‘Maltby & Shire- Our Story Goes On’- A Lovefest to Legacy

The American Songbook Association 2026 Gala

By Alix Cohen

Richard Eldridge Maltby, Jr (1937) met long time collaborator David Lee Shire (1937) as freshmen at Yale University. Both were sons of bandleaders. Maltby’s father was also the musical director for Ethel Merman; Shire’s had a society band. “I thought he was an Eastern theater snob, and he thought I was a jerk from Buffalo, but we were the only ones who could service each other,” Shire recalls. Respect and affection evolved. “David’s quirky harmonic turns always contain dialogue for me.” Maltby, Jr. comments.

When asked the secret of so many fertile, committed years, Shire responds, “It’s because we never said, I won’t to each other.” The program opens with a well edited montage of slides and videos capturing the honorees’ oeuvre.

Eddie Korbich has known and worked with the collaborators for years. “I’m on a first name basis!” His rendition of “(Time to Sing a) Showtune” is aptly wry and jaunty. Step, step, knees bend, arms extend – it’s just short of dancing. Korbich could’ve been a vaudevillian. Maybe he was. The actor seeming to have stopped aging.

Charlotte Maltby follows with “Crossword Puzzle” (Starting Here, Starting Now) Pen in hand, brow furrowed, she enacts the extremely canny song which swings from parlando to waltz as its heroine regrets revealing her intelligence to a now former boyfriend. P.S. Maltby, Jr. has been a professional cryptic crossword constructor for decades.

Friends since Yale days, Gretchen Cryer offers “Little Susan Lawrence.” (Big) Looking through her yearbook, the character recalls best friend Alice Bloom and first love, Buzz Babcock. Cryer inhabits the wistful memory.

From the original production of Baby – a recording of which must be the world’s best prenatal gift- we’re treated to Liz Callaway, Julia Murney, and Catherine Cox as an unexpectedly pregnant young woman, a woman confronting later-in-life pregnancy, and one struggling with infertility. The terrific “I Want It All” is ebullient, humorous, and touching. Vocalists are sympathetic, all in.

Barbara Walsh’s interpretation of “Stop Time” (Big) is overwhelmingly potent. “Two months old, he looks up at you/How his smile melts your heart/You wanna say, “Stop, time/Don’t move on…” I’d wager every mother in the audience catches her breath. Christianne Noll’s “Autumn” emerges as much melodic torch song as ballad. Arms at her sides, the actor channels everything into deep emotionalism. Julia Murney’s “Patterns” (Starting Here, Starting Now) “…I feel my life slipping from its frame…” bobs on sighing piano. The artist is viscerally shaken.

“There’s Nothing Like It” a comic exercise/fitness number (Closer Than Ever) is performed by its revival cast, Jenn Colella, George Dvorsky, Christiane Noll, and Sal Viviano. Cutely directed with in-unison gestures, each performer expresses so-called “good pain” with distressed zest.

On video, Sally Mayes refers warmly to Maltby and Shire as mentors, then introduces Jenn Colella to sing “Miss Byrd.” (Closer Than Ever) The character’s carefully ordered, respectable life now gleefully conceals the secret of recent sex. Colella is deliciously coy; phrasing just right. We can almost see her blush.

Josh Dela Cruz offers a sincere “Once You Fall in Love” (Starting Here, Starting Now) with all the inexperience of a young man. “Once I fell in love, a man was born,” he sings. Also from the revue, “Manhattan Skyline” finds Eddie Korbich, Marisa Kirby, Ethan Paulini, and Nicole Powell reflecting on their experience in the Big Apple. Writing shoulder to shoulder, crossover parts is an uphill climb at which these songwriters excel.

On video, Josh Grobin thanks Maltby & Shire for “If I Sing” (Closer Than Ever) which he’s used successfully in auditions for uncounted years. Richard Maltby, Jr. performs the very personal song (to his and Shire’s fathers) for us. No one, and I mean no one sings a Maltby/Shire song better than its lyricist. Tenderness and gratitude blankets the room.

“The Funniest Thing” (Take Flight) is rendered by Deniz Cordel (also on mandolin) and Ben Schraeder as The Wright Brothers. (Robert Picardo, voiceover) “Well, isn’t it just the funniest thing/Make a little change in the shape of a wing/ and…” Replete with dialogue, it’s another vaudeville influenced turn and charming. An equation in it recalls Danny Kaye’s making up a language.

Tonight The Powder Puff Girls (the Wright Brothers sisters in Take Flight) have increased to include: Julia Bogdanoff, Marisa Kirby, Jenna Pasqua, Becca Ayers, Blair Alexis Brown, Ncole Powell, Erin Moore, and Kendra Munger. Assembled in order of height, they sing about the first women pilots. Bonhomie and harmony resonate.

The original cast of Starting Here Starting Now, George Lee Andrews, Loni Ackerman, and Margery Cohen, perform “Travel”, a song with the whoosh of a brakeless bicycle or ski slalom. Enthusiasm melds with palpable affection. A vivacious “One Step” (Starting Here,Starting Now) arrives in appealing counterpoint. “You don’t have to sing/You don’t have to dance/But nothing’s will happen/till you take a chance…”

The ASA Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to to Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire. Wouldn’t you know it, the partners have written a ditty to say thanks for the award/salute and particularly to performers.They sing from audience, ever clever, ever warm.

The evening closes with Liz Callaway’s “The Story Goes On” (Baby) backed by the 92nd St. Y Chorus, The Lynbrook High School Chorus, and members of the company. I think I see tears in her eyes, but then I’m looking through mine. The show runs seamlessly. Sound Design is excellent. Musicianship feels consistently bespoke.

Maltby & Shire have rich careers in a multitude of genres. Individually, they authored songs, film scores and librettos.
Maltby, Jr. has directed.

The 2026 Bill Sensenbrenner Dream Maker Award is delivered, with a catch in his throat, to its recipients by Sensenbrenner’s husband/Editor of Cabaret Scenes, Frank Dain.The largess of Marty and Perry Granoff has benefited programs at Brown, Tufts, and here at New York’s Public Library.

Executive Director of ASA, Carolyn Montgomery, delivers an eloquent, impassioned speech about the organization’s mission to bring music to kids in overcrowded, underserved schools.“Hauling a keyboard, microphone, amp and lots of extension cords,” the group is met with apathy by students and teachers alike. “Having to break through the noise of rap and rock” with songbook, jazz, and theater music is often like climbing a glass mountain, but school by school, the ASA manages to spark interest and plant seeds.
The worthy ASA: https://americansongbookassociation.org/

A beautifully run and memorable evening honoring two of our best and best beloved.

Photos by Conor Weiss
Opening Photo of Maltby & Shire by Jordon Maltby

Maltby & Shire- Our Story Goes On
American Songbook Association 2026 Gala

Music Direcor- Deniz Cordell
Piano-Annie Pasqua; Bass- Scott Chaurette
Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center 129 wEst 67th Street
Calendar: https://www.kaufmanmusiccenter.org/mch/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=24132565569&gclid=Cj0KCQjwuJLWBhD_ARIsAIBcRUxTDZbPtah8pS8v9Vkvs8o76mZXf1PltVsZtFLefupGSg0LhfVK748aAtnjEALw_wcB