Trains and boats and planes deliver music lovers to Englewood, NJ’s bergenPAC this Friday, April 11, 2025 for What the World Needs Now: The Burt Bacharach Songbook Live, a tribute to composer Burt Bacharach, starring singer/songwriter Todd Rundgren, Burt Bacharach’s longtime arranger/conductor Rob Shirakbari, and The Voice vocalist Wendy Moten.
Inside the BergenPAC auditorium, the lights dim and musicians Probyn Gregory on brass, Woody Mankowski on woodwinds, Elise Trouw on drums, Kasim Sulton on bass, Kenny Dickenson on synthesizer, and keyboardist/musical director Rob Shirakbari take the stage and open tonight’s tribute with a poignant instrumental overture rendition of Bacharach’s “What the World Needs Now.”
The crowd cheers as Todd Rundgren enters and he and the band launch into Bacharach’s 1959 composition for Chuck Jackson, “Any Day Now.” Deftly accompanied by the band, Rundgren’s rich full voice fills the theater as he croons, “Any day now/I will hear you say…,” before segueing into his interpretation of The Shirelles’ “Baby, It’s You.”
The audience cheers and “ringmaster” Rob Shirakbari introduces singer Wendy Moten who steps into Dionne Warwick’s “Walk on By,” her silky nuanced voice calling out as the crowd happily joins her in singing the song’s wistful “Walk on by/Walk on by” refrain.
Shirakbari invites saxophonist Woody Mankowski to handle the lead vocal on Dusty Springfield’s “I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself” where his country-tinged tenor soars on the 1964 country-rock ballad.
Shirakbari — who was Dionne Warwick’s musical director prior to working with Burt Bacharach — refers to BergenPAC as “Dionne Warwick’s home court” before pointing out that “all of tonight’s songs have one thing in common” — they were “all written by Burt Bacharach” who, in his career, enjoyed “seven decades of hits.”
Rundgren sings with feeling on the dynamic Dionne Warwick ballad, “A House is Not a Home.” Then, Wendy Moten handles the lead on Lou Johnson’s “Reach Out for Me,” backed by drummer Elise Trouw and vocalist Tori Holub before Mankowski steps forward to sing Dionne Warwick’s “In Between the Heartaches” backed by Moten and Holub.
Shirakbari reveals, “I learned from Burt Bacharach to work with new artists” before introducing vocalist Tori Holub, whose sweet alto voice impresses on her interpretation of Dionne Warwick’s “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again.”
Holub follows with a bouncy arrangement of Warwick’s “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” after which Rundgren jokes, “That was cheerful, but it’s time to get sad again!” Here, Rundgren interprets the Dionne Warwick ballad, “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” with power and feeling on a dynamic arrangement which features five-part background harmonies as well as top-notch instrumental playing by the band.
The crowd hoots and hollers and Moten presents her version of the Roberta Flack ballad, “Making Love,” which is followed by lively scat-singing from the ensemble on “South American Getaway,” a tune from the Burt Bacharach soundtrack to the 1969 motion picture, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Woody Mankowski sings with soul on Dionne Warwick’s rhythmic “Promises, Promises,” and Rundgren effortlessly switches from his chest voice to his head voice on the pleading 1996 Burt Bacharach/Elvis Costello ballad, “God Give Me Strength.”
Tori Holub performs Dionne Warwick’s “The Windows of the World,” her smooth and melodic vocal capturing the hearts of the audience. Then, percussionist Elise Trouw is featured singing from behind the drums on the upbeat Manfred Mann tune, “My Little Red Book.”
Probyn Gregory takes over on bass as Kasim Sulton comes downstage to sing lead on the 1983 Naked Eyes arrangement of “Always Something There to Remind Me.” The crowd enjoys singing along on the tune’s catchy chorus before reacting with avid cheers and applause.
Rundgren exclaims, “I see you’re not adverse to a singalong!” as he and the band trot into a swinging rendition of “What’s New Pussycat?” and music lovers happily join Rundgren on the “Whoa-oh-oh” refrain of this fun and breezy Tom Jones’ tune.
Following a brief intermission, Rundgren opens Act II with an impassioned version of The Walker Brothers’ 1965 ballad, “Make it Easy on Yourself,” and Moten follows up with a smooth rendering of The Stylistics’ and Dionne Warwick’s “You’ll Never Get to Heaven” backed by sweet and easy vocals by Rundgren and Holub.
Moten and Mankowski impress with a soulful version of Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald’s R&B ballad, “On My Own,” before Rob Shirakbari is spotlighted on an instrumental rendition of Bacharach’s rhythmic and melodic title song from the film, Casino Royale.
Elise Trouw sings lead on Sérgio Mendes and Brasil ’66’s Latin-inspired hit, “The Look of Love,” and Mankowski’s sax and Probyn Gregory’s staccato trumpet playing are featured along with Kenny Dickenson’s keyboards on “Bond Street,” an upbeat and bouncy instrumental from Casino Royale.
Rundgren and bassist Kasim Sulton strum acoustic guitars as they sing in harmony on Dionne Warwick’s “Trains and Boats and Planes,” and Gregory takes over on bass again as Sulton stands center stage crooning Neil Diamond’s easy pop tune, “Heartlight.”
Nostalgia is in the air as music lovers are treated to “Nikki,” the instrumental theme song for the ABC Movie of the Week television show before Moten’s rich voice illuminates The 5th Dimension’s “One Less Bell to Answer.”
Music lovers sing along as Moten and Mankowski sing in harmony and Gregory plays melodica on Dionne and Friends’ 1985 mega-hit, “That’s What Friends Are For.” Then, prior to wailing out a saxophone solo on the song’s instrumental interlude, Mankoski’s warm soulful vocal takes center stage on Christopher Cross’ “Arthur’s Theme.”
Sulton plays bass as he croons Herb Alpert’s “This Guy’s in Love with You,” and Tori Holub channels Karen Carpenter with her rich alto voice singing The Carpenters’ “(They Long to Be) Close to You” on an arrangement which features eight-part vocal harmonies.
Moten follows by having the crowd clap along to a soulful version of Aretha Franklin’s “I Say a Little Prayer.”
Then, as Shirakbari plays piano, Rundgren talks to the audience, confessing, “I haven’t watched the news since last November — I kinda don’t have any idea what’s going on with the world — but here’s a little thing you need to remind yourself”: “Each one of us lives in our own world with our family and our friends and the people we interact with,” so “that’s your world,” and if you ever think, “‘I can’t do anything about the world,’ please know that you can always do something about your world.”
At this point, Rundgren presents a show-stopping version of “What the World Needs Now is Love,” which inspires a heartfelt standing ovation from the crowd.
To conclude the evening, Moten and drummer Trouw perform a duet on Cilla Black and Dionne Warwick’s “Alfie,” and Rundgren gets concertgoers dancing under flashing lights to the rhythmic coda on BJ Thomas’ “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on my Head,” after which the entire cast takes a bow as Rundgren smiles and flashes his best “What the World Needs Now is Love” peace sign to the standing and cheering crowd.
To learn more about What the World Needs Now: The Burt Bacharach Songbook Live Spring 2025 tour, please go to whattheworldneedsnow.net. For information on great upcoming performances at BergenPAC — including Bruce Hornsby on May 1, Don McLean on May 30, and The Happy Together Tour 2025 featuring The Turtles, Jay and the Americans, Little Anthony, Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, The Vogues, and The Cowsills on June 11 — please click on bergenpac.org.
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