When taking your seat at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, where Barry Manilow is performing his Manilow Broadway concert through the middle of August, the usher hands you a little packet that contains a cardboard set of 3-D glasses and a glow stick.
The glasses later come in handy for a brief animated film tour across Manhattan as the songwriter croons a tune from This Is My Town, his album of New York-related songs.
As for the glow sticks—well, plenty of spectators already were waving them during Manilow’s opening number, and by the time his intermission-free show was over, some 100 or so minutes later, the auditorium was ablaze with their pale green radiance.
Looking trim and sounding dandy at 76, Manilow remains a classy old-school entertainer who gives his audience a swift and enjoyable parade among his biggest song hits. Neatly supported onstage by three singers and an ace 10-member band, whose brass section lends extra brightness to the arrangements, Manilow sails through a generous sampler of his songbook with typical good cheer.
“I’m so glad you still like these songs,” remarked Manilow with a smile, after delivering a fervent interpretation of “Even Now” that sent several ladies a-swooning among the front rows.
Self-deprecating humor marks Manilow’s patter as he chats about his threadbare Brooklyn roots, the dimensions of his nose, and the fact that some of his tunes are more often heard in elevators. Manilow amusingly demonstrates to everyone that he once composed ad jingles to sell the likes of Band-Aid bandages and State Farm insurance.
Initially sporting a bright blue swallowtail coat, Manilow subsequently rocks several glittery jackets while he energetically renders those “songs of love and special things” that indelibly comprise the personal soundtracks of so many Baby Boomers among his audience. Dramatic shafts of moving lights and some colorful visuals that are spread across the background—sunrises, beaches, even a happy face-type emoji for a bouncing ball audience singalong through “Can’t Smile Without You”—augment Manilow’s music-making.
Manilow usually begins his numbers at the keyboard, but generally lets the musicians take over the instrumentals as he crosses to center stage to vocalize the greater part of a song, often concluding them with a long-held final note and a fist bump. If some of his musical keys are a tad lower than you may recall and there is an occasional vocal wobble during those extended endings, for the most part Manilow sounds as smooth as ever.
Certainly Manilow remains a warm and ever-engaged performer who appears to be energized, and even genuinely touched, by his highly responsive audience, plenty of whom could not help singing right along with him. (Incidentally, many spectators obviously could not help recording portions of the show on their phones, about which taboo doings the ushers took a laissez-faire attitude.)
Show highlights include Manilow’s fond tribute to his grandfather, who was the first one to recognize a little boy’s musical leanings; a soulful interpretation of “Memory” from Cats; and a vivacious, disco-ish dance version of “Could It Be Magic.” Late in the show, Manilow renders “Mandy” in touching harmony with a 1975 video of his younger self introducing the ever-romantic standard.
A whirlwind “I Write the Songs” medley of a dozen or so hits brings Manilow Broadway to its conclusion and the audience to its feet (although scarcely for the first time). The encores featured an exuberant “Copacabana,” to which many spectators lent their voices as they brandished those infernal glow sticks.
Manilow Broadway opened July 26, 2019, at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre and runs through August 17. Tickets and information: barrymanilow.com
