Hear the First Single From John C. Reilly’s Debut Album as Mister Romantic

In case you didn’t know: John C. Reilly is a vaudeville guy. Not only did the beloved character actor star as half of the legendary comedy duo Laurel and Hardy in the emotionally affecting biographical film Stan & Ollie (2018), but since then he’s created a throwback stage persona of his own, the lovelorn and musically inclined Mister Romantic, who has sold out concerts across Los Angeles since 2022.

Now, Reilly is set to introduce Mister Romantic to the rest of the world with a full-fledged album that arrives on June 13. His charming debut, What’s Not to Love?, contains a baker’s dozen classics, spanning the work of Irving Berlin to Tom Waits and even Édith Piaf’s cabaret standard “La Vie En Rose,” along with songs popularized by Louis Armstrong and Jo Stafford. The record, co-produced by Reilly and Grammy-winner David Garza, with contributions from other decorated instrumentalists, will mark the first release from Reilly’s own label, Eternal Magic Recordings.

And on Friday, the Mister Romantic one-man show will hit the road with a sold-out concert at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, with additional tour dates sure to follow. Audiences are in for a treat when they hear Reilly’s tender, all-American renditions of his favorite tunes.

“I looked at our weary world a few years ago and tried to think of

a way I could spread love and empathy,” Reilly says of the origins of the project. “I decided the most fun way to do that was through performing and singing and telling people I loved them. So the emotional vaudeville show Mister Romantic was born, out of both hope and despair.” The album, like the stage production, tells “the story of an eternal optimist, Mister Romantic, as he looks for love,” Reilly explains. “Each song moved me enough to want to share it with people and keep each one alive by passing it on like some of my favorite singers did in their time.”

The first single, out today, is an appropriately swooning cover of the 1944 Johnny Mercer song “Dream,” previously recorded by singers including Frank Sinatra and Roy Orbison. Reilly’s unmistakable voice is as warm and inviting as it was in the cozy animated mini-musical An Almost Christmas Story, released last fall on Disney+ and featuring the actor as wandering troubadour.

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It’s certainly a different musical side of Reilly than you might remember from Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007), whose titular song earned him a Grammy nomination. But that’s just a testament to his range and risk-taking as a performer steeped in song and theater.

“We hope it reminds people that it’s good to love,” Reilly says. “I figured it was worth a try.”