An Offer He Couldn't Refuse

Barry wondered what his fans were going to do when they find out he canceled his world tour. The main reason the tour got canceled was because Barry got an offer to headline at the Borgata in Atlantic City.  Barry had said many times in interviews that he hated Las Vegas. But this was not Las Vegas. No this was Atlantic City and he loved Atlantic City. The Atlantic City  hotel/casino was the Borgata. The venue at the Borgata was the Music Box. Barry would in  permanent residence for as long as he wanted to stay. Boyd Gaming and Marina District Development  who owned the Borgata contacted Barry and asked him if he'd like to have permanent residence at the Borgata's Music Box theatre. Barry didn't hesitate to say yes to their offer.  For a number of reasons. One it wasn't in Las Vegas. Two it was in New Jersey which was close to New York City where he lived. So he could go home after his last show on Saturday night. Three Amtrak now had direct train service to Atlantic City. So no flying or even driving down there if he didn't want to do either.. Four The Music Box was an intimate 1,000 seat theatre which he liked. The unobstructed views from every seat in the theatre was another thing Barry liked. So he happily signed the contract. Then he got together with his writing team of Ken and Mitzi Welch. Together they came up with the perfect show. The show was being  called Manilow's Night Songs. This was going to be a very jazzy show. Because that's what Barry Manilow was a jazz artist on the side. Not a pop artist like Brian Murphy was. The other thing Barry kind of wondered about was what Brian Murphy was going to say when he discovered he lost four of his band members for good. In fact the four band members Barry snitched Russ McKinnon drums, Ron Pedley keyboards, David Rosenblatt percussion/vocals and Mike Lent guitar/vocals were thrilled to be working with Barry. It must have been because Russ, Ron David and Mike were all crazy about jazz like Barry was. Barry and Marc went down to Atlantic City to check out the Music Box to what it looked like. Once inside the theatre Barry said to Marc I'm going to really like it here. Barry was calling his Borgata show at the Music Box Manilow's Night Songs. Which was going to open on Valentines Day Thursday February 14, 2019. Fan club tickets would go on sale Friday November 30, 2018 at 1:00PM eastern time. With tickets for the general public going on sale Thursday December 13, 2018 at 1PM eastern time. Barry was going do something he'd never done before  platinum packages. Barry knew Brian Murphy did platinum packages during his road trips. Barry decided the package would consist of  a backstage meeting with him, front row seat, wine glass with your choice of wine, ginger ale or sparkling grape juice and an autographed program. Barry thought four different wines would be nice instead of champagne. Which is what he had heard Brian Murphy did for his platinum's. Barry decided on two red wines and two white wines. The reds were a cabernet sauvignon and a merlot. The whites were a Melody and Riesling . Plus ginger ale and sparkling red and white grape juice for those who didn't drink wine. Barry had decided that January, March May, July, September and November he would do two weekends. Then February, April, June, August, October and December he would do three weekends. The shows would be Thursday through Sunday except in December. Because he wanted to be there on December 31st to ring in the new year. Barry was even thinking platinum's on New Years Eve would be nice for his fans to do. Platinum's would cost five hundred dollars with the money going to his Manilow Music Fund for Kids. The Manilow Music Fund for Kids raises money for musical instruments that go to schools that needed them. Also for his Manilow Music Scholarship at Julliard Music school. Every year a deserving high school student gets a twenty-five thousand scholarship to Julliard Music school. Barry thought charging one thousand five hundred for platinum's was to much. He knew a lot of fans couldn't afford that amount. So that's why he was going to charge five hundred for his platinum's. All 

he needed to do now was rehearse with the band. Have them try on their costumes to make sure they fit. Then get ready for his third musical to open on Broadway. Harmony was still on Broadway at the St. James Theatre. Copacabana was back on Broadway and playing at the Music Box. Copacabana had been at the Music Box since February.  And now Here At The mayflower was going to open in December at the Gershwin Theatre. Wow three musicals on Broadway at one time. That's something no other Broadway songwriter had ever done. That should be one for the Guinness Book of World Records. The first Broadway songwriter to ever have three musicals on Broadway at one time.