Film and Broadway Legend Plays in Orange

Marvin Hamlisch, one of the preeminent pops artist of our time, plays at Lutcher Theater on Sunday, February 10, 2008 at 3:00pm.

Marvin Hamlisch’s life in music is notable for its great versatility as well as substance. As a composer, Hamlisch has won virtually every major award that exists: three Oscars^®, four Grammys^®, four Emmys^®, a Tony^® and three Golden Globe^® awards; his groundbreaking show, A Chorus Line, received the Pulitzer Prize^®.

He composed more than forty motion picture scores including his Oscar^®-winning score and song for The Way We Were and his adaptation of Scott Joplin’s music for The Sting, for which he received a third Oscar^®.

His prolific output of scores for films include original compositions and/or musical adaptations for films including Sophie’s Choice, Ordinary People, The Swimmer, Three Men And A Baby, Ice Castles, and Take The Money And Run.

He is the composer of the musicals A Chorus Line, They’re Playing Our Song, The Goodbye Girl, and the new Sweet Smell of Success,which opened in 2002.

Marvin Hamlisch is the principal pops conductor for the National Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony and San Diego Symphony. Mr. Hamlisch was also the Musical Director and arranger of Barbra Streisand’s 1994 concert tour of the U.S. and England as well as of the television special, “Barbra Streisand: The Concert,” for which he received two of his Emmys^®.

Mr. Hamlisch will be joined by tenor Stephen Lehew. Mr. Lehew made his Broadway debut in the musical revue Rodgers and Hart and takes delight in having been chosen for this by Richard Rodgers. Prior to that, he was featured as Henrik Egerman in the first national company of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, starring Jean Simmons and directed by Harold Prince. In 1980, he received critical and public acclaim for his performance as Charlie Dalrymple in the Broadway revival of Brigadoon.

A native Texan, he began his career with Dallas Summer Musicals and has since been featured with many notable performers through-out the country. Mr. Lehew’s concert appearances include the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, principal guest artist performances with the Utah and Indianapolis Symphonies as well as his solo In Concert at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center. For the past few years he has been a continuing guest vocalist for Marvin Hamlisch and over 25 American Symphonies including San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Chicago, The PBS presentation of “Evening at Pop’s” and the A & E presentation of “Pop’s Goes the Fourth”

At 2:15, on the third floor of the theater, Bob Couser, a Lutcher Theater Guild member, will present a history of player pianos and demonstrate how to play a player piano. A guest from the audience will get to play the player piano that is in the third floor lobby of the Lutcher. The Lutcher's player piano is a 100-year-old heirloom owned by the Stark Foundation that was recently brought to Orange from Colorado.

Meadows of Orange – Nursing & Rehabilitation is the corporate sponsor of this performance and Mel & Betty Hyatt are the individual sponsors of this performance.

Tickets for Marvin Hamlisch are $50.00, $40.00 and $30.00. Call the box office for student prices and group rates. To purchase tickets, log on to www.lutcher.orglink, call 745-5535 (Golden Triangle) or 1-800-828-5535 (Louisiana), or stop by the box office at 707 Main, Orange, Texas. For more information visit www.lutcher.org.