British Youth Music Theatre (BYMT), The Hollywood Film Chorale, The Pinewood Singers, Ten Two Six Music Group and West End musical performers form a 90 strong, transatlantic virtual choir that has recorded an original song to raise much needed funds for theatre workers in the UK and the US.
‘Imagine A World That Didn’t Sing’ is a love letter to musical theatre. Donations to the charities linked with this song, including the Theatre Artists Fund, can be made below the YouTube video of the song. To watch the video, click here.
The song was written by award-winning LA based composer Alexander Rudd and UK based writer/lyricist John Nicholson. What started out as a small project to encourage and support a group of BYMT members during lockdown then grew exponentially. John Nicholson said;
“When we put the call out to professional singers to collaborate, the response to both the appeal and to the song was overwhelming and humbling. The 15 BYMT members have ended up singing alongside Grammy award winners and some of the highest profile movie recording artists in the industry.”
Jon Bromwich, Executive Producer of BYMT (who Ed Sheeran is both a Patron and alumnus of) said;
“As well as helping amplify the message about the cliff edge still facing theatre workers here and, in the US, this was a fantastic opportunity for BYMT members. We also very much hope it will help raise funds for our Access To The Arts Campaign – designed to help ensure that financial hardship should not be an obstacle for young people of all backgrounds one day joining the next generation of musical theatre performers.”
Many of the professional singers who have contributed to this recording are recording artists in their own right. Between them, singing credits include numerous Disney films (Frozen), numerous Hollywood blockbusters (La La Land), songs and albums with Billy Eilish, Pharrell Williams, Paul McCartney, Willie Nelson, Leonard Cohen, Miley Cyrus, Sheryl Crow and Allison Krauss (to name but a few).
The song is taken from a musical, recently penned by Nicholson and Rudd for BYMT which Luke Sheppard (& Juliet) directed in 2018. It wittily references many of the long running musicals that have been put on hold since March and asks a simple rhetorical question – imagine a world that didn’t sing. The song has been endorsed by Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber.