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[0:01] Robert Bannon: Are You Ready? It's The Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon.

[0:08] Robert Bannon: Hello, everybody. Welcome to The Roundtable. My name is Robert Bannon. You're listening to us on Broadway World over here on the Broadway Podcast Network, iHeart, Spotify, wherever artists talk about art.

[0:16] Robert Bannon: There's a new show coming to New York for 12 weeks only. It's the music you love. You know the songs, you know the singers, and you definitely know the man behind the hits of them all.

[0:29] Robert Bannon: And I am so excited for people to hear about Going Bacharach, Burt Bacharach himself's music, and with an incredible all-star cast, incredible director, incredible music, incredible performers.

[0:42] Robert Bannon: And Adrian Galante and John Pagano are here to tell us all about it. I hope I said their names right. They're here. Welcome to the show.

[0:50] John Pagano: Thanks for having us, Robert. You did pronounce them both correctly.

[0:55] Robert Bannon: Oh, I was stressed. I should have asked you all if I was a real professional. I would have asked. So, John, tell us what's your job? What are you doing with this baby?

[1:06] John Pagano: I just sweep the floor, you know.

[1:08] Robert Bannon: Oh, you're very good at it. That floor looks very clean.

[1:12] John Pagano: Well, I'm the male vocalist in the show. I sing, do a little acting, you know, and kind of try to bring these songs. It's not too hard to bring them to life because they have a life of their own. So just try to do them justice, really.

[1:28] Robert Bannon: They sure do. And I absolutely—it sounds like a pretty fun gig to me, if you ask me. And Adrian, what about you, sir?

[1:38] Adrian Galante: Well, I mop the floors. No, well, I created the show along with Wilfrey Walton, Jack Lewin and Ted Firth. And I did all the arrangements and the orchestrations. And then I kind of—I'm one of the emcees and I conduct and I play piano and clarinet.

[2:00] Robert Bannon: Oh, just on the side.

[2:02] Adrian Galante: Just a few things, yeah.

[2:03] Robert Bannon: Just in case. Shout out, everybody, to Ted Firth, by the way, who is an incredible piano player, musician, arranger. He has—he arranged a beautiful version of me and Jane Monhite singing something that I don't remember at this time. But it's not about me, but I just want to let you know that Ted is the best in the world.

[2:24] Adrian Galante: So you definitely got the best, Adrian. Adrian, go ahead. You were going to say something, maybe.

[2:31] Adrian Galante: Well, aside from being a wonderful musician, Ted is also one of the easiest and nicest people to work with on earth.

[2:38] John Pagano: He truly is.

[2:39] Adrian Galante: I don't know if people say that about me, but they certainly do about Ted.

[2:44] Robert Bannon: So, Adrian, when you—full Burt Bacharach pun intended—what's it all about? What is the show all about?

[2:54] Adrian Galante: Well, this is—what would I say? I mean, it is not—with the arrangements, I tried very hard to put my own stamp on Burt Bacharach's music and not have it be Bacharach, how David karaoke, so to speak. I wanted to reinvent it and put my own stamp, but also not to take away the Bacharach-ness from it.

[3:16] Adrian Galante: And you really can't do that, actually, because Burt's stuff is so unbelievably recognizable and idiosyncratic that that's really impossible to do. So I hope, though, that I found a nice middle ground where I brought myself to it and kept alive what is so lovable in all of these songs for everybody.

[3:35] Robert Bannon: I love that so incredibly much. You've got to get a ticket. We'll tell you more about how to get a ticket. John, you have a pretty personal relationship with Burt Bacharach. I think you worked with him for many a moment. What can you say about being reached out to be a part of this and keeping his memory and this music alive?

[3:52] John Pagano: Oh, just really great, because, you know, when he passed, just kind of like, you know, I'm used to singing that music. I was doing it for a living for 26 years, and Burt was a dear, dear friend of mine. I mean, we spoke all the time, so it was more than just a work relationship. And, you know, a little weird when he passed to do his music anymore. I almost didn't want to do it anymore for a while. I was grieving and mourning him in a lot of ways and felt like, you know, is it too soon to do anything?

[4:27] John Pagano: But then, you know, three years later, I get a call from Jack Lewin, which is a great story that Adrian does tell on in the show, within the show. Is that, you know, when I was working with Burt, we went to Perth, Australia, and Adrian was a lot younger than he is now, even though he's very young.

[4:47] Adrian Galante: Thanks, John.

[4:49] John Pagano: And, you know, his parents dragged him. You should be telling this story, but his parents dragged him to the show, and he remembered me and mentioned me to Jack all these years later. And Jack called me, and it just seemed like the timing was right, you know, to do something like this. And I wanted to sing Burt's music again and just forgot what a great feeling it was to sing that music to an audience and how much they appreciate it.

[5:11] John Pagano: I got to say, that's probably one of the greatest things about singing this music, you know. You don't have to wonder if it's going to go over or not, you know. And if people don't get this kind of stuff, then, you know, they really, they must be deaf. That's all I can say. This music that will live forever.

[5:27] Robert Bannon: Adrian, tell us, where did you come, when did you fall in love with Burt Bacharach? What is this? I'm not trying to give away your show, but what is the story?

[5:36] Adrian Galante: Well, the story was, I was a young musician. I was about 15 years old when Burt Bacharach came to town, and I grew up with his music in my house. You know, my parents are big fans of Burt. That generation is usually a very big fan of Burt Bacharach. And Burt came to Perth and played a concert with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, and I went along. And I realized for the first time, boy, there's really something to pop music that I didn't think about.

[6:03] Adrian Galante: Especially with Burt's stuff, because it was so musically intricate, so many odd time signatures, so many interesting harmonic things. You know, Johnny Mandel, I think, said about Burt Bacharach's melodies, they sound like the second oboe part. And that's kind of true. They're so angular, and they go all these places. And I thought, wait a minute, there's really a lot going on here. And I was blown away by one of Burt's singers in particular, and that singer was John.

[6:30] Adrian Galante: So all of these years later, I had that in the back of my head. And when Jack Lewin said to me, I want to do a Burt Bacharach show, are you interested? I said, only if we get this guy from L.A. to sing in it. I've got to have this guy. And so it was really a career highlight to be all these years on stage, sitting at the piano where Burt was, and look over, and there's John where he was. It's kind of eerie in a way. It's freaky how life can make that full circle moment happen. But it's a real pleasure and a privilege.

[7:00] John Pagano: Ooh, John, there you go. What a pleasure and a privilege. When you talk, everybody, you know, we're talking about this show having the hits like, Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head, That's What Friends Are For, I'll Never Fall in Love Again, What's New, Pussycat, Alfie, Promises, Promise. When you look at these songs, it goes on. It is the American songbook. It is the songs' pop culture and pop music at its best. It has been recorded and sung and played for billions and billions of times.

[7:25] Robert Bannon: What is it, John, about the music that people have never seemed to fall in love with? It just eternally grows new audiences and people keep coming back to his music. Why?

[7:36] John Pagano: It's just he was just a really amazing, one-of-a-kind type of songwriter. I wish I could tell you there's some formula, you know.

[7:45] Adrian Galante: Me too.

[7:46] John Pagano: I'd be rich. I wish he could have told me the formula, you know, because I'm sure I'd be collecting a lot of royalty checks right now. But anyway, I just think he came at it from a different outlook. And Bert just, he knew exactly how he wanted the songs to sound. He heard them as records in his head before he went in the studio and recorded them. So everything, you know, can't get any more natural than that, you know.

[8:13] John Pagano: And I just think people relate to the natural feel that he didn't try to copy anybody. He didn't try to, well, let me write a song that sounds like this. He wrote what he felt. And I've been with him when he just grabs a napkin and writes a staff on the napkin and starts writing a melody because he's hearing that. And that is just a God-given talent. I don't really know how to define it other than that because I wish I could just write one close to you. It would be really great, you know, something that great. I'd be all set with just one of those, you know.

[8:45] Adrian Galante: You are 100% right. Adrian, what is the format of this show?

[8:51] Adrian Galante: So when we're going to go there, it's not his life story per se. It's not the review. But it's not a concert concert either. So how do you describe it?

[8:59] Adrian Galante: I like to think of it as a 60s television special. It's a little bit like that. It's really all about the music. It's not terribly theatrical. People are coming. They're going to hear the songs. That's the foremost thing that we're taking care of is the music itself. And there's some songs and some things you might not know that you'll learn about Bert. But mostly it's just a celebration of these fantastic songs.

[9:24] Adrian Galante: And we do a lot of the well-known hits, of course. And we throw in a whole bunch of obscure things that the audience might not know. And then, of course, there's a third category, songs they know that they had no idea that Bert wrote. And there's a lot of those. A lot of people think the Carpenters wrote close to you. And there's all these sort of things. I had a couple of Gen Z friends of mine come to the show and go, I know these songs. And I said, well, yeah, you know.

[9:51] Adrian Galante: So you're going to know a lot of the songs and maybe some you didn't know and go back to songs you forgot about and songs that people have been married, people have grown up, people have fallen in love. These are songs of people's lives, and you can see them.

[10:04] Robert Bannon: So, John, I'm not trying to say you can't sing all of the songs because I'm sure you can.

[10:12] John Pagano: He can.

[10:13] Robert Bannon: And I know you can, John. And I would really love one day to hear your version of some of these songs. But there must be a lovely lady in the show because he wrote some of the most incredible music for people like Dionne Warwick and people like Dusty Springfield, et cetera. So who's joining you on the stage? Who's taking the lady parts?

[10:34] Adrian Galante: Well, we have two. So, we have a wonderful jazz singer, writer, Hillary Cole, who did the first run with us. Amazing singer, talented vocalist. And we also have Ava Lochner, who is an amazing vocalist herself. Young and very, very talented. Yeah. So, looking forward to getting on the stage and sharing it with them again. Yes. How did you find them, Adrian? Tell us about the ladies.

[11:04] Adrian Galante: Well, let's see. Hillary, that was Jack Lewin's idea, because Jack is actually, at the same time we're doing Bacharach in the same theater, we're sharing with a show called Our Sinatra, which was a big hit. And it's coming back. And Hillary was a co-creator of that. And Jack produced it. So, he wanted Hillary to be one of the singers, which I had absolutely no opposition to, because she's marvelous. She really is a wonderful vocalist. And Ava, we auditioned. And then we've got two other singers joining us, actually. But I might let that be a surprise, because I'm not sure if we've actually announced it yet or not. I'm not up with what's going on.

[11:42] John Pagano: I don't think it has been announced. So, there's somebody. So, there's more reason to buy tickets, folks. You're going to see some more things. Goingbacharach.com is where you can get your tickets. You can get a VIP ticket with a signed window card, with a glass of wine, with the best seats in the house as well. If you're looking for the perfect date night anniversary, as we march into this fall months, when you have nothing to do and you're looking for something to do to get out of the house, and you're looking for something new and original, this is the show to see. There is not a bad seat in the house from September 9th for 12 weeks, only at the Marjorie S. Dean Little Theater, right in the middle of New York City. And you could just go to goingbacharach.com, and you can get your tickets.

[12:21] Robert Bannon: So, if you were trying to tell people, John, that maybe they're too young, or maybe they feel like, I've heard these songs already, or maybe I feel like, why should people buy a ticket? What do you think is at the heart of this show?

[12:31] John Pagano: Great, great music, great arrangements. Adrian did an amazing job. Great vocals. And just the fact that, you know, younger people might learn something that, you know, that maybe the Doja Cat song that they thought was great really had "Walk on By" in it, which was written by Burt Bacharach, and they might learn that if they come see it. And the older people, I think, I love to see them enjoying and having memories of when they met, and know this is the song in our first dance, in our wedding, and things like that. I just think there's so much of that. I think it's something for everyone, and everyone can get something out of it, because it's not trendy, it's just, it's classic, you know? It's never a trend. It is built, American music is built on his music, and it's incredible.

[13:21] Adrian Galante: What I love about it is that this music, the people who do it so well. Take Dionne Warwick, for example. She makes singing his music sound like she just woke up, took a yawn, and sang the most beautiful melody in history. And when you're a singer, and you try to sing his music, it is hard as hell to change. It's all over the place. What can you tell us about the musicality of you being the arranger, and also, we have the singer that sung with him? What is it that he does so brilliantly musically, with his time changes, with his modulations, with what he's chosen to do with his music?

[14:00] Adrian Galante: Well, it's a funny thing. I remember hearing Diana Krall in an interview say that she told Burt Bacharach, "Burt, I would sing all of your songs, but I don't have the range." And so she sang "The Look of Love," which is one of the smaller ranges. I mean, all of these songs are very hard. I mean, I didn't know Burt personally, I wish I did, but I suspect he wasn't necessarily writing songs to fit an average singer. Or he probably wasn't even thinking of the singers at all. It was sort of like, well, here's how my music goes. And it just so happened to be that you need an exceptional singer to sing it, because all these songs are like a two octave range, just for the melody. It's really interesting music.

And what I love about it is the fact that you would never think something like "Promises, Promises" would be a hit. You know, they're really, really, usually in popular music, I mean, in my opinion, at least popular music has gotten dumber and dumber as the years have gone by. And this sort of started happening with the advent of rock and roll. And suddenly we had three chord stuff, all in 4-4. And here comes Burt Bacharach, bar of three, bar of five, bar of nine, whatever the hell, and all these interesting angular melodies. And he was having hits at the top of the pop chart. Now that is awesome. Absolutely. And I can't explain why. I don't know why that is, because nobody else was doing that. And people who did music like that weren't having pop hits. So he's a real, he's an interesting case.

[15:27] John Pagano: And if I could add to that, Adrian, it's just like you hear these songs, and they're so easy on the ears that they are, I guess the way Burt used to put it, because when he's in the show, he used to tell the story about when he decided to start writing pop songs, you know, and he just thought it would be really, really simple to do, because he'd hear these songs, like you just said, with three chords in them and think, you know, whatever. But what he said was, you know, the songs were deceptively simple. To get a hit was not as easy as he thought. However, I think one of the magical things about a Burt song is when you hear it, it doesn't sound, if you're not listening for that, it doesn't sound complicated.

It sounds easy on the ears, and you can find yourself walking away humming that melody. It's not like it's something that's really classical and complicated. However, when you go to pick up a guitar or piano and play the song, and you look at the music, it's not like there's just three chords there. But you might have thought that to hear it. But you know, that's because it's just like a good cup of coffee, you know, it just goes down smooth.

[16:33] John Pagano: It just, it's like a good cup of coffee, it goes down. Put on "Promises, Promises" and try to sing along and see how easy it is. It's not easy, not easy at all. So everybody, your homework assignment is you're going to find a time this next few months, September, October, November, you're going to find a time, you're going to come see the show, you're going to see these two in the show, you're going to sing all of the music, start practicing. Not that you're going to sing at the show, but just get used to the songs, remind yourself, get excited to be there, bring a loved one, bring your family, a mom, a dad, it's a great gift, it's the perfect evening out. And while theater in New York City has outpriced so many people, you know, you have to mortgage your house to go see a show in New York, they have kept these tickets available that you can have a great date night or a great night out with your friends and not be able to break the bank and you will have the greatest trip down memory lane. You might bring your kid like Adrian and then they might fall in love and be the next composer and the next person to carry the torch.

[17:28] John Pagano: For you, for working all these years, what do you want to say personally about now you get the chance to continue his music, continue his legacy, and continue to spread his stories and his beautiful songs around the world? What does that mean?

[17:46] John Pagano: It means everything. It feels so right. It's not something that I'm doing because of, you know, oh, I just want to do this. It's something I actually feel calling to do and maybe he knew that subconsciously when we were hanging out, but I do feel like there's, and the people that would come and see the show over all those years that I play with them, they're still in contact with me through social media and they're just, they're dying to see more of it because people would plan their summer vacations to go see the show in London. We play Royal Festival Hall in Australia, all these places, and you start to get to know these fans after a while. And now that he's gone, that's stopped a lot of things, you know?

It's just like a holiday that you used to have that's not there anymore. And I guess there's a part of me that would like to keep that, and doing the show keeps that alive a bit for me, you know? I speak about my relationship with him in the show and it's just, he was just a very special, special man besides the music. He was, I learned a lot from him about like, imagine, imagine sitting down with someone that's worked with all the artists that he's worked with. There's never a dull moment at the dinner table of conversations. What was it like in the studio when you recorded this with Dion and that? And, you know, there's a million stories. So that was another amazing thing about, you always felt like you were with some 70s movie star when you were with Burt, you know?

[19:04] Adrian Galante: True. Absolutely. And Adrian, for you being in New York, coming from your home, your story, how this started, having a show in the middle of New York City, right at Times Square, playing music that you arranged by one of the greatest writers in history. How do you sum it up? How does it feel as we're about to march into opening and this show up and at them here in New York City?

[19:25] Adrian Galante: It's pretty damn cool, especially since I never thought I would do something quite like this. And for it to be received so well is amazing. I've been in this country exactly four years. I got my green card just a couple of weeks ago. Yeah, I find myself now looking around the bandstand, not just in this show, but in so many things I'm doing. And I'm seeing people that I already ever saw on television or in albums and people I admired when I was back in Perth, Western Australia. And now I look up and there they are. That's a pretty lucky way to go through life.

[20:01] John Pagano: It sure is. It sure is. This show, it's my pick. I can't wait for people to see it. Shout out to this creative team. Shout out to this cast. Shout out to the mystery members of this cast that we don't know who they are because they're, it's good, makes me want to buy a ticket. You should want to buy a ticket, buy a ticket as well. Congratulations. Goingbacharach.com is where you can get your tickets. Get your tickets now because I have a feeling once people see it, it's going to sell out really, really fast. And I wish this a big, giant future. I can't wait to see where this show goes. I hope it goes all over the world and everybody can enjoy the incredible music of Burt Bacharach. You can, I'm going to go put it on right now. I'm going to go cook dinner and give it a little, you know, do you know the way to San Jose moment in my kitchen.

[20:43] Adrian Galante: Love it.

[20:44] Robert Bannon: Let's do it. Adrian Breaklegs, John Breaklegs, it's so nice to meet you and see you all. I can't wait to come over and see the show.

[20:50] John Pagano: Thank you, Robert.

[20:51] Adrian Galante: Thanks, Robert.