Promises, Promises

Showtunes! Theatre Company rings in the New Year with a rare concert staging of the vintage 60’s hit musical Promises, Promises. The show features the swingin’ songs of composer Burt Bacharach and lyricist Hal David, with a book by the prolific Neil Simon, based on Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond’s Academy Award-winning, 1960 Best Picture, The Apartment.

Promises, Promises is a laugh-filled yet bittersweet look at how pleasant but ambitious rising executive Chuck Baxter works his way up the corporate ladder by loaning out his bachelor apartment to his company’s upper management for extramarital trysts. Chuck’s heart belongs to his waif-like co-worker Fran Kubelik, a cafeteria employee who is languishing in a dead-end relationship with the very married Personnel Manager J.D. Sheldrake. In the course of facing a near tragedy together, Chuck and Fran’s own relationship blossoms, and Chuck decides to keep his apartment key to himself. The Bacharach/David tunes include such popular hits as “Knowing When to Leave,” the title song, and the chart-busting favorite “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again.”