Manhattan Transfer
look at end of road
after 5 decades
When the Manhattan Transfer formed in October 1972, singer Janis Siegel says she and the other three singers in the vocal quartet initially kept their day jobs.
“I was waitressing at the time, at the very beginning of the group,” Siegel, 70, says recently. “We all had day jobs. Alan’s happened to be on Broadway.”
And not just any old Broadway show either: Alan Paul was part of the original Broadway cast of “Grease,” double cast as Teen Angel and Johnny Casino.
Paul, 72, says he’d been performing in “Grease” for a year and a half when he met his future partners in the Manhattan Transfer. First Laurel Massé, then Siegel, and finally Tim Hauser.
“Laurel was dating the drummer in the show and I used to see her backstage all the time,” he says. “The guys in the ‘Grease’ band, after doing the show sometimes, they’d go to one of the clubs and perform.
“And when I heard them sing, I was completely blown away.”
Fifty years later, Siegel and Paul are still singing with the Manhattan Transfer. Massé left in 1979 after a car accident, with Cheryl Bentyne taking her place in the group. Hauser died in 2014 and was replaced by Trist Curless.
Now, with the aptly named new album “Fifty” just released, the Manhattan Transfer is looking at the end of the road. A final world tour runs through next year, but after that, the group is not likely to perform live again, Siegel and Paul say.
‘Bluey,’ ‘Funny
Girl’ set for Macy’s
Thanksgiving parade
NEW YORK — The debut of a giant “Bluey” balloon, Lea Michele and the Broadway cast of “Funny Girl” and the legendary Dionne Warwick are some of the highlights slated for this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
This year’s parade — the 96th annual — will feature 16 giant character balloons, 28 floats, 40 novelty and heritage inflatables, 12 marching bands, 700 clowns, 10 performance groups and, of course, Santa Claus.
New balloon giants joining the line-up on Nov. 24 include Stuart the one-eyed Minion from “Despicable Me 2,” a new green dinosaur, an Apatosaurus, the debut of the animated sensation “Bluey,” and a new “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” balloon.
Other celebrities slated to be on hand include Paula Abdul, making her parade debut; Fitz and the Tantrums; Big Time Rush; “Blue’s Clues & You!” host Josh Dela Cruz; Gloria Estefan along with her daughter, Emily, and grandson, Sasha; Kirk Franklin; Mario Lopez; Ziggy Marley; and Miss America 2022 Emma Broyles.
— Wire reports
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