Word: songs
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG Book by Neil Simon Music by Marvin Hamlisch Lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager
...able assistance in this musical that, according to a program note, is "loosely based on the real-life relationship between the show's composer Marvin Hamlisch and its lyricist Carole Bayer Sager." Perhaps that is why the sharp crackle of humor in They 're Playing Our Song seems to emanate from a warming log fire of shared humanity...
Enter Paris K.C. Barclay, who puts Franklin's words to a variety of original tunes without trying to out-cute his collaborator. The score combines a variety of musical eras and styles to succeed on two levels. Not only is almost every song smoothly professional, but taken as a whole, the score represents a comprehensive and a sophisticated satire of musical comedy...
...their roles. The latter, who portrays a classic professor-turned-butler, makes the most of his few lines and shows the difference between creating a character and just playing a part. You just can't take your eyes off O'Leary from the time when he steals the song "Domestic Blisters," to the end when he is fittingly left alone on stage...
...egocentric villain character nailed ("Natalie, I believe I've found myself overqualified for life as we know it."), but the kid knows how to play off the audience like the great comic actors. Hanes is raw material, and when he goes into the Elvis-takeoff tune "Stud" (my favorite song in the show, complete with background choreograpy in the finest Motown tradition), you'll know he doesn't spend his Saturday nights watching "Mannix...