FREEZE FRAME: 'Manilow Way' Unveiled on 44th Street!
The City of New York has honored Grammy Award-winning superstar (and Brooklyn native) Barry Manilow with his very own street. In a ceremony performed earlier today, Todd Asher, Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment (and self-professed "Fanilow"), unveiled a new street sign dubbing the West 44th Street at 7th Avenue "MANILOW WAY." The corner is mere steps from the St. James Theatre (246 West 44th Street) where Manilow began a special Broadway concert series, Manilow on Broadway, last Friday, January 18. The limited Broadway engagement was recently extended and will now play through Saturday, February 23, 2013.
Check out a photo preview from the big unveiling below!
"On behalf of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the City of New York, I want to welcome Brooklyn-born music icon Barry Manilow back home to the greatest city in the world!," said Deputy Commissioner Asher. "In honor of his concert series, Manilow on Broadway, playing just up the street at the St. James Theatre, we have renamed West 44th Street at 7th Avenue MANILOW WAY!"
Fans had lined the street beginning in the early morning. By the time Mr. Manilow arrived, a large crowd of fans and photographers were waiting.
With worldwide sales of more than 80 million records, success is a benchmark in popular music. Rolling Stone crowned him "a giant among entertainers... the showman of our generation," and Frank Sinatra summed up Manilow best when Ol' Blue Eyes told the British press, "He's next." He currently has 50 Top 40 hits. And now, Manilow is returning to the place where it all began, his hometown, New York City, with a new concert series on Broadway - marking his return to The Great White Way for the first time in more than two decades with Manilow on Broadway.
Manilow's roots remain in his native Brooklyn, where music was an integral part of his life. By the age of seven, he was taking accordion lessons and playing on a neighbor's piano. Choosing a career in music while still in his teens, he attended New York College of Music and the Juilliard School of Music while working in the mailroom at CBS. He subsequently became musical director for a CBS show named "Callback" (the predecessor to "American Idol") which led to a lucrative sideline on New York's advertising jingle circuit.
Since then, Manilow has been ranked as the top Adult Contemporary chart artist of all time, according to R&R (Radio & Records), with no less than 25 consecutive Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1975 and 1983. The list includes all-time favorites that Manilow still sings today: "Mandy," "It's A Miracle," "Could It Be Magic," "I Write the Songs," "Tryin' To Get the Feeling Again," "This One's For You," "Weekend In New England," "Looks Like We Made It," "Can't Smile Without You," "Even Now," and the Grammy Award-winning "Copacabana (At the Copa)." Manilow's Broadway show is destined to be as legendary as the man himself.
Tickets, ranging in price from $50 to $350, are now on sale. For tickets, please visit www.ManilowOnBroadway.com or call (212) 239-6200 / (800) 432-7250. Barry Manilow Fan Club tickets are available now at www.manilow.com and by calling (310) 957-5788. Citi cardmembers will have access to preferred tickets and exclusive VIP packages through Citi's Private Pass program (details at www.citiprivatepass.com).
MANILOW ON BROADWAY will play the following weekly performance schedule: Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.,Wednesday at 7:00 p.m., Thursday at 8:00 p.m., Friday at 8:00 p.m., and Saturday at 8:00 p.m.
Photo Credit: Walter McBride
Barry Manilow unveils the new street sign 'Manilow Way' on West 44th Street in a renaming ceremony celebrating 'Manilow on Broadway' at the St. James Theatre in New York City on 1/22/2013