Broadway singing stars have come together to record a charity single, with the proceeds going to the victims of the recent Orlando nightclub shooting. Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s song What the World Needs Now is Love will be released by Broadway Records as a digital download on 20 June.
Seth Rudetsky, a musical director who instigated the project, commented: ‘We started making calls and suddenly we had tons of theatre actors along with an orchestra and the services of a fully-staffed recording studio, all willing to donate their time and talent.
‘Our community of artists has banded together as we always do, to show we can end this cycle of violence and intolerance.’
Sarah Jessica Parker, Idina Menzel and Carole King appear as featured vocalists, with a chorus made up of 60 actors and singers including Matthew Broderick, Gloria Estefan, Whoopi Goldberg and Rosie O’Donnell.
The digital download of the song, originally released in 1965, will cost USD1.99 (€1.75) and is available through iTunes and the company’s website. A music video made by Playbill is currently in production.