Marvin Hamlisch plays “The Way We Were” as he performs during the Alltech Fortnight Festival at UK’s Singletary Center For the Arts in Lexington, Ky., Saturday, October 2, 2010. © Herald-Leader photo by Matt Goins.
Before that October night in 2010, a lot of us primarily knew Marvin Hamlisch as a name atop a score. But what scores they were: A Chorus Line, The Way We Were, and The Sting.
In reality, we needed no introduction. Hamlisch told us before he came to Lexington for a concert with the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra as part of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games that he always enjoyed the “a-ha moment” when he conducted student orchestras — that instant when the young musicians realized they did know his music, even if the face wasn’t familiar.
As he took the stage at the Singletary Center for the Arts, there was no indication that his remaining time was short. Yes, he was sort of an elder statesman of song, but he was still spry, regaling the audience with anecdotes about writing, movie stars, musicans and bourbon and playing a little game where he took song title suggestions from the audience and made up tunes on the spot. His performance was easily the most fun of the ones that came through town for the Games.
And now, he’s gone. According to the Associated Press, that lively artist died Monday after a brief illness. He was 68.
A lot of the students on stage that night were just gaining an appreciation for Hamlisch’s legacy. His music thrived at a time when the movies, Broadway and the pop charts were very much in sync. These days, we think the Oscar for best original song is silly, as few quality songs are composed for the screen anymore. But in his era, his movie tunes like Nobody Does it Better from The Spy Who Loved Me and Through the Eyes of Love from Ice Castles – a song every girl in my junior high school chorus wanted to sing as a solo — topped the charts. And then there was that icon, A Chorus Line, which he told us was his favorite accomplishment, a musical that is dated, but never seems dated, a show with pop-chart toppers that were even more moving in the context of the show. A prodigy who got into Juilliard at age 6, Hamlisch’s songs were the products of virtuoso musicianship, but their roots were in the heart.
He said before visiting Lexington he had a lot of new projects in the works, particularly new work for Broadway. A lot of that may be left unheard now, because like that night in October 2010, it seems like our time with Marvin Hamlisch was far too short.
