The new “American Masters” documentary “Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love” is the series’ Season 27 finale. It premieres at 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 27, on the local PBS channel KCPT, with repeat broadcasts at 1 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 28; 10 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 29; and 2:30 a.m. Monday, Dec. 30. The documentary will be available on DVD Jan. 14 via PBS Distribution. Running time is 90 minutes.
With exclusive access to Marvin Hamlisch’s personal archival treasure trove, candid interviews with A-list collaborators from music, stage and screen, and complete cooperation from his family, “American Masters” takes a deeply personal look at one of the greatest artists of our time.
Composer, conductor, genius, mensch, Hamlisch (June 2, 1944 to Aug. 6, 2012) earned four Grammys, four Emmys, three Oscars, three Golden Globes, a Tony Award, and a Pulitzer Prize before his untimely death, making him one of only two PEGOT winners ever.
Hit after hit — “The Way We Were,” “Nobody Does It Better” and scores for “The Sting,” “Sophie’s Choice” and the Broadway juggernaut “A Chorus Line” — made him the go-to composer and performer for film, Broadway, every U.S. president since Ronald Reagan and concert halls worldwide.
In the first film biography about Hamlisch, award-winning filmmaker and four-time Tony Award-winning Broadway producer Dori Berinstein presents a deeply personal, insider portrait of one of the greatest artists of our time. Candid new interviews include wife Terre Blair Hamlisch, Barbra Streisand, Steven Soderbergh, Carly Simon, Quincy Jones, Christopher Walken, Sir Tim Rice, Joe Torre Allen, John Lithgow, Lucie Arnaz, Ann-Margret, Sir Howard Stringer, Kelli O’Hara, Brian D’Arcy James, Idina Menzel, Melissa Manchester, songwriter Carole Bayer Sager, and many others.
“Marvin Hamlisch was a consummate artist: gifted, creative, and personable. His music is part of the essential soundtrack to so many of our lives,” said Susan Lacy, creator and executive producer of “American Masters.”
“Marvin’s astounding musical genius was certainly breathtaking, but it was his irrepressible joy for life and his unending generosity that constantly had me in awe. What a tremendous honor and challenge to capture the magic of this singular sensation,” said Berinstein, who was friends with Hamlisch and collaborated with him on a new Broadway musical before his death. She is working to finish the musical, which will feature his final score.
A musical prodigy accepted to Juilliard at age 6, Hamlisch defied classical expectations to create his own music, dedicating his talents to musical theater and pop music composition. By age 31, he achieved unprecedented success and honors with a string of smash hits, and then his streak ended.
Faced with overwhelming pressure and sky-high expectations to repeat his hits, Hamlisch fell into a self-described “period of suffocating despair,” before rebounding to find true love worthy of a Broadway musical and renewed passion for creation.
“Marvin Hamlisch: What He Did for Love” reveals the events that led to both his staggering success and, ultimately, his even greater humanity: his creative process, struggles, inner turmoil and breakthroughs.
