What The World Needs Now, a Burt Bacharach/Hal David musical revue, may have stalled in San Diego on the way to Broadway, but the woman who made many of those songs famous will bring those tunes to the Great White Way.
Back in May, the NY Daily News reported that Dionne Warwick was seeking backers to produce a musical about her life. "I want to tell my story, my heritage, using the music that has been an integral part of my life," she said. Now, according to the Jeffrey Richards press office (Sept. 17), the show is about to become a reality.
Titled Dionne Sings Dionne: "I Won't Stop Now", the concert is due for Broadway in January 1999 and will feature such Warwick hits as "Walk On By," "That's What Friends Are For," "Say A Little Prayer" and "Do You Know The Way To San Jose?" Warwick told the News in May that Bacharach and David would help out on the show. Christopher Renshaw, who directed High Society and The King and I, will direct the Warwick revue.
Pop and gospel singer Warwick reached stardom in the 1970s and is recently best known for hosting television infomercials for The Psychic Friends Network.
James L. Nederlander will present a pre-Broadway try-out of Dionne Sings Dionne at the National Music Center Theatre in Lenox, MA, Oct. 22-25. For tickets ($35) and information call (413) 637-4718. -- By David Lefkowitz