Painted From Memory on Stage

During September musical theatre stars Michael Falzon and Bobby Fox will recreate Painted From Memory, the classic 1998 collaborative album by music legends Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello, on stage at Sydney’s City Recital Hall. They took a time out from their working brunch to chat to Neil Litchfield about the event.

For one night only, Michael and Bobby will showcase an assortment of songs by the famous duo, Bacharach and Costello, accompanied by a nine-piece orchestra and special guests, before recreating live ‘every nuance of the celebrated album’, described by Rolling Stone Magazine as having ‘exquisite orchestrations and subtle wordplay’.

I asked Michael and Bobby about the appeal for two musical theatre guys like themselves of performing this Elvis Costello  / Burt Bacharach album .

“I’ve always been attracted to theatrical music and theatrical performers, right from Freddie Mercury, all the way through the ‘80s where there was a lot of fanfare in music, and that’s when I was introduced to Bacharach as well,” Michael Falzon told me.

“When you’re looking at the lyrics to some of these songs, especially in ‘Painted From Memory’, there’s a great deal of storytelling, and that’s what Bobby and I do really as actors in musical theatre. So the ‘Painted From Memory’ album lends itself very well to that side of music, rather than just being an album.”

“When Michael talked to me about the concept of doing the album, I wasn’t hugely familiar with the album itself,” Bobby added. “I’ve been a fan of Burt Bacharach for ages though. When I auditioned for Dusty, I actually auditioned with ‘Promises, Promises’ and ‘A House is Not a Home’.”

“The first song I heard from this album was ‘God Give Me Strength’,” Michael continued. “It was from a film, and it was that collaboration which then led them to write the whole album. That is a remarkable song, and a mini-musical in itself.”

“It’s all very theatrical,” Bobby chimed in. “There’s narrative, there’s progression through the lyrics, then there’s the album’s actual theme - the break-up of a relationship and the broken-hearted man. It’s almost begging to be made into a musical in a way.”

I asked how they’re going about translating the album into a stage performance.

“We’ll have two acts, which will be a lot of fun,” Michael said. “Act One will basically be exploring the music of Bacharach and Costello, with Isaac Heyward as musical director re-imagining some of the songs they’re most famous for, so its got a little bit of continuity and we can have a little bit of fun with that.

“When we approach Act Two, and ‘Painted From Memory’ we’re going to try to be as faithful as we can to the album, because for me this album is seminal. It’s 15 years old now, and it’s up there with ‘Tapestry’. It’s one of those albums you need to sit down and listen to in a run. You can’t just say, I like that song, I heard it on the ‘Best Of’, it needs to be listened to in its entirety.”

That’s true for so many classic albums, I suggested.

“It’s thrilling to do that, because there’s not a tendancy to do that any more,” says Michael, “and certainly audiences don’t get to sit down and see it in happen in front of them. That’s very rare. We’re trying to create a first with this. We’d like to do it again and again, but I thought this was a great album to start with, because it’s fairly contemporary, but it should hopefully appeal to a lot of people, like Bacharach fans, who want to hear a bit of a hit parade in Act One as well.”

What attracts Michael and Bobby to Burt Bacharach?

“What I always loved about him was that the melodies and the orchestrations tell absolutely the emotion of what the lyrics are saying,” Bobby said, “and the melodies and arrangements give me an absolute window into Bacharach’s emotive interpretation. Even if you’ve never heard the song before, you can absolutely tell it’s a Bacharach song. It’s a fingerprint.”

“He writes very honestly, and then there’s the simplicity in some of the early stuff,” Michael added. “Elvis Costello said that when he started out and was listening to music that all his songs would be introduced on radio, regardless of who the artist was, and they’d say here’s a new song from Dionne Warwick, written by Burt Bacharach. He was the only artist that was introduced on radio as a writer, saying here’s a Burt Bacharach song. That’s obviously so incredibly rare, but it shows you how much influence he’s had on the industry for decades.

“For this particular album with Costello, it’s a bigger sound for both of them, at a time in their lives when they could just write so richly, and that’s why I think it really struck a chord with so many people.”

And Elvis Costello’s appeal?

“His lyrics …” said Michael.

“He knows how to write for a man,” Bobby jumped in. “He’s such an honest songwriter, and it’s never overcomplicated. It’s refreshing for me discovering the music because of this project. I’ve found it very inspiring.”

“He manages to fill every musical syllable with a lyric,” Michael added. “Nothing’s wasted. He doesn’t write traditionally, as you’d expect now. There’s no flippant use of easy words. It’s complicated stuff. And beautiful shifts – from something like ‘Veronica’ to ‘Shipbuilding’ – two incredibly different songs by the same artist, but you think, hang on, how did that happen.”

And will we get a unique spin on some of those Dionne Warwick classics from the 60s?

“The fun thing about researching some of his older music is that it’s been recorded so many times by so many people that there’s such a rich range of interpretations to draw from, to create something a little bit new,” Michael said. “We’ll have a female guest artist up there as well, so we’re not sure just who will be singing what yet, but we’re having a lot of fun in the room with the ideas.

“The music is great, and very adaptable to what you want to do, so we will have some unique interpretations in there.”

PAINTED FROM MEMORY: The Music of Bacharach and Costello

Starring Michael Falzon and Bobby Fox

Wednesday 24 September 2014, 7.30pm - City Recital Hall Angel Place.

Bookings: 02 8256 2222, cityrecitalhall.com