Barry Manilow says he's thrilled to sing before a full orchestra in Atlantic City

POP QUIZ time:

What's the hippest show this summer at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall?

A. Lady Gaga.

B. Black Eyed Peas.

C. Barry Manilow.

Take a bow if you answered C.

The beloved crooner's Caesars Atlantic City-sponsored show on Saturday night at the historic oceanside auditorium is the coolest gig because it is far and away the most exclusive. While Gaga and the Peas are in the midst of full-blown, multiple-city tours, Manilow's program is the only one he's doing on the East Coast this year and, as you read this, the only one of its kind even scheduled.

"A couple of months ago I did the Hollywood Bowl for the very first time. We did it with the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, and it was one of the thrills of my life. I would put it up there in the top two of my life," said Manilow during a recent phone call.

"To hear my arrangements played by 75 talented musicians . . . When these musicians started to play the arrangements, "Even Now" and ['Copacabana'] and all the hits . . . it just brought me to my knees. I said to my manager, 'If you can [book] another night like this, I'd be happy to leave [his residency at the Paris casino-hotel in Las Vegas] for that night and do it. The first one we got was the New York Pops in Atlantic City."

Manilow rhapsodized about the experience of hearing his formidable canon of hits recreated by an army of symphonic instruments. "It's like floating. I can barely sing," he offered. "As beautiful as the arrangement is, you can't imagine what it sounds like with real string players, and real harps and oboes. It's like hearing it for the first time. Sometimes I forget to sing."

Traveling clear across the country for a one-night stand with a full orchestra seems a bit extravagant, not to mention inconvenient. But the 67-year-old pop titan, whose latest CD is "The Greatest Love Songs of All Time" (Arista), explained he's happy to do it because, unlike past tours, this show won't emphasize nonmusical elements.

"There's not very much production . . . it's all about the music," he said. "There will be some beautiful lighting, but it's not a big production with props and stuff like that. It really is all about these musicians on stage with me."