Marvin Hamlisch and Joel Grey to appear at the Phillips Center

September 27, 2007

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Legendary composer Marvin Hamlisch and legendary performer Joel Grey will team up for a special concert at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts Saturday, October 13.

Born in New York to a musical family, Marvin Hamlisch was something of a child prodigy. He began to mimic songs he heard on the piano at age five, and just before his seventh birthday, he became the youngest person ever admitted to the Julliard School. It looked liked he was destined to become a concert pianist, but his anxiety about performing led him away from that career and towards a career as a composer.

While he had some early successes in the 1960s composing pop songs and music for several Woody Allen movies, his best-known work is his adaptation of Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer” for the 1973 movie “The Sting,” which starred Robert Redford and Paul Newman. Hamlisch was the first person to win three Academy awards in a single evening when he won for his work on “The Sting,” and for his original compositions for another Redford film, “The Way We Were.” He has also composed music for the films “The Spy Who Loved Me,” “Same Time, Next Year,” “Chapter Two,” “Starting Over” and “Ordinary People.”

On Broadway, Hamlisch has composed music for “The Goodbye Girl,” “They’re Playing our Song” and the Pulitzer Prize-winning “A Chorus Line.” He composed music for the television series “Brooklyn Bridge” and for a Barbra Streisand special, which garnered him an Emmy. In the awards arena, Hamlisch is one of handful of people who have won all four major U.S. performing awards, including a Tony Award, a Grammy, an Emmy and an Academy Award.

Legendary entertainer Joel Grey will join Hamlisch on stage at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Born Joel Katz in Cleveland, Ohio, Grey is the son of nightclub entertainer and comedian Mickey Katz, a one-time member of the Spike Jones Orchestra. While Grey made his stage debut at the age of nine in a Cleveland Playhouse production of “On Borrowed Time,” his career wasn’t officially launched until the 1950s. After Eddie Cantor discovered him in one of his father’s revues, Grey appeared on “The Colgate Comedy Hour” and in various nightclubs from Las Vegas to London. He spent much of the 1950s performing in television stage plays and replacing other, better known actors on Broadway in shows such as “Come Blow Your Horn,” “Stop the World I Want to Get Off” and “Half a Sixpense.”

At the age of 34, Grey’s career was at a crossroads. “Things were not going as I’d hoped and I was seriously thinking about quitting the business,” he says. Fortunately, theatrical producer Hal Prince called and offered him the role of a lifetime. (It was the first time Grey did not have to audition.) The role was the Master of Ceremonies and the show was “Cabaret.”

Grey’s performance as the gender-bending emcee would become iconic and earn him a Tony Award. Grey would go on to appear in the film version opposite Liza Minelli, earning an Academy Award and making him one of a select few who have won both awards for the same role. He later reprised the role for the 1987 Broadway revival.

Following “Cabaret,” Grey appeared in the Broadway production of “George M!” as the inimitable George M. Cohen, for which he received a Tony Award nomination. He was nominated again in 1975 for his role in “Goodtime Charley” and again in 1979 for “The Grand Tour.” Other Broadway roles include Amos Hart in the 1996 revival of “Chicago,” and, most recently, the role of the wizard in “Wicked.”

In addition to his work onstage, Grey has had recurring roles on television in the series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Oz” and “Alias.” He has made guest appearances on “The Muppet Show,” “It’s Like, You Know,” which featured his daughter, “Dirty Dancing” star Jennifer Grey; and the ABC series “Brothers & Sisters.” His film work includes roles in “Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins” and “Dancer in the Dark” which featured singer Björk.

Marvin Hamlisch and Joel Grey will perform at the Phillips Center at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 13. There will be a pre-performance discussion at 6:45 p.m. Tickets are: $35, front orchestra and mezzanine; $30, mid-orchestra; $25, rear orchestra; and $20, balcony. The performance is sponsored by WGFL CBS4.

Tickets are available by calling the Phillips Center Box Office at 352-392-ARTS (2787) or 800-905-ARTS (toll-free within Florida) or by calling Ticketmaster at 904-353-3309 or toll free at 800-277-1700. Orders may also be faxed to 352-846-1562. Tickets are also available in person at the Phillips Center Box Office, University Box Office at the University of Florida Reitz Union and all Ticketmaster outlets; and on the web at www.ticketmaster.com. Cash, checks, Visa and MasterCard are accepted. Group tickets are also available.

The Phillips Center Box Office is open Monday – Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. and two hours prior to the performance. Performance dates, times and programs are subject to change.