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Kritzerland is very proud to present the world-premiere cast album of a brand new Sherman Brothers musical:
LEVI!
Music and Lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman
Book by Larry Cohen and Janelle Webb Cohen
It would seem nigh unto impossible to produce a new Sherman Brothers musical in the year 2017 but sometimes nigh unto impossible things happen and dreams come true. The musical was and is called Levi! It was written in the very late 1970s but never produced. Not only did it have a score by one of the most legendary songwriting teams in history (Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang, “It’s a Small World”), it had a book by the cult screenwriter/director, Larry Cohen (and then-wife, Janelle Webb Cohen), who had, a few years earlier, unleashed the world’s first mutant killer baby movie, It’s Alive. The show was about the life of Levi Strauss, the man who gave the world Levi pants. From his coming to America as a penniless immigrant to finding the greatest success imaginable and truly achieving the American Dream.
The 1980s were difficult for the Sherman Brothers and the heartbreak of Levi! sitting unproduced was, yes, heartbreaking. But now, at long last, that wrong has been righted. The show, with a revised book and some additional material, opened on November 17, 2017 in the Camino Theatre on the campus of Los Angeles City College. The audiences loved the show – there were laughs and tears and cheering and standing ovations at every performance. The production had a great set, fun choreography, beautiful costumes, terrific orchestrations, wonderful lighting and sound – and a great performance by leading man, Marc Ginsburg, who was simply born to play Levi Strauss.
The story of Levi Strauss resonates today in a way it didn’t back when the Sherman Brothers and Larry Cohen and Janelle Webb Cohen had written it. It is more timely and relevant now than ever in its story of immigrants being given a chance to make good, in its depiction of horrible racism, and in its depiction of an honest, principled who made the world a better place. Oh, and those Sherman Brothers songs. There wasn’t one person in any of the audiences that didn’t leave humming the show’s anthem and theme, “Opportunity.” In fact, the score is classic Sherman Brothers, filled with catchy, hummable tunes and lyrics that illuminate character and story. It’s a big, old-fashioned musical, the kind you don’t see much anymore – with a musical’s most important attribute: Heart.
Levi! was recorded live in the Camino Theatre and we’re beyond thrilled to give it a CD release.
Levi! is limited to 1,000 copies only and priced at $24.98, plus shipping. CDs will ship by the first week of February, but never fear, we’ve actually been averaging three to five weeks early in terms of shipping ahead of the official ship date and we’re going to do our best at this busy time of year to get them shipped by early January. To place an order, see the cover, or hear audio samples, just visit www.kritzerland.com.
ATTENTION INDIEGOGO CONTRIBUTORS: IF YOU WISH TO RECEIVE THIS RELEASE YOU MUST OPT-IN BY SENDING US AN E-MAIL – SEND TO kritzerland@gmail.com. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO RECEIVE IT, YOU DON”T NEED TO DO ANYTHING. IF YOU ARE NOT AN INDIEGOGO CONTRIBUTOR, ORDER AS YOU NORMALLY WOULD. THANK YOU.
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More Sherman Brothers!!! Bruce you magnificent devil! Love it.
Glad someone here does  Even Henry Stanny is in absentia and he was really wanting us to do this.
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Morricone, they do not care. Oh, they love Mary Poppins, they'll buy Chitty eighteen times, but this? This is like warts. It's not a question of audio samples - the songs are classic Sherman Brothers. Less than 400 people have even bothered to open the thread.
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I see ya, Bruce. Haven't had time to check out the samples but I will.
If it's the Shermans, I'll find it.
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Sound samples will be up sometime this week, hopefully by Monday.
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A few very rough mixes of six tracks are up, just to give you an idea of the songs themselves. These are NOT the final mixes nor has it been mastered yet. We're finessing things now and I am very particular and fussy about stuff.
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I didn't think I would get more excited about this, but those samples are awesome. The brothers' style really comes through. Thanks for doing this Bruce. I hope you will consider more Sherman Brothers in the future.
We definitely have one more SB CD coming in 2018 - some really fun stuff.
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Yes, Marc is wonderful. The actual mixes sound amazing and I wish we could put those up but I'm still playing with them.
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Levi and Villa-Lobos have arrived and will ship tomorrow and Saturday (we have a TON of Levi orders).
If you haven't ordered Levi and if you profess to love the Sherman Brothers, I cannot recommend this album highly enough.
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