Robert Bendorff was a dynamic force in musical theatre and cabaret in New York and on the West Coast. He wrote the music and lyrics for at least eight musicals, several of which won awards. He accompanied and arranged for some of the leading performers in the world of cabaret.

A two-time winner of the San Francisco Cabaret Gold Award for Outstanding Musical Director, he was also twice nominated for awards by the Manhattan Association of Cabarets. He won the Los Angeles Drama-Logue Awards for his music and lyrics to Strike.

Bendorff's collaboration with Nancy Timpanaro-Hogan, who is the conceptor, co-writer and star of the critically acclaimed one-woman original musical Adorable Me! The Totie Fields Story, based on the life of singer/comic Totie Fields, ran Off-Broadway at American Jewish Theatre, The Ballroom, Don't Tell Mama, Comedy Stop at the Trop, The Tropicana, Atlantic City, Long Beach Civic Light Opera, Seven Angels Theatre, Northridge Performing Arts Center, Bailey Concert Hall and numerous other performing art centers and regional theaters throughout the country. Bendorff worked with Timpanaro-Hogan as her musical collaborator, musical director and partner for over ten years.

Among his four collaborations with author Marsha Lee Sheiness, Great Expectations was presented by the ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop in 1995 and was a finalist for the Richard Rodgers Award of the American Academy of Arts & Letters in 1997.

For Ethel Merman's Broadway starring Rita McKenzie, Bendorff served as musical director on its tour of North America and Japan and conducted the orchestra on the original cast album. As a guest artist, he appeared with Peter Nero and the Philadelphia Pops. He accompanied and arranged for Rosie O'Donnell, Charles Pierce, Anita Gillete, Marilyn Sokol, Tovah Feldshuh, Jana Robbins, Sharon McKnight, Jill Carey and Rebecca Luker, and accompanied Timpanaro-Hogan when she opened for Joan Rivers at Michael's Pub in New York.

Robert Bendorff died of complications from AIDS in New York at the age of 44 on October 10, 1996.

—Joseph Dalton

WORKS:

MUSICALS

Music and lyrics by Robert Bendorff except where noted

Aka, Henry Sugar (1992)
Book by Marsha Lee Sheiness
Adapted from a short story by Roald Dahl, "The Wonderful Story of Henry Dahl"
    A Death In The Family
    Some Men
    Wet
    Strange Country
    A Very Clear Relationship
    Strange Country
    Teach Me
    The First Step
    Without Eyes
    Someone You Love
    It Takes Time
    The Spirit Of The Game
    Without Eyes (reprise)
    Some Men (reprise)
    Questions
    History
    A Little Bit Of Difference

Eleanor of Aquitaine (1995-96)
A Musical Based on the Life of Eleanor of Aquitaine
Book by Marsha Lee Sheiness
    Eleanor
    As It Was
    Great Wide World
    Wedding Night
    It's Time
    Diversion
    This Isn't Working
    Crusaders' Hymn
    Nothing Changes
    The Meeting
note: Musical left incomplete, manuscript of songs possibly missing. Sheiness completed a two-act play, which has been performed.

Great Expectations (1995)
A musical adapted from Charles Dickens' Great Expectations
Book by Marsha Lee Sheiness
    Great Expectations
    Dirty Business
    Ever The Best
    Play
    Lady Of The House
    Play (reprise)/Old Clem
    Don't Ask Me
    A Gentleman Of Fortune
    G. E. (reprise)
    London/Man For The Job
    A Risky Proposition
    Hollow Heart
    You Must Love Her
    A Risky Proposition (reprise)
    I Should Say
    Will You Never Learn?
    Dirty Business (reprise)
    I Should Say
    Uncle From Algiers
    The Fabric Of My Life
    I Forgive Her
    Escape
    Hollow Heart/Great Expectations (reprise)
Finalist, The Richard Rodgers Award of the American Academy of Arts & Letters (1997)
Finalist, The Family Opera/Music Theater Institute at the Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference in Waterford, Connecticut (1997)
Finalist, Festival of Contemporary Musical Theatre (1997)
Forty-five minutes of Great Expectations was presented at the 1995 ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop and at the "6 O'Clock Series" of the AMAS Musical Theatre, New York, which presented an entire staged reading in March 1996. Directed by Gabriel Barre.

Over My Dead Body (1992, 1995)
A Musical Nightmare
Book by Bobby Pearce
    Hard Time
    You're The Best
    A Little Piece Of Me
    Cameras, Please
    Bev's Anthem (instrumental)
    I Said No To Cameron Mackintosh
    Fill The Girl Up
    Don't
    Home Is Where You Make It
    He Owe Me One
    Beverly's Breakdown (instrumental)
    Hard Time (reprise)
    Out O' My Way Padre
    Bev Gets The Chair

Scratch the Surface (1989)
Musical Comedy in Two Acts
Book by Kristine Zbornik
    Quaint New England Atmosphere
    Nice Quiet Summer
    Inner Voices
    The Face Of The Moment
    Scratch The Surface
    But You Never Ever Cry
    Same Dinner
    Face the Music
    Panic
    Face Of The Moment
    The Morning After The Night Before
    Did I Do That?
    Scarlett
    A Matter Of Principle
    Nobody's There
    Did I Do That? (reprise)
    The Face of the Moment (reprise)

Stop The Parade (1994)
A Musical In Two Acts
Book by Marsha Lee Sheiness
    Stop The Parade
    Ladies Please
    Lilac Mist
    Just Like A Woman
    Eye Of The Beholder
    Put It In The Book
    Too Much To Ask
    Between Friends
    Hot House Rose
    Not Now
    The Longest Night
    Eye To Eye
    A Nice Clean House
    Between Friends (reprise)
    Deputies
    Ladies Please/Stop The Parade (reprise)
    Lilac Mist (reprise)
    Stop The Parade (reprise)

Strike (1985)
Book by Franke Crowe
Produced at the Buriel Clay Memorial Theatre in San Francisco (1985)
    Opening — Act I
    And Then There's Us
    But, I'm Here
    Simple World
    Be Somebody
    Takin' It To The Street
    What They Ain't Used To
    Spinning Your Wheels
    Deals
    Finale — Act One
    Entr'acte
    I Know Just What You Did — II (You Don't Know What They Do)
    The Man Inside
    That's Right, That's Right
    Mayor's Entrance
    What Ever You Say
    Be Somebody (reprise)
    These Are The Ways
    But I'm Here/Be Somebody (reprise)
    Finale

Adorable Me! The Totie Fields Story (1990)
A New Musical Based on the Life of Totie Fields
Conceived by Nancy Timpanaro-Hogan
Book by Bobby Pearce & Nancy Timpanaro-Hogan
    Are You Happy?
    Flat Tire, One Headlight Out
    Someone To Notice
    Weaver High School
    He Likes...Me!
    Holding On
    The Taste
    Look, But Don't Touch
    Me, Myself And Cane
    Don't Remind Me
    I'm Not Ready
    With Friends Like Mine
    On Top Of The World/Years
    Big
    Papa Is A Nice Man
    One Day At A Time
    Heat Up The Pot
Workshopped at Long Beach Civic Light Opera (1991)
Produced by American Jewish Theatre, Inc., Stanley Brechner, Artistic Director (1993)
Four-month run at The Ballroom, New York (1994)
Four-month run at Tropworld, Atlantic City (1996)
Also played in regional theaters and performing arts centers across the country, including Seven Angels Theatre, Northridge Performing Arts Center, Bailey Concert Hall

SONGS

Written for Sally Jane Heit (for one-woman show):
    I Belong Here
    Revolving Doors
    I Want To Be A Victim
    My Own Song
    Love Is

UNCOMPLETED WORKS:
See Eleanor of Aquitaine (Musicals, above).

WRITINGS:
Unknown

DISCOGRAPHY:

AS COMPOSER/PERFORMER
"Maybe Next Time" (2 versions), Ron Drotos, piano and MIDI tracks, Allison Brimer, background vocals, Chip Fabrizi, drums, Robert Bendorff, piano, Phyllis Pastore: At Last (independent release, no date available): recorded live at Eighty-Eights, New York (1991); "Riding High" (Cole Porter), arr. Bendorff.

AS PERFORMER
Ethel Merman's Broadway, original cast recording starring Rita McKenzie, orchestra conducted by Robert Bendorff (Fynsworth Alley).

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• Death notice, New York Times, October 13, 1996.

PERFORMING RIGHTS AFFILIATION:
ASCAP

RESOURCES:
For Adorable Me! The Totie Fields Story:
Mitchel Douglas
International Creative Management
40 West 47th Street
New York, NY 10019
(212) 556-5738

MUSICAL EXECUTOR:
Marsha Sheiness
315 West 19th Street
New York, NY 10011
(212) 924-9256
Msheiness@aol.com

Nancy Timpanaro-Hogan
Box 591
Mechanicville NY12118
(518) 664-5244
riverroseprod@aol.com

OTHER CONTACTS:
Ron Bendorff (brother)
4750 Newanga Court
Santa Rosa, CA 95405
(707) 537-7576 (home)
(707) 588-2231 (work)
e-mail: ronarama@hotmail.com

Sally Jane Heit (friend and performer)
17 West 54th Street #8F
New York, NY 10019
(212) 977-7570
(413) 528-9336