What the world needs now is a Burt Bacharach tribute at The Everyman

The life and music of the 20th century’s most important and influential composers is set to be celebrated in The Everyman Theatre.

When Burt Bacharach passed away in 2023 at the age of 94, he left behind a legacy of hundreds of the world’s best-known pop songs, having more than earned his reputation as “The King of Easy Listening”.

On April 7, The Everyman Sunday Songbook team will begin its 21st year of concerts with an homage to the life and works of Bacharach.

Known for their in-depth explorations of the lives of movie and musical icons in song and story, the songbook team’s ‘Burt Bacharach: A Celebration’ has already played to full houses in Dublin’s National Concert Hall and The Civic Theatre Tallaght.

Bacharach had a career that began in the 1950s and continued into this decade, performing at Glastonbury in 2015 at the age of 87, and in 2020 he shared a Grammy award with Daniel Tashian for their album ‘Blue Umbrella’.

Often working with long-time collaborator Hal David, Bacharach had 73 US and 52 UK top 40 hits, six Grammys, one Emmy, and three Academy Awards.

Linda Kenny of The Everyman Sunday Songbook team described their programme as “literally a hit parade”. 

The show features such songs as ‘(What’s it all about) Alfie’, ‘What the World Needs Now’, ‘Walk on By’, ‘Arthur’s Theme (The Best that You Can Do)’, ‘The Look of Love’, ‘I Say a Little Prayer’, ‘Magic Moments’, ‘Close to You’, ‘Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head’, ‘That’s What Friends Are For’, ‘Do You Know the Way to San Jose’ and much more.

His songs have been performed by thousands of artists, including Dionne Warwick, Tom Jones, Cilla Black, Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, The Carpenters, Gene Pitney, Elvis Costello, Diana Krall, Sheryl Crow, and Dr Dre.

“One of the most renowned composers of his day and recorded by thousands of artists, he was both a musical genius and a flawed human being,” said Alf McCarthy, broadcaster and writer/narrator of the Sunday Songbook’s homage to Bacharach.

Tickets are €27 from www.everymancork.com.