Photo Credit: Hugh Martin, Peter Howard and Michael Lavine; taken in Encinitas at Hugh's house in 2005
Michael Lavine is a fixture in the world of Musical Theatre. He is an accompanist, voice coach, music director, and is owner of one of the largest private collections of sheet music in the United States. In the middle of a very busy schedule, Michael graciously took time out to give what you’re about to find out is a very fascinating interview. Enjoy!
Acorn Jones: You’re an accomplished musician and probably one of the living legends of musical theatre history. What caused you to, and when did you start studying theatre and music, and when, if ever separated, did these two forms come together for you?
Michael Lavine: I grew up in Bethesda, Maryland. I worked in children's theatre during junior high and high school, also appearing in shows in my high school. Sadly, not really musicals. But I was interested in them from a young age. My parents are very musical. My mother proudly remembers seeing MY FAIR LADY in a late preview in New Haven, before it came in. When I started at Columbia University, I found myself often choosing to go to a new musical rather than studying for exams. I didn't study theatre in college, but I did take some piano lessons there. I started out as an actor, going to auditions. I went to an Open Call for the original production of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG. I got to the Minskoff Rehearsal Studios with some friends at 7AM. There was no one on the list outside. I didn't want to put myself first, so I put myself #7. I'd gotten to know Stephen Sondheim by this point (I was 18). He'd called me the night before and asked what I was planning on singing. I excitedly told him: "Johnny One Note" - if only I'd known then what I know now!! He said....... (long pause...)..."oh..." - I got through half the song and Paul Gemigniani stopped me and said "Go to the end." I finished and knew I didn't get it, but I'd had a good time. I called Steve and told him that. He was relieved because all his other friends were calling him and telling him they were number 1,000 and could he get them a private audition!
So I continued auditioning. I remember being in a room full of Seymour’s auditioning for the First National Tour of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. An hour went by, maybe 2, and I'm pretty sure I talked myself out of auditioning. By then, I'd gotten lots of work as a musician. I realized there was more work and more money as a pianist than as an actor, so I switched. I have such respect for every actor out there. They put themselves on the line every day and it can get frustrating and demeaning. Of course, also rewarding. I try to tell my students not to get cocky when everything's going right, and not to get discouraged when things aren't going as well.
So that's the very long kind-of answer to your question. The shorter answer is that I never really studied theatre or music. They were kind of what I did and they always went hand in hand for me.
AJ: You mention starting out as an actor. Could you be convinced to go back to being an actor, even if just for one or two shows? And what roles would you want to play?
MHL: I'd love to continue doing both, acting and playing. I do occasionally get the opportunity to sing a song, usually from the piano. Immodestly, I'm a good actor, and I know I'd be good at it. No particular roles come to mind, but I would prefer to play comic roles. I did several of the patter baritone Gilbert & Sullivan roles in college.
AJ: Your career has followed a pretty steady course. Was it ever rocky and was there ever another career you had considered?
MHL: As you say, it has been pretty steady. As a pianist, there are so many things I can do: coach, play auditions, musically direct, conduct, play revues, benefits, cabaret acts, rehearsals. As I've gotten known, I've become busier and busier and often recommend my friends for these things, something I love doing - spreading the wealth. I temped right out of college - I type very fast and that kept things going as my coaching’s increased. I'd been working at Sloan Kettering for a year as an assistant to one of the leading dermatologists in the City. He had many famous patients: Jann Wenner, Helen Frankenthaler, etc. I would rush home to stick in coachings. Finally, I got a job conducting a few bands on some ships in Hawaii for 2 weeks. I made the decision - a difficult one - to give up temping permanently upon my return and to just do musical theatre. That was almost 20 years ago, and I haven't looked back!
AJ: When you and theatre journalist Peter Filichia were interviewed by Robert Armin you mentioned that the late Peter Howard had been your mentor. What value did mentorship play into the development of your career?
MHL: Peter Howard was a wonderful mentor. I learned so much from him over the years. We started out working on a production of CABARET in Italy (in Italian, perche parlo italiano fluentamente), choreographed by Baayork Lee. I learned about accompanying singers, conducting large orchestras, and working with singers from an acting standpoint. Peter wrote arrangements for a Rodgers & Hart revue that we did together on 2 grand pianos at the Kennedy Center starring Mimi Hines. Watching him come up with these wonderful arrangements was exciting and invigorating. I use Peter in my teaching and my playing and my conducting almost every day. Also, going to theatre and going around New York with Peter, I met many famous people. I was a close friend of Adolph Green's. I originally met Adolph because one of my students had been reading the news to him (he had macular degeneration and couldn't see very well). I was asked to sub for her. I went over there and we went to the piano and sang for a while. As I left, he said "Now how much do I owe you?" I said - "I really have to pay YOU!" And thus started our relationship. I live across the street from the building Betty Comden lived in. Adolph would often call and say "I'm over at Betty's and it's raining out. Can I come over?" I'd often have him come at the end of a coaching, so he could work with the singer a little. Sometimes we'd be walking down the street and see someone he'd worked with walking towards us. I'd always whisper who this was (i.e., "Here comes Paul Gemigniani. He conducted ON THE 20TH CENTURY" - and Adolph would shout "Ah, Paul, good to see you!"). Peter, Adolph and I got together occasionally to eat or sing.
Peter as a mentor would recommend me to various performers and producers over the years as his protégé. I got many jobs through him, most really wonderful. I also inherited several jobs he'd been doing when he stepped down. To this day, I still occasionally play shows at Guild Hall in Easthampton. Peter had been doing that for several years before me, and I'd been providing sheet music for these concerts. They featured performers like Karen Ziemba, Stephen Bogardus, Melissa Errico, George Dvorsky, KT Sullivan and Michael Rupert performing concerts featuring the works of Gershwin, Kern, Cy Coleman, Charles Strouse, Sheldon Harnick and more. Charles and Sheldon appeared with us onstage. The first time I went to play for Peter, I left his apartment thinking I really had to practice more. I didn't think he'd work with me again. I'd barely gotten home when the phone rang with my first recommendation from Peter. It was to play Rip Taylor's one-man show off-Broadway. Rip was an old friend of Peter's and had called him for a suggestion.
AJ: What is something you'd like people to know about you? What about you would surprise even your close friends?
MHL: That I'm in large part a loner. I keep to myself quite often. I have a lot of friends but I'm often sitting home alone or going to the theatre by myself. I love hanging out with people, but one of my favorite things is just to collapse on the sofa after a long day teaching.
AJ: What is it about you that makes your students such die-hard loyal fans? Your name is known in every university theatre department in the US. How did it start and does it get overwhelming?
MHL: It does get overwhelming. But that's why I have an assistant helping me with requests. So I try to just stick to coaching and let him handle anything else that comes up. I like to believe I'm liked because I'm accessible. I'm a nice guy and I really work hard for my students. I try to find the best parts of everyone's performance when coaching them and if I think I can help them get the job, I'll make sure they're doing their best.
My obsession to have more sheet music than anyone else in the room started long ago. My collection got quite large after I acquired Arthur Siegel's collection when he died in 1994. Arthur wrote many of the songs for the NEW FACES revues of the 50's and 60's. We'd become friends. He lived across the street (in the same building as Betty Comden!). He'd been collecting since he was 12. It took an entire day of bringing file cabinets around the corner. He had wonderful old sheets, some given to him by Jule Styne or Richard Rodgers.
I'm not sure how my name got known by so many universities. I guess word of mouth grew exponentially. But I go back to my first notebook of people calling for sheet music (before email!). I've found names like Matt Cavenaugh, TR Knight, John Lloyd Young, and, more recently, Aaron Tveit. So many people who first wrote me when they were in college. Most of them I had no idea I'd been helping out before they got to NYC.
I've begun to teach at conservatories around the world, often in Australia, where I've developed a following. For the past 4 years, I've been the US/Broadway correspondent for a Sunday evening musical theatre program airing on radio out of Melbourne. I've been able to get Max Von Essen, Craig Carnelia, Craig Burns (casting director of WICKED) here to talk on the air with the hosts and I've often been out of town with shows trying out (WEDDING SINGER and SHREK in Seattle, many shows at the Old Globe or La Jolla) and given their listeners first-hand knowledge of what was going on.
AJ: Having been teaching at conservatories, and with your regular coaching’s, what would you say is missing from the training programs that are preparing students to enter into musical theatre?
MHL: I think the training programs preparing students to enter into musical theatre are getting better every year. As younger actors take over the programs, they're more in tune with what's auditioning today. Still, that's the common complaint I hear from students arriving in NYC: that they don't have all of the different genres in their book of material. I think all of the programs need to encourage their students to examine every possible style that could come their way, so they're prepared for any audition that could come up.
AJ: What still excites and surprises you about the theatre and what do you think it could do better? And on that note, why aren't there more original musicals making it to Broadway, when we’re getting adaptations of every movie known to man?
MHL: I get excited when I see something unexpected - like ROCK OF AGES, which I decided to invest (a lot!) in. I saw it in LA a few years ago and was under-whelmed. Then I went back off-Broadway and I can't tell you why, but it was a different, vastly improved show. When I was approached to invest, I thought this was a show I thought would run for a while and be tons of fun for the tired businessman who loves to rock out! I'm not alone: Max Von Essen and Lea Salonga also invested in the show. ROA is an original idea and I'm thrilled it's carved out a niche on Broadway. I'd much rather see shows like that and NEXT TO NORMAL than the adaptations, which frankly often bore me. I think with the success of those 2 shows, we may be seeing producers taking more chances in the future. I certainly hope so!
I'm excited when I see or hear of a project that's original or has a terrific cast or a composer whose work I like.
AJ: Can you tell us what are you working on next? -
MHL: I'm playing an act for Jim Barbour at Hofstra in Long Island on June 27th. I played for him at Feinstein's a few months ago. I'm playing an act for Jack Noseworthy at Feinstein's on June 29th, directed by Gary Griffin. I'm musically directing a benefit for the Red Fern Theatre Company this Sunday night, playing for Aaron Lazar, Matt Cavenaugh, Jenny Powers, Stephanie J. Block, Titus Burgess and Jarrod Spector. I'm teaching most of September in Australia: Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. Teaching on Martha's Vineyard for Scott Wise and Elizabeth Parkinson in July/August. So I try to balance the teaching and the musically directing. I'd love to do more conducting.
AJ: Michael, thank you for taking the time for SuCoSeCo!
Some of Michael Lavine’s upcoming performances:
Michael playing at Hofstra: http://www.theatermania.com/new-york/news/05-2009/james-barbour-to-star-in-hofstra-benefit-concert-j_19263.html
Michael at Feinstein’s: http://feinsteinsattheregency.com/
Michael’s website: http://www.michaellavine.net/
Michael Lavine is a fixture in the world of Musical Theatre. He is an accompanist, voice coach, music director, and is owner of one of the largest private collections of sheet music in the United States. In the middle of a very busy schedule, Michael graciously took time out to give what you’re about to find out is a very fascinating interview. Enjoy!
Acorn Jones: You’re an accomplished musician and probably one of the living legends of musical theatre history. What caused you to, and when did you start studying theatre and music, and when, if ever separated, did these two forms come together for you?
Michael Lavine: I grew up in Bethesda, Maryland. I worked in children's theatre during junior high and high school, also appearing in shows in my high school. Sadly, not really musicals. But I was interested in them from a young age. My parents are very musical. My mother proudly remembers seeing MY FAIR LADY in a late preview in New Haven, before it came in. When I started at Columbia University, I found myself often choosing to go to a new musical rather than studying for exams. I didn't study theatre in college, but I did take some piano lessons there. I started out as an actor, going to auditions. I went to an Open Call for the original production of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG. I got to the Minskoff Rehearsal Studios with some friends at 7AM. There was no one on the list outside. I didn't want to put myself first, so I put myself #7. I'd gotten to know Stephen Sondheim by this point (I was 18). He'd called me the night before and asked what I was planning on singing. I excitedly told him: "Johnny One Note" - if only I'd known then what I know now!! He said....... (long pause...)..."oh..." - I got through half the song and Paul Gemigniani stopped me and said "Go to the end." I finished and knew I didn't get it, but I'd had a good time. I called Steve and told him that. He was relieved because all his other friends were calling him and telling him they were number 1,000 and could he get them a private audition!
So I continued auditioning. I remember being in a room full of Seymour’s auditioning for the First National Tour of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. An hour went by, maybe 2, and I'm pretty sure I talked myself out of auditioning. By then, I'd gotten lots of work as a musician. I realized there was more work and more money as a pianist than as an actor, so I switched. I have such respect for every actor out there. They put themselves on the line every day and it can get frustrating and demeaning. Of course, also rewarding. I try to tell my students not to get cocky when everything's going right, and not to get discouraged when things aren't going as well.
So that's the very long kind-of answer to your question. The shorter answer is that I never really studied theatre or music. They were kind of what I did and they always went hand in hand for me.
AJ: You mention starting out as an actor. Could you be convinced to go back to being an actor, even if just for one or two shows? And what roles would you want to play?
MHL: I'd love to continue doing both, acting and playing. I do occasionally get the opportunity to sing a song, usually from the piano. Immodestly, I'm a good actor, and I know I'd be good at it. No particular roles come to mind, but I would prefer to play comic roles. I did several of the patter baritone Gilbert & Sullivan roles in college.
AJ: Your career has followed a pretty steady course. Was it ever rocky and was there ever another career you had considered?
MHL: As you say, it has been pretty steady. As a pianist, there are so many things I can do: coach, play auditions, musically direct, conduct, play revues, benefits, cabaret acts, rehearsals. As I've gotten known, I've become busier and busier and often recommend my friends for these things, something I love doing - spreading the wealth. I temped right out of college - I type very fast and that kept things going as my coaching’s increased. I'd been working at Sloan Kettering for a year as an assistant to one of the leading dermatologists in the City. He had many famous patients: Jann Wenner, Helen Frankenthaler, etc. I would rush home to stick in coachings. Finally, I got a job conducting a few bands on some ships in Hawaii for 2 weeks. I made the decision - a difficult one - to give up temping permanently upon my return and to just do musical theatre. That was almost 20 years ago, and I haven't looked back!
AJ: When you and theatre journalist Peter Filichia were interviewed by Robert Armin you mentioned that the late Peter Howard had been your mentor. What value did mentorship play into the development of your career?
MHL: Peter Howard was a wonderful mentor. I learned so much from him over the years. We started out working on a production of CABARET in Italy (in Italian, perche parlo italiano fluentamente), choreographed by Baayork Lee. I learned about accompanying singers, conducting large orchestras, and working with singers from an acting standpoint. Peter wrote arrangements for a Rodgers & Hart revue that we did together on 2 grand pianos at the Kennedy Center starring Mimi Hines. Watching him come up with these wonderful arrangements was exciting and invigorating. I use Peter in my teaching and my playing and my conducting almost every day. Also, going to theatre and going around New York with Peter, I met many famous people. I was a close friend of Adolph Green's. I originally met Adolph because one of my students had been reading the news to him (he had macular degeneration and couldn't see very well). I was asked to sub for her. I went over there and we went to the piano and sang for a while. As I left, he said "Now how much do I owe you?" I said - "I really have to pay YOU!" And thus started our relationship. I live across the street from the building Betty Comden lived in. Adolph would often call and say "I'm over at Betty's and it's raining out. Can I come over?" I'd often have him come at the end of a coaching, so he could work with the singer a little. Sometimes we'd be walking down the street and see someone he'd worked with walking towards us. I'd always whisper who this was (i.e., "Here comes Paul Gemigniani. He conducted ON THE 20TH CENTURY" - and Adolph would shout "Ah, Paul, good to see you!"). Peter, Adolph and I got together occasionally to eat or sing.
Peter as a mentor would recommend me to various performers and producers over the years as his protégé. I got many jobs through him, most really wonderful. I also inherited several jobs he'd been doing when he stepped down. To this day, I still occasionally play shows at Guild Hall in Easthampton. Peter had been doing that for several years before me, and I'd been providing sheet music for these concerts. They featured performers like Karen Ziemba, Stephen Bogardus, Melissa Errico, George Dvorsky, KT Sullivan and Michael Rupert performing concerts featuring the works of Gershwin, Kern, Cy Coleman, Charles Strouse, Sheldon Harnick and more. Charles and Sheldon appeared with us onstage. The first time I went to play for Peter, I left his apartment thinking I really had to practice more. I didn't think he'd work with me again. I'd barely gotten home when the phone rang with my first recommendation from Peter. It was to play Rip Taylor's one-man show off-Broadway. Rip was an old friend of Peter's and had called him for a suggestion.
AJ: What is something you'd like people to know about you? What about you would surprise even your close friends?
MHL: That I'm in large part a loner. I keep to myself quite often. I have a lot of friends but I'm often sitting home alone or going to the theatre by myself. I love hanging out with people, but one of my favorite things is just to collapse on the sofa after a long day teaching.
AJ: What is it about you that makes your students such die-hard loyal fans? Your name is known in every university theatre department in the US. How did it start and does it get overwhelming?
MHL: It does get overwhelming. But that's why I have an assistant helping me with requests. So I try to just stick to coaching and let him handle anything else that comes up. I like to believe I'm liked because I'm accessible. I'm a nice guy and I really work hard for my students. I try to find the best parts of everyone's performance when coaching them and if I think I can help them get the job, I'll make sure they're doing their best.
My obsession to have more sheet music than anyone else in the room started long ago. My collection got quite large after I acquired Arthur Siegel's collection when he died in 1994. Arthur wrote many of the songs for the NEW FACES revues of the 50's and 60's. We'd become friends. He lived across the street (in the same building as Betty Comden!). He'd been collecting since he was 12. It took an entire day of bringing file cabinets around the corner. He had wonderful old sheets, some given to him by Jule Styne or Richard Rodgers.
I'm not sure how my name got known by so many universities. I guess word of mouth grew exponentially. But I go back to my first notebook of people calling for sheet music (before email!). I've found names like Matt Cavenaugh, TR Knight, John Lloyd Young, and, more recently, Aaron Tveit. So many people who first wrote me when they were in college. Most of them I had no idea I'd been helping out before they got to NYC.
I've begun to teach at conservatories around the world, often in Australia, where I've developed a following. For the past 4 years, I've been the US/Broadway correspondent for a Sunday evening musical theatre program airing on radio out of Melbourne. I've been able to get Max Von Essen, Craig Carnelia, Craig Burns (casting director of WICKED) here to talk on the air with the hosts and I've often been out of town with shows trying out (WEDDING SINGER and SHREK in Seattle, many shows at the Old Globe or La Jolla) and given their listeners first-hand knowledge of what was going on.
AJ: Having been teaching at conservatories, and with your regular coaching’s, what would you say is missing from the training programs that are preparing students to enter into musical theatre?
MHL: I think the training programs preparing students to enter into musical theatre are getting better every year. As younger actors take over the programs, they're more in tune with what's auditioning today. Still, that's the common complaint I hear from students arriving in NYC: that they don't have all of the different genres in their book of material. I think all of the programs need to encourage their students to examine every possible style that could come their way, so they're prepared for any audition that could come up.
AJ: What still excites and surprises you about the theatre and what do you think it could do better? And on that note, why aren't there more original musicals making it to Broadway, when we’re getting adaptations of every movie known to man?
MHL: I get excited when I see something unexpected - like ROCK OF AGES, which I decided to invest (a lot!) in. I saw it in LA a few years ago and was under-whelmed. Then I went back off-Broadway and I can't tell you why, but it was a different, vastly improved show. When I was approached to invest, I thought this was a show I thought would run for a while and be tons of fun for the tired businessman who loves to rock out! I'm not alone: Max Von Essen and Lea Salonga also invested in the show. ROA is an original idea and I'm thrilled it's carved out a niche on Broadway. I'd much rather see shows like that and NEXT TO NORMAL than the adaptations, which frankly often bore me. I think with the success of those 2 shows, we may be seeing producers taking more chances in the future. I certainly hope so!
I'm excited when I see or hear of a project that's original or has a terrific cast or a composer whose work I like.
AJ: Can you tell us what are you working on next? -
MHL: I'm playing an act for Jim Barbour at Hofstra in Long Island on June 27th. I played for him at Feinstein's a few months ago. I'm playing an act for Jack Noseworthy at Feinstein's on June 29th, directed by Gary Griffin. I'm musically directing a benefit for the Red Fern Theatre Company this Sunday night, playing for Aaron Lazar, Matt Cavenaugh, Jenny Powers, Stephanie J. Block, Titus Burgess and Jarrod Spector. I'm teaching most of September in Australia: Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. Teaching on Martha's Vineyard for Scott Wise and Elizabeth Parkinson in July/August. So I try to balance the teaching and the musically directing. I'd love to do more conducting.
AJ: Michael, thank you for taking the time for SuCoSeCo!
Some of Michael Lavine’s upcoming performances:
Michael playing at Hofstra: http://www.theatermania.com/new-york/news/05-2009/james-barbour-to-star-in-hofstra-benefit-concert-j_19263.html
Michael at Feinstein’s: http://feinsteinsattheregency.com/
Michael’s website: http://www.michaellavine.net/
