Broadway Records announced today the release of the world premiere recording of MY MARCELLO, a new musical based on the motion picture For Roseanna by Saul Turtletaub. With music by Rosabella Gregory, lyrics by Dina Gregory and book by Corey Brunish, the recording features performances by two-time Tony Award winner Santino Fontana, two-time Tony Award nominated Laura Osnes, two-time Tony Award nominated Terrence Mann, Grammy winning and Tony Award nominated Elizabeth Stanley, Tony Award nominated Derek Klena, Drama Desk Award nominated Raymond Jaramillo McLeod and Drama Desk Award winner and Tony Award nominated Robert Cuccioli. The album will be available today, Friday August 20 wherever digital music is sold and on BroadwayRecords.com.
MY MARCELLO stars Santino Fontana (Tootsie, Cinderella) as “Marcello”, Laura Osnes (Bandstand, Bonnie and Clyde) as “Roseanna”, Terrence Mann (Les Miserables, Beauty and the Beast) as “Capestro”, Elizabeth Stanley (Jagged Little Pill, On The Town) as “Cecilia”, Derek Klena (Jagged Little Pill, Anastasia) as “Antonio”, Raymond Jaramillo McLeod (A Tale Of Two Cities, Wonderful Town) as “Rossi” and Robert Cuccioli (Jekyll & Hyde, Rothschild & Sons) as “Copponi.” The recording’s ensemble features Grace Choi (I Spy A Spy), Elysia Jordan (School Of Rock), Cynthia Meng (Company), Mary Page Nance (Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812), Vishal Vaidya (Groundhog Day), and Joel Waggoner (School of Rock)
MY MARCELLO is a romantic comedy about death (and a lot more). Set in a small Italian village where there is a scarcity of burial plots, shrinking by the month, particularly in light of a recent circus accident on the highwire. Marcello (Santino Fontana) makes it his personal mission to keep everyone in town alive for as long as possible. Why? His beloved wife, Roseanna (Laura Osnes), is gravely ill and wishes to be buried next to her daughter. For a tiny town cemetery running low on plots, this is a dubious possibility. Enter gangsters, falling church bells, evil landowners, bodies hidden amongst the frozen peas, a passionate couple – all creating the perfect recipe to discover the true meaning of love.
“When I saw the movie “For Roseanna” (also known as Roseanna’s Grave), it was so funny and charming and moving,” says book writer Corey Brunish. “I thought to myself, this would make a great musical. Fast forward 10 years, I had started my Broadway producing career and thought, if not now, when? And so I found twin sisters Dina and Rosabella Gregory, an insanely talented composer and lyricist team hailing from the UK, and knew we had a creative recipe ready to cook up something wonderful. A comedy romance about death? You bet. We hope the listener finds it as enchanting to listen to as it was to craft.
“MY MARCELLO is one of my most treasured projects,“ says lyricist Dina Gregory. “As a young adult, I fell in love with the whimsical humor and poignant beauty of “Roseanna’s Grave,” the 1997 movie upon which this musical is based. The movie’s impact on me was no doubt heightened by the timing of its release, coming not long after the passing of Rosabella’s and my father, Basil Gregory. Years later, when I learned that producer Corey Brunish had secured the rights to adapt the film, I was ready to move mountains to work with him on the musical. Fortunately, Rosie was game, and it only took a few “spec songs” for the dream to come true!”
“For me, MY MARCELLO is an unabashed celebration of love, kindness and a community that values empathy and connection,” said composer Rosabella Gregory. “In so doing, it counters some of the darker aspects of the world we live in today. The affectionate portrayals of everyday people, trying, failing then getting up to try again; all against the sumptuous backdrop of Trivento, enabled me to explore the intimacy of folk (“Danza” with its echoes of Tarantella), then soar into epic, symphonic landscapes. When I read this story, music was pouring off the page. All I had to do was catch the notes.”
MY MARCELLO is produced by Michael J Moritz Jr and Corey Brunish, associate produced by Jakob Reinhardt, arrangements and orchestrations by Rosabella Gregory, with music direction by Cynthia Meng, engineering by Jakob Reinhardt, mixed by Jakob Reinhardt and Michael J Moritz Jr, with mastering by Greg Reierson at Rare Form Mastering.
MY MARCELLO Track List
-
DANZA — Santino Fontana (Marcello), Ensemble
-
ANYONE COULD DROP DEAD — Santino Fontana (Marcello), Ensemble
-
THAT THING — Santino Fontana (Marcello) and Laura Osnes (Roseanna)
-
COPPONI’S LAMENT — Robert Cuccioli (Copponi)
-
FROG SONG — Derek Klena (Antonio) and Elizabeth Stanley (Cecilia)
-
THAT SHIP HAS SAILED — Santino Fontana (Marcello) and Terrence Mann (Capestro)
-
MY MARCELLO — Laura Osnes (Roseanna)
-
POOR FATALITI — Santino Fontana (Marcello), Ensemble
-
YOUR MARCELLO — Laura Osnes (Roseanna) and Elizabeth Stanley (Cecilia)
-
MARCELLO’S PRAYER — Santino Fontana (Marcello) and Raymond Jaramillo McLeod (Rossi)
-
REST IN PEAS — Santino Fontana (Marcello)
-
THE BELL — Ensemble
-
YOUR FATHER — Laura Osnes (Roseanna), Ensemble
-
OUR STORY — Santino Fontana (Marcello) and Laura Osnes (Roseanna)
-
SIXTEEN — Laura Osnes (Roseanna) and Terrence Mann (Capestro)
-
UNEXPECTED FREEDOM — Santino Fontana (Marcello) and Elizabeth Stanley (Cecilia)
-
LOVE! — Derek Klena (Antonio)
-
FINALE — Ensemble
Rosabella Gregory (Music) is an award winning singer-songwriter, composer and arranger. She has released three albums and performed her work throughout the UK and internationally, as a solo artist at venues such as The Royal Festival Hall, Pizza Express Jazz Club, Joe’s Pub (NYC) and 606 as well as in support of Jools Holland on his Country House tour. Other Career highlights include a live Radio 2 session with ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris and winning the International Prize in the New York Songwriters Circle Song Contest, which gained her the support of Grammy winning producer Russ Titelman who compared her to “a young Joni Mitchell”. Her musicianship has also led to wide ranging collaborations with such luminaries as Bob James, Anoushka Shankar and Soumik Datta and she is a sought-after arranger, working with a diverse array of artists including Faroese singer-songwriter and filmmaker Heiðrik á Heygum, Icelandic Indie Folk outfit Árstíðir, percussionist/composer Bernhard Schimpelsberger and UK pop sensation, Busted. Rosabella was 1 of 10 composers nominated to create an original song for The Canales Project #HearHerSong initiative (2019). Other works include Where No Bell Tolls an aria commissioned by the National Opera Studio (Hoxton Hall/Grimeborn, 2018), City Stories (numerous venues including a London residency at St James Theatre (now TOP) and 59E59 Theatre New York. TV composition credits include ‘Big Font Large Spacing,” “Dove” and Channel 4’s “The Last Leg.” More recently she collaborated with Opera Up Close, composing Sammy and the Beanstalk, their new online opera for children. As well as working in Theatre, TV and Opera Rosabella finds the time to lecture in composition at The London College of Music. Collaborating with her twin Dina has given Rosabella some of her most rewarding writing experiences, from in their early years writing a rock opera for the ENO Lillian Bayliss programme to winning the Vivian Ellis prize together at the age of 21, right up to the present day and their collaboration on a wonderful new adaptation of The Wind in the Willows starring Jennifer Saunders and Harriet Walter for Audible.
Dina Gregory (Lyrics) is a storyteller and lyricist who hails from Devon. She holds an MA in Psychology, Physiology & Philosophy (PPP Joint Honours) from Somerville College, Oxford University, and an MFA in Musical Theatre Writing from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her musicals, plays, songs, arias, and choral anthems have been performed at venues large and small, both in the USA and the UK, including Hoxton Hall, Her Majesty’s Theatre, the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, and Carnegie Hall. As lyricist/librettist, her works include Words Apart, published by Choristers Guild (2020), “Grateful” (Hear Her Song, Canales Project, 2019), and Where No Bell Tolls. commissioned by the National Opera Studio (2018). As book writer-lyricist, her works include Hello Sky, a musical based on the life of artist Georgia O’Keeffe (produced by OperaLancaster, 2010), Falling (Daegu International Musical Festival, South Korea, 2010), and Willy & Rupert (O’Neill Music Theater Conference, 2005). As author, Dina has penned over twenty stories for Audible, including the short stories “Gingerella” and “The Chocolate Tree,” and the full-length Audible Original adaptation of Wind in the Willows (2020), featuring an all-star cast and including music by her twin sister and longstanding collaborator, Rosabella Gregory.
Corey Brunish (Book) has, at some point, participated in every aspect of live theatre. It was when he joined the ranks of Broadway producers that all that experience paid off. Brunish has garnered 11 consecutive Tony Award nominations over the last 9 seasons, and received three Tony Awards and an Olivier Award from London’s West End. Two of his most notable production credits include Beautiful The Carole King Musical, which ran for 6 years and is in the top 3% of all musicals in terms of longevity. Come From Away returns to Broadway this Fall and is perhaps the most beloved of all shows on which he has served as a producer. Additionally, Brunish largely funded the concert “Women of Soul” filmed in the East Wing of the Obama White House for PBS. (Starring Aretha Franklin, Melissa Etheridge, Patti LaBelle, Janelle Monáe and Ariana Grande). He is currently producing the new documentary feature about the career of Stephen Schwartz titled “Defying Gravity.”
Broadway Records is the leading, Grammy® winning record label dedicated to releasing the most popular and current Broadway cast recordings, as well as preserving legacy musical theatre and theatre vocalists repertoire. Under the leadership of Broadway Records’ president and founder Van Dean, recent releases include: If The Fates Allow: The Hadestown Holiday Album, Lea Salonga Live In Concert with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Breathe with an all-star cast including Tony Award-winners Kelli O’Hara and Brian Stokes Mitchell, the Broadway star-filled concept albums of Edge Of The World, Little Black Book, In Pieces and Stone Crossed, Legacy: Two Song Cycles by Ahrens and Flaherty, Georgia On My Mind with an all-star Broadway cast, Tony Award-winning revival of The Color Purple, the Tony Award® winning and Grammy® nominated revival of Once On This Island, the Grammy® nominated Matilda The Musical, Fiddler on the Roof (2015 revival) and My Fair Lady (2018 revival), Anastasia, Bandstand, Groundhog Day, The Lightning Thief and NBC’s television events, “The Wiz Live!” and “Peter Pan Live!”. The label’s critically-acclaimed “Live at Feinstein’s/54 Below” series features top Broadway stars including Patti LuPone, Aaron Tveit, Annaleigh Ashford, Norbert Leo Butz, Sierra Boggess, Laura Benanti, Emily Skinner & Alice Ripley, Adam Pascal & Anthony Rapp, Micky Dolenz and many others. Broadway Records has partnered with the Black Theatre Coalition to create Black Writers Amplified (to be released in late 2021), an album consisting entirely of new works by Black musical theatre writers. This project to immediately take steps toward significantly increased representation of Black writers in musical theatre and support new voices and emerging Black talent. Broadway Records philanthropic endeavors also include the “Broadway For Orlando: What The World Needs Now is Love”, “We Are The World” by Broadway United and “Broadway Kids Against Bullying: I Have a Voice” music videos and From Broadway With Love benefit concerts for Sandy Hook, Orlando (Emmy Award for Sound) and Parkland. www.BroadwayRecords.com
GET SOCIAL WITH BROADWAY RECORDS:
Twitter/Instagram: @BwayRecords