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“I try to really put all my focus into the project in front of me,” says Justin Levine. That may sound like a simple enough goal – but for Levine, Broadway’s favorite musical polymath, it’s not so easy these days.
Since 2009, when Levine was music director, co-orchestrator and also a performer in the genre-smashing off-Broadway rock musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, more and more theater creators have called upon his various complementary talents to bolster their work. As a music director, orchestrator and arranger, the 38-year-old has most often found himself involved in the development of new musicals. “Sometimes I look at my résumé and feel like, ‘Oh wow, it has felt like there were twice as many projects as this,’ when in actuality it was about weaving in and out of each developmental step of a show,” Levine says with a laugh.
Case in point: Eight years ago, Levine started work on the two biggest musical projects he’s had since — Moulin Rouge! The Musical and The Outsiders, both ultimately Broadway-bound — within mere weeks of each other. Moulin Rouge! began performances in June 2019; was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, reopening along with the rest of Broadway in mid-2021; and won 10 Tony Awards in 2021, including one for best orchestrations for Levine and his collaborators.
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Levine’s work on “the bullet train that is Moulin Rouge!,” as he calls it, is still far from done — he’s been “heavily involved” in mounting its iterations all over the world, including one in the Netherlands this fall, helping train the new companies for each. But that’s just one ongoing project on his slate lately. At the 2024 Tony Awards on Sunday, he’s nominated in three categories for his work on The Outsiders, making him one of the most-nominated individuals at this year’s ceremony. One of those nominations (for best original score) is in the same category as another major show whose music team he worked on this past year, Here Lies Love. And in May, Levine returned to one of his more glamorous jobs in recent years: overseeing the musical elements of the fashion world’s landmark event, the Met Gala.
“I just wanna make music, but I also want to perform that music, I want to create music for others,” says Levine, who studied theater in college but says he doesn’t have a formal musical background. Actually, add one more goal to that list: providing a place for others to do all of the same and more. Amid all he has going on, Levine says, the project he’s actually most excited about is far from New York City: He’s in the process of turning a “real fixer-upper” of a house he bought an hour north into “a place that will foster creativity and inspiration” for other artists, where “art can be made but also where it doesn’t have to feel that way.” He imagines it as a less productivity-obsessed artist residency, where he’ll also be able to indulge in his latest creative hobby: vegetable gardening.
Below, Levine breaks down his work on three of his recent high-profile projects.
The Outsiders
The cast of The Outsiders on Broadway.
Matthew Murphy
For the intimate musical adaption of S.E. Hinton’s young adult classic, Levine occupied three roles: contributor to playwright Adam Rapp’s book; co-creator of the score with Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance of Jamestown Revival; and co-creator of the orchestrations with music director Matt Hinckley and Jamestown. “I used to play in bands, and played music that definitely feels in the same world as the score,” says Levine. “I have a wide and varied musical taste: I love American roots music, soul, early country, bluegrass and folk, Americana, gospel. When I first encountered John and Zach and listened to Jamestown’s music, it reminded me of some of my favorite music. Overall, the world of [The Outsiders] is both familiar and unique unto itself.”
Levine helped the Jamestown duo preserve the integrity of their music within a theater context, focusing on the ways in which it could be used most effectively within the show to build and advance the story and character development. With Rapp, who had never written the book of a musical before, “it was largely a matter of me from an early stage working with him on the structure of the book, stitching together the book and the songs, finding the most effective ways to trade those off. Adam and I did that together, and John and Zach were often part of that process.”
Here Lies Love
Conrad Ricamora, Arielle Jacobs and the cast of Here Lies Love on Broadway.
Billy Bustamante, Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
The immersive David Byrne and Fatboy Slim disco-driven musical about the rise and fall of Imelda Marcos in the Philippines had an unusually long and winding path to reaching Broadway in 2023, and Levine was the show’s original music director, involved since its early workshops in 2011. “I loved it from the moment I started working on it,” says Levine. “I learned so much from David.” As Here Lies Love was based on a concept album of the same name, Levine’s roles working on music production and additional arrangements meant helping the creators flesh out the show and figuring out how the album songs would be adapted to the stage.
“That involved working directly with the cast, with David, as far as bridging the gap between the pop and theater world,” Levine explains. “On the one side it was about the cast’s approach to singing the material, exploring the ways in which these songs could be performed with the Integrity of the style and the story telling; how they’re placed; where there’s vibrato vs a straight tone. The concept album itself has so many different styles of vocal technique.” Besides examining the ideal forms of those songs, Levine also worked with Byrne and Matt Stine [Levine’s collaborator on music production and additional arrangements] to find ways to “maximize the storytelling and [the songs’] viability in the context of a musical.”
The Met Gala
Ariana Grande performs onstage during The 2024 Met Gala Celebrating “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 06, 2024 in New York City.
Kevin Mazur/MG24/Getty Images
Four years ago, Levine was approached with an unusual assignment: to create a musical medley celebrating the return of Broadway and theater in New York for the first post-pandemic Met Gala. Vogue’s Anna Wintour “didn’t call me or slide into my DMs,” he says with a laugh, “but she did request me because of my work on Moulin Rouge!” He admits that, prior to the invite, he “didn’t really know much about [the event],” but thought it “might be fun to build something with pieces of musical theater that have crossed over into the pop world, or been sampled, or just been a major piece of the fabric of popular culture.”
Since then, Wintour and her team have continued to invite him back, and his role has expanded to include everything from creating random musical moments throughout the spectacular evening to working closely with the headliner — this year, Ariana Grande — to build their setlist and starring performance. “She’s such a collaborative person — so enthusiastic and passionate and hardworking,” says Levine of Grande; he also worked closely with her “humble and brilliant” music director and producer Natural (aka Johnny Najera).
As for Wintour, who Levine calls “one of the biggest supporters of theater in New York,” she pays attention to every musical detail of the evening — and, Levine adds, “gives the best notes. But she’s very much a supporter and a fan of the arts; it never feels like she’s giving a note just to give one. It’s clear it comes from a genuine place and that there’s a real vision behind it.”
When Aaron Tveit meets fans at a Broadway stage door, or at the concerts he’s performed at rock clubs and symphony halls alike, it’s always a surprise where they know the actor from.
They might have seen him in his career-making role in the acclaimed modern musical Next to Normal, or perhaps from his more recent Tony-winning turn in Moulin Rouge! They might remember him as Nate’s hot cousin Tripp van der Bilt on the original Gossip Girl, or as a hilarious send-up of numerous musical theater hero tropes on the late, great Apple TV+ comedy Schmigadoon! Or maybe they recall his scene-stealing turn as Enjolras, leading “Do You Hear the People Sing?” in the feature film of Les Misèrables.
Sufficed to say, Tveit has range – as he most recently proved when he replaced Josh Groban in the acclaimed Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s masterpiece Sweeney Todd, playing the Demon Barber of Fleet Street opposite Sutton Foster’s Mrs. Lovett (the two just co-hosted the Drama Desk Awards together). Now, he’s moving to a smaller but no less prestigious stage as he kicks off his first Café Carlyle residency in New York City. The run of shows at the storied cabaret venue was extended practically as soon as it was announced (running through June 29). Prior to its kick-off Tuesday night (June 11), Tveit spoke to Billboard about his bucket-list Sondheim roles, the possible future of Schmigadoon!, and why his Carlyle audiences could hear a little Taylor Swift in his set.
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The degree of deafening audience screaming for both you and Sutton the night I went to see Sweeney was truly at boy-band hysteria levels. What was your experience on the other end of that?
Honestly, it was fascinating and very unexpected. I went back to Moulin Rouge! for 12 weeks about a year ago, and there were similar responses at that time, and I thought it was a product of that show and how it encourages the audience to be kind of participatory. But I really did not expect that type of audience to carry over at Sweeney. When it started, we looked around and said, “Well, this will go away,” but it didn’t. A lot of younger people seeing Sweeney take in Broadway shows in a different way – they like to feel like they’re a part of it and they get excited. But the thing we took away from it that I think was the most amazing was: What would Steve Sondheim think, to hear his material being appreciated and taken in in that way by a very young audience? I think a similar thing is happening at Merrily [We Roll Along, also on Broadway now], and I just felt so thrilled to be a small part of his material being taken in by this new audience.
When you were first announced for Sweeney, there was a lot of chatter about the idea of a tenor playing the role (which is traditionally sung by a baritone or bass-baritone). When you were offered the role, was it an immediate yes for you?
It was a role I’ve always looked at and said, “Wow, if I ever get the chance, I’ll jump at the challenge and also be terrified.” And when they did call, I was very surprised … and immediately terrified and excited. For me, vocally, I knew it would be a challenge – it’s definitely a different type of vocal part than I’ve traditionally done. But I started my training in classical voice before I switched to theater; I was confident that with enough work I could [do it], and I’m proud of where it landed.
And the little bit of backlash, if you want to call it that, I understand there are a lot of tenor roles in musical theater and I think for people who aren’t tenors, they might have thought [the role] would be changed in some way, but I tried to keep everything as is. That show is such an acting piece, to me, and I felt it more as a play, so once I realized I could do the singing, everything I was concerned about was acting the show.
Aaron Tveit during his first curtain call in Sweeney Todd on Broadway at The Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on Feb. 9, 2024 in New York City.
Bruce Glikas/WireImage
You’ve done some bucket-list Sondheim roles now, including Bobby in Company, Booth in Assassins and Sweeney. What’s next on your wish list?
The big one I’d love to do still is Sunday in the Park With George — I’d really love to play George. That vocal part may fit me better on paper than this one did, but I think it’s equally such a complicated and wonderful story. I bow down to Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette [Peters, the original stars of the show] – she came to see Sweeney toward the end, which was really special for me. I also sometimes feel like I missed Tony in West Side Story in my professional life, and now maybe I’ve aged out, but that’s OK.
You can also be very funny, as we saw on Schmigadoon! What stood out about that experience for you?
When the first season of Schmigadoon! came up, I got to live out my Billy Bigelow [from Carousel] dreams as well as a bit of Annie Get Your Gun … and those are very traditional musical theater roles, which is not something I’ve gotten to do a lot of. I’d never done a revival at that point or a traditional musical, so I was very excited to jump in. We all felt so grateful to be part of that first season – it was 2020, Broadway was still a year out from being back. And then we got to go back [for season 2], and Cinco [Paul, the show’s composer] played “Doorway to Where” for me and I was like, “Oh, that’s ‘Corner of the Sky.’” And he was like, “Yeah, this season you’re gonna be a weird version of Pippin and Claude [from Hair] and Jesus from Godspell and Jesus and Judas from [Jesus Christ] Superstar.” And I thought well, I’ve not played any of those roles either!
The thing that was so fun was the tongue-in-cheek nature of it — but at the same time, we were never making fun of the musicals because we all love them so much. My friends know I’m a very silly person, so it was nice to bring a lot of aspects of myself to the work in a way I don’t ever get to.
It’s so tragic that it’s over!
We’ll see. I know Cinco has hopes; season 3 is completely written, so someone could pick it up. It’s available!
Aaron Tveit in Schmigadoon!
Courtesy of Apple TV+
Your upcoming shows at the Café Carlyle mark your debut there. How did you conceive of the setlist?
I’ve done a lot of concerts in the last 10 or so years, and I have running lists of the shows I’ve done, and a note in my Notes app of running lists of dream songs, and I’m always sending myself emails about songs I hear. But for this, it just feels very fancy, you know? [Laughs] I talked abut that a lot with my music director: how could we do our version of fancy? I’ve done pop-rock cover shows at lots of House of Blues across the country and Irving Plaza and Webster Hall, and a lot of more traditional cabaret sets, and the venue usually dictates the setlist. So it’s like, “OK, what does the Carlyle say to me?”
I immediately thought “old New York,” standards, jazz – but also, New York is my theater world and career, more contemporary and traditional musical theater. So the show seems to have three sections. I try to not take myself seriously, but I take the music seriously.
You’re a big pop fan too. Who are you listening to right now?
I’m very into Billie Eilish the last couple years. The songwriting she and her brother are doing is just incredible. Hozier is a really inspirational artist for me; he keeps having moments because the music he makes is just incredible and clearly meaningful to him. Same thing with Noah Kahan — I’ve listened to him a lot, and his songs are clearly really personal as well. This young guy Sam Fender is a great guitar player and songwriter and vocalist. And then there are the things I’m just always listening to, like Bon Iver and Donny Hathaway.
Years ago, you were very well known for covering Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” at your more pop-rock concerts. I have to ask if it’ll be part of the set – or if any other Taylor might be…
On New Year’s last year, I did a concert with a bit of a medley, and “Anti-Hero” made it in. We have our setlist, but I have an idea to have a rotating song that changes every night or couple nights, a slot for something. … I’d be remiss to say one of those wouldn’t slot in.
That’s a very Eras Tour move for you.
Exactly! I’m just taking cues from the greats.
For decades, the production power of a concert tour was measured in the number of trucks it took to haul its gear across the country.
But bigger isn’t always better, especially in a theater environment where the space across the proscenium arch has to support loudspeakers that maximize coverage without distracting from the look and feel of the show. For The Outsiders musical at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on Broadway in New York City, that has meant experimenting with the new, lighter, more compact L-Series line source loudspeakers from L’Acoustics.
The speaker deployment is a first for Broadway and part of Sound Designer Cody Spencer’s use of L’Acoustics L-ISA immersive audio technology for The Outsiders. The new show is nominated for 12 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Sound Design of a Musical.
Announced last year at L’Acoustics’ keynote event at the Hollywood Bowl, the L-Series speakers are being deployed at a number of new activations in the touring world, including their recent installation at First Avenue in Minneapolis. The L-Series speakers use up to 60% less material to construct, compared to speakers with similar sound power and coverage, and 30% less space. Unlike traditional line array configurations that must be hung at a J-shaped angle, the L-Series can be installed in a fixed configuration, requiring less physical space to deploy while allowing crew to make sound adjustments without mechanical ones.
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The loudspeakers are the latest of the line array speaker system first developed by L’Acoustics founder Christian Heil 40 years ago. Thanks to Heil’s work on Wavefront Sculpture Technology (WST) theory, line array technology has improved sound reinforcement for live performances and become the standard for sound coverage and clarity at large venues and festival spaces, allowing fans in the back to hear vocals and higher frequencies without the sound being distorted.
The new L Series speaker, starting with the L2, a 10-inch progressive ultra line source long-throw speaker “is the ultimate accomplishment of 30 years of technology improvements on the line array,” L’Acoustics CEO Laurent Vaissié said in a statement.
Laurent Vaissié
Hal Horowitz Photography
“When Christian started thinking about this back in the late 80s and early 90s, the idea was to create a fully coherent speaker configuration that was able to get uniform coverage from front to back,” Vaissié said. “With the L series, we’re able to eliminate more of the material and the physical boundaries between the different parts of the speaker and line array to make it even more compact.”
“We did this,” Vaissié explained, “by physically removing the articulation between the parts of the line array and creating the L2’s very specific shape.”
That shape was the result of analyzing “thousands of different shows where we looked at the audience configuration,” Vaissié continued. “We realized if we start with that shape already, we’re almost there in terms of coverage. We realized could eliminate the articulation of the line array and fine tune the coverage with electronics and software. And that’s the reason why I say it’s the ultimate evolution because 10 years ago, we could not have done the L2 because the electronics and the software were not yet at the level it needed to be. But today we finally got to the point where the mechanical design, software and electronics are converging so that we can have an optimized design for the L2, eliminate all the physical material that we didn’t need, make it smaller, and then adjust with software and electronics to get perfect coverage in the vertical domain.”
Spencer said the L2 speakers helped The Outsiders solve an issue created by the production’s use of a rain curtain, which pushed the show’s front-of-house speakers downstage.
The Outsiders
Cody Spencer
“I plugged them into our Soundvision model,” Spencer said in a press release, adding that he found that the L-series speaker “gave us three more rows of coverage in front of the orchestra over traditional line array loudspeakers.”
The L-Series speakers are currently on tour with Italian hip-hop duo Coez & Frah Quintale and will be used on Sarah McLachlan’s 2024 tour.
“We are sold out of L2 right now through the first quarter of next year. We could have more, but we’re trying to balance between the needs for the rental companies and the needs for the installation project,” says Vaissié. “The market has been responding very well and the demand is much higher than we anticipated.”
06/10/2024
This star-studded list will get you in the mood for this year’s Tonys, which are set for Sunday June 16.
06/10/2024
Will Butler’s first meeting with playwright David Adjmi was fairly open-ended: a friend had told Butler that Adjmi — a fan of Arcade Fire, the band Butler was in at the time — was working on a play about a band and that Butler could “write the music or just consult or whatever.”
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But from their first sit-down at a diner near New York’s theatre district, Adjmi’s vision was “instantly recognizable” to Butler: “Like, oh, it’s a demo — it’s like a transcendental thing that they can never recapture. You have things falling apart because the headphones sound bad, you have people yelling at each other over music but it’s because of how their dad treated them,” he recalls with a laugh.
A decade after Butler first sent his song demos to Adjmi, their collaboration, Stereophonic, is the most Tony-nominated production not just of 2024, but of all time. A true musical-play hybrid, Stereophonic immerses the audience in a fictional band’s recording process in 1976, as they make the pivotal album that will launch them to superstardom. Snippets of takes along with stunning full songs punctuate the band’s alternately hilarious and gutting drama in and outside the booth, playing out over around three intimate hours. Incredibly, the actors who sing and play their own instruments as a very credible rock band onstage were at best proficient before Stereophonic rehearsals began.
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Will Butler
Nina Westervelt
Though the fictional band and narrative have drawn comparisons to Fleetwood Mac and its storied process of making its classic 1977 Rumours album, Stereophonic (which was just extended through January 5, 2025 at the Golden Theatre) never feels like a retread of rock history. That’s a testament to Adjmi’s writing and the cast’s talent and chemistry — but also in large part to Butler’s songs, which blend a genuine ‘70s rock sound with his own unique sensibility into songs that sound like anything but pastiche. (The original cast album, including songs both in the show and heard only partially in it, is out now on Sony Masterworks Broadway.)
Butler, who parted ways with Arcade Fire in late 2021 and now performs in Will Butler + Sister Squares, is himself up for two Tony Awards on June 16 — for best original score and best orchestrations — and is finding fertile new creative ground (and demand for his composing skills) in the theater world. He spoke to Billboard about the singular “jigsaw puzzle” of Stereophonic and creating a believable band onstage.
Did David give you any specific guidelines for what he wanted the music in Stereophonic to be like — or did you have total free rein to write some songs and see how they turned out?
Total free rein. And then once the script existed, it was like… a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle with 200 pieces missing [Laughs], and figuring out fitting those pieces in. There were a number of songs, like this one on the album called “In Your Arms,” that David really loved and that felt like the band, but didn’t make sense in any of the scenes. We’re showing these moments of music — and they all have to have a purpose, they all have to emerge from the characters at the right time and in the right way, and it still has to feel a little bit mystical.
The cast of Stereophonic
Julieta Cervantes
Your music is so evocative of great bands of the ‘70s yet never feels like it’s copying that style; it really feels timeless. How did you arrive at that kind of balance?
I mean, I kind of lucked into not really knowing the great rock and great pop groups of that period of the ‘70s. Like, I just didn’t really know Tom Petty besides the hits, I didn’t really know Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, early Bruce Springsteen — I didn’t really know all these touchstones for David. But I knew the stuff around it and I knew where it was leading. Like, Bruce Springsteen wasn’t listening to Bruce Springsteen; Bruce Springsteen grew up listening to ‘50s groups and then in the ‘70s he was going to Suicide shows in like, tiny basement clubs in New York. And I was like, “Oh, well, I know ‘50s girl groups, and I know Wall of Sound and I know Suicide. So instead of copying Bruce Springsteen, why don’t I just pretend like I’m Bruce Springsteen, and listen to Suicide, and listen to girl groups and like, see what happens?” [Laughs.]
That’s crazy! “Masquerade” especially feels like it could be a perfect Fleetwood Mac song…
I get it, because there’s this speed up in the second half, but I was kind of just ripping off an Arcade Fire move. Like, I thought people were gonna call me out for ripping off Arcade Fire.
Even with the direct influences being so loose, were there certain sonic elements that you wanted all the songs to share?
I knew I wanted really tight, beautiful harmonies, especially for [singer] Diana and [singer and guitarist] Peter. When you hear two people in harmony you’re like, “Oh, this is why they’re together, this is why this is compelling.” And then when you add a third voice to it you realize why they’re a band just intrinsically. There’s so many different kinds of ‘70s harmony — there’s the Eagles, The Byrds, Richard and Linda Hamilton, Fleetwood Mac — but they all have this beautiful harmony, particularly if you’re in California [where Stereophonic takes place]. And then Peter is a guitar player, so there had to be some guitar riffs in the show.
Will Butler (center) in the studio during the recording of Stereophonic‘s original cast recording.
Andy Henderson
How involved were you in the casting process?
I was there for the whole ride. And wow, I truly hated being behind the table and judging them — what a horrible thing for a musician to do. We wanted to cast people that were expert musicians and amazing actors and were right for the roles, but I was very cavalier about the musician aspect — where I was like, anyone can be in a band, we don’t need technical wizards, they just need to be musical and have some sort of charisma and it’ll work out. We did know we needed a drummer, we knew we couldn’t teach drums in a short amount of time. But everyone else we just wanted to have a baseline [level of ability]. They needed to have the right personality, to be able to learn music, and they needed to be able to dance a little bit. And it was a little heavier lift than I thought, but in the end my naïve self was right.Another part of it is that [actors] Tom [Pecinka] and Juliana [Canfield] and Sarah [Pidgeon] are just such beautiful singers — they sang so well together day one, like unmannered, beautiful, idiosyncratic and they blended perfectly. That was incredibly moving. When they were just running through the songs, there was such deep emotion there that I was like, okay, we’ll be fine.
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In theater, it can be so obvious when someone is fake-playing an instrument — and these actors aren’t just proficient players, they totally embody what someone playing their instrument would be like. What was it like to witness them evolving like that?It was really wild. Sarah Pidgeon, who doesn’t play an instrument — I mean, she plays a tambourine, she plays it great — but even standing at a microphone took her about eight weeks to feel. It was really interesting to watch someone learn how to stand at a microphone in a way that just feels natural. It feels like she’s supposed to be there and supposed to be singing. Tom Pecinka didn’t have a ton of guitar, but when he first put on a guitar in the audition room, I was like, “Oh, I actually can’t tell if he’s a good guitar player or a bad guitar player.” He looks the part, and his physicality was so natural.
A lot of it is also really great directing, the building of the band and the orchestrations. We spent a lot of time in practice rooms, me and Justin Craig, the music director, building a vibe as much as anything else. I had [the cast] open for a show of mine in the fall, and I think the physicality of playing one club show kind of gave them a sense of how powerful they were.
We hear many little snippets of songs before we hear full versions, and we don’t hear full versions of all of them. How did you and David decide how that would play out?
Honestly, we didn’t talk about it that much, because it just felt so naturally right to both of us. It just felt to me like the process of making a record — someone plays a demo off a cassette, and you go work on it, and things fall apart, and finally you start to lose your mind and you’re cutting things that are good, and then you’re dong the final details and everyone’s losing their minds. The arc of the play honestly just felt so accurate to my life.
Some songs in the show, like “Bright,” we hear multiple different versions of as they’re being worked on. How did that writing process — creating partial songs — work?
The hard thing is just writing a really good song. When I was working on Everything Now with Arcade Fire, Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk was producing it, and he’s like a philosopher. He was saying how a great song can support infinite cover versions; like, a truly great song, the production is not the thing. And there’s nothing wrong with the production being the thing — but if it’s a great song, you can produce it 1000 different ways and you can have 100 different cover versions, and they all speak in some sense. So I was like, “Okay, I’ve just got to write this song, and if it’s good enough, then we can do it 100 different ways and it’ll be compelling.”
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Having had this experience, are you interested in doing more theater work?
Yeah, me and David Adjmi are working on a more traditional musical, or I guess more of a rock opera or something. It’s early days, but it would be silly for us not to do something else — and I think it’d be really fun to make it. And I’m good friends with Lucas Hnath, who is such a brilliant playwright — we’ll slowly work on a couple things.
One of my own takeaways from the play was how, as a fan, it can be easy to romanticize and mythologize the internal drama of a famous band — but really, a band is made up of humans who are dealing with very human-sized joys and tragedies. As someone who has been in a much-adored big band and has probably had that projected on them as well, what is it like seeing how Stereophonic plays out?
I think there’s a folk sense that relationships predate art, where it’s like, “Oh, they had this stormy relationship, and they wrote a song about it.” And the play is really showing that it’s all just one mess — if you’re creating, if you’re collaborating with someone, the relationship is the art and you’re making it with the person and it’s just a human mess. It’s all fundamentally emerging from the same place, and oftentimes, that place is quite broken. I appreciate just how true [the show] feels. It just shows the tangled web of trying to make art with with four of your friends, which is really powerful.
I was in a band with my brother and his wife, and now I’m in a band with my own wife and her sister. So I’ve been in bands with these long, deep relationships. I consulted with David a bit on the technical side, but I didn’t tell him what it was like being in a band with family — and because he’s so observant or maybe just that he is a very good playwright, the humanity of it is very accurate to me. And it’s a credit to the humanity of the actors, too, because it’s one thing to read the words and it’s another thing to like, make them happen in real life and put real flesh and bones on it.
This year’s CMA Fest in Nashville launched with music icon Dolly Parton spilling the details on several projects she has in the works — namely, a Broadway musical as well as a hotel.
“It’s true, I’m going to have a hotel right here in Nashville, and a museum too,” Parton told the crowd.
The country icon officially revealed her upcoming Songteller Hotel in Nashville, which will be located on 3rd and Commerce in downtown Nashville. The hotel will also include a Dolly Parton museum that will feature memorabilia from her career and many of her fashionable outfits, including a replica of Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors,” which inspired her signature song of the same name.
The name of the hotel takes its name from Parton’s 2020 book Songteller: My Life in Song, written with author-journalist Robert K. Oermann.
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“When we were looking at the property, you know how sometimes you feel you get a little divine sign,” Parton said during the event, which was hosted by Entertainment Tonight‘s Rachel Smith. “We were walking through and it was an empty room. There was a table and of all things, there was the book Songteller and we thought that must be a sign and we thought that would be a good name.”
Parton, of course, is no stranger to launching hotels — the singer, songwriter and business mogul’s Dollywood theme park includes the Dreammore Resort, which opened in 2015, and the Heartsong Lodge and Resort, which opened in 2023.
Parton also announced her upcoming Broadway musical, Hello, I’m Dolly: An Original Musical, set to open in 2026. Parton says she affectionately calls it “a Grand Ole Opera.”
“I tried for years, how to do my life story and make it make sense. I needed to write some original music. I’m hoping you’re gonna laugh and cry,” Parton said.
The musical will trace Parton’s life story from growing up in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee before making her way to Nashville to pursue music. The musical will chronicle her early solo hits, her work with Porter Wagoner and her rise as to becoming an internationally, Country Music Hall of Famer, with 25 No. 1 Billboard Hot Country Songs hits. as well as a multi-faceted artist through her work in movies and television.
The musical will be produced by Parton, Adam Speers (ATG Productions) and Danny Nozell (CTK Enterprises), and takes its name from Parton’s first studio album, which released in 1967. Hello, I’m Dolly will feature a score by Parton that will include some of her biggest hits as well as new songs she has written especially for the musical, and a book by Parton and Maria S. Schlatter.
In addition, Parton revealed the launch of Dolly Wines (which starts with a Dolly 2023 California chardonnay) and the cookbook Good Lookin’ Cookin’, which she created with her sister Rachel. Good Lookin’ Cookin’ releases Sept. 17.
These business ventures expand on Parton’s recent teaming with Duncan Hines to launch a line of cake and muffin mixes, as well as Parton’s recent partnership with Krispy Kreme for the limited-time Dolly Parton Southern Sweets Doughnut Collection.
Parton also recently revealed her upcoming family-oriented album Smoky Mountain DNA–Family, Faith and Fables, out in November.
In the meantime, Parton told Smith that she has no plans to slow down anytime soon.
“Not today,” Parton quipped. “Maybe someday I may have to. I’ve always said if my husband was in ill health and needed me, I would pull back — and the same with my own health. But I kind of dreamed myself into a corner and I need to be responsible for that. I may pull back a little now and then, but not today.”
The 77th Annual Tony Awards, set to air live on both coasts on CBS on Sunday, June 16, will feature performances from the eight of the nine productions nominated for best musical or best revival of a musical, omitting only Gutenberg! The Musical!, which played its final performance on Jan. 28. The musical starred Josh […]
As he prepares for the Friday (May 31) release of Honeymind — his third studio album (and first on Interscope) — and settles into his just-opened, 18-date run of concerts reopening Broadway‘s iconic Palace Theatre, singer-songwriter and actor Ben Platt recently sat down with Billboard News to discuss creating his new music, the relationships and artists inspiring him now, and his upcoming projects.
The Honeymind creation process occurred in Nashville, during what Platt calls a “point of transition personally and career-wise, reinvestigating my reasons for being an artist, relearning the importance of following passion and doing things that feel authentically fulfilling and not necessarily checking boxes.” It was also a happy time, Platt says, of settling into the comfort of his relationship with his now-fiancée, fellow actor Noah Galvin — and he found himself exploring, through songwriting, “that crossroads between what it feels like to arrive in your real relationship and have a partner who you feel really understands you holistically, and how do you need to work on yourself as a person to be ready for a relationship like that?”
His Honeymind collaborators include beloved Nashville writers Natalie Hemby and Hillary Lindsey, as well as executive producer Dave Cobb, who worked with Platt at his home studio in Savannah, Ga. Platt praises Cobb’s “barometer for honesty and authenticity … he’s very much no bulls–t. If something feels put-on, or like a bell or whistle, he has no problem being very forthright about that.”
Platt opens up as well about the singular experience of filming the very personal music video for single “Cherry on Top,” in which he enjoys a day out around Los Angeles with Galvin. “I was apprehensive at first — I love to keep some things sacred and private,” he explains. But he ultimately realized that, since song was written specifically about his experience with Galvin, “nothing felt as true as the actual relationship itself that brings that joy about.”
An unabashed fan of pop, Platt also gushes about his own favorite music right now, mentioning perennial favorites Maggie Rogers and Chappell Roan (he’s a vocal longtime fan: “I’ve known she was a superstar the whole time!”). He’s also big on Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, Kacey Musgraves’ Deeper Well (Musgraves made a surprise appearance at Platt’s opening night at the Palace to duet with him on her “Rainbow”), and Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine (“Ari is one of the greatest pop voices of this generation, and it’s such a sharp, delicious bubblegum album that is like, harkening back to Mariah….it’s always in my head”).
Additionally, Platt shares the inspiration he takes from seeing two of the biggest tours of the past year: Beyoncé’s Renaissance trek and Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. Swift “shares her own experiences and makes us feel like we’re in her living room … in a way that feels very off the cuff but is clearly very thought out and well-crafted,” he says; Beyoncé is “an unbelievable live singer … and on top of that the level to which she exerts and gives of herself no matter what show she’s doing? You’ve never seen her half-ass a performance in her life!”
Platt will be occupied promoting Honeymind for some time — after his Palace residency, he will embark on a tour of the U.S. and Canada (with album collaborator Brandy Clark supporting) through late July. Meanwhile, he reveals to Billboard that Richard Linklater’s twenty-years-in-the-making film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s musical Merrily We Roll Along — announced in 2019, in which Platt stars alongside close friend Beanie Feldstein and Paul Mescal — is progressing.
Platt says two of “eight or nine” sequences have been filmed with, he adds with a laugh, just “another 16 or so years to go.” Linklater, he says, “puts a lot of emphasis on not looking too far ahead … it becomes too daunting, so I just treat it as this gift of getting to have little checkpoints in my life to check back in with Sondheim, with Paul, and obviously Beanie.” Platt praises Mescal, who makes his major musical onscreen debut in Merrily, as a “gorgeous, kind, amazing actor, beautiful voice — he’s the real deal.”
See what else Platt had to say in the video above.
A Pitchfork-celebrated LP from 2005 that crested at No. 121 on the Billboard 200 is unlikely source material for a Broadway musical, but Sufjan Stevens’ career has long defied expectations. Branching out from intimate folk to expansive chamber pop to hypnotic electronica, Stevens’ unpredictable career has seen the singer-songwriter veer into the worlds of moviemaking (both directing and soundtracking), ballet, classical, essay writing and even Christmas music.
Earlier this year, acclaimed choreographer and frequent collaborator Justin Peck brought a stage musical version of Illinois (rechristened Illinoise: A New Musical) to Manhattan’s Park Avenue Armory – a fitting enough place for the kind of suggestive, balletic storytelling director/choreographer Peck delivered (he also co-wrote the musical’s book with Jackie Sibblies Drury). But when Illinoise: A New Musical successfully hopped to Broadway shortly thereafter, playing to rave reviews and sold-out crowds, it felt like a new trail was being blazed. Sure, Broadway has always trafficked in nostalgia, and we’ve seen beloved albums (American Idiot, Jagged Little Pill) inspire hit musicals before. Never has an album this uncommercial blossomed into a structurally experimental musical and succeeded with Broadway crowds and critics, nabbing four 2024 Tony nominations, including best musical.
Now, those who haven’t had the chance to catch it on Broadway – or who have and simply want to relive it – can experience the emotionally charged glory of Illinoise: A New Musical when Nonesuch Records releases the original cast album on May 31.
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Ahead of its release, Billboard can share an exclusive preview of two of the songs: “The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!” and “Chicago (Reprise).” With Timo Andres providing arrangements that punctuate the songs subtly and expressively, vocalists Elijan Lyons, Shara Nova and Tasha Viets-VanLear are able to offer performances rich with yearning, heartache, hope and tender joy. Lyons, in particular, takes us on a cross-country emotional road trip with “Wasp,” his voice building from dulcet fragility to heartbroken fervor on the nearly seven-minute musical odyssey courtesy an 11-piece band deftly guided by Nathan Koci.
Check them out below.
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The cast album is produced by Dean Sharenow, Timo Andres, Nathan Koci, Garth MacAleavey and executive produced by Orin Wolf & Nate Koch. It was edited, mixed and mastered by Sharenow at Steel Cut Audio and Garth MacAleavey served as recording engineer. The album’s band includes Elijah Lyons, Shara Nova, Tasha Viets-VanLear, Christina Courtin, Sean Peter Forte, Domenica Fossati, Daniel Freedman, Kathy Halvorson, Nathan Koci, Eleonore Oppenheim, Brett Parnell, Brandon Ridenour, Kyra Sims and Jessica Tsang.
Nonesuch Records
From its 1975 debut on Broadway as “the super soul musical,” winning seven Tony Awards and spotlighting stars like Stephanie Mills, Hinton Battle, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Andre De Shields; to its Oscar-nominated screen adaptation starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson among others; to its sing-along songs like “Ease on Down the Road,” “Home” and “Believe,” The Wiz has become a modern-day musical theater classic — and in its retelling of The Wizard of Oz through the lens of Black culture and music, a landmark in Broadway history.
Yet the show has only had one official Broadway revival, in 1984, which ran for a grand total of 20 performances — until now. A major new production of The Wiz is playing at the Marquis Theatre, and four of the stars of its cast and creative team — actors Wayne Brady and Deborah Cox; choreographer JaQuel Knight; and writer Amber Ruffin, who created additional material working with the show’s original book — stopped by Billboard News recently to talk about why the show is still a groundbreaker and a hugely entertaining crowd-pleaser.
For all four, The Wiz was a formative show, influencing their career paths in entertainment and showing what was possible for Black artists. “It was one of the drivers that made me go, ‘Oh, I think I can do this,’” says Brady.
“The film was just life-changing — it allowed me to see life as a choreographer and understand the essence and energy of movement,” adds Knight, known for his work with major pop artists including Beyoncé, Megan Thee Stallion, Zara Larsson, J Balvin and more.
For Ruffin, The Wiz was “a real introduction to Black weirdness not connected to Black pain…The Wiz is the thing that gives you permission to be your artsiest, weirdest self and just do what’s in your weird little heart.”
Brady, who’s starred in previous Broadway productions including Kinky Boots and Chicago, plays the showman titular character, while R&B veteran Cox displays vocal pyrotechnics as Glinda. Both discuss The Wiz‘s enduring significance as a universally welcoming show — and proof that Broadway can continue to diversify and evolve.
“This show is a testament to what you can do when you display Black people and Black culture not as a monolith,” says Cox. “We are all of it, and we are the origin of it, and I think this show is the beginning of what you’ll be seeing a lot more of on Broadway.” Adds Brady: “It’s a true display of Black excellence in every form. It’s so rich.”
To hear what else Brady, Cox, Knight and Ruffin had to say, watch the video above.