Barry Manilow: 'If I Were Oprah, I Would Give Each Of You A Buick'

On doctor's orders, Barry Manilow was forced to cancel his opening night on Broadway, along with a week of shows, after his bronchitis turned into the flu. But now he is back, returning to the Great White Way Tuesday in his one-man show, wishing he could give everyone an Oprah-sized gift.

“This has to be the worst experience of my life! The bronchitis that hit me turned into the flu that hit everyone in New York and all my doctors could do was to give me stuff to make it a little easier to get through. In the end, they all said I'd just have to ride it out until it ran its course,” Barry tells The Huffington Post. “I cannot apologize enough. As I was lying in bed, hacking, coughing, with chills and fever, I kept thinking of all the people whose plans had been ruined. I think the Jewish guilt I felt was even worse than the sickness itself!”

But when he finally felt well enough to get online, to his surprise he found the kindest remarks and letters wishing him well, rather than complaints, which he says made him reach for the Kleenex again.

“If I were Oprah, I would give each of you a Buick. But that would be silly since there are no parking spaces here in New York! Let alone Buicks,” Barry says.

“Last week the first two performances of Manilow’s Rialto concert gig, 'Manilow on Broadway,' pulled in a whopping $447,956, putting the show’s numbers on par with those Main Stern juggernauts like 'Wicked' and 'The Book of Mormon,'" Variety reports.