JN Entertainment

What A Life!

Cy Coleman scores another Broadway hit with The Life.

greatest splash in a tony career has become for the composer of bungalows on the property," and singers earned their notch-
'Witchcraft," it wasn't always his where they also raised chickens. es on the Borscht Belt.
of accomplishments.
And his mother could raise
Back at the bungalows, the
So, what does a nice Jewish most notable path to fame. "I was
guy, who grew up in the Bronx, a potential Horowitz," he says of hell if she wanted to, Coleman young Seymour peddled his tal-
recalls with love and admiration. ents as a pianist.
know about the pimps, prosti- his pre-teen take on music.
"We had little shows at the
In fact, it was a salesman with "I remember she hired convicts
tutes and pain that permeate the
Rogers Follies, Little Me, Seesaw, sordid yet alluring characters of a sense of culture who first rec- to work the land, and, later on, colony," says the composer,
ognized the youngster's talent. she was staying there by herself," whose mother had a love of Jew-
On the Twentieth Century, Bar- The Life?
ish theater.
"If I did a show about Marco "Our milkman thought I had real he says.
num and Sweet Charity.
"I came to visit her, and there
Indeed, at the root of Cole-
talent and sent out for a piano
teacher to hear me," Coleman was this big guy from prison man's music is a Jewish sensi-
standing there. She pulled out bility. "Whatever form I write,
chuckles.
By the time he was 4, the tyke her pocket watch and said, that [Jewish influence; is in my
was naming his own tunes: What's the matter, working just kishkas," says the man who
scored such hits as "Gypsy in My
"That teacher gave me a schol- half a day?'
"I pulled her aside and said, Soul" and "If They Could See Me
arship to study with him. All of
a sudden, I was embarked on a `Mom, you can't talk to them like Now."
If his old friends from the
concert career, playing at the top that.' "
The man who composed "Big Catskills could see him now,
halls of New York."
Along the way, the Steinway Spender" for Sweet Charity got they'd know nothing has
became his most instrumental a rude awakening.
changed.
"I'm still the guy who tended
"She said, 'First of all, big shot,
tool. Not that the kid's immi-
grant parents totally agreed with it's none of your business. And the chickens," he muses.
Now working on a Broadway
the path he took later on to besides, what's the fuss? The
musical version of A Star Is
Broadway.
watch doesn't work anyway."
It all worked for Coleman, liv- Born, and after a career filled
"My father didn't understand
it," says Coleman of his carpen- ing at what he jokingly refers to with star-studded salutes from
ter dad. As for his mother, she as "the low-class version of the his peers and an assortment of
"didn't realize I was a success un- Garden of the Finzi-Continis.' prestigious awards, the music
til I did Wildcat with Lucille My family was strongly inde- man born Seymour Kaufman
pendent, which worked to my knows it's been quite a life.
Ball." She loved Lucy.
But, adds the composer of The
"And when my mother read benefit."
Indeed, his days spent in the Life, the best is yet to come. ❑
about Wildcat in the Daily For-
ward, that's when she knew I bungalows helped open the door
`a For tickets to The Life,
wasn't wasting my life."
to future feats.
winner of the 1997 Drama
Coleman has some wild mem-
"We were right next door to
Desk, Outer Critics Circle and
ories of that time, including deal- Kutsher's Country Club," says
Drama League awards, call
ing with a leading lady — Ball, Coleman of the influential
(800) 432-7250.
debuting (in 1960) on Broadway Catskill classic where comedians
— who "was more
scared than I was."
Introducing his score
to the star, Coleman got
into a staring contest
with Ball. Ball blinked
first.
"Lucy said to me,
`Don't you ever do that
again. My eyeballs
hurt.' "
Cy Coleman: A Jewish influence in his kishkas.
Coleman doesn't hurt
He's a man of means — and Polo," Cy says, "I wouldn't have for inspired stories. Af-
ter all, it's not every
mischief. There is a little bit of to travel to China, would I?"
Of course not — although it Jewish kid who grew up
the devil in this Jewish soul,
whose City of Angels captured seems Coleman's works have tending chickens and
tickling the ivories.
six Tony Awards some seasons traveled everywhere else.
His mother "was a
With its look at life on 42nd
back.
Closing in on 70, the seasoned Street prior to the region's recent strong woman," and
songwriter helped give life to The revitalization, the show — which somewhat of an entre-
Life, now at the Ethel Barrymore took home Tony Awards for fea- preneur who bought up
Theatre. It is his grittiest and tured players Lillias White and property in Monticello,
Chuck Cooper — is one of the N.Y.
Michael Elkin is entertainment
"My parents — re-
best new musicals Broadway has
editor of the Philadelphia
member, my father was Judine Richard, Verne! Bagneris, Tony Award winner Lillias White and Katy Grenfell in Cy
to offer.
Jewish Exponent.
As bewitching as Broadway a carpenter — built Coleman's The Life, at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York.

C

PHOTO BY CAROL ROSEGG

omposer Cy Cole-
man spins hits at full
tilt like a musical
pinball machine —
obvious in such
Broadway delights as The Will

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