188.
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT? BACHARACH REIMAGINED
For
the last half hour of WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT, I waited impatiently for it to end,
not so much because I wasn’t enjoying it but because the auditorium of the New
York Theatre Workshop was getting increasingly cold. Perhaps it was mainly
where I was seated, toward the rear of the house, but I noticed several women nearby
gradually donning their coats, hats, and scarves. My wife, Marcia, eventually
disappeared into her winter outerwear, so that the seat next to me was occupied
by a big blob of black woolens; it turned out that her discomfort was
caused not merely by the cold, but by the show itself, a concert/revue of 30 of
Burt Bacharach’s popular songs as reinterpreted by a young singer/musician from Saskatchewan named
Kyle Riabko, supported by a half dozen other performers.
Front, from left: Nathaly Lopez, Lauren Dreyfuss, Kyle Riabko. Photo: Eric Ray Davidson.
As we trudged to the subway
afterward, the cold night air feeling warmer than the Arctic temps inside the
theatre, Marcia laid into WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT? as an insult to Mr. Bacharach,
finding fault with the arrangements, the singers, and the often lethargic
tempos. She complained that she was so bored at times she wanted to stick a pin
into the company to wake them up. I was not nearly as disappointed, but it was
easy to see where she was coming from. Most people of our generation are familiar
with the Bacharach catalogue, too much of which became ubiquitous elevator
music. But we do have a close emotional connection to it, especially when sung by artists like Dionne Warwick, so tampering with such standards can be risky.
Songs
like “What’s It All About, Alfie?” “This Guy’s in Love,” “I Need Your Love,” “Raindrops
Are Falling on My Head,” “The Look of Love,” “Say a Little Prayer for Me,” “Close
to You,” “What the World Needs Now,” "Do You Know the Way to San Jose," “Message to Michael,” “Walk on By,” “A
House Is Not a Home,” “I Need Your Love,” and “That’s What Friends Are For” are
like the air we breathed in the 60s and 70s; with lyrics by Hal David and
others, they confirmed the need for love, despite its hardships, and reminded
us of the pain of breaking up, but with enough lightness
to sooth our feelings and restore our sanity. Mr. Riabko plays a dangerous
game when he takes the upbeat songs and makes them downbeat, and does the opposite
with the downbeat tunes; whether you like what Mr. Riabko and his personable
troupe have done to Mr. Bacharach’s songs will definitely be a matter of taste.
Several numbers work very well, especially when the company creates lovely
harmonies, but I also think, like Marcia, that too many songs are so low-key as
to become dirgelike. Mr. Riabko, a slim, nice-looking, long-haired young man
in his late 20s, looks much like many pop rock singers, and sings with a fine,
soft tenor, often moving into a falsetto to hit the high notes; he transitions easily
from tender ballads to heavy rock, pounding his various guitars with youthful,
leaping energy. The rest of the racially mixed company includes Laura Dreyfuss
and Nathaly Lopez as the female vocalists, with the male vocalists made up of
Daniel Bailen on bass; James Nathan Hopkins on keyboards; James Williams on
percussion; and Daniel Woods on guitar. Several play more than one instrument. Mr.
Riabko is also credited with the arrangements, the musical direction, and the
co-conception of the show (with David Lane Seltzer). While everyone is highly professional, there
isn’t a single knockout performer that steals the show,
regardless of all other considerations.
Director
Steven Hoggett, known for his musical staging skills, moves the actors about
prettily, and takes full advantage of the eccentric scenic arrangement provided
by Christine Jones and Brett J. Banakis, which covers all the walls of the
auditorium and stage with hanging guitars, rugs, foam, and lamps as though it were an improvised
sound studio. Couches are placed on the sides of the stage for a small number
of spectators and two couches are attached some feet up on the stage’s rear
brick wall for the performers. The stage is arranged with standing lamps and
mics, and there are two revolves, one inside the other, such as the Japanese
theatre used to have in the 19th century. A few numbers have the musicians
circling slowly with an assortment of chairs as they sing. One of the more memorable touches is when Mr. Riabko sings "Making Love" while embracing Lauren Dreyfuss with his guitar held behind her back.
Aside
from a few introductory words by Mr. Riabko about how he got Mr. Bacharach’s
approval for his project, there’s no dialogue. The music has been arranged so
that snippets of music from various songs are combined with longer versions
from others to create thematic medleys, the chief tune running like a light
motif being “What’s It All About, Alfie?” Too many lyrics, however, are replaced by "da da da" and "la la la" interpolations. Excellent rock concert type lighting by Japhy Weideman makes good use of the multiple
standing and table lamps placed all around the space.
I
thought I'd be more impressed; this isn't the kind
of show one expects to be bored at, so even momentary lapses come as a
surprise. WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT? has its virtues, but it seems likely to divide
audiences on just how far one can take Mr. Bacharach’s music before the very
qualities it’s known for become so thoroughly appropriated by its interpreters
that it becomes more theirs than his. The show also has a certain hip,
self-conscious coolness that may alienate some fans. There’s no question it could
use more heat, but, then again, so could the New York Theatre Workshop.