Published by
New York Daily News
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — Before “Mandy” and multiplatinum albums, Barry Manilow and his longtime collaborator Bruce Sussman wanted to write for the musical stage. “Bruce and I have been trying to write musicals from the very, very beginning — back when we met in 1824,” said Manilow, a youthful and playful 80, overstating his age by about a century and a half. But instead of bursting onto Broadway, the two born-and-bred New Yorkers found their calling in pop music. Fans flocked to Manilow’s capacious catalog of catchy tunes — many, including his signature “Copacabana (At the Copa),” leavened by Sussman’s lyr…