Fred Silver's proudest moment was when his 1974 piano concert at New York's Lincoln was greeted by a roar of applause from an appreciative audience that included his hero, Broadway composer Richard Rodgers.

"He was my idol. I always loved his music," says Silver, 62, from his Boca Raton home. "Receiving recognition from him gave me the confidence I needed in my life.”

In fact, Silver gained enough confidence to write more than 125 songs, compose seven musicals, coach such performers such as Bette Midler, Gloria Swanson, and Bette Davis, write a magazine column called the Audition Doctor in Backstage Magazine and write a book, How to Audition for the Musical Theater. Written in 1982 when Silver needed to learn how to use his first computer, his book became a trade staple, he says.

These days, Silver not only coaches private students, he also teaches a course on popular music at Florida Atlantic University's Lifelong Learning Society. The first class he offered drew 50 students. Last semester, more than 300 students packed into Silver's classroom.

"Fred has done something exceptionally well," says Ely Meyerson, executive director of the Lifelong Learning Society. "Students report that he has an unbelievable fund of knowledge, and he entertains while he teaches. He is an excellent piano player and the rare combination or a talented performer and an excellent teacher.

Silver first sat down at a piano when he was 2. At 4, his parents bought him a baby grand, but his piano teacher told them to save their money, that he would never be able to play the piano because of a birth defect that prevented him from bending his thumb joints.

Silver was undeterred. He devised his own technique and kept playing.

Silver earned a bachelor's degree in music from Boston University, where he met Van Cliburn. Cliburn told him that he belonged at the Julliard School of Music. Silver got a scholarship and headed for Manhattan.

At Julliard, Silver won the first Rodgers and Hammerstein award for composing and then got a commission to compose the score for a Broadway show called For Heavens Sake.

In 1974, Silver wrote a well-reviewed show called In Gay Company, which, he says, broke new ground by dealing openly with an alternative lifestyle. He moved to Boca Raton 10 years ago for the good weather and slower pace and began teaching.

"I love teaching, lecturing, performing, anyway I can share my knowledge with other people," says Silver, who is looking forward to playing a packed house when he returns to FAU.

He played at the piano when he was 2. At 5 his parents were old he could never play piano seriously because of fused thumbs (an inoperable birth defect). By 21 Fred Silver was an accomplished performer. He has composed seven musical songs. He was a voice coach for Bette Midler, John Davidson, Gloria Swanson, Bette Davis and Elaine Stritch.

Now 61, this Boca Raton resident teaches music and theater at Florida Atlantic University. During his recently concluded course on American popular music, he captivated more than 150 students in the Lifelong Learning Society's program at FAU.

The course was part piano concert and part sing-along with audience participation. The audience needed no encouragement. Mr. Silver usually in rare voice as he sings and plays his personal favorites: "I'll Buy You a Star," "Mimi," or "The Folks Who Lived On The Hill" by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein III.

Mr. Silver was born to middle class Jewish parents in Brooklyn. Tinkering at the piano served to calm this hyperactive child. He played by ear and was self-taught with no history of musical talent.

When the subject of further musical training appeared, the most prestigious piano teacher in Brooklyn told his parents to save their money. They were advised that his thumbs would prevent him from playing the piano. However this young man was determined to pursue a career in music if only to avoid joining the family business.

The condition of his hands prevented him from positioning his fingers on the piano in the conventional way, so he developed a method by which he could play with his hands raised above the keyboard. He played in high school at Boston University.

After he graduated from BU, he met Van Cliburn who was so impressed he advised him to apply at New York's Julliard School. There were 5000 candidates that semester. Four composers were selected. One was Mr. Silver.

In the early 1960's, he became a protégé of co Richard Rodgers, who told him, "I wish you a greater career than I ever had."

His show "For Heaven's Sake," a jazz-blues con- starring Thelma Carpenter, won him a national reputation. He wrote choral music, conducted and supplied piano accompaniment for Broadway auditions. He became respected that his book: "Auditioning for the Musical Theater" became a bible for the trade. And his weekly column, Backstage, "The Auditioning Doctor" established him as the foremost authority on auditions.

He wrote musical revues and was musical director of Julius Monk's Plaza 9 and Upstairs and the Downstairs clubs on New York's east side, appeared at suppers such as Bon Soir, The Blue Angel, The Mermaid Room, subbed for Bobby Short at the Carlyle.

His FAU course in popular music benefits from his personal acquaintance with major composers and his de- knowledge of their work. He respects the early work of a former friend, Steven Sodheim. "Company" is one of his favorites. He admires Kern and gets a kick out of Porter, and during the semester just concluded hi played and sang many of Irving Berlins' tunes. Listing to lyrics of Larry Hart was a lesson in poetry.

His auditioning experience produced a story from the Broadway production of "The Rothschilds." To wee some of the actors who thought the could sing, the producer asked each candidate to perform Duke Ellini's "Sophisticated Lady," not the easiest choice. The turnout was so difficult that all of the aspirants were weeded out. The candidates had to be reaudtioned at considerable expense to the producer, with songs of their own choosing.

Mr. Silver said one of his happiest moments occurred at Jan McArt's production of "meet Me in St. Louis" when one of his students, Nancy Spiegel, sang the leading role (sung by Judy Garland in the movie). And earlier, another student, Yves Le Tourneau, san the male lead in the McArt presentation of "Carnival".

Next spring Mr. Silver will offer a course in the Broadway musical. For that one FAU might need a classroom as large as Kravis Center.

Had he been at New York's Tully Hall Sunday night, Franz Lizst would have led the thundering standing ovation given DeMaio and Silver following their spectacular duo-piano program. These contemporary champions of the keyboard are in a class by themselves.

John DeMaio and Fred Silver, a brilliant new piano team making its concert debut, dazzled the opening night audience with virtuoso paraphrases of the best music from Broadway and Hollywood. It was an evening of sheer unadulterated joy and wonderment. With consummate musicianship DeMaio and Silver created a renaissance of the art of improvisation I the grand manner. Like Chopin, Busoni, and Lizst before them, these virtuosi gave new insight into late popular theatrical music.

DeMaio and Siler weave familiar classical themes by Mozart, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and others into their own arrangements of current show tunes with such flawless good taste that it seems they were always intended to be played that way. And what playing! From the most delicate Icy pianissimo trills in a Dr. Zhivago Theme that etched the with expanses of Russian winters to a bravura climax of Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever that rivaled the intensity of a full symphony orchestra! At times it was difficult to believe that all that music was coming from only town men at a pair of Steinway grands. The technical demands of the program, including sensational arrangements of familiar melodies by Cole Porter, Stephen Sondheim, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Gershwin, Joplein, and others, would have taxed any other four pianists working in relays. DeMaio and Silver made it look so effortless that they seemed to have energy in reserve to do it all over again. Which was a lucky thing, because the audience didn't want them to leave the stage.

De Maio and Silver only recently formed their piano team- the happiest combination to hit musical America in a long, long time.

If you think this is a rave review, wait till you see the reports coming from their upcoming tour. These men are stars. Remember, you read it here first.

There is no substitute for rigorous classical training, which both pianists have in abundance. DeMaio, a native of Philadelphia, is an honors graduate of Girard College and the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Vengeroya and Serkin. He has played many symphony concerts and recitals in the United States and Europe, has appeared frequently on radio and television, and recently added to conducting to his faceted career. Silver first studied piano in New York with Hey Spielter, the earned Bachelor's Degree in Music and Science form Boston University and the Julliard School, from which he also received a Master of Science degree. While DeMaio's background is strongest in concert appearances, Silver's great love is composition and he has won many prizes for both classical and popular composition. Silver is extensively published and currently is preparing a new musical review for New York opening in the fall.

Fred Silver, well-known as THE voice teacher in our area, was once half of a piano duo known as De Maio and Silver. Formed in 1973, the duo took New York by Storm and toured the U.S.A. for five years, until Silver's career as a composer, playwright, and arranger became so busy he had to quit touring.

A high point of their collaboration came in October, 1974, when they played a concert to Lincoln Center's Tully Hall. De Maio and Silver drew from the shows they played at the Rainbow Room, in which they picked different famous composers to emulate for each show, with classical arrangements of popular tunes by Silver.

The audience was a who's who of musical New York, and the night was magic. The program was recorded by RCA Records but unreleased.

"We were in the middle of the vinyl shortage due to the oil crisis and the record was never released," explains Silver. "I have been sitting on the master tapes all these years. I finally decided to put it out myself to have a permanent record."

Although the record was never released, De Maio and Silver received rave review from noted conductor Andrew C. Litton in Musical America in November, 1974.

"Had he been at New York's Tully Hall Sunday night, Franz Lizst would have led the thundering standing ovation following the their spectacular duo piano program," wrote Litton in his introduction. "The weave familiar classical themes by Mozart, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and others into their arrangements of current show tunes with such flawless good taste that it seems that they were always intended to be.

Fred Silver, the acting coach whose former students include such stars as Sandy Duncan, E.G. Marshall, Nancy Dussault and Marsha Mason, will conduct audition workshops and master classes for musical theater majors Feb. 12 and 13.

Silver is author of "Auditioning for the Musical Theatre" (Penguin Books).He has written seven musicals and is the recipient of more than 15 ASCAP awards and a nomination for the best score for the New York Drama Desk Circle.

Silver has authored the "Audition Doctor" column for Back Stage magazine, and has served as musical director for Upstairs at the Downstairs and Plaza 9 in New York.

He earned bachelor's and master's degrees at the Julliard School in New York, and received the first Rodgers and Hammerstein Scholarship for a composer of musical theater.

Silver plans to meet with all 125 musical theater students during his visit to campus, which will feature six audition workshops, a master class, and a question-and-answer session.

"Doing well in auditions can make all the difference for a performer." Said Terry Runnells, assistant professor of drama. "This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to have one-on-one experience with a top person in the field.

It's too bad that homophobes by their very nature would never consider attending a show like "In Gay Company," playing Thursdays-Sundays through Sept. 26th at Stefan's on the Runway, 2500 Cypress Creek Blvd., Fort Lauderdale. This lighthearted, tuneful musical revue by Boca Raton resident Fred Silver does wonder to divert anti-homosexual feelings and defuse anti-homosexual phobias.

Much of "In Gay Company" was written by Silver in the early 1970s as a musical version of the landmark comedy-drama, "The Boys in the Band," which was one of the first plays to deal with the subject of homosexuality in a realistic manner. When Silver couldn't secure the book rights, he renamed the show "Gay Company" and opened off-Broadway in 1974. The show has been revised and updated several times since.

Silver chooses the high road in a classy show that never resorts to innuendo or sexual titillation. The tone is set by the opening number "Remember When," in which Silver laments the re-definition of the once joyful and carefree adjective, "gay."

The cast of four men and one woman then segues into songs concerning the dating game, love lost and found, one-night stands, a withering commentary on fellow composer Stephen Sondheim, a funny dirty on the futile dreams of a conventional wedding, and finally an out-of-left field salute to the composer's favorite music form, "Freddy Liked To Fugue."

Subdued and Introspective

Act Two is more subdued and introspective with such titles as "Two Strangers," "Remembrances," True Confessions," and "Closing Time." The more serious mood is then broken by the uproarious "Up on Your Toes," which spoofs The Trockaderos, the famous all-male, In drag ballet troupe. The show concludes much it opened on the high plane of "Age of I Elegance."

"In Gay Company" is no glossy production like the famed Julius Monk revue Silver wrote four years ago. There is a charmingly rap-tag, times amateurish quality to the singing as dancing, Hugh M. Murphy, who also directs, a singer of limited means but good comic sense. Jeff Morall was obviously suffering vocal problems at the Sunday matinee I saw him. His voice was cracking on anything above middle "C."

Don Morris has the best singing voice of the whole cast- a wide ranging tenor- and soprano Sandy Fico is the best singer of all.

Proceeds from "In Gay Company" are going to various AIDS charities. Silver is waiving royalties and lights, costumes and sets are being donated.

A strong cast, a funny script, and zany musical numbers highlight In Gay Company. Playwright Fred Silver's irreverent musical revue kicks off the Summer Alternative Theatre season tonight at Theatre Works.

The sophisticated, adult-theme show, cheerfully illustrated with musical numbers and dance, comes well recommended after a New York off-Broadway production. In Gay Company is billed as a hilarious commentary on the gay community as seen from the inside looking out.

Two popular local players, Forrest Richards and Thomas J. Kelly, headline a cast that includes David Baldwell, Rodd Dyer, and Sean Monson. In charge of the entertainment is a kooky quartet in tutus and toes shoes who take a poke at themselves in a spoof of Ballet Trocadero.

One critic called In Gay Company "a clever and witty parody of both homosexuality and society's attitude toward it."

But director Jeff Kin said the show is not tailored only for gay audiences.

"(This show) speaks with universal appeal on the human condition, on relationships and attitudes," Kin said.

Kin said In Gay Company is high-spirited theatrical entertainment that is not offensive.

"Every situation has been treated with taste, wit, and humor by the author," he said. "Fred Silver has created a brilliant score.

Kin said In Gay Company, which had been written for a New York production during the mid-1970s, has been updated by Silver, who lives in Sarasota, and musical director Don Sturrock.

"(Silver) has localized lyrics to some of the numbers," Kin said. "He was ready to update and add new material.

"The three of us make (In Gay Company) our own and make it a very tight show," Kin added. "You'd have trouble doing that without a collaborative effort."

In his musical revue, "In Gay Company," songwriter Fred Silver longs for the old days, when shows were witty, singers performed without microphones, and the word "gay" meant something other than a person's sexual orientation.

With subtle understatement conveyed in catchy tunes, Silver looks at both he past and present of gay life. Although his opening sounds like a call to send discussions of gay life back into the closet, the show is refreshingly spirited and open, or at least as open as such conversations might have been 20 years ago. And the Theatre Works production is innocent enough to make it fun for any viewer. What single person can't relate to the pressure of finding a date at the bar at closing time?

While some songs are clearly about gay men, there are generic enough to be about anybody. Thomas J. Kelly delivers a winning version of "Sick at Sondheim," in which he talks of a breakup by using the titles of a dozen or more Sondheim songs. Three Jewish mothers beg and plead with their unseen sons to get married in one song, and three high-kicking monks sing about the joys of Gregorian chants.

This revue, which originated in 1974, has been updated, but still mocks stereotypes, exposes the hurt that comes with love lost, and the humorous misadventures of trying to find that love in the first place. There's an old-fashioned feeling to the show, which ahs been staged in an exuberant manner by Jeff Kin.

As director and choreographer, Kin gives a clear style and viewpoint to each song, adding some kicks or gestures that add an extra punch to Silver's often funny lyrics.

Kelly, Sean Monson, and David Hemsley portray three members of the gender-bending Ballets Trocadero, huffing and puffing in their tutus about getting "Up on Your Toes."

Hemsley puts on a powerful sound into the show's most touching song, "Someone in My Life," which closes a second-act segment set in a bar.

Forrest Richards, the show's lone female performer, is lively and in strong voice singing, "I'm looking for a boy (who isn't looking for a boy)," and trying to get in step with life in the comical "The Blues"

The men, who also include Rodd Dyer, don T-shirts and sung glasses for "A Beginner's Guide to Cruising," pointing out the best local spots for meeting men, which is about as risqué as the show gets. The whole cast gets into a gossipy spirit in "The Opera," which fans with fans waiting for the opening night at the Met.

Musical director and vocal arranger Don Sturrock provides a graceful sound from the baby grand at center stage and becomes a character in several scenes, adding to the playful spirit of a show that is welcome company.

Gay Company has a unifying theme: scenes from homosexual life. Most aspects of it are kidded with genuine affection and lively humor.

Fred Silver has written both lyrics and music, and is much better in both departments at the frivolously prankish or smilingly nostalgic:…the fun is there- whether in a quartet of firemen singing about "the fairy in the fire house," or tow middle aged homosexuals meeting after years of separation and reminiscently warbling about their first encounter "At the Mattachine Society masquerade…To the strains of Chaminade Serenade/With our hair slicked with Vaseline-based pomade…"And there is something more: homosexuality presented with attitudinizing or special pleading, marred only by a touch of smugness.

Of the five agreeable performers, I like Gordon Ramsey and Robert Tananis best, and the two pianos entwined in a garland of jovial sound.

Finally, don't miss Gay Company, a clever and witty parody of both homosexuality and society's attitude toward it, spiced with some absolutely smashing songs ingratiatingly perofmed by a charming cas of five at the Little Hippodrome.gly performed by a charming cast of five at the Little Hippodrome.

Singularly and an ensemble, the cast is fine, with a special note of praise to Rick Gardner, whose handsome grace lends extra strength to the proceedings, and Bob Tananis, whose muscular voice might give John Raitt pause for alarm. The score by Fred Silver is delightful. Sue Lawless' staging is sparse and effective and she handles the small playing space with a perfect blend of irreverence, freedom, and good taste.

The subject matter may prove hard stuff for those who are trying to keep up with the Susskinds, but more well-adjusted sophisticates will have a ball. Gay Company is the best thing since New Faces, arriving just in time to rescue the revue from the throes of rigor mortis. New York, New York. It's a helluva town.

One reason revues have been out of fashion for the last decade of so is hat politics and world events- which used to be staple subjects for sketches and songs- have so outdistanced the revue mentality. Clever rhymes and innocent ditties are somehow inappropriate in subjects no longer innocent.

"In Gay Company" succeeds because homosexuality is still a subject that, for the average audience, is provocative and even for gay audiences, does not require militant ultra-seriousness of treatment. It is a subject that can still accommodate a rhyme like "La Forza del Destino" with "If you haven't lost your maraschino" and thus appeals to giddy lightheaded revue lovers, gay or straight.

Fred Silvers' material ranges from delightfully silly, like a song about "A Fairy in the Fire House" to poignant- a sketch about a chance meeting of two middle-aged former lovers who reminisce about their youth-to hilarious and witty, like a basically nonsexual number about a composer and his lifelong affair with the fugue.

Obviously material on this subject could be mishandled -performed in an arch way that would have made it strictly esoteric- but "In Gay Company" is performed by four men and a girl with just the proper blend of brightness and irreverence. One reason the show is a pleasure is that it reminds us that New York is still full of young people with legit voices and finesse and handling clever material, talents to seldom used on Broadway in recent year.

The revue is performed twice nightly at the Little Hippodrome, 227 East 56th St., which also serves reasonably-priced food.

Gay Company," a musical revue at the Little Hippodrome Theater, is so lively. Good-natured, and witty that it just might do more for gay liberation than any legislation could.

Although it draws most of its material from the homosexual experience, it is mainstream entertainment, the kind anyone who has had his eyes open for the past few years could understand and enjoy.

The songs are sprinkled through with sexual double entrendres, but the end product turns out to be as innocent as a chocolate mint Girl Scout cookie, and just as good. It's the type of show that even makes cruising men's rooms seem wholesome in one of its songs.

The music, written by Fred Silver, is excellent and the performers, four men and one woman- do their stuff with an ease that has you laughing with them.

The humor is often topical. One song has four Irish firemen bemoaning the fact that "there's a fairy in the firehouse." Another sings the praises of the YMCA as a place to meet a man. The cast is dressed in towels for that one, but it's the closest they get to nudity all night.

Gay Company tells its story with none of the usual stereotypes generally found in gay theater. The only drag queen of the evening turns out be a cop on assignment. And in a nice switch on things, Candice Earley sings a sad ballad about being love with a gay man.

"In Gay Company" is a Manhattan first. It's a musical revue which attempts to give a different dimension to homosexual relationships. The transvestites reached a peak with four shows last season. However, this newcomer at the Little Hoppodrome takes on the responsibility of humanizing homo relationships.

This is done with a sense of sophisticated humor by a cast comprising four boys and one girl (genuine). They are find performers who dig the scene and sing well. The lyrics and music by Fred Silver with direction by Sue Lawless provide an excellent basis for an entertaining and purposeful musical revue.

The girl, Candice Earley, is pretty and competent. She provides a contrasting voice and theme. Her first number is a rather sad ballad telling of being in love with a gay. She weaves in and out of the sketches and tunes for excellent effect.

Of the four boys, three of them seem straight with one camping out. It's their straight appearances that give thrust and credibility to the show. Cola Pinto sings of meeting a stranger in Loew's Sheridan Square. "He molested me and then arrested me." There's a rib of living at the YMCA by the company and Gordon Ramsey, in lady's threads, sings of life on the police force, "It can be a drag."

There's a spoof of opera going and highly musical fugue after Bach. The show has serious and comedy moments. The mix is effective and promises to give a major café success. Two pianos provide effective musical backing.

A few lucky souls gather to hear a reading of Fred Silver's new musical, Good Little Girls, at the Nola Studio on West 54th St. The story centers around three women, (played that afternoon by Rita Gardner, Leigh Berry, and Mary Ellen Ashley) who first meet in the office of a divorce lawyer. Soon they become fast friends, who weep over, bask in, and concern themselves with, each other's problems.

Silver's first musical, For Heaven's Sake, starred Thelma Carpenter and won the Rodgers and Hammerstein award at Julliard. He also composed Sterling Silver and In Gay Company, which was nominated by the Outer Circle for best score (it lost to a A Chorus Line in 1974-75). He has also written night club acts for Kaye Ballard, Hermione Gingold, and Lynne Carter, and his book, Auditioning for the Musical Theater, is required reading for most theater departments across the country.

Good Little Girls contains some wonderful songs. One ballad, "The Smallest Piece of You," is guaranteed to break your heart, just as his "Lady in Blue" will have you stomping and swaying.

People keep asking, "Can Broadway survive?" It can with talent like this around.

Fred Silver's musical Good Little Girls, premiered at Lucille Lortel's White Barn in Westport Connecticut with a bevy of New Yorkers attending, Broadway producer Elliot Martin: author/playwright A.E. Hotchner; designer Suzanne Dashay; actress Ellen Hanley; Goodspeed executive producer Michael P. Price; AMAS Theater director Rosetta LeNoire; director Morton DaCosta; William Brown, librettist of The Wiz; Promenade Theater's executive director Ben Sprecher; authoer Ring Lardner, Jr., and playwright David Rogers. There's interest in bringing the show to off-Broadway, but Fred wants the show to play out of town while he expands the book.