Word: hamlisch
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Conceived, choreographed and directed by MICHAEL BENNETT Music by MARVIN HAMLISCH Lyrics by EDWARD KLEBAN...
...Hamlisch has lived in Hollywood for the past two years, but he remains an unreconstructed New Yorker. Working at home on a rented moviola (a hand-operated viewer on which a film can be studied frame by frame), he even keeps the curtains drawn to thwart the distracting California sunshine. "Look at me," he says proudly, "I'm as pale as a Long Islander in February." He likes to tell about his own case of inflated Hollywooditis after the awards. "I thought," he says, snapping his fingers in fandango-like recall, " 'Baby, you are the real goods-Cole...
Reality, for Bachelor Hamlisch, is hardly a flamboyant lifestyle. He attends a Conservative synagogue every Friday night, neither smokes nor drinks, and watches his diet carefully-the result of a bleeding ulcer a few years ago. His biggest indulgence is a video tape recorder attached to his television set, on which he replays cassettes of his appearances on talk shows. He even had some dental work done after deciding that one of his front teeth was not photogenic...
About his music, Hamlisch is not cautious: "I'm a terrific arranger and a terrific pianist," he says. "I'm a believer in strong melodies. In this sense I'm innovative, because so much music today is unmelodious." Dismissing the old dictum that film music should be unobtrusive, he believes in getting his melodies into the forefront. "If I'm scoring a sad scene, I want my music to take the audience over the emotional brink," he explains. "I want to bring a tear to their eyes...
With three Oscars staring down from atop $7,000 worth of stereo equipment, Hamlisch is working ten hours a day on the music for the film version of Neil Simon's The Prisoner of Second Avenue. He has spent two weeks struggling with the title theme alone, because, he says, "I want to prove that I'm not a fluke." And he is pursuing his next goal-to write a hit Broadway musical. "I want to see my name in lights above one of the great Broadway theaters," he says, "before...