Review: Lyrics & Lyricists Celebrates Alan & Marilyn Bergman at 92NY

Every Kind of Light: The Love and Lyrics of Alan & Marilyn Bergman, a revue celebrating the songs of lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman, played for several performances over the weekend at the 92nd Street Y as part of their long-running Lyrics & Lyricists series.

Few lyricists have left a greater mark on the Great American Songbook than Alan and Marilyn Bergman. Married in 1958 and creative partners for more than six decades, the Bergmans crafted sophisticated, emotionally rich lyrics for film, television, theater, and the concert stage. Working with composers including Michel Legrand, Marvin Hamlisch, Cy Coleman, and John Williams, they created such classics as “The Way We Were,” “The Windmills of Your Mind,” “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?,” and “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?” Their songs combine poetic sophistication with genuine emotional warmth, qualities that continue to resonate with performers and audiences today.

The show, written by Dick Scanlan and Malcolm Gets, was led by pianist/singer Billy Stritch, who also wrote the arrangements and orchestrations, and served as co-host with singer/songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway. The cast included Broadway performers Nikki Renée Daniels, Brandon Victor Dixon and Ali Stroker, backed by Stritch along with Aaron Heick (reeds), Michael O’Brien (bass), Eric Halvorson (drums), and Andy Ezrin (keyboards). Throughout this revue, all lyrics were by Alan and Marilyn Bergman unless otherwise noted.

The company opened, after the strains of “The Way We Were” (Marvin Hamlisch) served as a bait-and-switch, with a swell medley of “Summer Me, Winter Me” (Legrand), “I Believe in Love” (Kenny Loggins) and “Something New in My Life” (Legrand). Notably, the vocal mix was a bit muddy, sometimes making it difficult to discern the lyrics over the band. This later cleared up.

The three Broadway performers each had their own sound. Daniels has a beautiful, rich voice with much warmth. Dixon has a rangy tenor. Stroker, paralyzed from the waist down since the age of 2, is the first wheelchair user to appear on Broadway (Spring Awakening) and the first to win a Tony (Oklahoma!). She has a small but powerful voice reminiscent of Kristen Chenoweth’s.

Callaway and Stritch had a marvelous duet on “The Last Time I Felt Like This” (Marvin Hamlisch). Daniels thrilled with her interpretation of “The Summer Knows” (Legrand), the magnificent theme song from the film Summer of ’42, with clips from the movie playing behind the band.

Similarly, scenes from The Thomas Crown Affair played as Dixon and Stritch performed a brilliant, kaleidoscope-like harmony duet of “The Windmills of Your Mind” (Michel Legrand) from that film. Interestingly, it was revealed that The Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever” was the inspiration for this evocative song, the Bergmans’ idea of “psychedelic.”

The script provided some fascinating insights into the Bergmans, particularly in describing the many coincidences of their lives growing up – including being born in the same Brooklyn hospital a few years apart – though it took a stars-aligning meet-cute moment in Los Angeles for the two to come together while collaborating, separately, with composer Lew Spence in 1956.

Another highlight came with “The Best of Friends,” a sweet and amusing number that had “chair choreography,” with Stroker in her wheelchair while Daniels and Dixon utilized rolling stools. (All choreography was provided by Rommy Sandhu.) The playful number brought to mind the “Triplets” routine from The Band Wagon.

With her soaring voice, seated on the stage floor, Daniels performed a powerful “Papa, Can You Hear Me” (Legrand) from Yentl, looking up to the sky as if she were singing to the ghost of Yentl’s father. This number, introduced by Barbra Streisand in the film, was written with both Streisand and the character of Yentl in mind.

While “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?” (Legrand) was most famously recorded as a duet by James Ingram and Patti Austin, Stroker performed it as a surprisingly effective solo ballad.

Daniels danced in to perform a spectacular “Fifty Percent” (Billy Goldenberg) from Ballroom. Dixon took on “Nice ‘n’ Easy,” written for Sinatra with Lew Spence, and the song that put the Bergmans on the map in 1958. O’Brien came up front to lead off the number with some jazzy bass lines. Dixon delivered a sprightly take on another Spence song, “That Face,” introduced by Fred Astaire.

Callaway returned with a pair of songs. After a gorgeous rendition of “On My Way to You” (Legrand), Callaway performed her original, non-Bergman song, “In Every Light,” which she wrote to honor the Bergmans. Here, she had Stritch “take five” while the accomplished pianist took to the piano for er poignant piece.

After the finale of one of the Bergmans’ finest songs, “The Way We Were” (Marvin Hamlisch), Stritch and company returned for a fun, short encore of “And Then There’s Maude” (Dave Grusin), the theme from Maude, complete with that show’s opening credits scene playing on the screen.

This was an excellent revue, one that could easily have “legs” if it were launched in a manner similar to that of Going Bacharach (reviewed HERE), which played for some six weeks earlier this year and is now in an extended run in Chicago. With strong arrangements and performances of some of the best of the modern Great American Songbook, what’s not to like? Here’s to a return engagement, if not a part two.

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For more great shows at the 92nd Street Y, New York, visit www.92ny.org. Join their email list or follow them on social media to be the first to know when the 2026-27 Lyrics & Lyricists series is announced.

Photos: Richard Termine

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