Music man Marvin Hamlisch has built his resume on major successes from Broadway to Hollywood, but based on our recent conversation, he should add one more line to his bio: career coach.
Hamlisch, who comes to Atlanta this week with tenor J. Mark McVey to perform with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, clearly has done something right in his own illustrious career, having won Grammys, Oscars, Emmys, a Tony, a Pulitzer Prize and a few Golden Globes. That's why when the legendary composer doled out professional advice and tips for surviving with new technology, we gave him a good listen.
Hamlisch, 65, is expected to perform tunes from his classics such as "A Chorus Line," "Goodbye Girl" and "The Way We Were," to name a few. We chatted with Hamlisch about his take on the industry and advice for musicians -- and others -- waiting in the wings.
Q: What is the best advice you’ve been given about showbiz?
A: I can give you my funny answer, which is to marry rich. [Otherwise,] the best advice I was given was from my mother: you have to have a "Plan B." I think it’s true for everybody in the world. I have a notion about the whole world of college education... it leaves out one course: "How do you pay the rent?" My Plan B was to get a teaching degree for music. I think one of the biggest problems for people in the arts, but I think it's true for everybody, is that you assume your plan is going to work. ...
What you have to understand is the line to your plan is never straight. It strays among the different avenues. I always envision an eight-lane highway eventually going to the same tunnel. Eventually, you get to that place you want to get to, but getting there requires a lot of lane changes. If you stay too close to this incredible dream you have, and if it's in concrete, it ain’t gonna happen. You’ve got to be malleable. You’ve got to be able to move with the flow.
Q: Is your industry something you would recommend to an aspiring composer?
A: The way people in the arts get into it is very simple: if they would rather die than not do what they want to do, then they have to be in the industry. It's like saying to someone who wants to be in ballet that their career will be over by 35. If they say they don’t care, then they have to do it. OK, so if you have to do it, you have to figure out what you’re going to do at 36. The arts is not something you choose; the arts chooses you. And I also think your ego and your love of it has a lot to do with it, not just your talent. Because I know people a lot more talented than I am, but they don’t have the ego or the drive.
Q: How much is talent and how much is opportunity?
A: Here's my philosophy – I believe you get your opportunity once. You get one shot, one major shot. The problem is that a lot of people do not recognize the opportunity. For instance, in my career, I got a call from a guy telling me someone asked him to play a party and he didn't want to do it, so he said: "I told them to call you, Marvin." I was 21 or 22. The person calls me and I said: "I don’t do that, but tell me who is it for." She said it’s for Sam Spiegel, a famous producer. I said, "I’ll be over in 10 minutes," because I knew that me being in a room with Sam Spiegel and his friends was an opportunity.... That thing led to me doing my first film. A lot of people don’t see the connection. They blow the connection. They [think]: "He’s not asking me to do a movie. He’s asking me to play a lousy, puny party." But that lousy puny party has the right people in it.
Q: How do you think your career would have been different had you begun in the age of YouTube or Facebook?
A: I have no idea. I don’t even have a computer. I’ve decided the world is worse off with this stuff, so I’m going back to pen and paper. I just have a cellphone ... you can't e-mail me. I don't have e-mail. You wanna know why? People say to me: "I wake up in the morning and I’m already 65 e-mails behind." I don’t want to live like that. I want to have a cup of coffee and a doughnut without looking at something and thinking I have to answer all of these things. I don’t need that.
Q: So you compose on paper?
A: Yes, the old-fashioned way. I’ve earned it. Paper, pen. It’s really fabulous.
IF YOU GO
"On Broadway With Marvin Hamlisch" runs at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Symphony Hall, 1280 Peachtree Street, N.E. in Atlanta. Tickets are $20 to $53 and can be purchased by calling 404-733-5000 or online at www.atlantasymphony.org
