Pop culture and rock meet Broadway with Winchell: The Musical
Yellow Sound Label has announced the release of Winchell: The Musical (NYC Studio Recording) on streaming and digital formats. Focusing on the legendary media figure Walter Winchell, the show features music by Keith Levenson (celebrated conductor and songwriter) and lyrics by Martin Charnin (Annie) and Keith Levenson. Album proceeds will benefit the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Heath, located in Las Vegas, which treats trauma and movement disorders, and has helped Mr. Levenson in his ongoing fight with Parkinson’s disease.
The all-star cast includes Roger Daltrey, Sally Struthers, Kate Baldwin, Chip Zien, F. Murray Abraham, Julia Murney, Billy Idol, Michael Cerveris, Darlene Love, Kristin Duerr, Adrian Zmed, Jon Cryer, Claudia Schneider, Steven Mercurio, Jackie Turner, Alice Cooper, Angelina Carballo, Jeffrey Bruce Duncan, and Jason Robert Brown as Walter Winchell. The show’s ensemble includes Claudia Schneider, Jessie Janet Richards, Claire Howland Kenny, Giulianna Augello, Neal Mayer, Larry Kleiber, Peter Cormican, Alexandra Rose DeAngelis, Peter Green, David Josefsberg, Mallory King, Mark Megill, Dominque Plaisant, Tom Rocco, David Quinn, Lisa Spielman, Jonathan Marc Sherman, and Joy Donze.
Walter Winchell was a syndicated American newspaper gossip columnist and radio news commentator. Originally a vaudeville performer, Winchell began his newspaper career as a Broadway reporter, critic and columnist for the New York tabloids. He rose to national celebrity in the 1930s with Hearst newspaper chain syndication and a popular radio program. He was known for an innovative style of gossipy staccato news briefs, jokes, and Jazz Age slang. He claimed that his popularity and influence “turned journalism into a form of entertainment.” Winchell’s legacy is still relevant today; he not only wrote about celebrities, he invented them.
Winchell: The Musical was scheduled to open on Broadway in 1991, but a scandal involving the producers forced the show to cancel those plans. The score was never recorded, but this new album offers musical theater and classic rock fans the chance to hear this melodic and delightful score for the first time.
Keith Levenson crosses the borders of Broadway, rock, pop and symphonic music. He composes, conducts, arranges and programs for theater as well as concert and television stages. Keith has conducted the Broadway and National Touring productions of Annie with Nell Carter and Sally Struthers, Grease with Deborah Gibson and Adrian Zmed, Jesus Christ Superstar, Big River, Chess, Annie Warbucks, Tony and Grammy Award-winning Dreamgirls and the National Tour of Tommy. He served as music supervisor of the National Tour of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, starring Ann-Margret, and the National Tour of The Bridges of Madison County. As a music supervisor/orchestrator/arranger, Keith has worked on Broadway and regional productions of She Loves Me, On the Town, Shenandoah, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Can-Can, and numerous others.
Mr. Levenson has toured and recorded worldwide as the arranger, orchestrator, music director, and conductor of The British Rock Symphony and The Ultimate Rock Symphony. He has arranged and conducted for The Who, Roger Daltrey, Meat Loaf, Alice Cooper, Thelma Houston, Peter Frampton, Billy Preston, Ann Wilson, Darlene Love, Eric Burdon & The New Animals, Yes, Billy Thorpe, Kiss, and The Alan Parsons Live Project.
In 2018, Keith conducted the US tour of the legendary rock opera Tommy with symphony orchestras across the country. It resulted in Tommy Orchestral, the album produced by Keith and Roger Daltrey, which went straight to the top of Billboard’s Classical Crossover chart and in 2019, he conducted and produced The Who at Wembley 2019. That opened as No. 1 on the Billboard Classical/Crossover charts.
- Prologue: The Town Ain’t the Same Anymore – Keith Levenson, Martin Charnin, Chip Zien, Sally Struthers, Roger Daltrey & Michael Cerveris
- Lottie – Keith Levenson, Martin Charnin, Chip Zien & Jason Robert Brown
- The Town Ain’t The Same Anymore (Reprise 1) – Keith Levenson, Martin Charnin, Jason Robert Brown, Chip Zien & Jon Cryer
- Some Little Something to Hide – Keith Levenson, Martin Charnin, Jason Robert Brown & Julia Murney
- Winchellese – Keith Levenson, Martin Charnin, Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, F Murray Abraham & Claudia Schneider
- The Town Ain’t the Same Anymore (Reprise 2) – Keith Levenson, Martin Charnin, Chip Zien & Jason Robert Brown
- Real Good Guy to Know – Keith Levenson, Martin Charnin, Jason Robert Brown & Kate Baldwin
- Winchellese (Reprise) – Keith Levenson, Martin Charnin, Chip Zien, Alice Cooper & Steven Mercurio
- It Happens at Night – Keith Levenson, Martin Charnin, Roger Daltrey, Kristen Duerr & Julia Murney
- Stay With Us – Keith Levenson, Martin Charnin & Angelina Carballo
- Everybody Dies – Keith Levenson, Martin Charnin, Jason Robert Brown, Julia Murney, Kate Baldwin & Chip Zien
- He Knows Where the Bodies Are Buried – Keith Levenson, Martin Charnin, Julia Murney, Adrian Zmed & David Josefsburg
- Only God Knows Why – Keith Levenson, Martin Charnin, Julia Murney & Chip Zien
- Teacher, Teacher – Keith Levenson, Martin Charnin, Darlene Love, Jackie Turner & Steven Mercurio
- Sometimes It’s Right to Be Wrong – Keith Levenson, Martin Charnin, Chip Zien, Jonathan Marc Sherman, Julia Murney & Jason Robert Brown
- He Know Where the Bodies Are Buried (Reprise) – Keith Levenson, Martin Charnin, Chip Zien, Jon Cryer & Alice Cooper
- Unfinished Symphonies – Keith Levenson, Martin Charnin, Jason Robert Brown & Kate Baldwin
- Without Me/Finale – Keith Levenson, Martin Charnin, Jason Robert Brown, Roger Daltrey, Darlene Love, Julia Murney, Sally Struthers, Chip Zien
