Not Just Trying, but Remembering

From all his many years on the series Law & Order (and also movies, like Dirty Dancing and Crimes & Misdemeanors) I suspect that there is a generation of viewers (or two generations) who have no idea that Jerry Orbach was not only a huge Broadway musical star, but I believe was honored as starring in more performances on Broadway than any other actor or actress.  He was in such shows as Chicago, Carnival, Promises Promises (for which he won the Tony Award as Best Actor in a Musical – and which I saw on Broadway), the revivals of 42nd Street and Guys and Dolls, and a couple of hugely long-running off-Broadway musicals, The Threepenny Opera, and perhaps most-famously The Fantasticks, for which he originated the role of ‘El Gallo’.  Notably, in that show he introduced the song “Try to Remember.” 
 
There are a few videos of him singing “Try to Remember” years later on TV shows, but I decided to select this one.  That’s because the pianist accompanying him is Harvey Schmidt – who wrote the music to it.  (The lyrics are by Tom Jones.  No, not the Welsh singer.)  And then afterwards, the two sit down with host Robert Klein and have an interesting conversation about the show.  (One note: when they refer to the “Rape Song,” it’s meant as the old usage of the word, and in the show references seduction.)
 
By the way, many people who only know him for his acting likely don’t realize that he was the voice of ‘Lumiere’ the candlestick in the animated film Beauty and the Beast, and sang “Be Our Guest.”  As it happens, I’m also biased because the good fellow went to the beloved Northwestern University – though he left senior year to go to New York.  He did well there.
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