A chat with Susan Mosher and Tressa Thomas, two of the stars of “Back to Bacharach and David”

The playbill for the musical review Back to Bacharach and David says it’s a show with music that is “sexy.funny.hip.forever.”

I could not agree more!

Am so glad I was able to attend opening night of the show at The Music Box @ Fonda a few weekends back. It is a wonderful show and you still have time- although not much – to see it as it runs through May 17. (Ticket info HERE)

I’ve already posted my interviews with director Kathy Najimy, stars Diana DeGarmo and Tom Lowe and my account of opening night. Now I share with you interviews I did with the two fabulous women who complete the show’s quartet of talent: Susan Mosher and Tressa Thomas.

They are both AMAZING in this revue which features many of the more than thirty top 40 US singles written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David including Don’t Make Me Over, Anyone Who Had a Heart, Walk on By, Message to Michael, Trains and Boats and Planes, I Say a Little Prayer, Alfie, Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head, What’s New Pussycat, Always Something There to Remind Me and “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again, among others.

I got to chat with these ladies sitting under a tree outside a rehearsal all a few weeks back on a day that Hal David had dropped by to watch rehearsals. Bacharach had been by a few days earlier.

“Mr. Bacharach came and saw a rehearsal and was very happy with the way we were doing it,” said Mosher who played various roles in the original Broadway production of Hairspray. “It’s kind of spectacular. It was so nerve-racking. I feel like I can almost do anything after singing for Burt Bacharach and Hal David. The nerves from those two things were so intense.”

Mosher grew up with the show’s creators Steve Gunderson and Kathy Najimy in San Diego and was in the cast of the original production of Back to Bacharach and David back in 1993.

“Steve Gunderson is one of my best friends and he has been obsessed with Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s music since we were children,” she said. “So I had a huge affinity for the music. When he out this together, I said of course I want to be in it. And here I am doing it again and I’m so happy, so thrilled. Everyone in this company is amazing.”

“I’m doing some of the same stuff but to keep it fresh for me, I get to do some other songs too. I love every single song in the show. It’s the most brilliant catalog. You don’t even realize how incredible their material is until you start hearing it back to back.”

Thomas is not old friends with Gunderson but she is very comfortable with the music of Bacharach and David.

“The fantastic part about this show is that we each get a chance to show the audience that we can handle the song that we’re given and that we can have fun with it and experiment with it and display our voices as best as we can,” she said. “One of my favorite numbers is Empty Place, it’s an upbeat kind of a diva-type number where I’m really letting this guy have it saying he’s no longer there and there’s an empty place next to me. and I get to really go crazy on that one – I get to act like I’m doing karate chops and all kinds of stuff, So yeah, i really get into it.”

I was there as Mr. David requested to hear Thomas sing the powerful ballad Breathe at rehearsal. I wondered if she was nervous.

“It was interesting because Burt Bacharach also requested to hear it, he actually wanted to hear it twice so that was a lot of pressure,” she said. “I think that they really like the way that I sing it, the laid back and pretty way that I try and execute the song. That’s definitely my favorite slow song that I perform in the show. It gives me a chance to unwind and really have a conversation almost with the audience.”

Of the legendary composers she added: “You have siuch a respect  for their music and their craft and what they do. so when you present it to them, you want to really be on top of your game and you want to show them the respect that you have in performing their music. It was pretty nervy.”

Thomas gets many moments to shine during the show and it is clear she is the biggest belter in the group. For example, she gets to do I Say a Little Prayer and is much more Aretha then Dionne.

“The fantastic part about this show is that we each get a chance to show the audience that we can handle the song that we’re given and that we can have fun with it and experiment with it and display our voices as best as we can,” she said. “My favorite number is Empty Place, it’s an upbeat kind of a diva-type number where I’m really letting this guy have it saying he’s no longer there and there’s an empty place next to me. and I get to really go crazy on that one – I get to act like I’m doing karate chops and all kinds of stuff, So yeah, I really get into it.”

BONUS: Hal David Interview: Got a chance to chat with Mr. David a little bit on that same say and that was a thrill. He could not have been more pleasant. It was so cute how his wife took pictures of me interviewing him as we sat in a gazebo.

While Mr. David refused to say whether or not he preferred the Aretha Frankln or Dionne Warwick version of I Say a Little Prayer (both classics), I did get him to reveal his favorite Bacharach-David songs: “Alfie is one of my favorites and What the World Needs Now is one of my favorites and The Look of Love.”

So what does he think of the revue which gives their music all this new life?

“I saw the beginnings of the show in New York and now this (rehearsal) it looked awfully good to me,” he said.  “The people who are involved in it – Kathy Najimy and Steve Gunderson – are fabulous and they’ve got a great cast.”

“The songs, it’s amazing how they have stood the test of time,” he added. “When we were writing the songs, we were trying to write the best songs we knew how to write but we were thinking in terms of getting hits (laughs.). We weren’t thinking in terms of how long they were going to last. It’s wonderful that so many of our songs are lasting.”