Charles Ligus
Book & Lyrics by Tyler Milicic
Music by Charles Ligus & Tyler Milicic
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Based on the virtual play Like You,
created by Tyler Milicic
For benefit of Olde Town Hall Theatre
North Ridgeville, OH
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Orchestrations & Vocal Arrangements by Charles Ligus
Synthesizer Programming by Charles Ligus & Joey Miller
The History
The basis for Like You: A New Musical came when I was a Junior in High School. I had met Tyler while playing keyboard for a production of The World According To Snoopy, produced by Olde Town Hall Theatre (A community theatre organization from North Ridgeville, OH). After the show one night, I joined the cast and crew for dinner where Tyler and I had talked a lot about our passion for creating original work.
Tyler mentioned that he was currently working on a new musical that was based on a play he had written and produced during the Covid-19 pandemic (meant to be performed virtually). He had already written a majority of the music itself but needed someone to help refine the arrangements and possibly help with some additional music. having grown up doing theater and having dreamed about working on an original show, I jumped at the chance.
balancing full-time college degrees and other responsibilities, Tyler and I worked diligently to turn this virtual play into a full-blown stage musical. through the gradual creative process, what originally seemed to be a musical supervision job turned into composing the music for no less than 16 new compositions while also adapting and doing the orchestrations for a few of Tyler's original songs that remained a part of the project.
By December of 2024, we had a complete show and decided it was time to share it with the world.
The Recording
We had decided that, in the digital age, a recording was naturally the best way to promote our work prior to any staging. the idea of a concept album had come up several times throughout the creative process, but was never quite fulfilled (apart from a 5-track EP which contained some early demos of songs). Once we finally had a finished draft however, this became a much more realistic goal.
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A massive undertaking for two college kids, the recording utilized a 14-piece orchestra and 17 vocalists between the regions of Cleveland and Toledo (with one performer sending their recordings all the way from Colorado!!!). Funds from generous supporters and even a grant from BGSU's Center for Undergraduate Research & Scholarship ensured we could deliver a high-quality product without breaking the bank.
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The process began with orchestra rehearsals in Bowling Green, OH at the end of the 2025 semester. A single 12-hour session was held at BGSU's Kuhlin Center on May 5th to capture live performances of the orchestrations that would then be used a backing tracks for the vocalists.
Auditions for vocalists were held in early 2025 through video submission and were rehearsed throughout the Summer, generously hosted by Cleveland's Rainey Institute. Vocals were then recorded over a period of 3 days at Lava Room Recording in Independence, OH. Additional content was recorded remotely and sent in to be spliced into the final project.
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By late 2025, the project was finally coming to a close as we received the final masters of our tracks. Beginning in late October, 4 promotional singles were released bi-weekly to build hype for the final album release.
The Release
The World Premiere recording of Like You: A New Musical
was released on November 28th, 2025
A Deluxe version will also be released which contains exclusive scenes from the show as well as additional music
Complete recording credits
Like You: A New Musical
Book & Lyrics by Tyler Milicic
Music by Charles Ligus & Tyler Milicic
Based on the virtual play Like You, created by Tyler Milicic
For benefit of Olde Town Hall Theatre
North Ridgeville, OH
Orchestrations & Vocal Arrangements by Charles Ligus
Synthesizer Programming by Charles Ligus & Joey Miller
​
Recording Dates:
Orchestra recorded May 5th, 2025 at The Stanton Audio Recording Studio (Bowling Green, OH).
Vocals recorded August 8th & 9th and September 6th at Lava Room Recording (Independence, OH), and September 13th, 2025 at the Moore Musical Arts Center (Bowling Green, OH)
Recording Engineers: Marco A. Mendoza & Jayden Hall (Orchestral Session)
Mike Pfaff (Vocal Sessions)
Thomas Williamson (Additional Vocal Session)
Mixing & Mastering: Jeremey Poparad
Vocalists
(Alphabetical Order)
Dominic Carlozzi
Payton Charlotte
Josh Foote
Bruin Kennedy
William Ligus
Jade Lopez
Billy Lucas
Laney Mitchell
Malik Montgomery
Macie Pacheco
Rafael Pacheco
Hannah Rutkowski
Micah Saunders
Brooklynn Stanley
Noah Underhill
Kamryn Vealey
Josie Wilka
Orchestra
Flute - Rachel Moeller
Oboe - Kathryn Swanson
Clarinet/Bass Clarinet - Ricky Jurski III
Bassoon - Cruz Stock
French Horn - Charles Ditchman
Guitars - Elijah Stewart
Drums/Percussion - Liam Lockhart
Keyboards - Abigail Petersen & Joey Miller
Violins - Sophia Singleton & Antonia Saurez
Violin/Viola - Jaylon Keller
Viola - Jake Weil
Cello - Hayley Currin & Josh Lyphout
Bass - Thomas Johnston
Additional Musicians on What The Ladies Like
Drums - Leonardo Alvarez
Latin Percussion - Francisco Suarez & Hugo Iglesias Olmos
Orchestra conducted by Charles Ligus
Additional MIDI Sequencing by Charles Ligus
Marching Percussion by River B.
Featured Sound Libraries by:
Spitfire Audio
Fable Sounds
Orange Tree Samples
Native Instruments
All Sound FX and Foley fall under Creative Commons or were used by permission of the creator
Special Thanks:
Dr. Dan Piccolo
Dr. Cordula Mora
Dr. Geoffrey Stephenson
Jennifer Harris and the Rainey Institute
Vic DiAngelo
Federico Orlando
Donors
Alicia Patrice
Ashley Sova
Brock Burkett
Cheryl Mitchell
Christine Spinner
Dennis Davis
Glenn Sonoda
Joann Geyer
John Danko
Julie Bermudez
Kayla Armendariz
Kayleigh Bednarski
Kevin Bylsma
Kristin Osinski
Laney Mitchell
Larry Phillips
Laurie Septaric
Lisa & James Ligus
Mara Connor
Orysia Ligus
Patrick Pauken
Russ Borski
The DiSantis Family
Trinity Floyd
Wendie Kiskaddon
William & Andrean Streck
