Has There Ever Been a Score Quite Like Promises, Promises?

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 6/20/10 at 5:34pm

I am just absolutely obsessed with this score. It manages to be of its time AND still hold up today. Hal David's lyrics range from hilarious to heartbreaking. Bacharach's music is so original. It manages to combine pop and theatrical sounds in such a harmonious, seemless manner. And Tunick's orchestrations are magnificent (both his original and revival work). I wonder how much this score influenced Sondheim in Company (besides having the same orchestrator, there are musical similarities too).

Updated On: 6/20/10 at 05:34 PM

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 6/20/10 at 5:36pm

I love that Megan Sikora.

[twinbelters]

Posted: 6/20/10 at 5:48pm

Have you heard John Barry's theatrical scores? With the exception of Little Prince and the Aviator they are all quite good and have a parallel sound to Bacharach's work. I also think Michele Legrand has composed some similar scores. It is not a coincidence that all three are all chiefly film composers.

I listened to Raisin the other day and it struck me how Bacharach it sounded at times.

[TimesSquared]

Posted: 6/20/10 at 9:50pm

"Has There Ever Been a Score Quite Like Promises, Promises?"

No Mildred, there hasn't! I adore the score to that show. "Whoever You Are" and "Knowing When to Leave" are brilliant, but I especially love the lesser-known gems like "Half as Big as Life", and "Upstairs" and my personal favorite, "You'll Think of Someone". I think it's one of the most charming little duets in the whole B'way repertoire.

One of the great joys of listening to a Bacharach song for the first (or even fifth) time is you can never guess what the next note will be, the next chord, even where the next beat is going to fall. All that unpredictability, paired with that great pop sensibility makes for wonderful theater music. I was so sad years back when I read that Bacharach found the experience so brutal that he swore never to write for Broadway again.

But I'll always have my OBC recording. Love it. Pitches all over the place, and I still love it!
(The London cast recording with Tony Roberts and Betty Buckley is fabulous too.)

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 6/20/10 at 9:57pm

Buckley's "Whoever You Are, I Love You" is my favorite reading of that song.

[bk]

Posted: 6/20/10 at 11:37pm

"Pitches all over the place,"

Not any more. :)

Bacharach, at the time of Promises, was not "primarily a film composer." He'd only scored a handful of films by that point - what he was was a composer who'd composed an astonishing number of hit songs, one after another.

[Marquise]

Posted: 6/21/10 at 12:27am

Bacharach's score for PROMISES, PROMISES was unique for theater and Sondheim's COMPANY owes a debt to PROMISES and it's contemporary sound, not only did COMPANY "borrow" Tunick but they also used the idea of having background singers and a recording studio sound board to augment the sound.

Also remember that Michael Bennett and Donna McKechnie, to key components in the overall success of PROMISES were also used to great effect in COMPANY.

Listening to the pop urgency of the girl trio singing You Could Drive A Person Crazy in COMPANY and you immediately notice the resemblance to the girl trio singing Turkey Lurkey Time in PROMISES.

PROMISES, however was a more conventional "book" musical wheras COMPANY was more a "concept" musical.

It is a shame the Bacharach never again wrote for the theater but as both a composer and producer he preferred the controlled atmosphere of a recording studio to produce what he considered would be a definitive finished product everything from the vocalists to the musicians playing. For theater he had to relinquish that control, everything from the way his songs were being sung to the way his music was being played varied on any given night and it literally drove him crazy.

I remember reading of one night during PROMISES' Broadway run he got the news that Richard Rodgers would be attending a performance and that he was told some of the house musicians had called out and replacements would be performing that night. He had a fit that Rodgers would be in the audience and not hear his music being performed the way he meant it to be played.

If Bacharach could clone himself and send his identical twin to conduct that show every night, every performance for the entire show's almost 2 year run he would have done it. But reality is he couldn't do that and again, he had to give up that control of how his music was presented to others and he wasn't entirely happy with that at all.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 6/21/10 at 2:28am

I'm going to agree. Out of any cast recording I have, I think I'm most excited to be getting the new one for this show. I can't think of any song in it that I disliked.

[scscorpio]

Posted: 6/21/10 at 3:27am

Agreed. I have been playing the new Promises, Promises cast recordings on loop. It's pretty addictive, probably due to the pop element in the music.

And TimesSquared, 'You'll think of Someone' is a personal favourite of mine too. It doesn't get as much mention as the other big numbers but it's such a fantastic fun duet and I love the 'tentativeness' conveyed.

[mormonophobic]

Posted: 6/21/10 at 9:53am

I have to agree. Promises, Promises has been one of my favorite scores for some time. Every song on the cast recording offers something unique and is worth listening to. Obviously, songs like "Knowing When To Leave" and the title song itself are remembered from the show. Yet even lesser songs like "She Likes Basketball", "Where Can You Take A Girl", and (yes!) "Turkey Lurkey Time" are gems that I can listen to over and over again.

As for a Betty Buckley Promises, Promises, I'm kind of embarrassed to admit I didn't know this exists. I will have to acquire the London Recording, as I want to listen to Buckley's rendition of "Whoever You Are" as soon as humanly possible. Oh, I can't even imagine what she did with "Knowing When To Leave". Did she cut someone and then leave? Now I'm excited.

[newintown]

Posted: 6/21/10 at 9:53am

I've listened to the new recording a few times, and, though there are some fun things there, I find Sean Hayes' performance to be... well, just lazy - there's a great lack of vocal energy there, making him sound merely pleasant and relaxed (to the point of nodding off). Almost as if Andy Williams were playing the part.

[Marquise]

Posted: 6/21/10 at 10:46am

I would have to agree with your assessment of Sean Hayes' performance on The New Cast Recording. He has a pleasant enough voice but it's bland: like vanilla. There's no passion. fire or drive in his delivery of the title song. Even on a recording he should be "in character" giving a new listener a sense of who the character is and where the song is coming from within the context of the show. He just comes off as pleasantly singing a nice Bacharach tune. Just compare Hayes' rendition to Orbach's from the OBC or even Tony Roberts' on the OLC and you'll hear what I mean.

Kristin Chenoweth on the other hand is sublime on the recording, except I am still wondering about the slowed down tempo of her rendition of Knowing When To Leave, with the slowed down tempo all the urgency of that song went out the window, but this is not her fault. Her shining moment on the new disc, at least for me is Whoever You Are, I Love You, for me it's like listening to a beautiful work of art.

Now as far as Betty Buckley's renditions on the OLC I would have to say she does a very nice job on everything she sings except Knowing When To Leave...the note she hits and the way she pronounces the word "leave" is very unpleasant. It's never been a "nice" listening experience for me and this is a track I always skip when I play the London recording. Jill O'Hara's recording of the song will always be the definitive version.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 6/21/10 at 11:01am

I had opted to not preorder the cast recording through amazon.com as I usually do because my sister is going away this weekend and I wasn't sure if it would arrive in time for me to slip into her bag as a surprise. So I called our local fye to make sure they had them in stock and the woman who answered literally had no idea what I was talking about. When she finally went to check she only found two copies. That's all they got. I didn't expect them to get 100 copies but was surprised to hear they only had two.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/21/10 at 11:14am

Bacharach's score for PROMISES, PROMISES was unique for theater and Sondheim's COMPANY owes a debt to PROMISES and it's contemporary sound, not only did COMPANY "borrow" Tunick but they also used the idea of having background singers and a recording studio sound board to augment the sound.

I was going to say exactly the same thing. And to a similar extent, I think Bacharach was very heavily influenced by Michel LeGrand's scores of Umbrellas of Cherbourg and to a lesser degree, Young Girls of Rochefort.

[bk]

Posted: 6/21/10 at 11:29am

Well, it would have had to be to a MUCH lesser degree with Young Girls, as that film didn't get to the US until April of 1968, and the Promises score was pretty much done by then - I don't hear the influence at all, frankly. And I talk a bit about the Company sound in the booklet of our upcoming issue of the original cast album, of which there are now less than 150 copies.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/21/10 at 11:40am

I've always noticed a similarity to LeGrand and Bacharach in style, but only in song, NOT in instrumental composition. Yeah, I knew Young Girls was pushing it a bit, but it's not far fetched to believe he'd heard LeGrand's newest film score long before its release.

[twinbelters]

Posted: 6/21/10 at 12:58pm

"Bacharach, at the time of Promises, was not "primarily a film composer." He'd only scored a handful of films by that point - what he was was a composer who'd composed an astonishing number of hit songs, one after another."

True. I wasn't necessarily referring to his pre-Promises career. (Everyone knows Bacharach wrote a film musical score for the bomb Lost Horizon, right?) John Barry and Michel LeGrand also had hit pop songs throughout their careers, though not on the level of Bacharach. I would observe all three have similar sensibilities merging contemporary, commercial, sounds with film score and theatrical sounds.

Who could they be compared to today? Is there anyone who plays in theater, film, and popular music like they did? I'm seriously drawing a blank. Elton, maybe?

Has anyone heard Yamasuki, this Japanese/French theater collaboration with traditional Japanese instrumentation and funkay fuzzed-out French guitars? Worth a listen for any Gainsbourg or Bacharach fans!
Oh jeez, Yamasuki is out of print on cd, but there are samples at Amazon.com

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 6/21/10 at 1:02pm

Is there anyone who plays in theater, film, and popular music like they did?

Not really, but Marc Shaiman and Elton John come the closest.

[invisiblegirl]

Posted: 6/21/10 at 2:44pm

Where can you buy the London recording? Also, I find it interesting what people are saying about Sean Hayes because in the video on amazon.com, he definitely does not seem in character. It looks like he is concentrating very very hard and not having any fun! Especially in comparison to the two actresses.

[scscorpio]

Posted: 6/21/10 at 7:29pm

Yeah he's really reading the music very carefully. I think as a first-timer and knowing he doesn't have the best voice, he was concentrating more on trying to nail the ranges.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 6/21/10 at 7:36pm

I have to share a memory from my community theatre days:

We were rehearsing PROMISES and the gal who was playing Fran got into a silly mood. When she got to her big number she stood stage center and sang "Knowing when to leave may be the smartest thing that anyone can learn..." and walked off the stage, down the aisle of the auditorium, into the parking lot and drove home.

The director and the cast laughed so hard that we called it a night.

[garyl]

Posted: 6/21/10 at 7:44pm

NO! AND IT'S TERRIFIC..ON THE OBC...I AM SEPTICAL OF THE NEW OBC. ALTHOUGH I SAW THE SHOW WITH SEAN AND KIRSTEN AND LOVED IT. I STILL PREFER JILL AND JERRY

[Marquise]

Posted: 6/21/10 at 8:27pm

^ F.Y.I. : Using all caps when writing on the internet is considered SHOUTING.

[garyl]

Posted: 6/21/10 at 8:49pm

I'LL SHOUT IT OUT FROM THE ROOF AND GIVE THE PAPERS PROOF....

[Marquise]

Posted: 6/21/10 at 8:53pm

Will you jump off that roof in the process?