[NEohioPAL] Review of "Back to Bacharach and David" at Actors' Summit

[Bob Abelman via NEohioPAL]

Actors' Summit offers an evening of easy listening




Bob Abelman

Cleveland Jewish News

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 




This review will appear in the Cleveland Jewish News on 7/4/14





If bellbottoms with matching turtlenecks, miniskirts with tall white boots, or anything paisley were ever in your wardrobe, then you are the target audience for "Back to Bacharach and David" - a musical revue of the Top 40 hits generated by composer Burt Bacharach and lyricist Hal David.




Compiled by Kathy Najimy and Steve Gunderson, the show was given a limited off-Broadway run in the 1990s that worked way too hard at infusing each tale of love or love's labor's lost with theatricality and an overbearing sense of 1960's and '70's nostalgia. More recent productions of the work done elsewhere often do the same.


Thankfully, the rendition currently on display at Actors' Summit and directed by MaryJo Alexander simply allows the material to speak for itself. 




Void of meaningless banter, overly clever staging or some inane storyline used to segue one song to the next, this production places four very talented singers (Chanda Porter, Debra Rose, Lisa Marie Schuller and Brandon Isner), some percussion (Scott Sexton) and a piano (J.T. Buck) on a stage and lets them deliver the goods. 




Bacharach and David's music is best characterized by its cool syncopated rhythms and sophisticated chord progressions usually associated with jazz. Their easy-listening songs, typically recorded by solo artists, have been rearranged by Gunderson to also accommodate gorgeous four-part harmonies. Several songs with similar melodies, such as "A House is Not Home"/"One Less Bell to Answer" and "Close to You"/"This Guy's in Love," are beautifully interwoven. 




In all, 25 of the writing team's best, most recognizable songs are presented in 75 minutes without pause, pretention or overproduction.




The stage has a partition designed with multi-hued squares placed behind the band with several similarly colored cubes scattered about the performance space. Choreography is limited to small, synchronized backup singer movements ala Gladys Knight's pips. 




This production is corny but charming and so intimate that it feels as if you are sitting at a piano bar. All that's missing is the pretzels and highballs. 




WHAT: "Back to Bacharach and David"

WHERE: Actors' Summit, Greystone Hall in downtown Akron 

WHEN: Through July 20

TICKETS: $10 - $33, call 330-374-7568 or visit www.actorssummit.org
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