I had the good fortune of living a train ride away from New York City. This meant that Broadway and the fantastic world of musicals and drama was close by. My parents loved the theater. It was not unusual for them to drag us on the train to the city where we would stand on line at the tkts booth to see something that would turn out to be either fantastic or a dud. Lucky for me there were more fantastic shows than duds and so I fell in love with the theater.
Music was a very big part of my life. I took dance lessons from the time I can remember. I was pretty good but probably would not have made it in the dance world. At first I wanted to be a Rockette. I mean didn't every young dancer that grew up in the shadows of Radio City Music Hall want to be a Rockette?
I remember seeing that kick line for the very first time. They were in the Macy's Day Parade every year. I figured I could lift my leg and kick like the best of them. That might be true but I had one tiny little obstacle to overcome. There was a height requirement. I was 5 feet and the minimum height was 5'6". I tried my best to grow taller but it didn't happen. So no Rockettes for me. In fact it turns out that I had significant spine issues so dancing as a profession was not to be.
It didn't matter. I had a fall back plan anyway. I was going to navigate my life through the wonderful world of Information Technology!
So what does this have to do with Carole Bayer Sager and why did I choose her book to read. It is simple she wrote beautiful music. In fact one of my favorite songs is "The Prayer" and my favorite artists singing it, Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli . (Josh Groban and Celine also sang the song together which is my second favorite combo). She and David Foster, also a favorite of mine wrote this song.
In addition to her writing more Pop songs she wrote They're Playing Our Song which just so happens to be one of the musicals I saw on Broadway. It is, at least according to the book, loosely written about her relation with Marvin Hamlisch. Who by the way is another favorite of mine.
Needless to say I bought the album and sang the songs for weeks and weeks. Sadly or not her relationship with Marvin Hamlisch did not work out. She moved on to work with Burt Bacharach who also was an incredible writer. They married but the Marriage did not make it. Not that this matters at all but I never really liked Bacharach.
Her stories are interesting. It still boggles my mind how insecure all these amazingly talented people really are. I guess it is the stress of composing the next hit. It seems like the next hit is what make them relevant and that is what they live for.
If you like music, want some insight on what it takes to compose music and lyrics and anecdotes about famous people read this book. I mean she was best buds with Elizabeth Taylor!
Just to tantalize you here is Robert Klein and Luci Arnez singing the main number.
