When did you decide to go into film/television scoring?

In 1977 I was asked by my friend Charles Fox if I wanted to come to LA from NY to score some episodes of "Happy Days". Since I had just gotten married and my wife Ilene Graff had just opened in a Broadway show ("I Love My Wife"), and I was a busy New York session player/arranger and conducting the Broadway show "Grease", I decided to turn the offer down. The following year I was asked again and decided to give it a try. We came to LA on a trial basis. It's thirty two years later we're still here.


For those unfamiliar with you and your work, can you give us a short background?

     Ben Lanzarone, a winner of ASCAP's Most Performed Composer Award, has enjoyed a career encompassing a broad range of musical experience. A graduate of New York's famed High School of Music and Art, Ben holds two Masters Degrees from the Manhattan School of Music. He began as a classical pianist, touring the country as soloist with the Longines Symphonette and made his solo debut at Carnegie Recital Hall.

     Ben easily moved into the world of popular music and the record industry when he started his association with Bob Crewe and Charles Fox. Their collaboration resulted in Ben's album, In Classic Form. Ben went on to arrange many more Bob Crewe productions, including recordings for Bobby Darin, Vikki Carr, and The Bob Crewe Generation. He soon became a busy arranger for a diverse list of recording artists from Peter Nero and Andre Kostelanetz, to Vicki Sue Robinson and the disco group The Brothers, to the soundtrack of the motion picture, Grease. He also arranged and composed many jingles, while maintaining his career as a studio pianist, appearing on well over a thousand commercials, records and soundtracks. This recording activity led to his election to the NARAS Board of Governors.

     As Musical Director/pianist, Ben has traveled with a wide variety of artists including Frank Sinatra, Art Garfunkle, Mary Travers, Anthony Newley, Petula Clark, Lainie Kazan and Mason Williams.

     It is for his work composing television scores that Ben won the prestigious ASCAP award. He has written the music for hundreds of shows including The Tracy Ullman Show, The Jay Leno Comedy Hour and Mr. Belvedere. His long association with Aaron Spelling and Doug Cramer resulted in many scores for Dynasty, Love Boat, Vegas, Matt Houston, The Colbys, and Hotel. For Miller/Milkis/Boyett he wrote the music for numerous episodes of Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley and Mork and Mindy.

     Ben has also been active in Broadway musical theatre. He was Musical Director of the Broadway production of Grease and the Los Angeles Shakespeare Festival's A Midsummer Night's Dream. He was also the Musical Director/arranger for the off-Broadway show How to Steal an Election and arranger and orchestrator for the Broadway productions, Via Galactica and Truckload.

     One of Ben's recent accomplishments has been the world premiere of the new musical, You and Me, for which he composed, arranged, produced and performed the music. His work on the show was recognized by the Valley Theatre League with their Artistic Director Award. He has also written the award-winning music for three Storybook Theatre children's musicals: Cowboys and Cowgirls, Blast-Off! and Jack and the Beanstalk, which will be available soon on DVD.

     Ben has served as Musical Director of two Actors' Fund Benefits; Sing Happy! honoring Kander and Ebb and The Best is Yet to Come honoring Cy Coleman. 2003 also brought a Grammy nomination for Baby's Broadway Lullabies, which he arranged, performed and co-produced with his wife, Ilene Graff. He is is the proud father of Nikka, a Bosotn Conservatory Musical Theater graduate and working performer.



What was your first scoring assignment?

"Happy Days".


How did you get involved with "Dynasty"?

I had been working for Aaron Spelling, writing episodes of "Love Boat". Up until "Love Boat", I was mostly writing for sit-coms. I was offered an episode of "Dynasty" which was my first dramatic show. They liked what I did and eventually I composed about 18 episodes, including the famous Crystal-Alexis fight by the pool.

[Editor's Note: for a full list of "Dynasty" composers, see THIS page]


How did you get involved with "Hotel"?

It came as an outgrowth of my work on "Dynasty".


Can you tell us some of the other series you have worked on?

In addition to "Happy Days", "Love Boat", and "Dynasty", I worked on "Laverne and Shirley", "Mork and Mindy", "Goodtime Girls", "Out of the Blue", "Hotel", "Glitter", "Aloha Paradise" (starring Debbie Reynolds), "Shirley", (starring Shirley Jones) "The Colbys", "Matt Houston", and "Mr. Belvedere".


Any personal favorite scores you have done?

I particularly liked the 2-hour episode of "Love Boat", that went to Japan, and my first episode of "Dynasty". The "Dynasty" episode was a challenge because it was my first one-hour dramatic score. I also had the chance to work with a larger orchestra than I usually had on "Love Boat". I did some interesting research and used authentic instruments for the Japanese "Love Boat" episode. There was a very long cue in the episode that the producers liked so much, they played the entire scene without a laugh track so the music could be heard.


Why did you not go on to score more episodes of "Dynasty"?

Aaron Spelling was producing 7 or 8 series at that time. I was one of a stable of composers that went from show to show. It was a matter of who was available to do the next show. I was fortunate to do many "Love Boat" episodes because they are still being shown around the world.


Were there any musical stylings/ideas/themes you were asked to use on the series?

Mostly the style of music for each series is obvious, usually dictated by the main title theme. For example, I used the "Love Boat" music whenever the boat was shown. But I always tried to give each character their own theme which I used whenever they were on the screen.


If such a thing, what was the typical scoring process like for an episode of a TV series?

The first step in the scoring process is a spotting session. This is usually, but not always, with the producer, composer and the music editor. We view the episode together and decide where the music will start and stop. Then the music editor supplies the composer with notes of the precise timings of the on-screen action for each cue. Then the writing and sometimes panic starts. In television there isn't a lot of time to do a score. We often had to compose and orchestrate as many as 3-4 minutes of music a day, sometimes more, always allowing time for the copyists to do their work. The final step is the live recording session with wonderful musicians. That was the most fun.

     Television music is usually done differently now, mostly in the composers' home studios with synthesizers.


Out of your body of work, what scores of yours do you wish were available on CD?

It's hard to say because a lot would have to be rewritten for the music to make sense without the picture.


Have you ever had any scores rejected, or replaced scores on any projects?

I haven't had any score replaced, but I have had a cue or two changed.


FAN QUESTIONS:


Matt5 (soapchat.net):
"Could you ask that his work in Dynasty featured a lot in Season 2, but a bit less in Season 3, and only 2 episodes a piece in Seasons 4/5. Was this Ben's decision to stop scoring episodes (I notice he scored some Colby's episodes in Dynasty's season 6) or was it due to the influx of new award winning composers that were assigned to Dynasty as it got more popular (Lance Rubin/Angela Morley/Dennis McCarthy, etc.)?"

I think I answered this in Question 8.


Falkirkbairn (MainTitles.net):
"I'd like to know a bit about how he deals with the time pressures of composing for TV shows and whether he had a chance to carry over any ideas between "Dynasty" and "The Colbys".

     The time pressures were sometimes insane. It meant that if an episode had 35 minutes of music in it and I had 10 days to write the score, I didn't get to sleep until at least 3.5 minutes were done that day.

     If the characters were the same in different shows, I tried to use the themes I had originally written for them whenever I could.




Do you play any musical instruments?

Yes, I am classically trained as a pianist. I studied the bass in high school and one year of the flute in college. I was not very good on the flute.


What are some of your personal favorite scores by other composers?

Alex North's "Spartacus", Miklos Rozsa's "El Cid", and any of Jerry Goldsmith's scores.


Who are your favorite composers (living and/or current)?

John Williams, James Newton Howard.


What do you think of television scoring today (if you follow it)?

Today's style is very different from what I did. We used more a feature film approach with themes that developed with the story and characters. Today's writing is more about texture than actual composition, and the sounds are all quite similar. It's really not my favorite way of doing things. It mostly all sounds the same to me.


Have you retired from composing? If "Yes", what was the last assignment you did?

We never say we're retired. Haven't had the luncheon or got the gold watch yet. But my last assignments for television were episodes of "Mr. Belvedere". Since then I've written a musical, and been musical director for Actors' Fund benefits.


Are there any upcoming projects you'd like to tell us about (scoring or otherwise)?

My wife and I have a cabaret act that we perform.


And finally, if there is anything you'd like to say in general, or wasn't covered by a question but feel should have been, please feel free to do so.

Thank you for your interest in television music. Feel free to ask if you need any more infomation.


Thank you for the interview.

You're welcome.




Published: February 26, 2010