PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
Marquise
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/1/04
#0PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
Posted: 3/26/05 at 5:27am
One of the best musicals of the 1960's and the only Broadway show written by the pop duo of Burt Bacharach and Hal David sees the light of day once again.
Marquise
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/1/04
#1re: PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
Posted: 3/26/05 at 7:23amAnyone have a favorite song from the score?
Marquise
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/1/04
#2re: PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
Posted: 3/26/05 at 7:24amI love "Knowing When To Leave". My mother has a Dionne Warwick album that has a great version of this song on it.
Marquise
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/1/04
#3re: PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
Posted: 3/26/05 at 7:27amThe show also has one of the BEST overtures ever written and recorded for the Broadway stage.
Marquise
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/1/04
#4re: PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
Posted: 3/26/05 at 7:28amI guess I'm alone on this one...LOL
Marquise
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/1/04
#5re: PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
Posted: 3/26/05 at 7:33am
I'm sure I would have gotten at least 100 more responses if Idina had starred. 
Marquise
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/1/04
#7re: PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
Posted: 3/26/05 at 8:21amI'm so glad this cd has been released. I have been looking for it for years! I love Bacharach (with the exception of "Anyone Who Had a Heart"), and some of the songs I have heard from this are great.
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"Yes", Lloyd Webber replied. "My 50th birthday special must be one program that gets done a lot."
"No", mused the man from PBS heedlessy. "Not so much. Our Stephen Sondheim Carnegie Hall concert. That's a big one."
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CrAzIaBoUtReNt
Leading Actor Joined: 11/26/04
#8re: PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
Posted: 3/26/05 at 8:33am
"Turkey Lurkey Time" is the best song on the CD! 
FranklinShepard-Inc.
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/25/04
#9re: PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
Posted: 3/26/05 at 8:34amI love it. The story is great, after all I think Neil Simon did the book based upon the Billy Wilder movie. And the score was the first one to bring in the 60s mod sound (Strouse for Applause and Sondheim for Company copied that sound a little afterwards). I like "Knowing when to leave" a lot.
#10re: PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
Posted: 3/26/05 at 8:36amLOL...you're not alone Marquise. I love the score too. It has such a seventies feel to it even though I think it opened in '68. It sounds less dated though from shows that came later ("Applause" for one). When I saw it listed for re-release yesterday I pulled out an old LP copy of the original London cast that starred a very young Betty Buckley and Tony Roberts. She does a wonderful "When To Leave" on it. Tony Roberts is no Jerry Orbach though.
wildcat
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/04
#11re: PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
Posted: 3/26/05 at 8:51am
I actually prefer the London cast album. It may be sacrilege to say so, but Jerry Orbach sings sharp occasionally on the OBC. Orson Bean (SUBWAYS ARE FOR SLEEPING, BEING JOHN MALKOVICH) played it here in Australia.
Incidentally, Bacharach was so obsessed with getting a "recording studio" sound from the orchestra that he had the pit covered over and the conductor wielding his baton under a glass bubble (for the actors to see him) so that the sound could be completely controlled electronically. Evidently his failure to exert total control over the sound dynamic of PROMISES was the reason he never again wrote for the musical theatre.
Updated On: 3/26/05 at 08:51 AM
riv
Leading Actor Joined: 3/6/05
#12re: PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
Posted: 3/26/05 at 9:25amWhere did that cover art come from? That's not the original artwork for the show which the previous CD issue used.
wildcat
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/04
#13re: PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
Posted: 3/26/05 at 10:24amThe original was that logo on a white background, wasn't it? The London album was the same with a blue background.
magruder
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#14re: PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
Posted: 3/26/05 at 10:36am
You know...it's the second CD release of this score, and they STILL couldn't put the songs in show order? "Grapes of Roth" and "Where Can You Take a Girl" are still in the wrong spots. I hope too, that it was remastered again. The mix on the first CD issue was very percussion heavy - overwhelmingly so.
And regrettably, Jerry Orbach is off-key - actually, he's often flat, rather than sharp. But Bachrach is notoriously difficult to sing. It sounds like lightweight pop, but there are very tricky intervals, key changes and time signature changes throughout. It would be nice if they could use a little modern technology and do a little pitch-correcting to help out the late great Orbach, but I doubt they went to the trouble.
"Gif me the cobra jool!"
#15re: PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
Posted: 3/26/05 at 11:17am
This was the forth Broadway show I ever saw. It was brilliant. It remains to this day BY FAR, the funniest musical I have ever seen. Jerry Orbach (a richly deserved Tony) and the supporting cast of familiar faces(Paul Reed, Dick O'Neill, Marian Mercer and then Marie Louise Wilson, Edward Winter, etc.) was sublime. Michael Bennett's work was incredible and his "build up" of the Turkey Lurkey Time number are the things choreographic legends are made of.
I believe this was the first show to use "pit singers." They are first heard in the lovely overture. The score is great! The most famous song from the score was What Do You Get When You Fall In Love? I believe Dionne Warwick had a hit with it, as she did with many of this composing team's songs.
I love the cd and still listen to it often. I guess my favorite song, for a variety of reasons is, She Likes Basketball.
"Blow out the candles Robert and make a wish. Want something, want SOMETHING."
#16re: PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
Posted: 3/26/05 at 11:19amthat is virtually the cover of the original Broadway cast recording. It is the shows original poster art.
"Blow out the candles Robert and make a wish. Want something, want SOMETHING."
jesseeinstein
Broadway Star Joined: 11/9/03
#17re: PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
Posted: 3/26/05 at 11:21amI like Half as Big as Life.
eslgr8
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/04
#18re: PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
Posted: 3/26/05 at 11:24amThat's good news. I got a rare libary copy of the original CD a couple of months ago and listened to it again and again. There has never been a Broadway score like it. I'm a big fan of 60s Bacharach, and I have to say the score is totally 60s Mr. B, not 70s, though if it sounds that way to Demitri 2 it may be because Burt Bacharach's music was so unique and I suppose ahead of its time. But listen to any of Dionne Warwick's hits from that era or a Bacharach soundtrack like Casino Royale and you know right away who wrote these Promises, Promises songs, and from what time period. I like all the performances in the original recording, including Mr. Orbach. His voice may not have been the best, but he is delightful nonetheless, especially in my very favorite song SHE LIKES BASKETBALL! Also love Half as Big as Life. By the way, the title is "I'll Never Fall in Love Again." Miss Warwick also had a hit with the title song. "Knowing When to Leave" was also a hit. Updated On: 3/26/05 at 11:24 AM
La Vie Boheme
Leading Actor Joined: 1/7/05
#19re: PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
Posted: 3/26/05 at 11:26amI love Turkey Lurkey Time...its such a catchy song and just plain fun.
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I<3NY
#20re: PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
Posted: 3/26/05 at 11:28amI love Turkey Lurkey Time! I only know it from the movie CAMP, and thank God for that. Saw Margo Sappington last week and she humored me by singing a little bit of it with me.
" ...the happiness in the tune convinces me that I'm not afraid."
#21re: PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
Posted: 3/26/05 at 11:30ameslgr8, thanks for the title correction! :)
"Blow out the candles Robert and make a wish. Want something, want SOMETHING."
magruder
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#22re: PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
Posted: 3/26/05 at 11:36amWarwick also had a hit with "Promises, Promises". And I think "Knowing When to Leave" was covered by several artists as well. A show with three hit songs. Not too shabby!
"Gif me the cobra jool!"
eslgr8
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/04
#23re: PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
Posted: 3/26/05 at 11:40am
You're right, Magruder. How could I forget the title song??? And Jill O'Hara's original version is on the 4-CD Baracharach collection I own. By the way, whatever happened to Jill O'Hara? She was lovely. Her sister Jenny continues to do movies and stuff, but nothing about Jill since that era.
Updated On: 3/26/05 at 11:40 AM
Gooch
Understudy Joined: 3/15/05
#24re: PROMISES, PROMISES Re-released on CD 4/12/2005
Posted: 3/26/05 at 11:43amI agree that the overture is one of the best ever. It is almost impossible to stop oneself from conducting! My favourite song is She likes Basketball but I adore the entire score; Bacharach and David were never more on top of their game. To check out the opposite end of the spectrum, see their version of Lost Horizon - YUCK!
