'Painted From Memory' on Broadway

Pretty self-explanatory
stricttime81
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Re: 'Painted From Memory' on Broadway

Post by stricttime81 »

sweetest punch wrote:http://variety.com/2017/music/news/elvi ... 202637190/

On the backburner...

(...)
“Burt and I have about 20 songs we wrote for two musicals that have not been produced,” he says, including an expanded dramatic adaptation of the “Painted from Memory” album that’s gone on the back burner.
(...)
They should just do a Painted From Memory II before Burt croaks.
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Re: 'Painted From Memory' on Broadway

Post by sulky lad »

Looking at that most recent photo of Elvis and Burt, I thought perhaps he already had !
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Re: 'Painted From Memory' on Broadway

Post by docinwestchester »

stricttime81 wrote:
sweetest punch wrote:http://variety.com/2017/music/news/elvi ... 202637190/

On the backburner...

(...)
“Burt and I have about 20 songs we wrote for two musicals that have not been produced,” he says, including an expanded dramatic adaptation of the “Painted from Memory” album that’s gone on the back burner.
(...)
They should just do a Painted From Memory II before Burt croaks.

If the songs are all written, then Elvis should get in the studio and get cracking! He wrote the orchestral arrangement for "You Shouldn't Look At Me That Way" so he can do the same for these new songs, with or without Burt. Then hit the road with Steve and orchestra. Easy-peasy.
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Re: 'Painted From Memory' on Broadway

Post by sulky lad »

A tour with Steve and orchestra would also give Elvis the chance to play more from A Face In The Crowd in the arrangement he's probably got in his head !
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Re: 'Painted From Memory' on Broadway

Post by bronxapostle »

sulky lad wrote:Looking at that most recent photo of Elvis and Burt, I thought perhaps he already had !
Now, now....play nice boys. Lol
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Re: 'Painted From Memory' on Broadway

Post by sweetest punch »

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news ... -interview

(...)
Is there another album of music coming from you and Burt?

We wrote 10 more Painted From Memory songs for a Painted From Memory musical, which got as far as one workshop and then it seemed to run out of steam because it’s a very difficult proposition to put so many slow, sad songs into a theatrical evening. I believe those and a couple of other songs we wrote for another musical project are some of the most beautiful melodies Burt has ever written.

Are they coming out?

I will make sure they damn well do, the best of them that suit me for singing. Not every song obviously suits being heard outside of the context.
(...)
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
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Re: 'Painted From Memory' on Broadway

Post by jardine »

(thnks, s.p.,for moving this and a face... over to these threads).

I like the "damn well" vehemence of this because i agree, these songs and others he's been writing and hoarding/holding back, or whatever this odd time has been... well, yes, let them out into the world and let them free range, and free yourself from them. it would make the world a very wee bit better, and, re: Burt, he deserves another accolade, especially given this: "some of the most beautiful melodies Burt has ever written." Even in our joking everyone is quite right. Burt is very old and should have this wee sit in the sun while he can. I'm ready.

Elvis, like you've called such things before, make another beautiful object -- maybe even couple these new songs with the original pfm remaster just released, or a small short 10 song thing, or some other odd configuration.
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Re: 'Painted From Memory' on Broadway

Post by verbal gymnastics »

jardine wrote:Elvis, like you've called such things before, make another beautiful object -- maybe even couple these new songs with the original pfm remaster just released, or a small short 10 song thing, or some other odd configuration.
Or put the new songs onto a CD or vinyl and place them in random copies of Painted from Memory...
Who’s this kid with his mumbo jumbo?
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Re: 'Painted From Memory' on Broadway

Post by sweetest punch »

Promo interview of Burt for his Italian concerts: https://www.positanonews.it/2018/06/la- ... i/3250362/
He says that the musical Painted From Memory is almost finished!

La leggenda della musica Burt Bacharach progetta il futuro a 90 anni “Voglio vedere Amalfi”

La leggenda della musica Burt Bacharach progetta il futuro a 90 anni “Voglio vedere Amalfi” . Un bel servizio su Il Mattino di oggi a firma di Andrea Spinelli
«La prossima estate conto di regalarmi una lunga vacanza sulla costiera amalfitana». A novant’anni Burt Bacharach continua a progettare il futuro del suo tempo libero e della sua musica. «Il lavoro sul musical tratto da Painted from memory è quasi finito, anche se è difficile anticipare esattamente quando riusciremo a metterlo in scena perché uno dei due librettisti, Chuck Lorre (creatore di fortunatissimi show del piccolo schermo come «Two and a half men», «The big bang theory» o «Mike and Molly», ndr) ha una fittissima agenda televisiva» spiega l’uomo dei «magic moments» nell’attesa di tornare in concerto il 23 luglio agli Arcimboldi di Milano e il 25 al Teatro Romano di Ostia Antica. «Frattanto io ed Elvis Costello abbiamo scritto otto nuove canzoni con cui integrare quelle del disco per dare maggior sostegno alla storia. Si tratta di un musical molto serio e cupo, non proprio facile da portare in scena, ma noi ci proviamo lo stesso». E un po’ cupa, carica di ricordi, è stata anche la sua ultima colonna sonora, quella di «A boy called Po», film indipendente sul rapporto tra padre e figlio autistico, affrontata da Bacharach lo scorso anno nel ricordo della Nikki, morta suicida nel 2007 dopo una lunga convivenza con la sindrome di Asperger.
Burt, com’è la vita a novant’anni?
«Come quando erano 89, 88… o 78. Certo, quando faccio ginnastica ho qualche dolore, ma cerco di esercitarmi quotidianamente lo stesso. Cerco di lavorare con costanza perché tenere la mente attiva è molto importante».
Lei ha scritto 70 brani che hanno stazionato nella Top 40 statunitense e 52 in quella inglese, tra cui evergreen come «Walk on by», «Do you know the way to San Josè», «A look of love», «I say a little prayer», «The look of love», cantati da tanti interpreti, tra cui Dionne Warwick, la sua voce-feticcio. Oltre alla musica ha sempre avuto una grande passione per le corse dei cavalli.
«Sulla musica ho un certo controllo, mentre sugli animali no. Ho avuto 84 cavalli da corsa e le delusioni sono fioccate, ma non me ne sono mai fatto una malattia».
Ha scoperto l’Italia un po’ tardi. Rimpianti?
«No. Giro il mondo da quando facevo il pianista della Dietrich, ma con Marlene non venimmo mai in Italia. Amo il vostro paese e il vostro paese ama la mia musica. Vero il coup de foudre è arrivato in età matura, ma altrove m’è andata peggio. Non ho mai suonato in Germania, ad esempio, e aspetto con una certa impazienza il 14 luglio, quando mi esibirò per la prima volta all’Admiralspalast di Berlino».
Lei è l’ultima leggenda del grande songbook americano. Che momento sta vivendo la musica oltre oceano?
«La canzone in questo momento è una necessità per noi americani, che abbiamo sopra la testa una nuvola nera e minacciosa. In certi momenti la musica può essere anche resistenza e dobbiamo fare appello anche a lei per affrontare il quotidiano».
Parla di mister Trump?
«Continuo a pensare che è davvero incredibile quello che è accaduto dieci giorni fa in Canada; Trump ha assunto atteggiamenti inaccettabili per un presidente e alla fine gli altri lo hanno, legittimamente, escluso. Credo che abbia ragione chi non l’ha chiamato G7, ma G6+1».
Robert De Niro, alla cerimonia dei Tony Awards, l’ha mandato a quel paese in diretta tv.
«Capisco la reazione di De Niro. Trump crea solo rabbia. Bob mi è sempre piaciuto come attore e come persona, perché dice sempre le cose in faccia, senza star lì a pesare le conseguenze, anche se penso che ci si debba opporre al presidente in maniera più efficace perché ai Democratici servirà molto più di un semplice fuck per vincere le prossime elezioni».
Ma ci sono molte persone che la pensano ancora come Trump.
«Già, Trump ha ancora il 30% del paese dalla parte sua. Il vero rompicapo, però, rimane un mistero come abbia fatto ad arrivare fin lì e magari, su questo, la pista russa potrà dare qualche risposta. Frattanto io continuo a scrivere la musica per la gente e a suonarla in concerto cercando di non pensare al presidente che l’America si ritrova».

——————-
Google trancslation:

Music legend Burt Bacharach plans the future at the age of 90
"I want to see Amalfi".


«Next summer, I will give you a long holiday on the Amalfi coast». At ninety, Burt Bacharach continues to design the future of his free time and his music. «The work on the musical from Painted from memory is almost over, even if it is difficult to anticipate exactly when we can put it on stage because one of the two librettists, Chuck Lorre (creator of very lucky small screen shows like« Two and a half men » , «The big bang theory» or «Mike and Molly», ed) has a very dense television agenda »explains the man of« magic moments »waiting to return to concert on 23rd July at the Arcimboldi in Milan and the 25th at the Teatro Roman of Ostia Antica. "Meanwhile, Elvis Costello and I have written eight new songs with which to integrate those of the album to give more support to the story. It is a very serious and gloomy musical, not really easy to bring on stage, but we try anyway ». And a bit 'dark, full of memories, was also his last soundtrack, that of "A boy called Po», an independent film about the relationship between father and autistic son, faced by Bacharach last year in memory of Nikki, dead suicide in 2007 after a long cohabitation with Asperger's syndrome.
Burt, how's life at ninety?
"Like when they were 89, 88 ... or 78. Of course, when I do gymnastics, I have some pain, but I try to practice the same every day. I try to work constantly because keeping an active mind is very important ».
She has written 70 songs that have been stationed in the US Top 40 and 52 in the English one, including evergreen as "Walk on by", "Do you know the way to San Jose", "A look of love", "I say a little prayer »,« The look of love », sung by many performers, including Dionne Warwick, her voice-fetish. In addition to music he has always had a great passion for horse racing.
"On the music I have some control, while on the animals I do not. I've had 84 racehorses and the disappointments are flawed, but I've never been sick. "
He discovered Italy a little late. Regrets?
"No. I've been around the world since I was a Dietrich pianist, but we never came to Italy with Marlene. I love your country and your country loves my music. True, the coup de foudre arrived in the mature age, but elsewhere it got worse. I have never played in Germany, for example, and I am rather impatient on July 14, when I will perform for the first time at Admiralspalast in Berlin. "
She is the latest legend of the great American songbook. What moment is music playing overseas?
"The song right now is a necessity for us Americans, who have a black and menacing cloud over their heads. At times, music can also be resistance and we must also appeal to you to face the daily ".
Are you talking about Mr. Trump?
"I still think it's really incredible what happened ten days ago in Canada; Trump has assumed unacceptable attitudes to a president and eventually others have legitimately excluded him. I think he's right who did not call him G7, but G6 + 1 ».
Robert De Niro, at the Tony Awards ceremony, sent him to that country on live TV.
"I understand De Niro's reaction. Trump only creates anger. Bob always liked me as an actor and as a person, because he always says things in the face, without weighing the consequences, even though I think that we must oppose the president more effectively because the Democrats will need much more than a simple fuck to win the next election ».
But there are many people who still think like Trump.
"Yeah, Trump still has 30% of the country on his side. The real puzzle, however, remains a mystery as he did to get there and maybe, on this, the Russian track will give some answers. Meanwhile, I continue to write music for people and play it in concert, trying not to think about the president that America finds ".
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
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Man out of Time
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Re: 'Painted From Memory' on Broadway

Post by Man out of Time »

As we now know, ''Look Now'' included three new Bacharach/MacManus compositions, that might form part of PFM the Musical, or may have been part of the Austin Powers Musical or neither. These were "Don't Look Now", "Photographs Can Lie" and "He's Given Me Things".

At the risk of confusing this thread with this other thread (which concerns EC songs registered with ASCAP), it may be of interest to look at Bacaharach/MacManus songs registered with ASCAP that did not appear on either PFM or Look Now.

As of today, I can find six titles, as follows:

Everyone’s Playing House https://www.ascap.com/repertory#ace/sea ... /886324275
I Looked Away https://www.ascap.com/repertory#ace/sea ... /886324406
I’ve Always Had Men https://www.ascap.com/repertory#ace/sea ... /886324414
Look Up Again https://www.ascap.com/repertory#ace/sea ... /886324539
Taken From Life https://www.ascap.com/repertory#ace/sea ... /886324880
You Can Have Her https://www.ascap.com/repertory#ace/sea ... /886325003

These are all still unreleased with the exception of Look Up Again. An instrumental version of that song was released by Herb Alpert in 2016. The other five have titles that might fit into PFM the Musical, if it is ever staged.

In other news, Mike Myers was recently quoted that it was "looking good" for a fourth Austin Powers movie.

MOOT
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Re: 'Painted From Memory' on Broadway

Post by sweetest punch »

In his recent interview with CBS - This Morning, Elvis reveals that Stripping Paper was also written for the “Painted From Memory” musical:
http://www.elviscostellofans.com/phpBB3 ... 2#p7737297
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Re: 'Painted From Memory' on Broadway

Post by A rope leash »

Hey...just skimmed this thread, and found very few clues to what the premise and the plot to the musical might have been. Has it been revealed?

Anyway, listening to the new release and songs that may or may not have been included, I have surmised a scenario of my own...

A man is commissioned to paint a portrait of a well-known actress, who turns out to be an old but undying flame from years ago. She changed her name, and is now married to a big time Hollywood mogul. Romantic intrigue ensues as memories of the past show up on the canvas and the stage. They have a fling, but she stays with the rich guy, because, well, you know how it is...

...this thing writes itself!
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Re: 'Painted From Memory' on Broadway

Post by sulky lad »

I like it "Rope" - you've just put in a strong case fora screenwriter job !!
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Re: 'Painted From Memory' on Broadway

Post by jardine »

And the scenes of reminiscence of the old days can include the dance numbers that e.c. keeps saying that producer folks want. . . could even include numbers from 1978/9, pogoing and stage-diving to old e.c. tunes! this is too easy!! so part of the arc could be the ennui of having been young and sweaty and now being far too comfortable. yep, you're right, it writes itself!
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Re: 'Painted From Memory' on Broadway

Post by A rope leash »

Her name is Isabelle. They had a daughter together but she disowned them a few years after the divorce. They've all been separated for years.

Might have to bring Jimmie in for some comic relief...
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Re: 'Painted From Memory' on Broadway

Post by Man out of Time »

A rope leash wrote:Might have to bring Jimmie in for some comic relief...
I think you'll find that the comedian in Painted From Memory is a character called "God". At the start of the musical the lead male character asks God for help in capturing the beauty of the well-known actress in his portrait - "God Give Me Strength".

However, things don't turn out so well, so in the second half there is a big scene set up in heaven where God looks down on the weak and foolish mortals..... "God's Comic".

As you say, this one writes itself.

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Re: 'Painted From Memory' on Broadway

Post by sweetest punch »

Now that “Purse” is out, the following songs that were written for the PFM musical are available:
  • Don’t Look Now
    Stripping Paper
    Photographs Can Lie
    He’s Given Me Things
    Everybody’s Playing House
    Look Up Again (instrumental version)
These are all great songs that are as good as the original PFM songs.

In case a Broadway musical isn’t going to happen, I’m really hoping that Elvis and Burt will assemble some top vocalist from the musical scene to record all the songs from the musical.
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
sweetest punch
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Re: 'Painted From Memory' on Broadway

Post by sweetest punch »

https://elviscostello.com/#!/news/298446

Where The Secrets Are Kept

The arrival of the “Purse” E.P. and the long-delayed delivery of the 45 RPM, 7” vinyl edition of “Look Now” concludes the release of material from these sessions.

(…)

For those of you who are curious to know more about these songs and their relationship to the music of “Look Now”, you should look no further than the first song, “Everyone’s Playing House”.

Astute listeners may detect a thematic musical link to the “Look Now” song, “Don’t Look Now”, this is because they were originally written to be successive numbers, in a stage adaptation of “Painted From Memory”. To carry the story forward I wrote a variation based on Burt Bacharach’s open melody leading to a refrain of my own invention that had something of the schoolyard taunt about it.

I imagine that the hardest aspect of writing the script for this show was to find an agreement between a new dramatic narrative - by Chuck Lorre and Steven Sater - with the existing stories contained or implied by the songs from the original record album.

As their storyline developed, Burt Bacharach and I were called upon to turn the corners by writing new songs for specific characters rather than people I had imagined or the parts of my own experience found in the first folio of songs.

Burt and I worked together and independently to create this expanded score and the “Look Now” sessions saw the first recording of full-band arrangements for “Stripping Paper” - which I wrote alone and “Don’t Look Now” and “Photographs Can Lie”, for which I wrote lyrics to Burt’s music.

Two more songs, which I instigated, were attempts to drive a developing plot in a new direction. A song of doubt and betrayal, “Why Won’t Heaven Help Me?” and “He’s Given Me Things”, a song describing a drastic reversal of the initial fortunes in the story, in which the penniless model has become a woman of substantial means, whose tycoon husband hires the now disgraced artist to paint her portrait in humiliating circumstances.

Actually, none of this was to be found in Chuck and Steven’s script (or “book” as it is called in the musical theatre) but I wrote the song anyway in an attempt to divert the tale in that direction and Burt helped me make sense of the music in the bridge, while he only changed one note of the vocal melody of “Why Won’t Heaven Help Me?” and didn’t regard this as a sufficient contribution to call it a co-write but this still left us ten new songs to augment the titles selected from the original album.

I won’t try to tell you the entire story, as it was still a work-in-progress when the show seemed to run aground with proposed producers and theatrical houses, probably due to absence of opportunities for tap-dancing and a preponderance of slow, melancholic ballads. Broadway just isn’t crying out for Eugene O’Neill On Ice or even on roller skates.

So back to “Purse” - “Where the secrets are kept” - you can now get yourself a cardboard box to act as the stage, one of those books of cut-out dolls and recreate the opening scene of “Painted From Memory”, if you so wish.

The show was to open on a young woman serving as a life model for an older, apparently respectable and successful society painter. Quite why he is painting an unknown, penurious woman is unknown but as “Don’t Look Now” unfolds it is clear that the subject suspects that the painter’s interest is not entirely artistic.

The song concludes with the observation, “I see you looking at me, looking at how you’re looking at me” and the command, “Oh, don’t look at me now”, the young model would then cross to another part of the stage where a sumptuous dining table is set.

Two women - a wife and a daughter - sit in uneasy expectation. The painter re-enters and takes his place at the head of the table. They are frozen in the act of avoiding conversation or eye contact, perhaps a glass or fork is already raised in place, when the model and singer of “Don’t Look Now” appears.

It is unclear how (or even if) she is clothed. Perhaps she is an apparition. The family do not register her presence or move at all, as she first examines the dishes on the table, stealing a taste of cream from a bowl, contrasting the unhappy domestic scene with darker memories of her own father that are not very pretty, aware that the hypocrite at the head of the table imagines a very different scene between them -

“Do you want to slap me?
Until I can say what for
Do you want to kiss me?
Just once and no more
You play the family man in the sad aftermath
Fingers for peeping right through, just like Daddies do.
My scent is on your breath
I’m going to make you a mess
He held the glass to my lips
I’m going to make you…”


As the song says, “Everyone’s Playing House”.

(…)
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Re: 'Painted From Memory' on Broadway

Post by sweetest punch »

https://www.billboard.com/articles/colu ... -interview

Punch the 'Clockface': Elvis Costello On Making Albums In a Streaming World

The legend's new album sounds both current and timeless — and he’s looking back at his catalog, too.

(...)

Are you going to do that with all of your albums?

If we can. Right now, it’s in everybody’s interest to let me do it the way I’m seeing it.

I can’t be certain when I’ll set foot on the stage again; or, frankly, whether the audience that largely comes to see me — who are inevitably more of my generation — will ever want to come to a theater again. So in the interim, I want to take the music I recorded some time ago and present it in a way that’s as exciting as it was when we first released it.

We’ve done a new version of one of the albums from my catalog, and that’s going to come out next April. And we’re making a compilation based on [Costello’s 1998 album with Burt Bacharach] Painted from Memory, in the hope that we’ll complete the picture with some other songs we’ve written that people still haven’t heard.

(...)
Since you put me down, it seems i've been very gloomy. You may laugh but pretty girls look right through me.
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Re: 'Painted From Memory' on Broadway

Post by verbal gymnastics »

I’d also love to hear a studio version of Anyone who had a heart.
Who’s this kid with his mumbo jumbo?
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