"What the World Needs Now Is Love" To Be Part of Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular

Sara Bareilles, the composer of Broadway's 'Waitress,' will perform the ‘Broadway for Orlando’ single “What the World Needs Now Is Love” as part of the lineup of talent at NBC’s 40th annual Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular in New York City. The special presentation will air on NBC starting at 8:00pm ET.

After you view the video of the recording of the single, check out the video of the backstory/making of the song that Seth Rudetsky recently completed. The radio host on Sirius FM’s Broadway channel filmed a detailed ‘Deconstructing ‘What the World Needs Now Is Love’ in which he gives the inside scoop “Behind the Music’-style. Perhaps because I have had the opportunity to record in a small recording studio on a few occasions, I was fascinated to listen to one of the music director of the newest version of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David classic describe the recording of the piece at his characteristic breakneck speed. Viewers can also verify the identity of every soloist and what has Mr. Rudetsky obsessed with about each performance. I had to listen twice, but I did manage to catch the name of Broadway Records founder Van Dean who, along with Mr. Rudetsky and his husband James Wesley, served as executive producer.

100% of the proceeds from this single goes to help GLBT Community Center of Central Florida. Broadway for Orlando has already raised nearly $100,000 in just the first week. As Broadway lovers continue to support the single, this nonprofit will be able to help those most affected by this terrible tragedy.

Buy the song/CD/Donate here:
http://www.broadwayrecords.com/broadway-for-orlando

Playbill.com reports that the 25-minute Independence Day fireworks display over the East River will be choreographed to a patriotic score performed by Tony Award winnerJennifer Holliday and the United States Air Force Band.

Also scheduled for the pre-fireworks concert are The Radio City Rockettes, Kenny Chesney, 5 Seconds of Summer, Meghan Trainor, Pitbull and multi-platinum band DNCE. Returning to emcee the broadcast are TODAY show co-hosts Willie Geist and Tamron Hall.

Fireworks will be launched from five firing locations on the East River in midtown Manhattan and within the South Street Seaport district. The 2016 celebration will include more than 56,000 pyrotechnic effects and feature the New York debut of pyro-writing, described as an explosive version of skywriting created using fireworks that will spell out “USA” in the night sky. That should be pretty amazing.

The Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular telecast is a production of Universal Television in association with Macy’s.

Photos courtesy of Van Dean's Facebook page (Mr. Dean is far right in Photo 2)