Featuring Broadway stars Annie Golden, Nicholas Rodriguez, Farah Alvin, and more
The Billy Joel Project, the debut album from The Broadway Ensemble – an 11-member cast with a combined 48 Broadway credits – has been released on streaming and digital formats Friday, July 11, with a CD edition to follow later this summer.
Check out album's first single “She's Got a Way,” performed by Donna Vivino of Broadway's Hell's Kitchen, Wicked and Les Misérables, out now.
The album is produced by Phil Geoffrey Bond, the force behind the Grammy Award-nominated album series Sondheim Unplugged. Listen to the single “She's Got a Way” on Spotify or Apple Music.
The Billy Joel Project is a new collection of songs, at turns intimate and explosive, that gets to the heart of one of the major singer/songwriters of our time. These new interpretations honor the original versions, but invite the audience to hear them in new ways. The album not only highlights beloved Joel classics like “New York State of Mind,” “She's Always a Woman,” and “Only the Good Die Young,” but also a selection of deeper cuts, such as “Where's the Orchestra?” and Joel's latest single from last year, “Turn the Lights Back On.”
The album highlights the vocal talents of Farah Alvin (Drama Desk nominee, The Marvelous Wonderettes), Nicholas Edwards (& Juliet, Frozen), John Treacy Egan (The Producers, The Little Mermaid), Annie Golden (“Orange Is the New Black,” Assassins), Lina Koutrakos (10-time MAC Award winner), Aaron Ramey (The Visit, The Bridges of Madison County), Nicholas Rodriguez (Company, The Sound of Music), Courter Simmons (Jersey Boys), Rachel Ulanet (Beauty and the Beast, Lovemusik), Donna Vivino (Wicked, Hell's Kitchen), and Michael Winther (Flying Over Sunset, Songs from an Unmade Bed). Music direction is by Jeremy Robin Lyons (Anastasia).
Phil Geoffrey Bond, producer and founder of The Broadway Ensemble, comments “For over fifty years, Billy Joel, the ultimate Piano Man, has given us unforgettable characters and stories—touching, complex, funny, and deeply moving. Now The Broadway Ensemble is honored to present his music with our debut recording.”
“Billy Joel is more than a musical genius —he's a master storyteller,” continues Bond. “His ability to weave powerful, profound, and deeply human narratives makes his music a perfect match for The Broadway Ensemble. After all, storytelling is what actors do best. Join us as we put you in a “New York State of Mind” with The Billy Joel Project, a collection of some of his most inspiring, heartfelt, beautiful, and memorable songs. Sit back, relax, and enjoy—preferably with a bottle of red… and a bottle of white.”
THE BROADWAY ENSEMBLE, founded in 2025 by Grammy-nominated record producer Phil Geoffrey Bond was created to bring Broadway's vocal artistry to a larger audience, featuring some of the most exciting voices ever to grace a Midtown stage. Settle in with your favorite cocktail as cast members from shows like Hell's Kitchen, Wicked, Frozen, Hairspray, Mamma Mia!, and The Producers lend their remarkable voices to contemporary classics. From Billy Joel and Joni Mitchell to The Beatles, Annie Lennox, Elton John, and Carole King, these powerhouse performers reimagine the music of legendary artists, supported by extraordinary Broadway pit musicians who have stepped out of the orchestra pit and into the spotlight. More details at www.TheBroadwayEnsemble.com
1) Overture – Jeremy Robin Lyons and Band
2) New York State of Mind – Nicholas Edwards & John Treacy Egan
3) She's Got a Way – Donna Vivino
4) Angry Young Man – Rachel Ulanet
5) A Matter of Trust – Farah Alvin
6) You're My Home – Michael Winther
7) Only the Good Die Young – Courter Simmons
8) Vienna – Rachel Ulanet
9) Summer, Highland Falls – John Treacy Egan
10) I Go to Extremes – Farah Alvin
11) This Is the Time – Nicholas Edwards
12) The Entertainer – Nicholas Rodriguez
13) I've Loved These Days – Annie Golden
14) Entr'Acte – Jeremy Robin Lyons and Band
15) Scenes from an Italian Restaurant – Courter Simmons
16) And So it Goes – Michael Winther
17) An Innocent Man - Nicholas Edwards
18) Lullabye / Goodnight My Angel – John Treacy Egan
19) She's Always a Woman – Rachel Ulanet
20) The Downeaster Alexa – Aaron Ramey
21) Turn the Lights Back On – Annie Golden
22) Miami, 2017 – Farah Alvin & Nicholas Rodriguez
23) Bows – Jeremy Robin Lyons and Band
24) Where's the Orchestra? – Lina Koutrakos
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