What the World Needs Now: The Bacharach Songbook Live
WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW is a show dedicated to honoring the award-winning music of songwriting icon Burt Bacharach. With a catalog that spans seventy-three U.S. and fifty-two UK Top 40 hits (six of which hit #1), six Grammy Awards, three Academy Awards and an Emmy, there is no shortage of songs known across the world. Just citing “The Look of Love,” “What The World Needs Now,” “Walk On By,” “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head,” and “Do You Know The Way To San Jose” speaks to how deeply this body of work has become the soundtrack to our lives.
On March 22 in Ventura, CA, former Bacharach music director/arranger Rob Shirakbari brings this show on the road featuring the legendary Todd Rundgren and Wendy Moten from The Voice, leading a 9-piece multi-instrumentalist ensemble that have worked with Brian Wilson, Aretha Franklin, Adele, Stevie Wonder, and Elvis Costello. Over the course of the itinerary, they’ll stage 22 appearances. All performances go on-sale this Friday, January 17 at 10am local time. VIP packages are available which include fsjjfsdpofdpofsd, fjifdsjpofdspofsd, and jsdfjpodfops.
Todd Rundgren offers, “After Celebrating David Bowie I swore that I was done with tribute tours. But there is too much Bacharach in my blood to let the opportunity to explore the depth and breadth of this libretto pass by. It may be that I not only owe a debt for his great influence, I squandered an opportunity to meet the Master when I failed to play “Hello It’s Me” the time he quietly joined the audience solely to hear it. It may also be that I would feel unbearable envy for whomever was lucky enough to perform the music that meant so much to me. Anyway, I can’t think of another artist whose tribute could make me break my vow and rise to the challenge of audience expectations around the greatest songwriter of my lifetime.”
Rob Shirakbari started working with Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick in his late teens. Much of Bacharach’s touring show since the 1990s was arranged and orchestrated by Rob, as is Ms. Warwick’s current live show. Dionne shares, “In a word, WOW!! I’m very happy for this wonderful project landing in what I know are Rob's more than capable hands. I could burst with pride!” Burt himself said of Rob on his live shows, "A man so instrumental in helping me put this show together... writing the arrangements, writing the orchestrations. I couldn't have done it without him.”
Rob adds, “From a very young age I developed my skillset sitting six feet away from Burt. I could see his hands and hear every note up close… see his every move conducting the orchestra. And now as we carry that legacy forward, the songs are the star of this show, and all of us onstage are here to serve the music, as Burt intended. I know in my heart that Burt would be proud of this show and happy that his music lives onstage, reaching his fans—old and new.”
Show producer Angelo Bundini is the creator and producer of the global hit Celebrating David Bowie concerts which have been staged in 17 countries across 5 continents. Bundini’s latest tour presented is the runaway success BEAT, which hit capacity in the vast majority of the 65 events presented across North America in 2024.
Bacharach is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential figures of 20th-century popular music. Over 1,000 artists have recorded Bacharach songs such as The Beatles, Dusty Springfield, Tom Jones, Sheryl Crow, The Pretenders, Aretha Franklin, Elvis Costello, Christopher Cross, The White Stripes, The Carpenters, Michael McDonald, Herb Alpert, Stevie Wonder and, of course, Dionne Warwick.
