Gary Waldman & Jamison Troutman, theater producers, presented the World-Premiere of I Write the Songs - A Celebration of the Music of Barry Manilow at the Atlantis Playhouse, W. Palm Beach, FL (2003-2004) … the following is a review published in The South Florida Tribune.
Manilow’s Magic at Work
Manilow’s Magic at Work
By Al Price - January, 2004
SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE
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| Leah Springer in I WRITE THE SONGS Click image for video |
The show at the Atlantis Playhouse proves once again, you don’t have to have elaborate sets and costumes to create an evening of great entertainment.
Producer Gary Waldman has taken some 25 songs from the body of work by Barry Manilow and staged an evening of wonderful song interpretations that would surely please the composer.
On a three-level stage a party is underway in which five attractive and splendid singers are gathered to enjoy each other’s company and sing their way through the Manilow compositions. Some 7 out of the 25 were not written by Manilow but apparently became associated with him over the years.
What makes it particularly appealing is the choice of Manilow songs devised so that it might develop a story line of love, romance, lost love and rediscovered romance.
With pianist and music director Phil Hinton and Jeff Hess on keyboard playing for the group, the accompaniment is excellent. Don Febbraio who just came off a stint in Barnum at the Stage Door Theater sings the solo When I Wanted You and is joined by Dean Swann in Big City Blues with excellent harmony.
Our three ladies include Sarah Wolter, a fine soprano who also recently appeared at the Stage Door Theater in Crazy for You and later as the wife Charity to Barnum. She sings When Love is Gone and Where Have You Gone as solos. Then there’s Rachel Klein who has a background of appearing in many musicals here and abroad. She sings Even Now and a duet with Dean Swann on Somewhere Down the Road. Leah Springer also has a stage musical background and sings Let Me Be Your Wings and does a wonderful trio rendition with Sarah and Rachel in Man Wanted.
Dean Swann has the moves choreographically when participating in the dance moments of the production. There is a great deal of ensemble singing in which all of the participants take part singly or in harmony with each other. The dancing was minimal but the movement of the singers in different positions of the stage made for an interesting tableau for many of the numbers they delivered.
This is an entertaining revue extolling the songs of Barry Manilow and delivered by an enthusiastic and fine group of singers. I was sorry not to have heard Copacabana one of Barry Manilow’s greatest hits. Perhaps it didn’t fit into the sequence of romantic songs.
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