Welcome To Hollywood
Recording Artist: The Cast of Pretty Woman: The Musical
Writers: Jim Vallance
Bryan Adams
Date Written: October 2015, Toronto (with revisions 2016-18)
Album: Pretty Woman: The Musical (Atlantic Records / 2018)
Audio:
 
Vocals: Eric Anderson, Orfeh, the Company
 

Will Van Dyke: keyboards, conductor, music supervisor, orchestrator and arranger
Patrick Sulken: keyboards
Brian Koonin: guitar
Nate Brown: guitar
Steve Gilewski: bass
Sammy Merendino: drums
Juliette Jones: violin
Jocelin Pan: viola
Susan Mandel: cello

 
Produced by Jim Vallance and Bryan Adams. Recorded by Derik Lee at Power Station and Atlantic Studios, New York (assisted by Ebonie Smith, Joe Pomarico, Dan Fyfe, Brett Mayer, Neal Shaw). Mixed by Neal Avron at The Casita, Hollywood, CA (assisted by Scott Skrzynsk). Mastered by Chris Gehringer at Sterling Sound, New Jersey.
Comments:
 
Fire & Stone Pizza, Maiden Lane, London
 
Bryan Adams and I met with director Jerry Mitchell in London in August 2015 to discuss the possibility of collaborating on "Pretty Woman: The Musical". We spent an hour in a pizza restaurant in London's West End, getting acquainted and discussing the project. Looking back, Jerry was taking a huge gamble. Bryan and I had never written a Musical before. This was significantly outside our comfort zone. But perhaps that's what appealed to Jerry?

To get a sense of things, we asked Jerry to "walk us through" the opening scene, including a description of characters, set design, choreography ... in other words, everything he envisioned, assuming the project ended up going forward.

Jerry's a very animated and articulate fellow. He virtually "performed" the opening sequence for us, right there in the restaurant booth.

By the end of our meeting I could almost picture the opening scene on stage:  the "Happy Man" character dancing down the sidewalk, greeting strangers, welcoming everyone to Hollywood. 

Regardless, I had serious reservations about taking this on. I mean, what did I know about musical theatre? (answer = almost nothing). 

We told Jerry we'd give some thought, and we agreed to meet again in a few months time.

Song inspiration didn't strike immediately, nor did I think it ever would.  But a week or two after our meeting with Jerry an idea occurred to me one day while I was taking a walk. It was just a few bars of lyric and melody to begin with, the key phrase being, "Welcome To Hollywood". I sang the idea into my iPhone so I wouldn't forget it, and when I got home I recorded a quick demo and I sent it to Bryan in London.

Bryan liked the idea, and we began sending emails back and forth, each of us contributing lyrics and melody until the song was more-or-less complete.

On November 1st, 2015 we met Jerry again, this time at his apartment in New York, along with producer Paula Wagner and writer J. F. Lawton. They weren't expecting us to have any music ready ... in fact, they were surprised when we played them our demo for "Welcome To Hollywood", and a second demo for "Long Way Home".

Long story short, they loved what they heard and they hired us on the spot.!

Thus began a three-year journey that was equal parts Heaven and Hell.

Lyrics:

TELL ME, WHAT’S YOUR DREAM?
I KNOW YOU’VE GOT ONE 
IT'S LIKE A MAP TO YOUR LIFE
YOU'LL BE LOST UNTIL YOU'VE CAUGHT ONE

LOOK AT HER
SHE'S GOT DREAMS OF HER OWN DEEP INSIDE
HOW DO I KNOW?
IT’S MY JOB, I’M YOUR GUIDE
SO STICK WITH ME AND YOU'LL SEE WHERE THIS IS GOIN'

YOU'LL HEAR THE CITY'S HEARTBEAT
IN EVERY SQUARE OF CONCRETE
COME FOLLOW ME NOW

WELCOME TO HOLLYWOOD!

LOOK AT HIM
HE'S RICH, HE THINKS HE'S WINNIN'
HE NEEDS TO LEARN THAT HIS JOURNEY'S JUST BEGINNIN'

HIS CHILDHOOD HOPES ARE SHATTERED
NOW MONEY'S ALL THAT MATTERS
HE'S LOST HIS WAY

WELCOME TO HOLLYWOOD!

THERE'S DANGER ON THE STREET
IT'S ALL AROUND YOU
BUT NEVER FEAR
LET HOPE AND FAITH SURROUND YOU

TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER, I PROMISE ONE DAY
THE STARS ON THE SIDEWALK WILL SHOW YOU THE WAY
DON'T GIVE UP UNTIL YOUR DREAMS HAVE FOUND YOU

WE WELCOME YOUR ARRIVAL 
WE WISH YOU WELL 
SURVIVAL’S THE NAME OF THE GAME

WELCOME TO HOLLYWOOD

IN BRIGHT NEON LIGHT
YOU CAN PARTY ALL NIGHT
HERE IN HOLLYWOOD

THINGS WILL BE FINE
'CAUSE THE SUN'S ALWAYS SHININ'
IN HOLLYWOOD

I LIVE FOR TODAY
NOT A CARE, COME WHAT MAY
HERE IN HOLLYWOOD 

FOR ME AND MY FRIENDS
YEAH, THE FUN NEVER ENDS 
HERE IN HOLLYWOOD 

HOPES AND DREAMS ARE WHAT THIS TOWN IS MADE OF
SO GIVE IT A SHOT, YOU GOT NOTHIN' TO BE AFRAID OF

YOU'LL SEE ME HERE
AND YOU'LL SEE ME THERE
YOU JUST MIGHT SEE ME EVERYWHERE

BUT FIRST YOU MUST BELIEVE
YES, YOU MUST BELIEVE
IF YOU JUST BELIEVE ...

YOU'LL SEE THE LOVE WE'RE SENDING
WITH EVERY HAPPY ENDING

THIS I CAN PROMISE

WELCOME TO HOLLYWOOD!