PROMISES Hmm... — Page 2

What most composers write for a show would barely be recognized by the general public. I merely was saying that all those notes in the Promises Promises score were written by three men, not one. Sure, the composer (with notably exceptions like Lionel Bart and, from my viewpoint ALW) comes up with the brilliant melody and that is critically important, but let's face it, the audience usually comes out of the theater humming the arrangements, not the basic melody.

That's all I meant.

SECOND THOUGHT:

One of the first stories I heard when I came out here was about Frank Capra, the director, who used to say that his films succeeded because he put the "Capra Touch" on them (I don't know exactly what "the Capra touch" is; it's a mysterious process like "One Hour Martinizing" or Ziegfeld's "Glorification" of a Woman). So anyway, one day, Robert Riskin, the author, came into Capra;s office at Columbia pictures and threw a ream of blank paper down on the table in the middle of a meeting and said "Here Frank, put the ****ing Capra touch on that."

THIRD THOUGHT LATER:

All of this is cloudy, of course, because Bacharach began as an arranger himself, which means he was fully capable of doing Wheeler and Tunnick's jobs and did on many of his hit songs. Maybe he was just too busy to do it, so I guess it's a draw......

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Updated On: 4/22/10 at 05:11 AM

A DIRECTOR, my point about AMERICAN IDIOT is that these are two shows with music by artists not known for Broadway, as for GREEN DAY not being mainstream, I must disagree. They may have been alternative or consider themselves alternative but by their popularuty and success they have entered the mainstream. A lot of the reviewers seemed suprised that the music is tunefull and melodic. Elizabeth Vincentelli in her review in the Post ends up comparing the show to AMERUCAN IDOL, it don't get more mainstream than that. As far as Bacharach and David's influence on other composers, anyone who grew up in the sixties and seventies heard their music constantly on the radio and TV. I think it is safe to say that people like Stephen Schwartz and Ahrens and Flaherty, whether conscience or not were influenced by their work.