Colin Donnell and Patti Murin have hit a new milestone in their marriage.
We reveal that the actors, known for their roles on television (Chicago Med) and on Broadway (Anthony Goes, Frozen), have collaborated on their first joint album — an LP of solo and duet covers set for release on Nov. 18 via Broadway Records.
Title Something Stupid after the beloved 1967 Carson and Gaile tune, the album — which Donnell and Murin engineering their own vocals on from their newly formed home studio — is what the couple sweetly call "a slice of us."
"We had an absolutely blast," says Murin, 42, of the process of putting the album together. "Colin and I have always talked about doing a record together, even though we have such different styles; I'm so musical theater and Colin is more in the rock genre. And what we wound up with a collection of songs that, while quite eclectic in their selection, presents itself as the ultimate compromise between our two styles."
"It really is represents us in every way," Donnell, 40, adds. "When we started this process we began by tossing around some ideas. And we ended up with this kind of weird hodgepodge of song choices that are all about searching, longing, and finding love, but that also really feels like Patti and I, and the bond and laughter that makes up our day-to-day."
Among the tracks on the album are hits from Bruce Springsteen, Sara Bareilles, Jason Robert Brown, Paul Simon and more.
It begins with Donnell's take on "House of the Rising Sun," the 1964 song by The Animals that Donnell previously covered during his time on The Affair.
"That song has always had kind of a fun place for me because of doing it on The Affair," he says. "And so I was super excited because, the arrangement on the album, it still had all that grit but yet I was able to put my own spin on it. It's such an iconic song but we achieved something that's uniquely mine, which was really cool."
Murin agrees. "That was the one that Colin was like, 'Oh gosh, this one's really hard.' And then when I heard it, I was blown away because he makes it sound so easy," she tells PEOPLE. "It just shows a scope of Colin that people have not seen in terms of his singing ability. I got chills listening to it."
Donnell was equally moved hearing Murin's sing "Everything Changes," from Waitress. In fact, listening through the album recently, that track brought him to tears.
"Patti made me cry," he remembers of his time listening to the song, which details a new mom singing about her worldview after the birth of her daughter. "I can't listen to that and not think about our 2-year-old daughter, Cecily, and what it's been like watching Patti as a mom."
"It's such a simple song but so affecting," Murin says. "I loved Waitress so much, and while 'She Used To Be Mine' is an incredible song, I think 'Everything Changes' is really the most powerful song in the entire score, just because of what it represents. It's really one of Sara Bareilles's best songs that she's ever written and it means so much to be able to sing it."
Other entries on the 12-track album album include the Johnny Cash and June Carter duet "Jackson," the Sondheim classic "Finishing the Hat" (from Sunday in the Park with George) and the Frozen II ballad "The Next Right Thing" — a single dropped in February which Murin sings after originating the role of Princess Anna in the Broadway production of Frozen.
The two also continue on the Disney train by joining together for a cover of "I See the Light" from Tangled.
Something Stupid's full track list is as follows:
- "House of the Rising Sun"
- "And I Will Follow"
- "Jackson"
- "The Next Right Thing"
- "Because the Night"
- "Meadowlark"
- "I See the Light"
- "Finishing the Hat"
- "How Do You Keep the Music Playing / My Funny Valentine"
- "America"
- "Everything Changes"
- "Something Stupid"
Both Donnell and Murin praise Luke Williams for bringing the album to life with his arrangements and orchestrations, as well as producer Robbie Rozelle for helping them curate the album.
"Robbie did a really amazing job at challenging us by suggesting songs we normally wouldn't have tried," explains Murin of Rozelle, who produced the album alongside Yasuhiko Fukuoka. "He also set up the order of the songs like a play, where there are connections between each as they roll into the next one. You really feel that as you listen through it. And Luke put in some really cool Easter eggs throughout the entire album so that there feels like there's a through line to all the solos and duets."
Ultimately, the couple — who wed in 2015 — say they're anxious for fans to listen to the album. "We're just excited for people to hear it," Murin tells PEOPLE. "And who knows, we may do it again sometime soon, 'cause we have certainly enough to sing about."
Something Stupid is out Nov. 18.
