A night of cabaret-style entertainment at the Ware Center of Millersville University on Friday, Oct. 24, will feature Jeff Calvin (pictured) leading the Up With Everything! Orchestra, in "A Tribute to the Music of Burt Bacharach and Hal David." The group will perform many of the hit pop songs written by Bacharach and David, who collaborated as composer and lyricist, respectively, in the '60s and '70s, and whose music-famously recorded by Dionne Warwick and other major recording artists-topped charts around the world.
Some of their best known hits to be performed will be "Alfie," "I Say A Little Prayer," "Do You Know the Way to San Jose," "Walk on By," "This Guy's in Love With You," and "Close to You."
The tribute concert is "a labor of love for me," said Calvin, adding that the music of Bacharach and David is "some of my favorite pop music ever. These songs are rarely performed live in any setting. They are not typical, simple pop songs; they are very sophisticated, both musically and thematically. We hope to do them justice!"
"We plan to open some of the songs up to allow our soloists to shine," said Calvin, who will be joined in the tribute concert by vocalists Erin Cruise, Diane Wilson and Lane Stowe, Tom Strohman on saxophone, Bill Perbetsky on trumpet, pianist Steve Rudolph, and Andy Roberts on other keyboards.
Before there was Woodstock-and long after Woodstock-there was Burt Bacharach and Hal David, whose collaboration as composer and lyricist, respectively, in the '60s and '70, produced one of the greatest musical teams of that era. Bacharach, as songwriter and composer, and David, as lyricist, produced some of the most enduring pop hits in modern American music, including "I'll Never Fall in Love Again," "Do You Know the Way to San Jose," "I Say a Little Prayer," and "Walk on By," as well as memorable film music (including the Oscar-nominated title songs of Alfie and What's New Pussycat?, "The Look of Love" from Casino Royale, and the Oscar-winning "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), and the award-winning score for the Broadway musical, Promises, Promises. In 2011, they became the first songwriting team to be awarded the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song by the Library of Congress. (David died the following year, at the age of 91.)
The Ware Center now invites everyone to honor the songwriting team's great contribution to American music, and step back into the pop soundscape of the '60s and '70s, by coming to the cabaret, to be held in the performing arts center's breathtaking, top-floor Atrium at 7:30 pm. The Ware Center is located at 42 N. Prince Street, Lancaster.
Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at www.ArtsMU.com or by calling the ticket office of Millersville University, at 717-871-7600, or the Ware Center, 717-871-7018. Tickets can also be purchased at the ticket office, Student Memorial Center, or at the front desk of the Ware Center, 42 N. Prince Street, Lancaster.
Discount parking vouchers for the Prince Street Garage (at North Prince and West Orange streets) will be available at the front desk of the Ware Center for the evening of the performance.
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