Broadway’s best and brightest will join forces for a charitable recording of the Burt Bacharach and Hal David song “What the World Needs Now Is Love” to benefit the victims of the Orlando shooting massacre at Pulse nightclub. The single will be produced by Broadway Records, Seth Rudetsky, and James Wesley, the digital download of the single will be available beginning June 20 and will soon after be available on iTunes.
“The Broadway community was so terribly shaken and devastated by the horrific tragedy in Orlando. Everyone wanted to do something as quickly as possible that would truly make a difference. On Monday, my husband James woke me up at 7:30 AM and suggested we rally our friends and colleagues to do a ‘We Are the World’ type recording and raise money for the victims and their families. We started making calls and suddenly we had tons of theatre actors along with an orchestra and the services of a fully-staffed recording studio, all willing to donating their time and talent. Our community of artists has banded together as we always do to show we can end this cycle of violence and intolerance. Love WILL prevail!”- statement from Seth Rudetsky
The single will be recorded in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami. Participants will include: (in alphabetical order) Sara Bareilles, Roger Bart, Kristen Bell, Wayne Brady, Matthew Broderick, Andréa Burns, Ann Hampton Callaway, Liz Callaway, Len Cariou, Paul Castree, Michael Cerveris, Joshua Colley, Lilla Crawford, Carmen Cusack, Darius de Haas, Fran Drescher, Gloria Estefan, Christopher Fitzgerald, Sutton Foster, Kimiko Glenn, Whoopi Goldberg, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Joel Grey, Sean Hayes, Heather Headley, Nina Hennessy, Megan Hilty, James Monroe Iglehart, Bill Irwin, Carole King, Jane Krakowski, Judy Kuhn, Nathan Lane, Anika Larsen, Jennifer Lewis, Zachary Levi, Jose Llana, Rebecca Luker, Andrea Martin, Audra McDonald, Idina Menzel, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jessie Mueller, Donna Murphy, Rosie O’Donnell, Kelli O’Hara, Rory O’Malley, Orfeh, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rosie Perez, Bernadette Peters, Billy Porter, Alice Ripley, Chita Rivera, Keala Settle, Kate Shindle, Christopher Sieber, Jennifer Simard, Will Swenson, Rachel Tucker, Tommy Tune, Jonah Verdon, Lillias White, Marissa Jaret Winokur, B.D. Wong, and Tony Yazbeck.
“What the World Needs Now Is Love” (music by Burt Bacharach and lyrics by Hal David) is executive-produced by Rudetsky, Wesley and Dean, and produced by Michael J. Moritz Jr. and Michael Croiter. Music direction is by Rudetsky, Steve Marzullo, and Marc Shaiman, orchestrations are by Cameron Moncur, and vocal arrangements are by Rudetsky. Marzullo will conduct the 25-piece orchestra.
Rudestsky, accompanying on piano, also conducts the 22-piece orchestra, which includes: Jorge Avila, Ashley Horne, Justin Smith and Mike Roth (violin), Eddy Malave and JJ Johnson (viola), Mairi Dorman-Phaneuf and Carlo Pellettieri (cello), Grace Paradise (harp), Janet Axelrod (flute), Boris Baev (oboe), David Riekenberg (clarinet), Gili Sharett (cassoon), Bud Burridge and Scott Wendholt (trumpets), Charles Gordon and Jennifer Wharton (trombones), Eric Davis (French horn), Scott Kuney (guitar), Marc Schmied (bass), Ray Marchica (drums) and Bill Hayes (percussion).
100% of the proceeds will go to the LGBT Center of Central Florida.