A visionary who has crafted the scope of the Broadway stages, Marvin Hamlisch has won virtually every major award that exists in the arts: three Oscars, four Grammys, four Emmys, a Tony, three Golden Globe awards, and a Pulitzer Prize for a little show called A Chorus Line. Currently conducting a Pops series with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra while making a return foray into film scoring with “The Informant”, Hamlisch caught up with ShowBiz Chicago to discuss the intergenerational appeal of symphonies, what has changed on the Great White Way since A Chorus Line, and why Steven Soderbergh can be very persuasive.

ShowBiz Chicago: You conduct for the Seattle Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the San Diego Symphony, the National Symphony Orchestra, and now the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. What about the environment of these Pops program entices you?

MH: A few things. Number one, it’s a very relaxed atmosphere which I like. It also gives me an opportunity to try and create programming that parents and grandparents will feel that they can bring their children to. So that’s very important because the music of the American masters whether it be Irving Berlin, George Gershwin or Cole Porter should be listened to by kids because if they hear it, they’ll love it. And I know that for a fact. So I see myself on a bit of crusade here to ensure that this music lives and that the younger kids today hear it. A Pops concert gives me that opportunity.

ShowBiz Chicago: You have noted before that a Pops series requires a balancing act between entertaining the subscriber while bringing in new listeners. Why do you think Broadway still struggles to achieve this balance?

MH: Well Broadway is actually doing a very good job of it because they are doing record business, kids are flocking to The Lion King, flocking to Wicked, and parents and grandchildren are flocking to Mamma Mia. So I think it’s doing very well [in that regard]. The thing to do is figure out the formula for the orchestras. I think probably the problem is many times when you think of an orchestra or the conductor you think stodgy. And there’s nothing wrong with that, but to introduce kids to a concert- I think coming in with a Pops concert- is the best way to do it.

ShowBiz Chicago: What convinced you to come back to film scoring after an over 10 year hiatus with last year’s “The Informant!”?

MH: Very simple. Two words: Steven Soderbergh. If you’re asked by a great director to work with him I think you’d have to be [out of your mind] to say no. Any time you get a chance to work with someone who you know is great then I think you follow that. So there was no way for me to say no. Absolutely no way.

ShowBiz Chicago: Throughout your career you have demonstrated an uncanny ability to find a musical voice for both characters and individual story arcs. Pieces such as A Chorus Line and They’re Playing Our Song demonstrate this polyvocality. How do you go about discovering the musical voice, or sound, for both characters and stories?

MH: It is a process. I don’t know exactly how to explain it. If you eat a meal, let’s say. I’ll give an example. I was out playing and students gave out chocolate chip cookies. And then a man said, ‘Can I have some milk?’ They responded that they didn’t get milk, they didn’t have it. The chocolate chip cookie for him was almost like, well if you’re giving me a chocolate chip cookie, you’ve got to give me milk. Those things go together. One thing inspires him to want the other. So think of the chocolate chip cookie as the story. The story comes to me, I read the story and I’m intrigued by the story, yet somehow it lacks a certain league of something, and in that case it was milk. Whatever that need is was what the music is that I’m trying to write.

ShowBiz Chicago: How does the recent trend of Jukebox musicals alter the relationship between score and text, even composer and piece, in musicals?

MH: We’ve reached a point now where not all projects aspire to greatness, but rather aspire to make a lot of money. There are a lot of shows now based on movies. We’re going through a period now of more [commercial] things. These shows are doing tons of business. But these [trends] come and go, I don’t worry about it too much. As my father used to say, there’s room for everything. Sometimes a certain genre takes over for a while. So you just have to wait a while and there will be a brand new show that’s a big hit.

ShowBiz Chicago: You have voiced your dissatisfactions with the film version of “A Chorus Line”. In the same vein, recent stage to film transfers have struggled to find an appropriate directorial voice. Why do you think, in the recent decades, this process of artistic transfer has encountered such challenges?

MH: I think one of the more successful ones was “Cabaret”. It made a great, great film. “Chicago” was also a great film. Some of these works…sometimes you really don’t know in advance what is going to work. I don’t know that you can know in advance what is going to make it.  “A Chorus line” I think it was obvious that when you get a director who has never done a musical the odds are against you.

ShowBiz Chicago: You’ve noted before that the song “At the Ballet”, and more specifically the line ‘Every Prince has got to have his swan’ propelled your understanding of A Chorus Line and the theatre’s universal effect. Looking back there has been such an array of productions that addressed the plight of the theatre performer- from Funny Girl to 42nd Street. Why do you think these stories of showbusiness, an experience shared by very few, still resonate with audiences today?

MH: Because it’s about personal struggle. When you watch an individual, no matter in what context onstage going through a struggle, it’s very empathetic for an audience.  Going up against obstacles, struggling for a dream, asking people not to ‘rain on your parade’. That’s very exciting to people, to audiences.

ShowBiz Chicago: You’re endeavoring on a new work for the stage with Jerry Lewis, a musicalized version of “The Nutty Professor”. What can you tell us about that project?

MH: We’re doing our next workshop at the end of January. It’s a very funny musical. But there’s a lot of heart, which I think will be a big surprise for a lot of people. Hopefully we’ll be up by next year.

Marvin Hamlisch will conduct the program “Marvelous Marvin Hamlisch” with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra from January 15-16, followed by a return engagement in June. For tickets or more information please visit www.IndianapolisSymphony.org. For more information on Marvin Hamlisch, please visit www.MarvinHamlisch.com.