More about the show

Flat on your Bacharach is a sincere celebration of the music of one of the twentieth century's most prolific and successful composers, Burt Bacharach. With Hal David, his long time colleague and lyricist, Bacharach captured the hearts, minds and airwaves of generations of music lovers.

As an intimate 3 piece cabaret show or a spectacular full band concert (7 piece), Flat on your Bacharach moves their audience to laughter and tears with rich, powerful vocals and musical magic that is as honest and sweet as it is reckless and bold.

Beginning with a dramatic flourish, the Flat on your Bacharach Overture hurtles through many of the composer's most recognisable hit songs. This is an opportunity to introduce and feature the band - saxophone, electric guitar, bass and drums, led by Matthew Carey at the keyboard. From the opening bars of the wildly raucous "What's New Pussycat?" to the swinging version of "What the World Needs Now is Love" the overture sets the tone of the show.

As the brooding introduction of "Anyone Who Had a Heart" begins, vocalists Melissa McCaig and Libby O'Donovan enter the stage. It is immediately obvious that there is a sense of rivalry between these two women, a theme that is played on throughout the first half of the show. The visual contrast between the two characters is accentuated by the tall, glamorous McCaig's worldly ice queen demeanour contrasting with the diminutive O'Donovan's wide-eyed naivety and cheekiness.

The segue into "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" is typical of the variety in the show. As musical relief to the melodramaticism of the opening number, San Jose is light hearted pop at its finest.

O'Donovan takes centre stage with "Wishing' and Hoping'", a country and western flavoured ode to love. Featuring one of Hal David's lyrical 'lists', it offers advice to women on how to snare and keep the man of their dreams. Claiming to know a lot about life, love and relationships, Libby fast tracks her way into the audience's hearts with a left field take on this song's lyrics and her fancy footwork in the hoedown finale.

Not wanting to be outshone, McCaig pushes her way downstage and takes what she sees as her rightful position in the spotlight. "Arthur's Theme" features the instantly recognisable saxophone solo that filled the airwaves when the song hit the charts in the mid 1980s. Melissa's flawless performance of this tune is only slightly upstaged by O'Donovan's comedic kowtow-ing to McCaig's (d)illusion of grandeur.

The women move to the piano, joining Matthew Carey who has been amused by this ongoing rivalry. Not content to dominate the front of the stage, Libby quickly recognises the musical introduction being played by Carey and settles in to show him a thing or two on the accompaniment to "Close to You". Melissa tries her hand at the other end of the keyboard until all three find their place and the song culminates in an old fashioned sing along at the piano.

"24 Hours from Tulsa" is a wake up call to Carey as Melissa tells him where she disappeared to after a recent night out, whilst on tour. This time it's he who is wide-eyed as she explains that she'll "never be the same again" - O'Donovan is smug with the knowledge of what he's been missing.

Forever wanting to fit in as 'one of the girls', Carey pays his vocal tribute in the next tune "You'll Never get to Heaven" - a rendition that raises more than just eyebrows.

The next two songs form McCaig's tribute to Bacharach's work with the songstress Dusty Springfield. Demonstrating her vast vocal and emotional breadth, Melissa moves from the seductive purring of "The Look of Love" into the heart-wrenching agony of "I Just Don't Know What to do with Myself".

Libby reveals a little of her family background in the gospel tinged "Say A Little Prayer". The song kicks into overdrive with a shout chorus that displays the power of O'Donovan's voice and ends with her blues-infused sermon bringing the audience to its knees and then lifting them up on to their feet!

It seems that a little intervention from above has helped the women put their rivalry behind them and they sing together the beautifully simple "This Girl's in Love with You" which glistens with romance.

The song "Wives and Lovers", although possibly intended to be somewhat tongue in cheek at the time it was penned, is grossly inappropriate and politically incorrect in today's times! Its assumption that the man of the house is always the family's breadwinner and that his wife's role is to keep the house and herself well groomed so that he'll want to come home to them night after night is antiquated and in these days, inflammatory. Flat on your Bacharach turns the song on its head and asks what a woman longs for from her partner when she gets home from a long hard day at work. This is always a particularly memorable moment for one male member of the audience as he's invited to join the women on stage to play the role of Libby's husband for a lyrical and visual demonstration that ends in a lot of laughs.

"A House is Not a Home" is a searing torch song that tells of a woman's desperate loneliness. O'Donovan's interpretation of the song will tear your heart out.

Continuing her tendencies as a femme fatal, "Walk on By" sees McCaig driven to some 'extreme behaviour' and O'Donovan and Carey giving a wink of warning to the audience.

"Alfie" is Bacharach's most recorded song and features the three voices of Flat on your Bacharach in an intricate a Capella arrangement. This is one of Bacharach's trademark melancholy melodies, from the small plaintive opening question "what's it all about?" through to the song's soaring climax which paves the way to new hope.

With an infectious chorus that keeps swinging back around, "What's New Pussycat" just begs to be the audience sing - along song of the show. Melissa demonstrates her talents as a 'multi instrumentalist' while Libby adds the hint of cheekiness to the song that the audience now expects.

Having already demonstrated her prowess at the microphone and piano, O'Donovan straps on a guitar as McCaig and Carey join her at the front of the stage for a kitsch rendition of "Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head". The women berate Matthew about 'only playing the piano' and ask if he has any other talents... he reluctantly obliges.

The show draws to a close with a rocking version of "There's Always Something There to Remind Me". The women strut their way across the stage, belting out this favourite song of Classic FM stations the world over.

Before the audience's ovation has subsided, you can expect the Flat on your Bacharach cast back onstage for a carefully planned spontaneous encore.

By this stage, audience and performers are friend alike so everyone is encouraged to cuddle up to the person next to them, whether they know them or not, and sing along with "That's What Friends Are For".

The show culminates in a song that resonates with contemporary audiences as much, if not more than it ever has. "What the World Needs Now is Love" is an anthem of peace that speaks to everyone at the deepest level and sends the audience away from a show where they've laughed and they've cried, with a sense of hope for their journey home.