PS Classics co-founder Philip Chaffin will release an album of 17 classics from the American Songbook, including tunes by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg, and Alan and Marilyn Bergman, on Will He Like Me?, a new song-cycle that spans a modern gay relationship from first meeting to final goodbye.
Set for a November 9 release, Will He Like Me? weaves together nearly a century of American popular songs to re-contextualize it in a post-marriage equality world. Krasker produces the album that is conducted by Richard Carsey and features arrangements and orchestrations by John Baxindine.
The project is special for Chaffin and his partner Tommy Krasker, who formed PS Classics in 2000. 鈥淎lthough the idea for the album had been percolating for a while, it was actually a chance remark in 2013 by Steve Sondheim that kicked it into high gear,鈥� Krasker said. 鈥淧hilip and I were working on Philip鈥檚 fourth solo disc, a salute to lyricist Dorothy Fields, and he wanted to sing her classic 鈥楻emind Me.鈥� The refrain went 鈥楻emind me not to find you so attractive. Remind me that the world is full of men.鈥� It was written for a woman, and didn鈥檛 have an 鈥榓lternate version鈥� for a man to sing. You couldn't just change 鈥榤en鈥� to 鈥榳omen,鈥� because it had to rhyme with two other words later. So I wrote to Steve, knowing how much he loved Dorothy Fields鈥� work, and asked if he鈥檇 supply an alternate lyric. And he was lovely and came up with two, which were wonderful, but he also said, 鈥榊ou know, it鈥檚 2013. I think you should just sing the lyric as is.鈥�
鈥淪uddenly a wealth of songs opened up to us. Songs Philip hadn鈥檛 been able to sing, because they were meant for a woman to sing about a man, or because the actions described鈥攕ay, cooking breakfast for someone you love鈥攄idn鈥檛 conform to standard gender stereotypes.鈥�
The track list follows:
鈥淲ill He Like Me?鈥� (Jerry Bock & Sheldon Harnick)
鈥淚t鈥檚 a Nice Face/When I Marry Mr. Snow" (Cy Coleman & Dorothy Fields/Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II)
鈥淐ooking Breakfast for the One I Love鈥� (Billy Rose & Henry Tobias)
鈥淚 Didn鈥檛 Know What Time It Was鈥� (Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart)
鈥淢an With a Load of Mischief鈥� (John Clifton & Ben Tarver)
鈥淐harity鈥檚 Soliloquy鈥� (Cy Coleman & Dorothy Fields)
鈥淎n Occasional Man鈥� (Hugh Martin & Ralph Blane)
鈥淟ovely, Lonely Man鈥� (Richard M. Sherman & Robert B. Sherman)
鈥淎 Tender Spot"/"Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe鈥� (Ervin Drake/Harold Arlen & E.Y. Harburg)
鈥淭om鈥� (Michael John LaChiusa)
鈥淏ut I Could Cook鈥� (Harold Arlen & Dorothy Fields)
鈥淚 Got Lost in His Arms鈥�/鈥滵on鈥檛 Ever Leave Me鈥� (Irving Berlin/Jerome Kern & Oscar Hammerstein II)
鈥淲ho Gave You Permission?鈥� (Billy Goldenberg & Alan & Marilyn Bergman)
鈥淲indflowers鈥� (Jerome Moross & John Latouche)
Will He Like Me? can be pre-ordered on .
