Robert Tanitch reviews Close To You at Criterion, Piccadilly Circus, London
I just don’t know what to do with myself. Actually, that’s not quite accurate. I know exactly what I am going to do. I am going to recommend this new show very strongly.
What’s It All About Burt Bacharach Re-imagined, which I much admired at the Menier Chocolate Factory, is now called Close to You and the good news is that it has transferred to the West End.
The show, a celebration of songs written in the 1960’s and early 1970’s, is as enjoyable as it always was and now has an interval. It has the same charming hanging lampshades and hanging guitar setting.
The charismatic Kyle Raibko who has rearranged, refashioned and re-orchestrated Bacharach’s songs for acoustic guitar, percussion, bass and keyboard, heads a cast of talented singer musicians. The songs are so good.
The catalogue, some thirty songs, includes such favourites as I’ll Never Fall in Love Again. A House is Not a Home. Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head, Walk on By (Don’t stop), and. of course,Close to You, I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself, andWhat’s New, Pussycat?
What makes this jukebox musical different is its intimacy and the clever staging and choreography Steven Hoggett. It doesn’t feel like a jukebox musical at all. It is much more imaginative and sophisticated.
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