Songwriting duo Thomas Mizer and Curtis Moore open up to ET about why they're releasing 'Madly in Love' now.
There's more from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel you haven't seen -- or heard, in this case.
Songwriting duo Thomas Mizer and Curtis Moore, who wrote and composed five original songs featured in season 3, including "One Less Angel," have dropped a previously unreleased original song and only ET is exclusively premiering the new tune.
Titled "Madly in Love," the song is performed by The Silver Belles, Shy Baldwin's backup singers on Mrs. Maisel -- Alysha Deslorieux, Brennyn Lark and Markita Prescott. The song was one of seven or eight original works Mizer and Moore wrote for season 3, but was ultimately never chosen.
The pair decided to record and release the song amid the coronavirus pandemic to help benefit and raise awareness for charitable organizations, The Actors Fund, which supports performers and the entertainment community at large, and Covenant House, which offers assistance to homeless and runaway youth. They called upon Deslorieux, Lark and Prescott to record their parts on their iPhones while in quarantine, before it was mixed and edited together with the help of Moore's ex-roommate, Josh Koll. What you see above is the final product.
"Honestly, making music always helps us feel better and we were really concerned about our colleagues. So many jobs were being lost in TV and theater, not just for writers and actors but the crews and artisans and support staff," Mizer and Moore told ET in an email about why they chose to release this song now. "We’re not qualified to do first aid, let alone work on the front lines of a pandemic, so maybe we could provide some music, some joy in someone’s day and also raise money for The Actors Fund and Covenant House at the same time."
So, press play on "Madly in Love" and hear what the musical masterminds had to say about bringing this song to life for a good cause.
ET: When did you guys get the idea to record this unreleased Marvelous Mrs. Maisel song in quarantine?
Thomas Mizer and Curtis Moore: We knew we had to do something creative within about 10 minutes of realizing we were going to be stuck at home with nothing but our spouses and a couple bottles of whiskey. Our spouses’ sanity and our livers depended on us getting to work.
Honestly, making music always helps us feel better and we were really concerned about our colleagues. So many jobs were being lost in TV and theater, not just for writers and actors but the crews and artisans and support staff. How could we help? How could we give back to them and the wider world of need? We’re not qualified to do first aid, let alone work on the front lines of a pandemic, so maybe we could provide some music, some joy in someone’s day and also raise money for The Actors Fund and Covenant House at the same time.
As soon as we thought of recording something, finding a trunk song from Maisel seemed like the perfect salute to our entertainment colleagues. It’s such a showbiz show, but also New York City, which has been so deeply affected. It also was a great way to reunite with the Silver Belles and Curtis’ former roommate and the video’s designer/editor, Josh Koll, so we wouldn’t be staring just at the two of us on screen all the time. We loved working with Alysha, Brennyn and Markita in the recording studio and on set, and thought it was about time they got to step out from behind Shy again and be the stars they are.
Where was this song originally slated to air in season 3? Why was it ultimately nixed?
We originally wrote about seven or eight songs for the first episode of season 3, so Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino would have a range of options to choose from as we tried to figure out the perfect musical voice for Shy Baldwin and The Silver Belles. They picked two immediately, “One Less Angel” and “Bottle of Pop,” but said to stick a pin in two others for later in the season. One was the first draft of what would become “No One Has to Know” in episode 306 and the other was “Madly in Love.”
The Silver Belles needed a song for the Apollo sequence in the season finale, and we totally thought it would land there. But another Belles’ song that we wrote was chosen instead, “The Boy in the Blue Plaid Pants,” which is a little more raucous, a little saucier than “Madly” and a better fit for that episode. Every time we talked to Amy and Dan, that song would come up. It was on every list. But poor “Madly” never found the right home. We sort of felt protective of her by the end of the season. The last to be chosen. Kind of like us in middle school gym class.
What makes "Madly in Love" the perfect song to release during this time?
It’s sort of meant to be, now that we look at it. “Madly in Love” was just waiting for this moment. It’s great because it’s a burst of rhythm and sass and very sing-along-able. (Is that a word?) When we’re stressed and stuck in our work, sometimes we like to just blast a pop song and dance. Tom is known for hitting the dance floor and doing a mean pony; this song is the perfect song to pony to. Doesn’t everyone need a break to just dance for two minutes about now?
Do you have other unreleased Mrs. Maisel songs that you plan on releasing?
For every one of the five songs of ours you see in the season, there are probably another three or four songs or half-songs that didn’t make it. We could do a whole evening of Maisel songs. A very long evening. The great thing is that all five that did make it on the series are now being released on an all-originals season 3 soundtrack album in May. So people can enjoy those at home soon. And who knows? We’d love to get The Belles and Darius de Haas, the voice of Shy Baldwin, on a Zoom and try out some more. If people are enjoying them, that would be great. But what we really want is for us all to meet in a studio or in our apartment or on our front stoop with live musicians and sing together in person again! That’s what we want for everyone.
Could we expect to see another Mizer & Moore original in season 4?
That’s up to Amy and Dan! We certainly hope so. We loved working on the show. Everyone, from actors to crew to staff, are the A-team on Maisel. It was a joy being pushed to create at that level and collaborate with the best in the business. And music is such an integral part of the series; it always has been. Amy, Dan and music supervisor Robin Urdang are geniuses at finding the right song for the right moment. Now that they’ve added original music to the mix for the first time, we can’t imagine they won’t keep exploring it further. Plus, we’ve still got some more pony songs left in us!
To help support The Actors Fund and Covenant House, please visit actorsfund.org/maisel and covenanthousediy.org/campaign/maisel. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.
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