Review: Burt Bacharach at Mohegan Sun's Cabaret Theater

"It is such a treasure you have in this country", the woman sitting next to me said as we were waiting for Burt Bacharach's show to begin. "To have access and exposure to the country's best songwriters in a setting like this." "In Australia, where I am from, it would be a once-in -a-lifetime event, and then it would be priced so out of reach that only the wealthiest folks in the country could afford it." On Saturday night, Mohegan Sun's Cabaret Theater was sold out, with a dozen folks "wishin' and hopin'" for tickets in the cancellation line. The excitement in the showroom was palpable.

While, fortunately for us, the show was not a one-off; it was a concert that the audience won't soon forget. It would be an event just to have Burt Bacharach be the musical director for a concert, never mind sing and play piano and keyboard.

"All the music that we are going to play for you has one thing in common", Bacharach said, as he stepped out onto the stage wearing a blue, three-button suit with a silk pocket square in the breast pocket over a crisp, white, shirt. "It was all written by the same person. The piano player." With that self-introduction, Burt sat at the piano for most of the next two hours and played and directed his band, and for a handful of songs, sang.

Most of the vocals were sung by three terrific singers, who performed as a trio; rather than back-up singers. Donna Taylor, John Pigano and Josie James did most of the vocal, heavy lifting during the evening. Can you imagine the pressure of singing Burt Bacharach's music, for Burt Bacharach; the pressure of being the instrument for his music, with Burt right next to you, playing the piano? These performers, that Burt introduced this audience to, were sublime. Burt's band was tight, and they had to play just right to compliment Burt's singer/songwriter style of singing as well as his three singers, who could belt like nobody's business.

The trio began singing a medley of songs, most widely recognized as being recorded by Dionne Warwick. The highlights of the medley included "Don't Make Me Over", "Walk on By", "You See This Guy", "I Say a Little Prayer", along with "Trains and Boats and Planes" and ending with a rousing rendition of "Always Something There to Remind Me".

The music that Burt has written for movie scores, title songs for movies, Broadway shows, I knew most of it, and I knew that he wrote it. I did not know that he wrote "One less Bell to Answer", which was a smash hit for "The Fifth Dimension" nor was I aware that he wrote "What's New Pussycat" which Tom Jones has put his indelible musical stamp on or "Any Day Now" sung by Ronnie Milsap.

"We went into the studio one evening with Dionne [Warwick] and recorded "Anyone Who Has a Heart" and "Walk on By" in three hours.", Burt said; A smile of joy and satisfaction lighting up his face. "It was a pretty great night!"

Burt has recently released the GRAMMY awarding-winning album, "At this Time". For the first time in his career he co-wrote the lyrics as well as writing the music. The album is an intensely personal set of songs, to and about his young children and the times we are currently living in. The concern of a parent, for his children's future, was a theme of the three cuts he sang from the album. He and the band played "Go ask Shakespeare", "Where did it go", which Burt sang himself, and "Who are these People". Dr. Dre, Rufus Wainwright and Elvis Costello, among others, appear on the album, so check you oldies-act assumptions at the door. Burt seemed to get a great amount of personal satisfaction from performing in his own voice, the lyrics of his own music.

Burt also sang "The Look of Love", Raindrops Keep Fallin' on my Head", "Wives and Lovers" and the title song to the movie "Alfie". He had to work through the awkwardness of a constant stream of "We love you, Burt", that came across from the audience. Whoops and applause and shouts came in wave after wave from the moment he began to end one song and started to begin the next.

Three encores ended the show, starting with "What the World Needs Now" and ending with a "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" sing-a-long. There were whistles and stamping feet and yelling in appreciation, like I have never heard in Mohegan Sun's Cabaret. But then, I hadn't seen Burt Bacharach perform there before.

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