After waiting a quarter of a century for Barry Manilow to return to the Broadway stage, Fanilows had to wait a little while longer after the show was postponed due to the singer suffering from bronchitis. The show was postponed only briefly though, and now dates have been added in March to make up for them. And for Fanilows lucky enough to attend, Barry says this is one of his most intimate settings ever.

“It’s a totally different feeling from the stage,” says Barry when talking about performing at the St. James Theatre which seats only 1,710, as opposed to big stadium tours. “I’m in their laps; they’re in my lap. It’s very, very intimate.”

The show, Manilow on Broadway, officially opened on January 29 after Barry had recovered from his illness and it will run until March 2. Fans can expect all of the greatest hits including “Could It Be Magic,” “Mandy,” “Copacabana,” and “Can’t Smile Without You.” But, Barry also promises that the songs have been revamped to make them still classic, but with a few new twists.

“Every few years, I go back into all the songs and I update them so that it never sounds like an oldies show. If you come to the shows, they’re full of muscle. ‘Copacabana’ sounds like it could have been released yesterday,” he says.

But Barry’s not going to stop when this Broadway run ends. He’ll still be traveling around performing shows on the weekends, and he’s got two new albums in the works as well. He’s also currently working on his own musical called Harmony, a show for which he’s writing the original songs.

“I’m old as the hills and you would think I’d be out to pasture someplace because I’ve done everything. But nothing has changed,” he recently said. “I’m still hungry. I’ve still got a million ideas. I’m still strong and ready to create.”

This entry was posted on Friday, February 22nd, 2013 at 8:00 am and is filed under Theater. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.