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Michael Longoria, star of Jersey Boys on Broadway, is releasing Catch A Wave, a new album celebrating the songs of The Beach Boys. Ahead of its release, BroadwayWorld has an exclusive first listen to Longoria’s rendition of the classic song “Good Vibrations.”
Catch A Wave: Michael Longoria and The Surfnotes will be released on April 10th. Other songs on the album include the title song, “California Girls,” and “Don’t Worry Baby,” which is available to stream now. Pre-save the album here.
Longoria will commemorate the album release with a concert at the Laurie Beechman Theatre on Saturday, April 11 at 7:00. Tickets for the show are available here.
Longoria first became familiar with The Beach Boys after listening to “Don’t Worry Baby,” which was written by band member Brian Wilson in the 1960s as a response to Ronnie Spector’s recording of “Be My Baby.” After hearing the song Longoria remembers, “something told me I had to record this song.”
For the covers, Longoria wanted to maintain the integrity of the original versions, while also allowing room for reinterpretation. “I wanted the boyish innocence of discovering love at the beach to inspire a more knowing version of these songs. I wanted to keep original harmonies but then add whatever my heart heard after laying down the first vocal pass,” explains the Broadway alum. “Harmonizing on top of my own vocals allowed me to tune into the original vibrations that made these songs lift the listener to a surf dream.”
With his experience performing in the style of The Four Seasons in Jersey Boys and Midtown Men, Longoria is no stranger to covering tunes from iconic bands. However, he notes that Catch a Wave marked a difference, as he was covering the songs solo and did his own harmonies.
“On this record, I really got to explore my bass voice in ‘Good Vibrations’ while finding moments to soar into falsetto in ‘Let Him Run Wild'”, he explains. “I got to know each song by approaching harmonies as different characters, and I had a lot of ‘Fun, Fun, Fun’ singing back up lyrics in every tone possible.”
Michael Longoria is best known for his star turn as Frankie Valli in the Tony and Grammy Award-winning Jersey Boys on Broadway, later touring the world as a lead singer and co-creator of The Midtown Men. Their debut album, Sixties Hits, featured on SiriusXM’s ’60s Channel, and was followed by the holiday single “All Alone on Christmas,” produced by Stevie Van Zandt and backed by Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. Longoria’s debut solo album, Broadway Brick by Brick (Broadway Records), reached #2 on the iTunes Vocal Chart, and his holiday follow-up, Merry Christmas Darling, earned critical acclaim and introduced his original song “Merry Me This Christmas,” which he performed live on The Hallmark Channel. His third album, Like They Do in the Movies, continued his work as a singer-songwriter with the original track “Kiss Me, Like They Do in the Movies.”
On stage, Longoria recently originated the role of Phil Lopez in the world premiere of Trading Places (Alliance Theatre, dir. Kenny Leon), earning a Suzi Award nomination for Best Featured Performer. Broadway credits include Hairspray (debut), Jersey Boys (Joey Pesci / Frankie Valli), and Off-Broadway The View UpStairs (Freddy), where he is featured on the original cast album singing the eleven o’clock number “Sex On Legs.”
A graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, Longoria began his professional career in the American premiere of Peter Pan & Wendy (Barrymore nomination). His other stage credits include West Side Story (Walnut Street Theatre), A Chorus Line (Helen Hayes Performing Arts Center), and Avenue X (Abe Burrows Theater). Internationally, he appeared in West Side Story at Teatro alla Scala in Milan and A Chorus Line in Munich.
His television and film work includes America’s Got Talent (NBC), Broadway Under the Stars (WCBS), Nickelodeon’s Dora the Explorer, the documentary One Night Stand, and his voice can be heard singing in the Barbie movie. As a frequent concert headliner, he’s performed at 54 Below, Joe’s Pub, Birdland, and symphony halls nationwide.
