Barry Manilow finds the perfect gig

He's actually rehearsing scenes from an upcoming PBS special he'll tape live Dec. 12 at the Hilton. It will air during pledge week in March after the Jan. 31 release of a reunion album with legendary music executive Clive Davis on Arista Records, "The Greatest Songs of the Fifties." He's incorporating some of those oldies into his Vegas act that was recently extended through 2006.

But letting someone see those songs develop is tantamount to a magician revealing his tricks.

Less than three hours later, Manilow would begin and end his 90-minute show with "It's A Miracle," his second No. 1 adult contemporary hit after "Mandy" from 1975. He would play "Mandy" as a duet with video footage of him from 1974, a scene-stealing highlight of the show.

But he'd also add several songs from this rehearsal to give fans who had seen him even hundreds of times another amazing experience.

Even sometimes-skeptical critics are applauding Manilow's efforts. Jessica Kruse of the alternative news weekly, the Las Vegas Mercury, wrote in March, "Go ahead and make fun of Barry Manilow (but)... 'Music and Passion' is a top-notch show that spotlights some great musicians and performers," she wrote. "Manilow's voice is still unbeatable and his energy, charm and love of performing are evident."

Manilow's love of performing in this theater is indeed evident. He watched when they put his gigantic image on the marquee of the Hilton and said, "It was thrilling."

He's honored to be working on the "Elvis" stage.

"I say it on stage every night, they haven't changed the stage," Manilow says. "They've been blowing up every building here and putting up brand new ones, but they've left this one alone. You can feel the ghosts of all those people that were there."

Flashback to the '50s

Manilow actually goes back in time to take this show to another level for his PBS special. During rehearsal, he creates a scene for his 1950s hits and transports himself to Dick Clark's "American Bandstand" like a method actor calling on an emotional memory.

He's playing the theme song he arranged, "Bandstand Boogie," and reciting lines that fling him back to 1974 for his first appearance on Clark's music show.

But a splinter of reality hurtles him back to 2005. He needs a line! No worries, he tells his crew with the calm of a chief surgeon during rehearsal. "I'll think of something to say here."

Then it's back to "American Bandstand," singing a version of "Unchained Melody" that no longer belongs to the Righteous Brothers and all the others who all had hits with it in the past 50 years.

The new songs, also including The Four Aces' "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing" and Frankie Avalon's "Venus," seem to fit well in the show. Bookended between "Bandstand Boogie," they make one understand why Manilow would want to record these warhorses again.

But Manilow suggests that's part of his illusion.

"What you saw was a way I figured out of presenting the songs that made sense to me," he says. "(The concept) started with Clive having this idea of me doing these songs from the '50s. What you saw was, 'How do I present that album and make it my own and put it into a context that belongs to me?'

"I didn't do (the album) because of 'Bandstand Boogie.' We haven't been doing 'Bandstand Boogie.' But when I finished the album, I figured, 'Oh, this would be a good way to showcase the songs on the album - by bookending them with 'Bandstand Boogie.'"

The show hardly seems ready to be taped for a national broadcast. The drummer asks Manilow, "How do you go from 'Bandstand' to 'Love (Is A Many Splendored Thing)'? Manilow asks the choreographer if he can change a routine.

"It will magically pull itself together," Manilow insists.

"It's like building a house and it looks like it's never going to be done. And they say, 'We're done,' and you say, 'You can't be done. There's all this crap over it. Sawdust and plywood.' Then you come in the next morning and it's perfect because all they needed to do was the vacuum. That's all we need to do is the vacuum. It's done."

Bringing the concept to fruition, playing with it, polishing it and letting his talented supporting cast see his vision and run with it is what Manilow calls "the fun part."

And now that he's not touring and has his own theater in Las Vegas, he can tinker and play with his valuable catalog of songs all he likes.

"This is where I feel really creative, especially with these people around me who just top me," he says. "I come up with some little idea and, pow! It becomes funny or more beautiful or more musical. It's really my sandbox and they're my playmates."

Musical success, personal balance

Recording "The Greatest Songs of the Fifties" was a left turn that surprised even devoted fans. Manilow was ensconced on Concord Records, apparently moving in a jazzier direction.

"I know there are more than a few puzzled fans out there who are hoping the switch isn't permanent," said Alison Green, a longtime U.K. fan who saw "Music and Passion" in Las Vegas last month.

But Concord isn't the pure straight-ahead jazz label of, say, Blue Note. And Manilow is more than just a jazz connoisseur. He was looking for something different when Davis, the music executive who resuscitated Carlos Santana's career in 1999, gave him 25 songs from the 1950s to consider.

Manilow studied them and eventually connected to their innocence

"I've found myself in them," he says, "and I've found the dignity in the songwriting."

When he began introducing the material in Vegas, even Green found herself enamored.

"This music is perfect for Barry," she said in an e-mail. "It suits his voice. I just hope that Clive advertises the album not just in the USA but over here in the U.K., as well as the rest of the world."

The next challenge was to make the songs fit into his Las Vegas show.

"It took a while for me to figure that one out, and then to run it by everybody," Manilow says. "Then they came back and they're designing the costumes. That's a big deal. We have a real inventive costume designer, Leslie Hamel. We've been talking this now for months. So that's the bloodletting."

The hard work during rehearsal pays off when the concert starts. It features a touch of Elvis, a puff of smoke and even electronica. Manilow and his 17-piece orchestra are in full swing, giving fans what they want - a hearty sampling of Manilow's impressive catalog of hits and an introduction to some of his new songs.

"We call the show 'Music & Passion' because that's what my life is about," Manilow says. "I think that's what Las Vegas is about, too."

Manilow takes a break from his Vegas show this week and plays a benefit concert for the McCallum Theatre on Thursday. He'll create another original concert "under the stars" May 6 at O'Donnell Golf Club in Palm Springs to benefit the AIDS Assistance Program.

It's clear that this performer, who started as a commercial jingle writer, has found a new harmony in his life, balancing his peaceful life in Palm Springs with the creative sandbox he's created in his Las Vegas theater.

"It's my favorite gig I've ever had. Ever," he says. "Being in my own room. There is nothing like not being on the road."