How lucky am I to have had the honor of working with Marvin. For 4 years I assisted him, accompanied him and produced a Holiday album when he was Principal Pops Conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic and I was associate conductor. I have a story, a moment and a couple of classic one liners that I want to share as my tribute…
The day I became his biggest FLAN!:
After a rehearsal one morning Marvin took me and the BPO Artistic and Orchestra Operations Director Lisa Gallo out to lunch to the Saigon Cafe, a little place on Elmwood Ave. I drove. With Marvin it was always a veritable feast of food (he liked to order many things to try) and laughter and then it came time for dessert. Marvin was debating the merits of each and I don’t remember what he ordered but I ordered the flan. Desserts came and the server told me that I had the very last piece of which I ate every bite. As I finished, I noticed Marvin was trying Lisa’s dessert that she hadn’t finished and he didn’t so much as look at my empty plate so I thought nothing of it. On the drive back to Kleinhans I remember it was a sunny day (not a common thing in Buffalo since it was fall) Marvin was looking out the window and says:
What a beautiful day, in fact this day is almost perfect, and it would have been completely perfect IF RON HAD GIVEN ME JUST ONE BITE OF THAT FLAN! (he went on) I mean we were at the edge, at the precipice of perfection and just that one bite that he didn’t offer me prevented that, in fact I was considering letting the orchestra go early this afternoon (he of course did), but without that flan, I mean I don’t know now!
Suffice it to say I was both embarrassed and in hysterics and the next day I show up at the hall before the concert with a huge piece of flan, a fork and a card that read: Dear Marvin I thought you might enjoy this very large bite of flan, courtesy of your “Flan Club”, please look us up online at abiteofflanfortheperfectday.com! He laughed and asked me to stay because I thought he wanted to go over something. He then sat and ate the entire piece of flan, looked up at me and said…oh I’m sorry, did you want a bite?….
My most treasured moment on stage ever:
For one of the concerts in Buffalo, Marvin asked me to conduct a Rogers and Hammerstein medley with himself at the Piano and with Broadway stars J Mark McVey and Debbie Gravitte. Right before it he debuted a new version of an overture to A Chorus Line explaining that in the show there isn’t an overture and people had been requesting he write one. So there I am waiting to go on and after the huge ovation for the overture he says: please welcome back to the stage Debbie and Mark and I want to introduce to you someone you already know, a terrific young conductor who is a great pleasure to work with Ron Spigelman…I have never felt more honored, to be introduced by Marvin Hamlisch right after his overture to A Chorus Line and in such a manner. That moment will never leave me.
So many one liners…here are two that really stick out:
For one of the holiday concerts the stage was literally filled with poinsettias and Marvin on his way to the podium nearly trips over one, a gasp is let out by the audience and Marvin says as soon as he picks up the mic:
I would like to thank the Weinstein wedding for donating their poinsettias tonight…..
When recording the Holiday album, for the evening session we had the BPO Chorus in for a few selections. In O Holy Nightthey were having troubling nailing the last choir cutoff. After several takes a lone voice in the choir pipes up: Mr Hamlischwe are not sure how this one ends?
His response: Ma’am…. he dies!!!! (after several minutes of laughter the next take was perfect)
The memory I have of Marvin is that he was engaged in the moment 100% of the time, no matter what. Having won Oscars, Tonys, Emmys, Grammys, a Pulitzer one could forgive him if he had just a hint of arrogance. There was none, the person who he was talking to was the most important person to him in that moment, he looked to have a laugh with anyone who was nearby and on stage he was everybody’s friend. We all know his genius, but to know the humility in the man even a little bit was to know how truly great he was. A singular sensation doesn’t begin to describe it. I was truly shaken at the news, he was one of my great mentors and he never needed to give me a single lesson to be that for me. I last saw him in April this year when I brought him (and Mark McVey) to do the Springfield Symphony gala (the photo below is from that night, Marvin with my partner Laura). It was Marvin in top form, I could tell he wasn’t well when I catching up with him before the show, but when he was on stage it was vintage Marvin, his playing was superb and his comedy, well we all had bellyaches from laughing so hard! It’s hard to believe he is no longer with us, his impact will never leave me.
