Aladdin and Allegiance star Telly Leung has recorded a new EP while in quarantine. You Matter, made in collaboration with composer and music director Gary Adler (Avenue Q), includes Leung's takes on Disney favorites "Proud of Your Boy" and "Go the Distance," along with two original songs written by Adler with lyricist Phoebe Kreutz. The album drops for streaming and digital purchase on all major platforms July 24.
Leung and Adler will mark the EP's release with a live streamed virtual release party benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Featuring music video debuts for all five tracks and live conversations between Leung and his You Matter collaborators, the stream will air at 8 PM ET July 23 at BroadwayCares.org/YouMatter.
"You Matter started as a labor of love and came out of a deep need to keep creating music together, but apart, during this long COVID intermission," says Leung. "The project started off with a beautiful original song written by my music director, Gary Adler. The song was inspired by the pandemic. We did the whole thing virtually, without ever seeing each other in person. And we wanted to share some of this love with our friends at Broadway Cares, an organization near and dear to my heart. So many of the annual Broadway Cares events have been canceled due to COVID-19 and we wanted to help."
Leung is joined by vocalist Jojo Engelbert for West Side Story's "Somewhere." The EP also features performances from Mary Ann McSweeney on bass, Brian Koonin on guitar, Michael Croiter on drums, and JJ Johnson on viola. The EP is engineered by Eli Engelbert, who also designed beats for the Adler-Kreutz original "Zoom With You."
