Kritzerland's reissue of the original London cast recording of Promises, Promises is limited to 1,000 copies.

Hot on the heels of its acclaimed remaster and remix of the Promises, Promises original Broadway cast album, stage and screen specialist Kritzerland is releasing for the first time on CD the original London cast recording of Promises, Promises. The London production features Tony Roberts, Betty Buckley and Jack Kruschen, who reprises his role as Dr. Dreyfuss from The Apartment, the 1960 Billy Wilder film on which Promises was based. The London production opened in 1969 at the Prince of Wales Theatre in the West End and ran 560 performances.

As with the original Broadway cast album reissue, the London cast album is a limited to 1,000 copies, so if you want to be sure to get one, don’t delay.

For more info and to order online, visit Kritzerland.com.

Paul Grein of Yahoo! Music points out that that chart position is actually higher than the original cast album, which peaked at #95 in 1969. Promises, Promises also currently ranks #23 in sales on Amazon.com.

And for the purists out there—the ones who can’t fathom the inclusion of “I Say A Little Prayer” and “A House Is Not A Home” on the new cast album—Kritzerland is readying for release a special two-disc reissue of the original Promises, Promises cast album.

The reissue will include a remaster of the original album in its original mix (which has not previously been released on CD) and a brand new mix of the album that fixes some of the technical glitches from the original recordings and puts the songs in their correct order from the show. There’s also a bonus track of Jill O’Hara singing the title song.

So whether you’re a Hayes-Chenoweth convert or an Orbach-O’Hara purist, there’s a lot for fans of Promises, Promises to be thankful for these days.

(Edited to add: As Bruce notes in his comment below, the two-disc version sold out quickly, but Kritzerland received permission to release an additional 1,000 copies of the remixed, pitch-corrected version, which was the main attraction  of the reissue. It’s likely to sell out as well, so the same advice applies: Get yours now if you want one.)

A very Happy Birthday to Burt Bacharach, who celebrates his 82nd birthday today.

Sony Masterworks presented Burt with an early birthday present yesterday with its announcement that a cast recording of the revival of Promises, Promises will be released on June 22. You can read more about the recording in this article at Broadway.com.

Sean Hayes, center, stars as Chuck Baxter in the Broadway revival of "Promises, Promises."

An interview with Burt and Hal on the occasion of the current Broadway revival of Promises, Promises is featured on tonight’s episode of NPR’s Fresh Air.

The full text of the press release on Burt’s surgery is as follows:

LOS ANGELES, January 4, 2010 – Legendary composer and conductor Burt Bacharach is recovering from back surgery at a hospital in Los Angeles, it was announced today.  Bacharach had surgery on New Year’s Eve, and his prognosis is excellent.

Upcoming Bacharach concerts in Palm Beach, Florida, Australia and New Zealand through mid-March will be rescheduled for later in the year and/or 2011.

Bacharach last performed in concert on December 19 at Piazza Duomo in Milan, Italy, and returned home to spend Christmas with his family.

The first Broadway revival of Promises, Promises is scheduled to open in April 2010.

I know this is old news to many of you by now, but Promises, Promises, Burt Bacharach’s much loved 1968 musical, is finally headed back to Broadway.

The revival—the show’s first since its opening on Broadway more than 40 years ago—is scheduled to open at the Broadway Theatre on April 27 with Sean Hayes (of TV’s “Will and Grace”) and Kristin Chenoweth starring in the roles originated on Broadway by Jerry Orbach and Jill O’Hara.  The producers are John Gore, Thomas B. McGrath, Beth Williams, Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, Candy Spelling, Pat Addiss and The Weinstein Company.

Based on the 1960 Billy Wilder film The Apartment and featuring a book by Neil Simon, Promises, Promises was one of the first mainstream Broadway musicals to showcase a pop music score, and it introduced a number of  Bacharach-David classics, including “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,” “Whoever You Are, I Love You,” “Knowing When To Leave,” and the title song.

Needless to say, this is great news for fans of both Bacharach and Broadway. I’ll post updates as I get them

(And for a fascinating insider look at Bacharach before and after the opening of Promises, Promises, visit the media archive to read the 1968 New Yorker articles Hits and Composer in Tartan Cap)

Burt and his band in Australia, courtesy of DavidCrigger.com.

As always, please visit the Burt Bacharach Forum for the latest news.

Just a few years ago, Bacharach’s early and/or rare recordings were prized collector’s items. Fans used to trade cassette tapes of scratchy 45s they’d find at garage sales or used record stores. While Rhino’s The Look of Love collection from 1998 included a few relative obscurities, it wasn’t until the last few years that the floodgates have really opened on Bacharach’s early recordings.

One of the first Bacharach rarities collections on CD was 2003’s The Rare Bacharach, a two-disc collection on the Australian label Raven Records that included recordings from everyone from Andy Williams to Sylvester.

Last summer, Ace released Always Something There: A Burt Bacharach Collectors’ Anthology 1952-1969, an excellent single-disc collection that included Nat “King” Cole’s “Once in a Blue Moon,” one of the earliest recordings of a Bacharach song.

Most recently, forum participant robbieindart notes that a new Bacharach rarities collection, Rare Bacharach – The Early Years 1958 – 1965, will be released on July 31 on Rare Rockin’ Records. It looks like another good collection to fill in the gaps for the Burt completeists out there.

For the complete list of Burt’s upcoming concerts, visit the On Tour page.