Promises, Promises

by Neil Simon, Burt Bacharach, Hal David

Christmas Day * A Fact Can Be a Beautiful Thing * Half As Big As Life * I'll Never Fall in Love Again * It's Our Little Secret * Knowing When to Leave * Promises * Turkey Lurkey Time * Upstairs plus... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394406850
• ISBN13: 9780394406855
• Release Date: January 1969
• Publisher: Random House
• Length: 120 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Great '60s sound!

It's really great to have this cast recording available again! And so appropriate, given the passing of Jerry Orbach, that one of his best performances can again be purchased. When I think of the sounds of the 1960s, the Beatles and the Beach Boys come immediately to mind. BUT - the music of Bert Bacharach (often with the wonderfully honest and unsentimental lyrics of Hal David) is almost the "official" soundtrack for the period of the second half of that decade. Promises, Promises is a snapshot of that time, when corporate life was almost exclusively dominated by men, sexual liberation was coming on fast, and New York was (or thought it was) the cultural center of America. With this outstanding Broadway cast recording, you can't go wrong! Great to be able to stop playing my sadly worn vinyl LP!

POP! Goes Broadway

The pop/mod sound of the 1960s perfected by the songwriting duo of Bacharach and David made it's way to the Broadway stage in 1968 with "Promises, Promises", a musical adaptation of Billy Wilder's 1961 Oscar winning film "The Apartment". The plot is simple: It revolves around Chuck Baxter who lends out his apartment to various executives at Consolidated Life hoping for some kind of an advancement in return, the twist comes when Fran, the charming cafeteria hostess he's smitten with turns out to be the mistress of "THE BIG BOSS". The Overture is one of the best composed for the stage, right up there with the overture from "Gypsy" in that it captures the mood and spirit of the entire show. Jerry Orbach shines as "Chuck" and he tackles the signature Bacharach meter changes head on with his renditions of "Half as Big as Life", "She Likes Basketball" and "Promises, Promises". Orbach was awarded the Tony for Best Actor for his performance. Jill O'Hara who made a splash as "Sheila" in the Original Off Broadway production of "Hair" the previous year hit the big time (and scored a Tony nomination) for her turn as "Fran Kubelik". Her voice is perfectly suited for the vulnerability and fragility of her character, especially in the show stopping number "Knowing When To Leave". "Whoever You Are, I Love You" and her duet with Orbach on "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" are also standouts. "Turkey Lurkey Time" may be weak as far as lyrics go but no one can beat that infectious Bacharach beat that frames the entire song. It became one of the best remembered show stoppers of it's time thanks to the brilliant choreography of the late-great Michael Bennett. The number brought the house down EVERY TIME. The show has yet to receive a full scale Broadway revival but in 1999 it was given 2 concert stagings: City Center's ENCORES! series did a staging which starred Martin Short and L.A.'s Reprise staged it starring Jason Alexander. There were hopes of transferring the ENCORES! version to Broadway but the plans were scrapped. All we have to remember this great show is this recording. A MUST HAVE FOR ALL THEATRE LOVERS!

Contrary to another review

Promises, Promises is a fantastic score and (contrary to what another review says) there were concert revivals on both coasts in the late 90s (with Martin Short for Encores and Jason Alexander for Reprise). In fact, Bacharach and David wrote a new song for the Encore version. Also, Jill Haworth NEVER appeared in Promises. It is amazing that Promises was so popular but remains unique and unimitated. Even if it was revived again and recorded again, the OBC would remain important since it establishes the sound of this piece in its time. Today someone would be imitating that 60s-70s sound. This is the actual idiomatic thing.

One of the Best of Broadway

It's surprising that Bacharach and David, one of the greatest songwriting teams of the late 20th Century, only produced one Broadway musical- but what a musical it was! Catchy music, a strong story line, and a tremendous cast. Jerry Orbach just brings down the house with his renditions of "Promises, Promises" and "Half as Big as Life". Jill O'Hara's singing has been dispaged by some, but she brings great style and emotion to that show stopper "Knowing When to Leave". And who is hiding in the chorus but Donna McKetchnie, helping to make "Turkey Lurkey Time" another outstanding moment in the show.Nearly 35 years after it came it still sounds hip and exciting, much more so than most of the shows that have come out since. In an era filled mostly with curiosities like "Stomp!", hackeneyed pseudo-rock scores like "Rent", rewrites of movies and and endless Andrew Lloyd Weber rehashes of the same few melodic fragments, I don't think Broadway has produced a single composer who can write more exciting and musically interesting scores than Burt Bacharach.

Head and shoulders above the rest...

What can you say about Burt Bacharach and Hal David other than they have been responsible for some of the most loved, most covered songs of the last forty years. In 1968 at the height of their powers they turned to the theater and wrote what has long been considered one of the best Broadway scores of the period.Why it took so long for the Cast Recording to be released on CD is a mystery but it's been worth the wait because the sound quality really is a marked improvement over the LP. The score is first-rate from beginning to end. With songs like the title number, "I'll Never Fall In Love Again", and "Whoever You Are", you can't fail to be persuaded by Bacharach & David's great gifts. The show buzzes from overture to finale (and THAT overture, by the way, is one of the most exciting recorded). There's no hiding the period of the show, it's quintessentially a work of the sixties, tremendously orchestrated by Jonathan Tunick, and sung powerfully by the cast, in particular Jerry Orbach. But when all's said and done, it is the melodic quality, the rhythmic vitality, and the lyrical savvy of this work that makes it so irresistible. I warmly endorse the album. It's full of heart and hope - and not a little heartache too. Burt Bacharach surely is among the very best melodists America has produced, and with the passage of time this show's score seems more and more comfortable in the company of other masterpieces of the Broadway stage.