Promises, Promises

Promises, Promises (1968), a musical comedy by Neil Simon (book), Burt Bacharach (music), Hal David (lyrics). [Shubert Theatre, 1,281 perf.] Chuck Baxter ( Jerry Orbach) is a young executive who is willing to help his rise to the top by lending his bosses his apartment for trysts. Complications develop when one of the boss's dates attempts to commit suicide in the flat. The girl is Fran Kubelik ( Jill O'Hara), and Chuck's careful nursing of her leads to a romance between the two that gives him the strength to stop cowtowing to his bosses. Notable songs: I'll Never Fall in Love Again; Promises, Promises; Whoever You Are; Knowing When to Leave; You'll Think of Someone. Based on the 1960 film The Apartment, the David Merrick production offered a clever collaboration of Simon with the pop songwriting team of Bacharach and David and gave Broadway one of its brightest musical comedies of the decade. This was Bacharach and David's only Broadway score, although their non‐theatre song hits were heard in the short‐lived Broadway revue The Look of Love (2003).