John Cameron Mitchell, Bryan Weller to Release 'Anthem: Homunculus' Soundtrack Featuring Cynthia Erivo, Patti LuPone

Today Ghostlight Records announces a May 20 digital download and streaming release date for the soundtrack to Anthem: Homunculus, created by award-winning writer/director John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Shrill) and composer/writer Bryan Weller, featuring original music and lyrics by Weller & Mitchell. Anthem is an edgy anthology series produced by Topic (Missing Richard Simmons) and distributed by Luminary, that tells a unique American story through a distinct musical voice. A groundbreaking and ambitious new podcast that combines music, drama, film and theater, Anthem: Homunculus is the first of its kind to offer audiences an original, Broadway caliber production in podcast form starring top talent, including Cynthia Erivo, Glenn Close, Nakhane, Patti LuPone, Laurie Anderson, Marion Cotillard and Denis O'Hare.

In the premiere season, Homunculus, a broke, solitary, and bitterly funny shut-in, Ceann Mackay (Mitchell), launches the world's first online radio "tumor telethon" to crowdfund his brain cancer care. The audience is taken on a darkly hilarious journey of his life story through flashback and song until sudden fame arrives when he realizes that what is killing him may be the very thing that could save us all.

Anthem: Homunculus is a 10-episode podcast series produced by Topic and will be released April 23 on Luminary. The soundtrack - featuring over 30 original songs by Bryan Weller and John Cameron Mitchell, with Weller serving as producer- will be released on May 20 with a digital preorder starting today. It covers a range of genres including indie-rock, jazz, R&B, folk, soul, country, baroque, dream pop, contemporary classical, and avant-garde.

Each preorder and pre-save will give instant access to tracks that align with the week's respective podcast episode as the season progresses. For the first episode, preorders will receive access to "Love You for Free," "The End of Love," "Homunculus," "Second Glance," and "I Exist."

Bryan Weller: "When John and I set out to start working on the story and music, the idea wasn't to write in an episodic format. But as the story grew in magnitude, so did the scope of the music, with it being clear that all these different characters in this world would have their own sound. So the songs came to make up an eclectic, expressive world of contrasts and variety all their own. The real songwriting began right after the presidential election of 2016, so while this informed many aspects of the narrative, much of the lyrical content and musical tone also reflect this. There's anger and fear, but also resolution and defiance, and ultimately hope."

John directed, starred in and co-wrote, with Stephen Trask, the musical film Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), for which he received the Best Director Award at the Sundance Festival and was nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Actor. His recent Broadway production garnered the 2014 Tony Award for Best Revival of Musical and a 2015 Special Tony for his return to the role. He directed the sexually frank ensemble film Shortbus (2006), and his film adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Rabbit Hole (2010) received an Oscar nomination for Nicole Kidman. He's recently played recurring roles in HBO's Girls, HBO's Vinyl, CBS's The Good Fight, andAmazon's Mozart in the Jungle. Last year he released his film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's punk-era How to Talk to Girls at Parties starring Elle Fanning, Alex Sharp and Nicole Kidman.

Bryan is New York based a composer, musician, lyricist, and writer who has been working and playing with John Cameron Mitchell since 2013, taking various positions on projects ranging from television, theatre, film, and musical performance. Bryan worked closely with John on his 2018 film, How To Talk To Girls At Parties, including the co-writing and performing of six original songs appearing both in the film and the soundtrack