ARTS AND CULTURE

Bruce Sussman

Musician

American librettist and lyricist Bruce Sussman has collaborated with numerous composers, the best-known being singer Barry Manilow. The Jackson Heights, Queens native collaborated with Manilow on the musical “Harmony”, staged in New York by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene. “Harmony” tells the story of the Comedian Harmonists, a performing troupe of Jews and Gentiles who combined close harmonies and stage antics in Germany during the 1920s and ‘30s as Nazi legislation banned Jewish performers from the country’s stages. “This show is about ‘Harmony’ in the broadest sense of the word,” Sussman observed in an interview. “And one of the ways these guys found harmony was by finding the ability to successfully collaborate with each other. That’s something that Barry and I can relate to very strongly.” (Photo: Twitter user photo)