What's It All About

[After Eight]

Posted: 11/26/13 at 11:28pm

Burt Bacharach fans beware, and definitely steer clear of this ghastly "reimagining" of his songs as the doleful intonations of a group of morose, ersatz flower children! Dark, dismal and thoroughly misguided.

[Taryn]

Posted: 11/27/13 at 1:10am

Well, I loved it.

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 11/27/13 at 8:55am

Already a thread here
https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1066073
I loved it as well.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/27/13 at 12:24pm

It was never supposed to be something you would like.

It was always intended as the kind of thing that would be liked by people who have never even heard of Nobody Loves an Albatross, let alone think it should have been nominated for a Pulitzer.

[macnyc]

Posted: 11/27/13 at 12:26pm

After Eight, you and I have agreed on many points in the past, but I am wondering about how you choose the shows you want to see. Why would you have gone to see this one?

[tazber]

Posted: 11/27/13 at 12:31pm

So he can come here and whine like a cranky codger of course.

[AC126748]

Posted: 11/27/13 at 12:32pm

Well, Burt loves it.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 11/27/13 at 12:51pm

After Eight?

[After Eight]

Posted: 11/27/13 at 1:01pm

Mac,

Sorry to have started a new thread. I did a search and nothing came up.

In any case, to answer your question, I went because I love Burt Bacharach's songs ---- when they're done the right way, that is.

This was simply ghastly.

And PJ, if this is intended for people who know neither Bacharach, nor Nobody Loves an Albatross, then it is all the more important that they be introduced to the real thing. Please, let's not have you, or this show condescend to them.

[Kad]

Posted: 11/27/13 at 1:08pm

Because you want a monopoly on condescension?

For the record: I have heard very mixed things about this.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 11/27/13 at 1:16pm

He already has a monopoly on Truth. Why not condescension, too?

What's it all about, After Eighty?

I'll tell you what. Jordan and Whizzer and Kad and I challenge you to a F*CKing game of Monopoly.

Show us your Marvin Gardens, BITCH.

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 11/27/13 at 1:16pm

It is not intended to be a plot based show. It's a concert, with songs re-arranged with folk, pop-rock, soul flavors. It's very Hoggett. If you're not into that, then yes, you'll hate it.

[tazber]

Posted: 11/27/13 at 1:22pm

That's the second time today AE has accused someone else of being condescending.

If I thought he was a real person and not a manufactured character I would be agog at his utter lack of self awareness.

[macnyc]

Posted: 11/27/13 at 1:41pm

I wonder if the younger audience members are liking it more. I suspect the show is geared to appeal to those who were not really familiar with Bacharach from the first-time around. (I'm not in that group.) I'm seeing it on Sunday, and I'll report back.

[Taryn]

Posted: 11/27/13 at 2:28pm

I can say that the audience when I saw it yesterday was definitely older, and that they seriously loved it. I myself am 26, but grew up on the oldies station, so while I didn't know Bacharach was necessarily the composer of all these songs, I definitely knew and loved the songs already.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 11/27/13 at 7:00pm

I love that After Eight reads that this is a show of contemporized Bacharach songs for a new generation and thinks he would do anything but choke back vomit the entire time. Classic.

[Luv2goToShows]

Posted: 11/27/13 at 7:08pm

Sorry you did not like it After Eight, I went in knowing some of Bacharach's music, mostly from either shows I saw. I was surprised that I knew more of his music than I thought, songs my mom listened to it when I was younger. I really enjoyed it and for the most part liked how the songs were arranged. To me it seemed like some of the songs were done in a Glee style, some with a touch of boy band, others left in the old fashioned style of corny music. I thought it was staged fairly well, concert style and not trying to be any more than what it was. I really liked how they incorporated the instruments in to the set.

[Up In One]

Posted: 11/29/13 at 8:01pm

Saw this Wednesday night with what felt like a comatose subscription house and came away with mixed feelings. I was looking forward to a different take on the Bacharach catalogue and those hopes were reinforced right at the start of the show when the star and conceiver of the piece prefaced things by saying he wanted to make Burt's music relevant for "his generation" which I assume is the twenty-something crowd. Less than ninety minutes later I couldn't say the reimagining was all that imaginative. Yes there were a few dirge like takes on the songs we all know and love ( only the hits are covered here, another disappointment)which I guess represented today's top 40 music style but the reimagining was made up mostly of vamps, riffs and hooks as well as common place beats which made songs that had a distinctive sound in their own time sound and feel the same.

Loved that the cast was also the band and when they weren't pushing their instruments around the stage for no reason they did get to make some nice musical moments but the John Doyle approach to staging minimized the arrangements for staging expedience sake. Vocally the band is also not much to write home about, several are given pretty straight up versions of Bacharach's tunes and between the quality of their voices and the monotony of the arrangements you loose interest fast. Because the reimagining wasn't that far removed from the original takes on the songs the ghosts of the original versions loomed large. If they had veered away from the originals more the cast would have had a better chance to leave their own marks.

Lastly the staging and choreography are so busy and stylized that what ever concentration you have left will be drawn to the nonsense these kids must do which adds nothing to the proceedings. I sat next to a beautiful women in her 70's on one of the couches on either side of the stage, she was singing along with every number. While darling it was a sure sign for me that the songs weren't so much reimagined but rethought. I expected some risk taking. I am surprised NYTW backed this one. But, believe it or not I enjoyed myself, what's not to like, sitting on a stage with a bunch of young kids performing at the price of a TDF ticket? I just wished they had a more clever dramaturg and musical director/designer to take that Bacharach music to a more special place.

Updated On: 11/29/13 at 08:01 PM

[macnyc]

Posted: 12/5/13 at 6:22pm

It's opening night, so I thought we could post reviews as they come in.

AM NY: mixed

Just as recent episodes of the television series "Glee" have revolved around the songbooks of the Beatles, Billy Joel and Lady Gaga, "What's It All About? Bacharach Reimagined" -- Kyle Riabko's hipster chic revue of Burt Bacharach hits at New York Theatre Workshop -- looks and sounds like a "Glee"-style tribute to Bacharach.


http://www.amny.com/urbanite-1.812039/theater-review-what-s-it-all-about-bacharach-remimagined-2-stars-1.6548911

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 12/6/13 at 10:02am

Isherwood liked it
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/06/theater/reviews/whats-it-all-about-at-new-york-theater-workshop.html?ref=theater

[chanel]

Posted: 12/9/13 at 10:56am

Review saying too many of the arrangements were dirge-like and some crucial non-hits were left out in favor of hits.

Scroll down.

http://www.out.com/entertainment/michael-musto/2013/12/09/tom-daley-maria-bello-are-bi-get-used-it

[macnyc]

Posted: 12/9/13 at 11:23am

I do agree that too many of the arrangements were dirge-like. It left me wondering if Kyle is going through a really bad breakup.

[After Eight]

Posted: 12/9/13 at 11:34am

^

Not only the arrangements.

The setting and lighting were all gloom and doom as well.

What a morose morass.

[newintown]

Posted: 12/9/13 at 11:53am

I fear that this one was not my cup of tea, either; "reimagined" was, I felt, extremely hyperbolic. These rather simplistic/sophomoric arrangements struck me as just faux-emo morose maundering that did nothing to shed interesting new light on Bacharach and David's work. Dionne and Dusty's recordings serve the music and lyrics far better than this. An interminable evening.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 12/9/13 at 12:10pm

"What a morose morass."

A crowning critical criterion! A perfectly prime pan! After Eight's arch acuity affects absolute artistic accomplishment! Melbavar mishima moogoomoogai!

And this sort of gobbledygook that he repeatedly passes off as cleverness, ladies and germs, explains why his favorite plays are MARY, MARY and FORTY CARATS.