Murray Bernthal trained his grandson to be a pianist. Instead, he created a rock star.

His grandson, Adam Schlesinger, has risen to fame as the frontman for Grammy-nominated artist Fountains of Wayne. The band will perform tonight at the Landmark Theatre, providing Schlesinger a chance to revisit his family’s deep roots in Syracuse.

Bernthal enrolled as a freshman at Syracuse University in 1928, the same year that the Landmark – then called Loew’s State Theatre – opened its doors. He joined the faculty as a music professor after graduation, and, in his 46-year tenure here, he has helped solidify the theater’s place in local music history.

Sagging attendance had pushed the theater to the brink of ruin by 1975. It was destined, Bernthal said, to become a parking garage. But he and his wife, Rose, spearheaded a fund-raising movement to save the venue, and, in two years, their Syracuse Area Landmark Theatre group had purchased, renamed and begun restoring the theater.

Rose worked as executive director at the theater for 10 years, cementing its importance to her family and its influence on her budding musician of a grandson. The restoration process continues even today, and Schlesinger says that tonight’s show will be packed with sentimental value.

Schlesinger has come a long way since taking piano lessons from his grandfather as a 4-year-old, but only in the past year has the spotlight shone on Schlesinger’s musical success. Fountains of Wayne’s hit single, ‘Stacy’s Mom,’ enjoyed heavy rotation on MTV and permeated the airwaves as a finger-snapping guilty pleasure and perfect novelty pop song. Its scandalous video helped, too – and Schlesinger admits that fans recognize Rachel Hunter, sopping wet in the video’s title role, more than the name of his band.

Fountains of Wayne has received plenty of acclaim, though. The Recording Academy nominated the band for two Grammys in 2004, including Best New Artist – an unseemly honor for a band that released its first record in 1996.

‘It was bizarre,’ Schlesinger said.

But he’s not too worried. The academy grants the award, which Evanescence won, to an artist that established its public image during the year of eligibility. And there’s no question that ‘Stacy’s Mom’ did just that.

Schlesinger’s mainstream exposure followed a long string of unnoticed musical exploits. He wrote the title track and several other songs for the 1996 Tom Hanks film ‘That Thing You Do,’ which debuted alongside Fountains of Wayne’s first album. The band’s first two releases garnered an explosive response in Japan, where it still tours regularly. For some reason, Schlesinger said, the fans there are ‘just really insane.’

‘We thought it was just us,’ he said. ‘But then we realized they’re like that for everybody.’

Schlesinger has also worked as a producer for They Might Be Giants, The Verve Pipe and David Mead, and is writing the music for a Broadway musical production of John Waters’ ‘Cry-Baby.’

When he breaks into Broadway, Schlesinger will still have his grandfather to guide the way. Bernthal, now 93 years old, runs the Syracuse-based Famous Artists, a Broadway Theater Series that he founded 63 years ago. He still answers the phone at the South Salina Street office, and, after 76 years here, he’s still dedicated to improving music and theater in Syracuse. Tonight, he’ll be at the Landmark to watch his grandson’s own contribution to the cause.

‘I’m a professor of music,’ Bernthal said. ‘But I’m going to be a professor of rock that night.’

Published on April 18, 2004 at 12:00 pm