August 2011 Archives

If you're reading this article, chances are you're well aware that Jonathan Tunick is the orchestrator of several all-time-great Broadway shows, including the lion's share of Stephen Sondheim's masterpieces as well as A Chorus Line and Promises, Promises. What you may not know is that Tunick is an "EGOT," one of precious few artists who've been honored with an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony (1977 Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song Score and its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score, A Little Night Music; 1982 Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction, Night of 100 Stars; 1988 Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocals, "No One Is Alone" as sung by Cleo Laine; and a 1997 Tony for Best Orchestrations, Titanic). In anticipation of the Broadway opening of the Kennedy Center revival of Sondheim's Follies, I spoke with Jonathan about the art of the orchestrator.

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BROADWAYSTARS: When you orchestrated Follies for the original production in 1971, did you approach the pastiche numbers differently from the other songs?

JONATHAN TUNICK: Yes. The score of Follies is built on three different levels. There's the actual score of the show, the character numbers. Then there are what we call the pastiche numbers, in which some of the characters do their turns, singing the songs they would have done in the actual Follies. Then there's the end of the show, the "Loveland" sequence, which takes the Follies style into overdrive. The "Loveland" songs are really a combination of the pastiche numbers and the character numbers; they're meant to take you into this weird, surrealistic fantasy. It's hard to describe, because I don't think anything like that had ever been done before.

STARS: And probably not since! When you were orchestrating the songs that evoke a previous era, did you study the work of previous composers and orchestrators and try to emulate it?

JT: Oh yes, very much so. In fact, I've given some of the orchestrations pet names. For instance, I call "Ah, Paris!" my Robert Russell Bennett number. "I'm Still Here" is your Harold Arlen ballad from the '40s. And I always think of "Rain on the Roof" as a movie number -- not from an M-G-M musical, but maybe a 20th Century-Fox musical.

STARS: When you orchestrate a Sondheim score, is the basic process that you and he discuss it beforehand, then you go off and do your work, then you present it to him and he makes comments and suggests changes?

JT: That pretty much describes it. But I'm pleased to say that he gives me a free hand for the most part, and he only occasionally asks for a change.

STARS: You've been a vocal critic of the ever-decreasing size of orchestras on Broadway, so I imagine you're very gratified by the employment of a full orchestra for this revival of Follies.

JT: Oh, yes. It reminds us of what we're losing. I don't think there's any better example than Follies of what an orchestra can do for a musical if given a chance.

STARS: Would you agree that the over-amplification of musicals has contributed to the shrinkage in orchestra size?

JT: That's a hard one to answer. To me, it just makes it louder. That's what amplification is, by definition. It doesn't make it better.

STARS: Promises, Promises was the first Broadway show in which the orchestra was amplified. Do you think it set a dangerous precedent?

JT: That show was written by a composer who had a recognizable instrumental sound. Part of that sound was the sound of a studio, so it was necessary to try to evoke that effect in the theater. But Promises, Promises was a special case, because Burt Bacharach never wrote another musical. I wish he had.

STARS: Would you say it's a good or bad thing in general that all Broadway orchestras are amplified nowadays?

JT: Oh, let's not get into that.

STARS: Fair enough. Tell me, how do you decide which instruments to use when it's not a traditional orchestra -- for example, Merrily We Roll Along. I've always wondered why that show has no strings other than a bass and a cello.

JT: I think there are two reasons. One is that the show was planned to have a somewhat smaller orchestra than usual. When you're talking about violins, you're talking about a fairly large number of musicians, so a quick way to get your orchestra down from 25 players to 19 is not to use any violins. Also, Merrily We Roll Along was presented to me as a musical full of wit and humor and youthful abandon. That suggested a sort of satirical orchestra, and it also suggested downplaying the strings.

STARS: As for A Chorus Line, do those orchestrations have no strings simply because the show started at the Public Theater with a smaller orchestra?

JT: Yes. We had 16 players downtown. Then we moved uptown, and to me it was a no-brainer: "Let's write in 10 strings. The ballads will sound wonderful, and the underscoring will have some body to it." But Michael Bennett didn't want to do that. I think it was superstition on his part; he didn't want to change anything from downtown.

STARS: According to a website I found, you're one of only 10 people who've won an Oscar, a Tony, an Emmy, and a Grammy.

JT: Apparently, it's true, to one degree or another. The number changes depending on who you speak to. I've heard every number from five through eight, but this is the first time I've heard 10.

STARS: Whatever the exact number, it's very impressive, especially considering that there haven't always been Tony Awards for orchestrations. And how wonderful but ironic that you won your Oscar for A Little Night Music, given that the film as a whole was so poorly received.

JT: Well, I think they wanted to give an Oscar to Steve [Sondheim}, but he wasn't eligible because [most of] the score had been written for the theater, not for the screen. So I think I got that award by default.

STARS: Is there anything else you'd like to say about Follies before I let you go.

JT: Follies is an extraordinary musical steeped in theatrical history and magic. To see it again in such a good production is really a thrill.

In May of this year, Marilyn Maye had her second two-week engagement at Feinstein's at Loews Regency and received the kind of rave reviews that her mother might have written. Rex Reed of the New York Observer commented, "She could write a book about how to work a room and play an audience like a deck of cards." Jonathan Warman of Cabaret Review enthused, "I can think of no other living singer who possesses Maye's combination of interpretive ability, rhythmic verve, and vocal range." And Stephen Holden of The New York Times remarked: "By the end of the evening, as is usually the case with her shows, I was walking on air, infused with a giddy certainty that life really is a cabaret." Not bad for a gal who's in her 80s, even though she looks and sounds at least 25 years younger.

Marilyn's brilliant career has brought her to many places, but only recently to Carnegie Hall for her debut there: In November, she sang "I'm Still Here" from Follies as a guest of the New York Pops for their concert in celebration of Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday, and stopped the show. Now, she's all set for her first-ever gig in Provincetown, the Cape Cod summer resort that has become a favorite vacation spot for her and her "entourage." The lady spoke with me on the phone, from her home in Kansas City, about what she's up to these days.

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BROADWAYSTARS: Marilyn, I'm told that you've been flying all over, doing all sorts of wonderful things in fabulous places. You just did a master class in New York.

MARILYN MAYE: Yes, at Feinstein's. I love doing that kind of thing. Some of the singers are already professionals, and some hope to be; it's very inspiring for me to work with them. I call the class "The Art of the Performance." We don't really have time to work on vocal techniques, because it's a five-hour class with 12 people, so we work on performance and interpretation. Each singer usually does two songs of his or her choosing, and we work on phrasing, style, gestures, microphone technique, and the meaning of the lyrics. It's always lyrics first with me -- the story of the song.

STARS: Sounds very thorough. Anything else?

MARILYN: Many times, to my way of thinking, they'll be doing a song in the wrong key for them. I'll suggest that they try it in a different key, and sometimes they're amazed at how much better it sounds and feels. It may be a song they've been performing for 15 or 20 years in the same key, and they've just never thought about changing it.

STARS: I've seen some amazing video of you on the old TV variety show Hollywood Palace. On one show, you sing the hell out of "You're Gonna Hear From Me" and "Cabaret."

MARILYN: With Donald O'Connor emceeing!

STARS: In addition to appearing 76 times on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, you did a lot of other television work back in the day.

MARILYN: Yes. I was in another Hollywood Palace show with Bing Crosby emceeing. And I did three or four Ed Sullivan shows. On one of them, I had the Buddy Rich band playing with me. That was so wonderful. It's a shame those days are gone.

STARS: I believe I've asked you this before, but it bears asking again: Do you feel there could or should be variety programming on TV today?

MARILYN: Oh, absolutely. I think the public is missing so much by not having those kinds of shows. They were pure entertainment; it wasn't a contest. The good news is that, lately, there have been more clubs opening around the country. I think the public is hungry for the great American standards. Those clubs couldn't survive if people didn't show up.

STARS: Do you find that younger people are gravitating towards the standards at all?

MARILYN: Yes. I have so many young people at my shows. They're discovering this music, and they always come and talk to me after the shows; they want to talk about the songs and the stories behind them. When I did my Johnny Mercer show, some of them told me, "I've never heard so many of those songs before." And when I did my Broadway show, the same thing happened.

STARS: That's great. But I wonder, how do young people find out about you in the first place?

MARILYN: Through the Internet! I have a website, and there's a lot of me on YouTube. In one way, those clips are upsetting, because sometimes the sound quality isn't great. But in another way, they're wonderful, because people look at YouTube and it piques their interest

STARS: I was so glad to be there when you raised the roof of Carnegie Hall with "I'm Still Here." That must have been so exciting for you.

MARILYN: Yes. When I do my club act now, I talk about it. I say: "After all these years, I finally got to Carnegie Hall. Lord knows, I've practiced enough."

STARS: The response to your performance was thrilling.

MARILYN: It was fantastic, I must say. I was standing backstage after I came off, and I was shocked that the applause went on for so long. Finally, a stagehand pulled the door open for me so I could go out for a second bow.

STARS: You've been in two major productions of Follies, and you created another sensation with "I'm Still Here" in your most recent gig at the Metropolitan Room. I was wondering if you were up for a role in the current revival?

MARILYN: Well, no. The only part that was open [in the Broadway transfer of the Kennedy Center production] was Hattie, who sings "Broadway Baby," and I don't think that's for me. I would have loved to have been a part of it, but...it is a depressing show. After the performance, you want to go home and slash your wrists.

STARS: I'm planning to be in P-Town for your show at the Art House. How did that booking come about? I know you're vacationed there.

MARILYN: Yes, this will be my fourth year in a row. We have a whole entourage: Mark Sendroff, Bob Mackie, Robert Richards, Nancy Dussault and her husband....Every year, a few people would walk up to me on the street and ask, "Are you appearing anywhere in town?" I'd say, "No, I'm just relaxing." But I got an invitation to sing at the Art House this summer, and I said, "I'd love that." I'm doing two nights there, August 11 and 12, with Billy Stritch. Whenever I perform, it's a party, so that's what I'm calling the show: "It's a Party!"

[For more information on Marilyn Maye's appearance in Provincetown as part of Seth Rudetsky's "Broadway at the Art House" series, click here.]