Keep that "new year, new you" spirit going strong in the second month of 2023 with a brand new tune, "Start With a Bang," from songwriters Dan Mertzlufft and Kate Leonard. The tune is the first in a year-long series of new work to be released from monthly from the songwriting duo, along with orchestrator and frequent collaborator Macy Schmidt. Check out the video above of "Start With a Bang" featuring Broadway fave Julie Benko (Funny Girl), accompanied by The Broadway Sinfonietta.
Mertzlufft and Leonard are best for their work on the TikTok musicals Ratatouille and For You, Paige. Their newest work, Dot and the Kangaroo, recently premiered in Australia and was showcased at the Junior Theatre Festival in Atlanta. They were 2022 finalists for both the Kleban Prize and the Fred Ebb Award. Schmidt is the founder and music director of The Broadway Sinfonietta, an all female-identifying and majority BIPOC orchestra collective.
Benko certainly hit Broadway with a bang this past year as the Fanny Brice standby in Funny Girl. You can catch her onstage in the role February 21–26 as current lead Lea Michele takes a planned vacation.
