Barry Manilow and his lifelong friend unveil a new project

He is in perfect “harmony“

Wednesday, my phone is ringing. A voice says, “Hello. It’s Barry Manilow.” Barry Manilow on my phone as I sit in my kitchen inhaling a tuna salad sandwich on raisin bread with mayo?

Second voice: “This is Bruce Sussman. I recently had dinner next to you at Fresco.”

So what? So 90 other overeaters I don’t know. Who are you?

This voice says, “Barry and I, friends for life, we have created the new musical ‘Harmony.’ Just opened at the National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene.” A bell rang. It’s a project I’ve written about and known about for ages.

Barry: “This story, which we’ve been working on for 100 years, is about six young talents in Germany in the 1920s. Great harmonies, old-fashioned humor from the Marx Brothers. But behind the vaudeville razzmatazz lies a tragic story. Nobody remembers her. Back then, no one had heard from anyone. Finally Bruce and I have reached our goal with this musical about her. It’s “harmony”. ”

Bruce: “Years ago I saw an old dusty roll with subtitles about her and was so excited to see her story that – long before we had cell phones – I quickly found a payphone on Lafayette Street downtown, called Barry and said : ‘Listen, we have to do this.’ ”

Barry: Here’s something you won’t believe. The main character, back in the 90’s, lived – if you can believe it – very close to me in Palm Springs. who knew I was walking my dog ​​right in front of his house without knowing it. Here I am writing a series about this man who lived exactly three blocks from me and knew it. I spend years writing songs about this aged character I didn’t even know and never met. When I finally met him and entered his house, I burst into tears. He’s gone now. He was 98.”

Part two of the story.

Heading to Wednesday’s opening Barry Manilow was diagnosed with COVID. Couldn’t go to the theatre, backstage or party.

He said, “After working on this show for years, this is the cruellest thing that has ever happened to me.”

Designer trash

TODAY everyone, even a nobody, is a busybody. Enough with designer labels. Calvin Klein nasal spray coming soon, maybe Saint Laurent arch supports, we’re looking for Kardashian-designed aspirin, and after Ye makes custom earrings, what’s next — Ex-Lax by Gucci?

Holidays are fun, right?

Signs You May Be at a Republican Seder: 1. Refuse to answer the four questions without a subpoena. 2. Request an enumeration of the 10 plagues. 3. No increase in minimum wage because buying a goat is very cheap now. 4. The Afikomen is hidden in the Cayman Islands. 5. No open door for Elijah until they see his immigration papers. 6. They attack Moses for negotiating with Pharaoh, because we do not negotiate with our enemies. 7. Don’t understand why the Egyptians didn’t cure the plagues with hydroxychloroquine. 8. They omit portions of Haggadah about slavery that remind them of the Critical Race Theory. 9. Gefilte fish are replaced with tomato jelly. 10. The Seder concludes with the singing of “Next Year in Mar-a-Lago.”

The bill is yours

LAW prof: A process for Outsider Johnny Depp and the ex? Just to nail each other? It’s filing fees, minimal costs, security, a judge, official staff, jury, subsistence allowances, court reporters that cost the taxpayer about $50,000 a day. We, the public, take over Johnny and Amber’s little piss fight.

DRUNK on train tracks: One: “Too many steps.” Pal: “Forget the steps. The low railing bothers me.”

Only at Penn Station in New York, children, only at Penn Station in New York.