A revival of Promises, Promises has just opened on Broadway to (generally) not great reviews. It stars Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth. The show interpolates a couple of other Bacharach-David hits, which is a good idea, and of course the choreography has to get more elaborate and physical as is today the norm. The Addams Family seems to be doing brisk business in spite of bad reviews so maybe this one will run a while.
I always kinda liked the show and have long been intrigued with how it reportedly came about. Neil Simon had become the hottest playwright on Broadway. David Merrick was the most prolific producer of plays and wanted to be in business with Simon. He invited Simon to lunch and asked him if he had any ideas for new musicals. Simon said no, he never had ideas for musicals, only plays. He only did musicals, he said, because people came to him with properties and said, "Wouldn't you like to adapt this into a musical?"
Merrick said, "Well, is there a play or movie that you wish someone would offer you to turn into a musical?" Simon, the man who never had ideas for musicals, said, "Yes, Billy Wilder's movie, The Apartment."
Merrick said, "And do you have any thoughts about what composer could write the score for a musical based on Billy Wilder's movie, The Apartment?" Simon said, "Well, you know, I've been thinking that Burt Bacharach and Hal David, who've had all those pop hits, could write a great, contemporary-feeling Broadway musical."
Merrick said, "And if we did do a musical of Billy Wilder's movie, The Apartment, with Burt Bacharach and Hal David doing the score, do you have any ideas who could direct it?" Simon said, "I recently saw an off-Broadway play directed by Robert Moore and I was thinking he should be directing musicals for Broadway."
Merrick said, "Fine," and eight months later, Promises, Promises opened on Broadway with a book by Neil Simon based on Billy Wilder's movie, The Apartment, and with a score by Burt Bacharach and Hal David and direction by Robert Moore. That's how a Broadway musical comes to be even though someone like Neil Simon doesn't have an idea for one.
Here are some snippets from the revival…
And here are the two stars singing a little of one song and showing that neither knows how to play a guitar…