Actor, performer, and Grammy Award-nominated album producer Philip Chaffin releases his fifth album, Will He Like Me?
(a song cycle that reimagines the Great American Songbook for the post-marriage-equality era, telling a gay man’s love story using classic American music) on November 9 through PS Classics. It's an interesting take on these songs you already know and love. Above BroadwayBox has an exclusive first listen to his performance of "Charity's Soliloquy" from Sweet Charity along with a quote from Philip below about how the song fits into the song cycle.As we were developing the album, and trying to put an LGBTQ spin on the Great American Songbook, we knew we wanted it to be more than just a collection of songs. We wanted to do something closer to a song-cycle: one that started with a first date and that ended with a final, lasting relationship—sort of an album-long search for 'Mr. Right' that didn't always go as planned. I confess, I gravitated to a lot of songs that reminded me of my early years dating, when I was way too trusting. As we were plotting out the album, we knew we were going to establish early on that this was a guy who leads with his heart. And I knew that somewhere, around the halfway point, I needed the guy to say, 'Enough. I'm too trusting. I'm not going to get my heart broken again.' We needed that epiphany. And my producer and husband Tommy instantly thought of 'Charity's Soliloquy,' and it was perfect. As with most of the songs on the album, I'm pretty sure it's the first time it's been sung by a man—but heaven knows, the scenario depicted, and the emotions felt, are universal. I think most of us get burned once or twice before we learn.
