Stage veteran Gavin MacLeod thinks there's something special about Barry Manilow's Copacabana.
The audiences, he said, have shown great appreciation during curtain calls.
"I've never done a show where the people stand up and cheer, then dance in the aisles. This show is really entertaining," MacLeod said.
MacLeod, best known for his television roles in the Mary Tyler Moore Show and Love Boat, is in Philadelphia for Copacabana.
The show opened on Wednesday and will run through Sunday. It lasts two and a half hours, including a 15-minute intermission.
Manilow's 1978 Grammy Award-winning hit song, Copacabana, is the inspiration for the musical. It's a tale of love and romance set in the swinging nightclub scene of the 1940s. Lola, Tony and Rico are entangled in a story of old-fashioned love, jealousy and murder.
The show spent three and a half years in England before making its American premiere in Pittsburgh in June. In all, the show will visit 32 North American cities over 40 months.
Before Copacabana reached the stage, Dick Clark produced an Emmy Award-winning television version starring Manilow, Annette O'Toole, Estelle Getty and Joseph Bologna.
MacLeod, who spent seven years as acid-tongued newswriter Murray Slaughter on the Mary Tyler Moore Show and 10 years as Capt. Merrill Stubing in Love Boat, plays Sam in the musical.
The temperamental yet charming Sam manages the world-famous Copacabana nightclub in New York. His hideous hairpiece is the source of plenty of laughs.
GAVIN MEOWCLOUD
MacLeod, who will turn 70 on Feb. 28, likes portraying the cigar-smoking, bombastic, rough-around-the-edges club manager who turns into a pussycat by the end of the show.
"I love playing him. It's not the biggest part in the world, but I have fun with it. I let the kids do all the work," said MacLeod, who described himself as the only Medicare beneficiary in the youngish cast.
The story revolves around Stephen, an aspiring songwriter who is carried back to an era when "music and passion were always the fashion."
In Stephen's dream, showgirl Lola Lamar (Darcie Roberts) is launched on the path to stardom with the help of bartender Tony Starr (Franc D'Ambrosio). But the villainous Rico Castelli (Philip Hernandez) whisks her away to the Tropicana nightclub in Havana.
MacLeod, during an interview from his St. Paul, Minn., hotel room, describes Copacabana as a happy show for the whole family. He believes the show features great lighting, choreography and costumes, and a fabulous score.
"If you like Barry Manilow's music, you don't want to miss this show," he said.
MacLeod likes his castmates.
D'Ambrosio, he said, is a great opera singer who spent seven years in the title role of Phantom of the Opera.
MacLeod calls Roberts a "star in the making" and notes that Hernandez has played the lead in Les Miserables.
"They may not be familiar names, but they are all fabulous," he said of the cast.
THE CAPTAIN KNOWS PHILLY
MacLeod arrived in Philadelphia a day before the show opened in order to tour the city.
He's been to Philadelphia in the past, working on stage in the 1950s and '60s.
In the 1970s, he was a guest on the Mike Douglas Show, which was taped in Philadelphia. MacLeod loved the show, recalling a time when he, Douglas and then-Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda joined jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald in a version of You Gotta Have Heart.
The last time MacLeod was in Philadelphia was about five years ago, when he took part in a promotion for Princess Cruises, which was looking for celebrity lookalikes.
Today, MacLeod is busy onstage, serving as a spokesman for Princess Cruises and trying to find time to spend with his eight grandchildren.
He and his wife, Patti, also host a show on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Back on Course tells the story of folks who have put their lives together after various setbacks.
In an effort to spend more time with their grandkids, Gavin and Patti MacLeod have decided to sell their home on Cape Cod and are leasing a home for a year in Pacific Palisades, Calif.
Gavin MacLeod said, because of the busy Hollywood lifestyle, it's hard for him to keep up with his former castmates on Moore and Love Boat.
He was best friends with the late Ted Knight. He also stays close to Valerie Harper. And he hoped to catch up this week with Betty White, who was in Philadelphia speaking on behalf of US Healthcare.
While performing in St. Paul last week, MacLeod spent a day visiting with the undefeated Minnesota Vikings football team. Minnesotans might be partial to MacLeod's character Murray Slaughter, since Moore was set in that state.
Still, MacLeod spent more time captaining a luxury ship than he did writing news copy. And his starring role in Love Boat was also more recent than his supporting role in Moore.
Most fans, MacLeod said, think of him as Merrill Stubing. "On the streets, I'm just the captain," he said.
Barry Manilow's Copacabana is playing at the Merriam Theater, at 250 S. Broad St. Show times are 8 p.m. Wednesday to Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. on Saturday, and 2 and 7:30 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets range in price from $39.50 to $34.50 for adults. Discounts for groups of 20 or more are also available. Tickets can be purchased at the Merriam Theater Box Office, all Ticketmaster locations or by calling 215-336-1234.