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Glad you decided to read more. But what is this project?
Just before the holidays of 2019, back in those blissful days before we were unaware there was a life-altering pandemic looming just months away, I was approached by Richard Grasso and Jeff Malone of the producing company Two Worlds Entertainment to help them develop an idea they were working on: to take the song catalog of historic songwriter(s) from the worlds of theater & film and then translate, re-conceive, and rework some of those songs into new and unexpected contexts, and then present those songs as a concert. They already had a venue, NYC's storied 54 Below, a date booked for Feb 2020, and a song catalog in mind: The Sherman Brothers.
Many know the legacy of brothers Richard and Robert Sherman: a longtime affiliation with Walt Disney Studios, for whom they composed countless classic film soundtracks including Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks, as well as the songs for many legacy attractions in the Disney theme parks: "It's a Small World" has been playing on loop for decades in the deepest memories of the tens of millions who have ever visited Disneyland or Walt Disney World. But the Sherman's output extended far beyond Disney, to projects such as the films Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Charlotte's Web, and even a successful Broadway musical, the 1974 hit Over Here!.
Richard and Jeff from Two Worlds envisioned using a mix of both well-known tunes by the Shermans and a few relatively obscure gems. We tossed song ideas back and forth, and it didn't take me long to get super excited about ways to both rework the well-known tunes and give some of the more forgotten ones a fresh coat of paint.
After a few weeks of working on the arrangements at home and recruiting the talents of some of Broadway's finest singers and musicians, we presented our show to great success at 54 Below on Feb 11, 2020. I even picked up the accordion for a couple tunes!
After the show, we were already talking about what to do for REWORKED Vol 2... what songwriters should we feature? This could be a whole series of shows!
And then 2020 happened. For the rest of that year, the idea of planning another concert was a fantasy to be put off for later, and who knows how many months or years it might take for live performance to be a thing again?
So when Richard and Jeff had the idea this past spring to take some of the tunes from the show and record them as a combo of virtual and in-person studio sessions, it seemed like a no-brainer answer... yes! We picked three tunes from the show that could really present three completely different vibes, and I got to work on revising my arrangements and laying down initial tracks in my home studio upon which I could overlay remote tracks from my musician colleagues and eventually vocal performances from our incredibly talented vocalists.
Fast forward another few months to today, when I'm happy to announce that our 3-song EP is now available on all the streaming platforms:
On the uptempo pop side, we've got a tune from the Shermans' film In Search of the Castaways, called "Enjoy It!" (including the exclamation point). This song has come a long way from the Maurice Chevalier/Hayley Mills version you'll hear in the original soundtrack:
On the 2020 concert, we featured teen vocalist Katie Abt, who auditioned for and won the chance to be part of the show--she knocked it out of the park! On record, we've got the incomparable bundle of energy, charisma, humor, and charm that is soon-to-be legend Marissa Rosen. We had a ball working with Marissa on this one!
The next tune strikes a bit more serious tone: The 11 O'clock number from the Shermans' 1974 big-band Broadway musical Over Here! called "Where Did the Good Times Go?". The Andrews Sisters actually starred in the the show on Broadway, and Patty Andrews got to perform this melancholy solo:
My version takes the mood even darker, with some distant instrumentals and electronica elements that give way to a powerfully rocking band performance by the final chorus. For the 54 Below show, we were blessed with the vocal talents of Teddy Trice (Book of Mormon), and for this studio recording we've got a heartfelt vocal by Josh A. Dawson (Beautiful).
And finally, the tune that Time magazine once claimed is the most-performed song of all time: "It's a Small World", from the Disney attraction of the same name. When initially discussing whether we wanted to cover a tune so closely identified with animatronic children singing the same refrain over and over (and over, and over) again, we took a step back and looked at those incredibly meaningful and poignant lyrics, especially some of the additional stanzas that the Shermans added over the years:
I wanted to tap into hopefulness in a year in which hope was hard to find. I heard guitars and acoustic instruments, a campfire vibe maybe. A group of singers, a sense of community. Putting the tune in 6/8, stretching out the forms, and re-harmonizing the chord progressions unlocked it for me.
Our concert featured Teddy Trice (from above) as well as Vishal Vaidya (Groundhog Day), Julie Foldesi (Little Women), and Caitlyn Caughell (Newsies). For the recording, we welcomed back Julie and Vishal, and added Josh Dawson (from above) and Bre Jackson (The Color Purple). All four of these singers have such unique voices and styles, and yet when they sing together, they mesh into a beautifully-blended ensemble. And to me, that's exactly the message of the final stanza's lyrics: It's a chain strong as steel / in its strength we can feel / it's a small world after all.
Many, many thanks to Richard and Jeff at Two Worlds for dreaming up this project, and my deepest gratitude to all the singers above, and especially to my musician colleagues:
Isaac Hayward - cello, harmonium, guitars
Pete Donovan - bass
Simon Kafka - guitars
Sean McDaniel - drums (EP)
Zach Mullings - drums (concert)
Stephanie Scuderi - additional vocals (concert)
Also, massive thanks to Michael Croiter and Matthias Winter at Yellow Sound Production for the co-production, mastering, and all-around support.
Please share this music (via your streaming platform of choice) and enjoy!
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