NEW YORK (AP) - The Broadway musical “Fun Home” had fun at a different home when cast members went to Spotify’s New York headquarters and knocked out new takes on their Tony Award-winning songs.
The result, available online Friday, marks the first time a Broadway show has participated in Spotify Sessions, the music service’s streaming program of intimate in-studio performances and conversations.
During the six-song session, Gabriella Pizzolo sang an a capella version of “Ring of Keys” accompanied by a seven-member choir; Beth Malone sang “Telephone Wire” with the show’s composer, Jeanine Tesori, on piano; Judy Kuhn performed “Days and Days” with a harpist; and Pizzolo, Malone and Emily Skeggs joined for the show’s finale, “Flying Away,” with harp and piano.
The session also included the song “Pony Girl,” a soft lullaby in the show that Tony-winning actor Michael Cerveris and his band, Loose Cattle, transformed into a violin-and-guitar foot stomper.
And listeners will get a real treat with the seriously goofy “Changing My Raincoat,” in which Joel Perez raps and Roberta Colindrez beatboxes a hysterically funky take on the song “Changing My Major,” which was sung backstage to keep things loose.
“It’s really fun because I love arrangements and when we were told about this and invited to revisit the songs, I thought, ’Let’s really revisit them. Let’s let it be an opportunity,’” Tesori said afterward.
The musical is based on Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel memoir about growing up with a closeted dad in the family’s funeral home business. It won the 2015 best musical Tony.
The Spotify session was recorded Jan. 19 in front of several dozen Spotify employees. A panel that included Tesori, book writer and lyricist Lisa Kron and Bechdel discussed the making of the musical.
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Online:
https://funhomebroadway.com /
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Mark Kennedy is at https://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
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