LINE would go on to play for more than 6,000 performances and win its composer the 1976 Tony Award for Best Score as well as the Drama Desk for Outstanding Music and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.


THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG opened on Broadway in 1979, starring  Robert Klein and Lucie Arnaz. Though it didn't match the overwhelming success of A CHORUS LINE, the show ran for more than 1,000 performances and was Tony-nominated for Best Musical.

SMILE, with Hamlisch's score and lyrics from Howard Ashman, opened on Broadway in 1986. Featuring Jodi Benson and Jeff McCarthy, the show only played 48 performances. Still, songs from the show have survived long past 1986, including "Do It For Me," performed here by Benson at Ashman's 1991 memorial service.

THE GOODBYE GIRL, which played for 188 performances, opened in 1993 starring Bernadette Peters and Martin Short in his Broadway debut. Though the show didn't receive stellar reviews, it earned Hamlisch another Drama Desk for Outstanding Music.

In 1994, Hamlisch was awarded two Emmys for his work on Barbra Streisand's US tour and the TV special that stemmed from it. Here, Streisand again sings "The Way We Were."

Hamlisch's 2002 Broadway venture, SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS, again played just over 100 performances but featured John Lithgow alongside Kelli O'Hara and Brian d'Arcy James, and earned Hamlisch Tony and Drama Desk nominations for his score.

 Last year, Hamlisch toured with Tony Award-winner Idina Menzel, arranging and conducting her concert series. The concert was released in a PBS special as well as on CD and DVD.

Broadway-bound THE NUTTY PROFESSOR, which opened just last month in Nashville, was Hamlisch's latest stage venture. Based on the 1963 Jerry Lewis film, the musical has earned warm reviews in Nashville. Though no Broadway dates have yet been announced, Hamlisch told BroadwayWorld of the show: "The Nutty Professor Musical might resonate more deeply with audiences today."

 

 

 

 



Videos