SURPRISE! Happy Birthday, Dear Phil

If he wasn’t surprised, he sure did a good job of acting as if he were. When Phil Hall walked into the second floor dining room at Sardi’s Sunday and the close to 30 of us luck enough to call him friend shouted “Surprise,” tears welled in his eyes. It was a great start to a lively celebration of his 60th birthday, which actually won’t occur until Friday, when he will be in Paris.

Nobody deserves these good times more than Phil, a gifted composer, playwright and singer. We met in 2007 when I interviewed him about his play with music, Matthew Passion. We’ve been friends ever since. The room was full of people with similar stories. To meet Phil is to become his friend. He’s one of the kindest-hearted people I know.

Karen Arlington, a friend and performer in the singing group he founded and directs, The Philhallmonics, arranged most of the gathering, plotting for two months with the assistance of actor Jeremy Michael and fellow Philhallmonic singer Rachael Robbins.

For an especially appropriate touch, considering we were celebrating in Sardi’s, Rachael had commissioned the artist Age to draw a caricature of Phil, which during the time of the brunch hung on a pillar at the famed showbiz restaurant before heading home to Phil’s apartment.

Theatre folk came and went. Broadway favorite Melissa Errico, a voice student of Phil’s, arrived midway through the festivities with her 3 1/2-year-old twins, Diana and Juliette McEnroe, and joined the guest of honor table, at which I was fortunate to be sitting. (That’s me in the black dress clapping behind Phil in the photo.)

This being a Sunday afternoon in the theatre district, others left early to make their matinees performances-- Tommar Wilson and Michael James Scott headed for The Book of Mormon and George Dvorsky to Closer Than Ever.

Jazz pianist Dan Furman played throughout the afternoon. After brunch he was joined by the voices of some of the women in Phil’s life. Melissa sang “a nice little Irish song by two Jewish intellectuals,” “How Are Things in Glocca Morra?” She asked the twins to be her backup singers but they declined, being more interested in the chicken fingers and fries the waiter had brought them since they arrived after brunch was served.

“They’re going to go to bed because I sing this at night,” she joked.

Several Philhallmonics serenaded the birthday guy as well. Mary Anne Prevost sang “I Wake Up in the Morning Feeling Fine,” Linda Sue Moshier sang “The Music That Makes Me Dance ,” Dolly Ellen Friedman presented “Razzle Dazzle,” Rachael Robbins “Roxie” and Arlington “Love Is Here to Stay,”

Two Philhallmonics wrote their own words to hits. Lenore Fuerstman’s contribution was a rewriting of “Mame,” to which we chimed in with Phil’s name replacing Mame’s. It was fun. Here’s a sampling:


“You mention stars, who’s played with a few?
“Phi-il.
“Phyllis, Nanette, and Angela, too!
“Phi-il.
“From humble roots in Durham, amazing what a worldly life you’ve led!
“Hand-holding countless ladies has put a couple gray hairs on your head!
“So now we celebrate your big day,
“Phi-il.
“We’re here cause Karen said she would pay,
“Phi-il.
“Your smile, your sense of humor, your talent and your sweetness and your heart,
“These are the things we love in you,
“There isn’t much that you can’t do,
“We’re all your fans you know it’s true,
“Phi-il.
 “Your music’s inspirational
“Your coaching’s educational,
“We think you’re just sensational,
 “Phi-il, Phi-il, Phi-il, Phi-il, Phi-il!”


Diana Silva gave her spin to “Second Hand Rose” with “Happy Birthday, Phil Hall:”



“So Happy Birthday, Phil Hall.
“We love you, Phil,
“There’s no one else like you,
“Unsurpassed in your skill,
“Even when you play your ol’ piana,
“You’re the best of our songbook Americana.
“We sing from our hearts,
“Thanks to you, Maestro Phil.
“You teach us how to belt perfectly,
“Singing from my belly, I’m now deeper than before.
“Just like Franco Corelli I can access my core.
“Phil, you’re a wiz.
“Yes, you’re the best in the biz.
“So Happy Birthday Phil to you,
“Phil from Seventh Avenue ….Nu?”


Diana is one of my favorite Philhallmonics. I’ve seen her in three of the group’s concerts and she always stands out with the intensity of her presence and the emotional rendering of each song she solos. I got to meet her before Phil arrived and tell her that.

“As soon as I spoke to him on the phone I knew I would like him,” she said, explaining that he had been recommended to her when she was looking for a vocal teacher to guide her from the Early Music she was used to singing into popular music. “He helps you get out something that is deeper. You feel very vulnerable and that’s the place to be. He’s so encouraging. He gives you 300 percent.”

And on Sunday, we got to give a little of that encouragement and love back to him. Happy Birthday, Phil!

“You were made and set here to give voice to this: your own astonishment.”
 —Annie Dillard

Bill Clinton and Thousands of Others Say Farewell to Marvin Hamlisch

So many tender moments during Marvin Hamlisch’s 90-minute funeral today. His numerous awards -- Pulitzer, Tony, Oscars, etc. -- were mentioned frequently, but what speaker after speaker, including former President Bill Clinton, remembered the composer for most was his big heart. He was, as Clinton said, the “people’s composer” and the humanitarian who couldn’t say no to any request for help. 

Hamlisch’s farewell drew a full house -- close to 2,000 people at Temple Emanu-El on Fifth Avenue, among them Liza Minnelli, Richard Gere, Bette Midler, Kelli O’Hara, Diane Sawyer and Bernadette Peters. The choir of 600 included his Broadway friends singer/actress Lucie Arnez, lyricist Sheldon Harnick and orchestrator Jonathan Tunick. Beginning with “The Way We Were,” they sang Hamlisch’s songs from stage and film. We in the audience rose to join them for “What I Did for Love.”

But the most moving tribute was from his wife, Terre, who started out bravely but ended in tears. It was just last week that she lost her partner of 26 years when he dropped dead unexpectedly at the age of 68 after a brief illness.

She remembered the large man with the big smile who lived by the rule “if you can’t say something good about someone, then don’t say anything.” When she was feeling down, he would pull out all the stops to restore her spirits, such as the morning he woke her -- far earlier than she would have liked -- by jumping onto the bed and singing and playing all the parts of a musical (she didn’t say which one), complete with choreography, for the whole show.

And he kept that enthusiasm to the end. She told how it had yet to be announced that he was to take over this fall as director of the Philadelphia Pops. Another friend shared Hamlisch’s pride in the reviews of his latest musical, The Nutty Professor, based on the Jerry Lewis movie. That show, for which Hamlisch wrote the music and which Lewis is directing, is playing in Nashville.

After finishing her remarks, Terre Hamlisch walked over to her husband’s coffin, draped in yellow flowers, for a moment, reaching out to touch it before returning to her seat. It was painful to see her grief, and then again as she walked down the center aisle behind that coffin, tears streaming down her face.

Rest in peace, Marvin Hamlisch. From all that was said, it is clear you were indeed one singular sensation.

Zapata! The Musical

Revolution continues to ferment in musical theatre, at least as engaging subject matter. First came Les Miz, then A Tale of Two Cities, and now Zapata! the Musical, a promising new show which just completed its world premiere at the Pershing Square Signature Center as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival.

Inspired by the life of Emiliano Zapata (1877–1919), hero of the Mexican revolution, the two-hour show offers a fight for justice, a love story, colorful costumes, lively dancing and songs that capture the soul of each scene.

Director Elizabeth Lucas and choreographer Luis Salgado had to work hard to fit it all on the off-Broadway stage. Even with no scenery except projections and a few props, the 17-member cast, plus the larger-than life story, seemed crowded in the space. I like small musicals, but this isn’t one of them. It needs a Broadway theatre and I hope it gets one.

The strong (for the most part) cast is headed by Enrique Acevedo (third from left in photo) as Zapata, with standout performances by Maria Eberline (second from left) as Josefa, his girlfriend and then wife, and Natalie Toro (left) as his mother-in-law, Senora Espejo. (Zapata! is Toro’s second recent theatrical revolution; several years ago she took command of a Broadway stage as Madame DeFarge in A Tale of Two Cities.)

I found Zapata’s story compelling, but was thrown off by the modern day story of a young Occupy Wall Street member (Andrew Call, fourth from left) that frames it. The young man travels back in time to participate in Zapata’s movement, but if I hadn’t read the press release I’m not sure I would have understood what that was all about. It doesn’t fit well with the rest of the drama, which is certainly strong enough to play on its own.

(Interestingly, this is at least the second time Zapata has found his way into musical theatre. At the end of Ragtime, as Edgar is recounting what has happened to his family members, he mentions that Younger Brother fled south to join “the great peasant revolutionary Emiliano Zapata.”)

This Zapata! features music and lyrics by Peter Edwards and a book by Peter Edwards and Ana Edwards. The songs are rousing or festive, depending on the scene, and Emiliano and Josefa have a couple lovely duets. I was startled several times, though, to hear strains of Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita in the score, almost to the point of what sounded law suit provoking.

While the music was appealing, the sound was not. The show was horribly overly amplified, which was unnecessary in that small theatre and with belters like Toro. This really detracted from the quality of the production. Jesse Vargas provided musical arrangements and orchestrations. Kenneth Gartman was the musical director for the onstage (but unseen) band of eight musicians.

Visually, though, all was well. Asa Benally’s colorful costumes were delightful and Herrick Goldman’s lighting excellent. The show is off to a good start with this production, and I really do hope to be seeing it again on Broadway. It was a high-quality production for the bargain basement New York Musical Theatre Festival rate of $25.

Now in its ninth year, the Festival is the largest annual musical theatre event in America and is widely regarded as the essential source for new material and talent discovery, earning it the name the "Sundance of Musical Theatre."

The 7 Joys of Life

I am proud to be a part of this new book with my contribution, "The Joy of Arts and Theatre."

"The miracle is not to walk on water but on the earth. "
 — Thich Nhat Hanh

"Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little."
 ~Edmund Burke