Would That Going Bacharach Went Somewhere

Feb 9, 2026 by Two Sues On the Aisle

By Two Sues On The Aisle – Sue Weston and Susan Rosenbluth

Going Bacharach, a musical revue now playing at the Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater in Manhattan, provides audiences with very little information about the eminent American-Jewish songwriter, Burt Bacharach, and his long-time lyricist, Hal David (also Jewish). The duo created music that shaped a generation, with too many hits to do justice to in this production. The show, presented as a cabaret well-suited to the small, 145-seat venue, features talented vocalists Hilary Kole, John Pagano, and Ta-Tynisa Wilson. Musical director, 29-year-old Adrian Galante, a breathtakingly good pianist, accompanist, and clarinetist, responsible for the orchestrations and arrangements, is as much a cast member as any of the featured singers. The band—Patrick Firth on keyboard, Nate Francis on Bass, and Jakubu Griffin on drums—is terrific. What the show lacks is context.

Every successful performance—play, musical, concert, or cabaret—tells a story, takes the audience from one place to another, a journey of discovery. Going Bacharach fails to connect with the audience. The show improves greatly, when a cast member reveals something about the composer’s style, i.e. his striking syncopated rhythmic patterns (“mixed meter”), or motivation behind a song, such as the anti-war “Windows of the Word,” written in 1967, in the middle of the Vietnam War when one of lyricist, Hal David’s sons becomes almost eligible for the draft.

Going Bacharach offers virtually none of the interesting details of the composer’s life, spending more time on the factoid that his and David’s “Don’t Make Me Over” was born after singer Dionne Warwick may have snapped the line at the song’s creators in the middle of their critique of one of her recording sessions.

How much more poignant might the show have been with something about Bacharach’s flight from Judaism (“I was Jewish, but I didn’t want anybody to know about it,” he wrote in his autobiography); the suicide of his and Dickinson’s daughter, Lea Nikki, at the age of 40 in 2007; or anything about his four marriages, three surviving children, or what he considered the tragedy of his breakup with Mr. David. There are so many details that could have been included. For example, in 2005, Bacharach wrote “Who Are These People?” with Tonio K. In his 2013 autobiography, Anyone Who Had a Heart: My Life and Music, he says it was for those affected by what happened on September 11, 2001, and “all the young men and women who were getting killed in a useless war in Iraq.”

Performers’ Path to this Production

The show shares the performers’ paths that led them to this production revealing some nice details: Mr. Galante, as a musical prodigy growing up in Perth, Australia, first heard Bacharach in concert at the age of 14; Ms. Kole, who studied classical composition, provides insights on some details of Bacharach’s musical style; and Ms. Wilson, who admits having only one Bacharach song in her repertoire when she auditioned for the role in this show, declares he will forever more be one of her go-to composers.

Mr. Pagano, who discovered Bacharach’s music while still a child living at home, toured with the composer as a singer for more than 20 years. According to the website for Mr. Pagano’s own ‘concert-show’, Back to Bacharach & John Pagano, the singer included stories about the composer and their experiences, thus helping audiences better appreciate Bacharach’s music and why Mr. Pagano feels so strongly connected to it. But in the current production of Going Bacharach, all Mr. Pagano discloses about their personal relationship is that before he sang the ballad, “A House Is Not a Home,” the composer would whisper, “Make me cry.”

Memorable Songs

The performance included many of the classics, songs everyone remembers, “Close to You,” “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head,” “Alfie,” and even “What’s New Pussycat” can provoke the nostalgic pull of “where were you when you first heard it.” But for the purposes of a show, it would have been wonderful to learn where Mr. Bacharach was when he wrote them.

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Two Sues on the Aisle bases its ratings on how many challahs (1-5) it pays to buy (rather than make) to see the play, show, film, or exhibit being reviewed. 

Going Bacharach  – Received a 2 Challah rating

Running Time – 2 hours with one 1o-minute intermission