Some Lovers, Burt Bacharach’s long-awaited new musical—his first since Promises, Promises—opened at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego on Dec. 7.
With book and lyrics by Steven Sater (the Tony and Grammy Award winning writer of Spring Awakening), Some Lovers is an original musical inspired by the O. Henry story “The Gift of the Magi,” telling the story of estranged lovers brought together through memories of the past.
Check out the Burt Bacharach Forum for links to reviews and discussion of Bacharach’s first original musical in more than 40 years.
I just updated Burt’s concert itinerary with a new date on May 1 at Jupiter Casino Theater on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Visit the On Tour page for the complete list.
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce will honor Hal David on Friday, Oct. 14, with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. David’s star — the 2,451st on the Walk of Fame — will be located, appropriately enough, in front of The Musicians Institute at 6752 Hollywood Blvd. In conjunction with the star ceremony, David will also be honored with a musical tribute entitled “Love Sweet Love” in celebration of his 90th birthday (which he celebrated on May 25). The tribute will take place on Oct. 17 at the Mark Taper Forum benefitting The Blue Ribbon of the Music Center and The ASCAP Foundation.
Burt Bacharach, David’s longtime collaborator and friend, took out the attached ad in Daily Variety to congratulate Hal on the honor.
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is an internationally-recognized Hollywood icon. With approximately 24 star ceremonies annually broadcast around the world, the constant reinforcement provided to the public has made the Walk of Fame a top visitor attraction. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce continues to administer the Walk of Fame as the representative of the City of Los Angeles. The Walk of Fame is a tribute to all of those who worked diligently to develop the concept and to maintain this world-class tourist attraction. For more information, visit www.WalkOfFame.com.
Burt Bacharach and Hal David have been selected as the fourth recipients of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The awards celebrate the work of artists whose careers reflect lifetime achievements in promoting song as a vehicle of musical expression and cultural understanding. The selection, which was announced on Sept. 28, is made by the Librarian of Congress in consultation with a board that is both credible and broad enough in scope to represent the full spectrum of popular song. Board members may include but need not be limited to scholars, producers, performers, music critics, songwriters, and subject specialists within and outside the Library of Congress.
In being named to receive the prize, Bacharach and David become the first songwriters to be so honored and join the ranks of performers Paul Simon, Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder, the three previous recipients of the award. The awards will be presented next spring at an all-star tribute in Washington D.C.
The long awaited new musical Some Lovers, a musical retelling of “The Gift of the Magi” featuring music by Burt Bacharach and book and lyrics by Steven Sater, is scheduled to begin previews on Nov. 26 at the Old Globe in San Diego. Opening night is Dec. 1 and the musical will run through Dec. 31.
Fans may remember that British vocalist Rumer released a recording of the title song from the show late last year as part of a Christmas EP. The song, which sounds to me like Dusty Springfield singing an unreleased Painted From Memory-era track, is classic Bacharach, igniting hope that Some Lovers will be a very special musical.
Just received an updated list of upcoming Burt Bacharach concerts, and fans in Australia will no doubt be pleased to see eight Down Under shows in 2012, including three performances at Sydney Opera House, where Burt recorded his most recent album, 2008’s Live at the Sydney Opera House.
July 3 Rome, Italy Cavea Auditorium
July 5 Lucca, Italy Piazza Napoleone
July 6 Milan, Italy Arena Civica
July 8 Bard / Aosta, Italy Castel of Bard
July 12 Taormina, Sicily Roman Amphitheate
For his latest release, Burt Bacharach has teamed up with Irish vocalist Ronan Keating for a newly recorded collection of his classic compositions. Burt and Ronan recorded the album live in the legendary Capitol Records studio with a 95-piece orchestra.
The CD was released in the U.K. on March 21 and will be released in the U.S. on March 29.
“To do these songs with a different slant and approach on them made it very interesting for me,” Bacharach said of the process. “And too be able to work with Ronan and expose these songs to maybe a younger audience as well as my fan base. Then to be able to record it in the legendary Capitol recording studio – full orchestra live. Quite a trip we were on, Ronan.”
Keating takes on 10 Bacharach classics on the album, including “The Look Of Love,” “Walk On By,” “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again,” “Arthur’s Theme (The Best That You Can Do),” “My Little Red Book,” “What The World Needs Now,” “Something Big,” “I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself,” “This House Is Empty Now,” and “Make It Easy On Yourself.”
As many of you know, Burt Bacharach has recently been busy writing songs with lyricist Steven Sater for a new musical based on the O. Henry story “The Gift of the Magi.” Burt has written 18 new songs for the project with Sater, the Tony Award-winning playwright and lyricist responsible for Spring Awakening, and the pair has also collaborated on a handful of singles for vocalists including Mario Biondi (“Something That Was Beautiful”) and Karima (“Just Walk Away”).
While a full production of The Gift of the Magi isn’t expected until fall/winter 2011, fans got an early holiday gift on Dec. 13 in the form of a new Christmas EP by the British vocalist Rumer. Rumer Sings Bacharach at Christmas features the debut of “Some Lovers,” one of the new Bacharach-Sater songs written for Gift of the Magi. Based on this composition, I think it’s safe to say that fans of Burt’s classic pop sound have a lot to look forward to.
Rumer Sings Bacharach at Christmas, which also includes her recording of the Bacharach-David classic “Alfie,” isn’t yet available via iTunes in the U.S., but you can purchase it—as both a digital download and a limited edition 7″ vinyl version—by visiting Rumer’s official website.
Has it really been five months (!) since my last post? Wow. To repeat yet again what has become my signature phrase, sorry for the lack of updates. Hopefully over the holidays I’ll have a little more time to catch up with everything.
As some of you might know, Linda Dozoretz passed away on Nov. 9 in Los Angeles. Linda had been Burt Bacharach’s publicist for many years, and it was in that context that I first met her. In the early days of this website, I was a little reluctant to reach out to Burt’s management because I thought the site should maintain some degree of distance. I wanted to be able to discuss Burt’s music and career without any pressure to focus only on the positive, and I guess I thought that cultivating a relationship with Burt’s publicity people would be a slippery slope toward the site becoming just an extension of their PR efforts. At some point, I contacted Linda’s office to try to get a list of upcoming concerts but was unsuccessful, and I posted something to that effect on the site. Not long after that, Linda contacted me personally, introduced herself and apologized for the miscommunication. A little while later, I received Burt’s press kit, a list of his upcoming concerts and an autographed copy of The Music of Burt Bacharach, a promo-only box set of recordings. From that point on, she and her staff sent me regular updates on Burt’s activities. She never once asked me to promote something she’d sent, she never once asked me to remove something I or a fan had posted on the site, and she and her staff always responded promptly to my requests for info. Without a doubt, this website would not be what it is today were it not for Linda’s many contributions over the years. On a personal level, Linda was always extraordinarily friendly, helpful and supportive in the interactions I had with her, and it was through Linda that I’ve gotten the chance to meet Burt a few times. My heartfelt condolences go out to Linda’s family and friends at this difficult time.
