The Story - A Class Act

Tony Award-winning songwriter Ed Kleban drops in on his Manhattan memorial service, where his friends and colleagues remember his achievements, his ambition and (at times) lovable neurosis. Ed begins to evaluate his life: his education at the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, his love affairs, the music he adored so much; his self-doubt, his difficult nature. We look back with him on his discovery of writing for the theater, in which he found healing and invigoration as a troubled college student, and his tumultuous but loving relationship with his childhood best friend. He recalls the moments of failure and minor successes that lead to his meeting Michael Bennett and collaborating with composer Marvin Hamlisch to write the legendary, award-winning score to A Chorus Line -- and his subsequent struggle with the insecurities that often plagued him: would he ever top A Chorus Line? Would one of the many shows he had been composing ever get produced? Ed finally considers the last stage of his life, marked by a diagnosis with terminal cancer, and returns to the memorial service, having made peace with the events that unsettled him, and the treasure trove of work he left behind.