Ten years ago, Burt Bacharach sat through a performance of “The Look of Love,” a revue featuring songs he wrote with lyricist Hal David.
He was flanked by two friends, Elvis Costello and Mike Myers (Bacharach songs run through all the “Austin Powers” films).
“It was with great discomfort that I sat in the audience,” he recalls, “because Elvis and Mike were giving me a running commentary . . . ‘Why are they changing that chord?’ ‘That doesn’t sound like what you wrote!’ It was brutal. The music sounded like it was being played by a band in the Catskills.”
“The Look of Love” died a quick and bloody death at the hands of the critics, one of whom had the temerity to suggest that Bacharach and David’s musical and lyrical palettes were “bland” and “limited,” and their “substance is all style.”
It’s not surprising, then, that Bacharach was reluctant to let theater people get their hands on his catalog again. (David died last year). That is, until he met Kyle Riabko, a 25-year-old singer, composer and actor. Riabko was appearing in a workshop of “Some Lovers,” a new musical by Bacharach and Steven Sater based on “The Gift of the Magi.” Bacharach liked Riabko’s voice, which is tender and soulful, not brassy and musical theater-y. Riabko was in awe of Bacharach, and asked if he could “interpret” a couple of his songs, “Anyone Who Had a Heart” and “This Guy’s in Love With You.” He made a demo, sent it to Bacharach and prayed he wouldn’t get shot down.
“Listen, people can do real butchery on my material,” Bacharach says. “But I listened to what Kyle had done, and I was impressed with its integrity. There were no funny or awkward chord changes or anything that went against the grain. It was close to the original but done in a fresh style and in great taste.”
Bacharach gave him the go-ahead to “interpret” many of his other songs. The result is “What’s It All About? Bacharach Reimagined,” which opened last night at the New York Theater Workshop. Directed by Steven Hoggett, it features Riabko leading a cast of talented 20-somethings, performing Bacharach songs as if they had been written yesterday. Riabko’s arrangements, which emphasize Bacharach’s gorgeous, unexpected melodies, certainly disprove the charge that Bacharach’s “substance is all style.”
There’s no script, but like Richard Maltby’s “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” the songs are skillfully organized to give the evening an emotional kick.
It helps that many Bacharach songs, especially those with David’s lyrics, are character- and narrative-driven — “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?,” “I Say a Little Prayer for You,” “Message to Michael.”
“We always thought of them as miniature movies,” says Bacharach. “Everything counts in the short form of a popular song. There’s no room for filler. You have to have a really good chorus and a really good verse.”
I happen to be a huge fan of “Promises, Promises,” Bacharach and David’s 1968 musical adaptation of “The Apartment.” It was, sadly, the only Broadway show they ever wrote. David always said that Bacharach preferred the recording studio to the live stage: In the studio, he could get exactly what he wanted, preserved forever.
I asked Bacharach if that was indeed the case. “The most concise answer I can give you is that after the show opened, I was exhausted, so I went to Palm Springs for a break. [Producer] David Merrick called the second week into the run and said Richard Rodgers had been at a weekend matinee — and there were five subs in the orchestra. Five key players were out at that performance. You don’t have that problem in the studio.”
But, at 85, four decades after “Promises, Promises,” Bacharach finds himself gravitating back to the theater. “I have to,” he says, “there’s no record industry anymore.” He’s still working on “Some Lovers,” and has “three or four” other projects in the hopper.
“What’s It All About” seems a fine way to put his oar back in the water.