from the San Diego Jewish Journal

[Steve Schenck]

Here's an article from the San Diego Jewish Journal about BB/SS and their project. It makes it clear that they had begun writing songs, a whole year's worth, and then Sater conceived the idea of the musical story to "package" them. Some of the info is repetitive of other articles, some of it is new. Enjoy!

The Old Globe


Bacharach is back, collaborating with Steven Sater on a new musical at the Old Globe

By Pat Launer


So, what are two Nice Jewish Boys doing writing a Christmas musical?

Let’s examine the question more closely.

First, there’s a long-standing precedent for this sort of thing. Two of the most beloved Christian-holiday songs — “White Christmas” and “Easter Parade” — were written by Irving Berlin. Even Barbra Streisand recorded a Christmas album.

Second, “Some Lovers,” the world premiere musical debuting at the Old Globe (through Dec. 31), is not really a Christmas show. The story begins on Christmas Eve, and the couple at the center, former lovers who reconnect after 20 years, were especially fond of the O. Henry short story, “The Gift of the Magi.” The new musical was inspired by that story, it’s running during the holiday season, but it’s not really a Christmas show.

Finally, the two “Nice Jewish Boys” aren’t all that Jewish, though they were both born that way. Burt Bacharach, the legendary Oscar- and Grammy-winning composer/pianist/conductor/ music producer and arranger, claims that, though he grew up in Forest Hills (Queens), N.Y., the only time he was ever in a synagogue was for a “gig with a band” many years ago. And Steven Sater, the gifted Tony and Grammy-winning lyricist and playwright (much-lauded for “Spring Awakening”), has been a practicing Buddhist for some time.

So, there you have it. And yet, all these disclaimers don’t diminish the excitement of this cross-generational collaboration. And a new musical is always something to celebrate, at any time of year.



The First Meeting

Steven Sater, who won two of eight 2007 Tony awards for “Spring Awakening” (for Best Book of a Musical and Best Score), and who has written other plays and musicals, first met Bacharach four years ago.

“Burt Bacharach was my hero,” Sater says. “I always loved his music so much. We had this cordial first meeting, and as he was leaving, he said, ‘Maybe some time, if you have a lyric…’ And I said, ‘I brought one with me.’ He looked at what I had and was really struck by it. He sat down, read it out loud, and said, ‘Oh, man! Who hasn’t felt like that?’

“At the time, he was conducting his first symphony in Sydney,” Sater continues. “But some time later, I was invited to his house in L.A., where we both live. He had set the lyric exactly as I wrote it. I was reeling, so moved by the beauty of the song. We kept working together, and one day, he said, ‘Stevie, I had a dream that we rented a theater and played all our songs.’ We already had a year and a half of songs. So I conceived a musical.”

And that’s how it began. That very first Bacharach-Sater song, “I’m Ready to Be Done With You,” remains in the new show.

“It’s about the sense of having been in a relationship a long time — the heartaches and yearnings,” Sater says of “Some Lovers.” “It reminded me of ‘The Gift of the Magi,’ but it’s not based on it. This is a completely original musical. Its unique storytelling involves moving back and forth in time, between the couple’s 20s and 40s.”

There have been three workshops this year in New York and L.A. under the auspices of the Old Globe.

Sater thinks this musical, which features two pianos onstage (with an eight-piece orchestra below) and four actors playing young and older versions of Ben and Molly, is “just as innovative” as the groundbreaking “Spring Awakening,” created with indie rocker/composer Duncan Sheik.

“In ‘Spring Awakening,’ we embedded a kind of rock concert within a classical play [the provocative, controversial 1891 drama by German dramatist Frank Wedekind],” Sater says. “Here, we embed an experience like the Café Carlisle [the famously elegant, intimate New York cabaret]. Ben is a composer. We see him at the piano when he’s young and older. The performers talk directly to the audience.

“The show’s got beauty and mystery to it, like memory does. It’s a Burt Bacharach musical about being in love — what more can I say? Its 18 new songs make for a gorgeous, rich score. The classic Bacharach sound, but it feels contemporary.”

Sater’s collaborator is equally enthusiastic.

“I think it’s going very well,” says the prolific 83-year-old member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. “I really love the way Steven writes. He’s just brilliant with words. He writes very musicalized words, and he has a very good script and story sensibility.”

Bacharach admits that musical theater is a world he hasn’t been involved in for years. His last musical was “Promises, Promises” (lyrics by Hal David, book by Neil Simon), which premiered on Broadway in 1968 and ran for 1,281 performances. A 2010 revival had a 291 performance run.

“It seems like a very good platform to write music for,” Bacharach says. “As opposed to writing hit songs. That doesn’t exist anymore. The record business has disappeared.”

Bacharach certainly knows what it’s like to write hit songs. From the 1950s on, he created more than 70 Top 40 hits.

His complex music is characterized by unusual chord progressions, syncopated rhythms, unpredictable or irregular phrasing and frequently changing meter.

Consider signature songs like “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” “Walk On By,” “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” (from “Promises, Promises”), “The Look of Love,” “Close to You,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “What the World Needs Now,” and “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?,” all written with Hal David.

Bahcarach’s film scores have also achieved classic status: “What’s New, Pussycat,” “Casino Royale,” “Alfie” and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (for which he wrote “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head”).

His work has inspired myriad pop, rock and jazz musicians, singers and songwriters.

Now, Steven Sater is thrilled to be working with him.

“It feels like a dream come true,” Sater says. “When you give words to your idol and he sings them back to you…it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“This show is very much a story from the heart and about the heart,” Sater continues. “When you loved someone so much, and now you find that love again…what is the gift you give yourself? People in long-term relationships will have a lot to relate to.”

[Blair N. Cummings]

I have two immediate thoughts. The first regards that "first symphony" Burt was supposedly conducting in Sydney. Since this was presumably only a few years ago, was Sater referring to a concert inclusion of "And the People Were With Her" (not exactly a symphony, I know)? Or is there another, unrecorded major instrumental work ?
Second, the sense I get from the interviews here is of a piece not nearly as dark ( and face it, depressing) as the show I`m reading reviews of. Obviously, creators cannot determine how their work will be received, critically or popularly; but there seems to be a huge chasm between what was intended and what is being seen, heard, and felt.
Certainly, I haven`t been in San Diego and, despite my obnoxious sarcasm, am still willing to give this thing the benefit of the doubt. Yet it seems as if something has gone very wrong (in Lou Reed`s now ancient lyric) "between thought and expression."

[blueonblue]

Could this "First Symphony" be a reference to "For The Children"...a new instrumental piece
that Burt wrote a couple of years ago ?

"blue"

[Blair N. Cummings]

I doubt it since the derivative "For the Children" was even shorter in duration than "...People...", but who knows what Sater was thinking of?

[blueonblue]

Blair,
Please correct me if I'm wrong......but I think "And The People Were With Her" was
about 6 mins in duration and "For The Children" roughly... 11 mins ?

"blue"

[Blair N. Cummings]

I stand corrected, but neither amounts to a symphony. It wouldn`t surprise me if "...Chidren" was what Sater was citing.
I`m still waiting for information (I know someone here has it) on those two unreleased albums. Maybe Nikki Jean (no, I still don`t know her) who witnessed the orchestral recording of "Pennies..." can be persuaded to tell us something when she gets back from Japan.

[blueonblue]

Blair,
No problem.
Let's just hope we get some info about those two unreleased albums.

Take care,
"blue"

[An Enormous BB Fan]

Imagine having Burt as your musical idol and you hand him your lyric and he, Burt Bacharach, puts it to music and then sings it back to you. They'd be picking me up off the floor!!

Another thought: It is my humble opinion that you'll never end up with a true old-fashioned Broadway musical (think "Guys and Dolls", "Oklahoma", "Sweeney Todd", "Promises, Promises", "South Pacific", "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying", even "Hair") if you take a bunch of songs you like and then write a show around the songs. I don't know why, but I don't believe that will ever work. I believe it only works the other way around. I believe the story MUST come first. It must be a good story with a good plot and interesting characters. And then, AFTER you have that, I believe the composer and lyricist do their part and write songs that fit the characters and the plot. I believe that if you write the songs first, then you end up with either a pastiche or a review -- but never a classic Broadway show like the ones I've mentioned.

As Durante used to say, "Everyone's a critic!"

[Steve Schenck]

Well, I agree completely that that's the way things should be done. It's the only way to safeguard the integrity of the music and lyrics as being in service of the story. But, fortunately or unfortunately, a few shows that were built the other way around (a story jacked up around already existing songs) have done tremendously well - Mama Mia, Smokin' Joe's Cafe, and Jersey Boys, to name just a few. American Idiot also did pretty well this past year, though it wasn't a blockbuster. I think some of Burt's best work has been driven by a concept or story - Alfie, the Painted from Memory collection, Promises, Promises. I'd love to see his work on Gift of the Magi recorded appropriately. Even if the story line is weak, as critics are saying, the music sailing along that story line must be something indeed!

[Martyn]

I have a feeling that when Steven Sater spoke about Burt conducting his first symphony in Sydney, he meant that Burt was conducting the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for the first time. That was in July 2007.

'For the Children' was first performed in Australia when Burt returned in February 2008.

Regards,
Martyn