Arbender Robinson made his Broadway debut in the Tony Award winning production of "Hairspray", where he covered the role of Seaweed. In the original cast of Disney's "The Little Mermaid", he covered the role of Prince Eric. He also served as the Dance Captain and Swing for the Broadway revival of "Hair" and was seen in the Broadway revival of "Ragtime". His Broadway credits continue with Disney's "The Lion King". Since then, he was in the original cast of "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical".
On February 26, 2018, as part of the "Broadway at The Pierre" cabaret series in association with Broadway Sings for Pride, a concert was held at Two E Bar/Lounge — the sophisticated saloon located inside the New York City luxury hotel, The Pierre. The concert featured a performance by Robinson, backed by pianist and musical director Chris Curcio.
Robinson performed the song "Summer, Highland Falls" during the concert, where Shefik served as Videographer. "Summer, Highland Falls" is a song written by Billy Joel. The song was featured on Joel's fourth studio album "Turnstiles", released on May 19, 1976.
Joel recorded "Turnstiles" in part as a celebration of his return to his native New York City. Three of the album's tracks reference New York: "Summer, Highland Falls", "New York State of Mind", and "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)". It begins with "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" (inspired by The Ronettes song "Be My Baby") and also includes "I've Loved These Days", a tongue-in-cheek expression of regret at leaving behind Hollywood decadence. In an interview, Joel stated that the lyrics to the song "James" referred to various different people he knew in real life, with the title character being a "composite" of those people. In the song "Prelude/Angry Young Man", Joel opens and closes the song rapidly hammering the piano, which was meant to simulate the drum part in the song "Wipe Out" by The Surfaris.
The songs were first recorded at Caribou Ranch (near Nederland, Colorado), with members of Elton John's band (Nigel Olsson on drums and Dee Murray on bass) and produced by Chicago producer James William Guercio. Dissatisfied with the results, Joel took over as producer and returned to New York, where he re-recorded the album from start to finish, with his own touring band, which consisted of Long Island musicians Richie Cannata and the members of the band Topper: Liberty DeVitto, Russell Javors, Howie Emerson, and Doug Stegmeyer.
The album cover photo was shot in the uptown platform of the New York City Subway's Astor Place station. According to Joel, each of the characters on the album cover was meant to represent a particular song.
Credits
- Videographer: Shefik
Last Updated: April 29, 2023
