Going Bacharach Off-Broadway Reviews

Further, I would have been really happy if someone had told Galante that the 1966 megahit “I Say a Little Prayer” was not written for the 1968 Broadway musical “Promises, Promises,” but simply added into the score of the 2010 Broadway revival. (It might also have been nice to remind audiences that Aretha Franklin was a major interpreter of that song – among others -- and not just Dionne Warwick!) Still, for almost all my 65 years, this guy has been in love with the music of Burt Bacharach. So, hello, I may even be going back to “Going Bacharach” before this run ends.

Going Bacharach: The Songs of an Icon, a new revue that clocks in at roughly 100 minutes—including an intermission—manages to intelligently document its subject’s dazzling career and distinctive artistry while keeping the emphasis squarely where it should be, on the music itself.

Directing the off-kilter caboodle is superb lyricist David Zippel, who on this (first?) directorial outing is less than superb. As someone who might be imagined wanting lyrics acted as often as possible, he instead prefers exaggerating singers’ professional clichés. He adamantly doesn’t eliminate the fave one where a last note is sustained as a singer raises an arm in vocal triumph. On the last number of so many famous Bacharach songs reprised, all three simultaneously do the sustained-note-arm-raise.

Despite the strength of the cast, Act I lacks cohesion. Director David Zippel never quite gels the performers into an ensemble and not enough connection. The musical arrangements (again, from Galante) often isolate rather than elevate. Songs feel like islands, not chapters in a musical journey. And then—Act II. Suddenly, everything snaps into focus. The arrangements tighten. The ensemble clicks. The spirit of Bacharach finally arrives—not as a backdrop for a piano prodigy, but as the central, beating heart of the show.