Photo credit: Russ Rowland
GOING BACHARACH:
The Songs of an Icon
Created by Will Friedwald, Adrian Galante,
Tedd Firth & Jack Lewin
Conceived by Jack Lewin
Arrangements & Orchestrations by Adrian Galante
Musical Supervision by Tedd Firth
Directed by David Zippel
Marjorie S. Deane Little Theatre
Reviewed by David Spencer
I have to be cautious writing this review, because Going Bacharach can be very much an eye and especially an ear of the beholder experience.
As the title proclaims, the show is a revue of Burt Bacharach songs, mostly the ones written in collaboration with lyricist Hal David.
On the plus side, it’s all performed ably and amiably by singers John Pagano (who was a mainstay studio and concert singer for Bacharach), Hilary Kole and Ta-Tynisa Wilson. Also in the spotlight—one could argue taking on Bacharach’s proxy—is musical director (and co-conceiver) Adrian Galante, who occasionally steps away from his position as principal keyboardist to do solo lines, improvisation and accompaniment figures on a close-miked clarinet.
For some that will be plenty; especially for those of an older generation content to bathe in deep nostalgia.
That said, I am now of that older generation, and my personal reaction was different. Mr. Galante is also the arranger and it bothered me that the general approach—enabled by director David Zippel—was very generically and consistently night-clubby, his piano-riffing often characterized by Liberace-like frills and arpeggiation. This, for me, de-emphasized the uniqueness of the Bacharach sound and the clean precision of the composer’s original arrangements and orchestrations. I had the feeling I was watching Galante Does Bacharach, featuring three guest-star singers. There’s not necessarily anything wrong with that, but—if I may be allowed a tech-geek metaphor—it’s a little like purchasing a reliable, generic Android tablet—but one with spoofed specifications; it functions decently enough, but the operating system and processing power under the hood are not the more recent, more powerful ones advertised.
There’s a larger discussion to be had about Bacharach’s exactitude (the control he took over the pit miking and Jonathan Tunick’s orchestrations in Promises, Promises) and when he chose to give permission to interpretive experimentation (Kyle Riabko’s 2014 revue, What’s It All About: Burt Bacharach Reimagined) but I’ll leave it at this: For me, Going Bacharach doesn’t sufficiently honor the first nor go far enough in the direction of the second.
But if you’re just in it for the comfort and familiarity of the tunes, you may indeed get exactly what you paid for. In a good way.