They're Playing Their Songs
A few weeks ago, I posted a story and video about having seen Robert Klein as a little kid when he was at the beginning of his career with The Second City improv group in Chicago. This got me thinking about having seen him in another offbeat venue for him. That was in the late '70s when he starred in the Broadway musical, They're Playing Our Song, with a score by Marvin Hamlisch and Carole Bayer Sager, and a book by Neil Simon. The show had its world premiere in Los Angeles at the Amundsen Theatre, and that's when I saw it, before it hit Broadway.
The show was fun with a pleasant, but unmemorable score -- in fact, the book was quite enjoyable (loosely inspired by lyricist Sager's own relationship with Hamlisch) better than the songs, although there was one standout number, the showstopping title song with Klein and his co-star Lucy Arnaz. I went to find it, and came upon this clever bit of editing.
The person posting it took the performance by Klein and Arnaz at the 1979 Tony Awards...and edited together with them re-creating the number in 2010. It's a bit odd -- okay, "a bit" is a huge understatement, it's very odd -- but what's most odd is that it actually works. And is sort of a treat. And what's impressive is how good (and similar) Klein and Arnaz are...31 years later.
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