A mad scientist desperately works on a new formula, trying and failing time and time again, all in an effort to woo his love interest who just doesn’t seem to understand him. Sounds like the plot for a campy Halloween-themed B-movie, right?

Sure, but it’s also the theme of “This Time I’ve Got It,” a new music video featuring Las Vegas magician The Great Tomsoni with a decidedly Halloween bent. The campy video brings together Tomsoni — comprised of magician John Thompson and his wife and partner Pam Thompson — and fellow magic-makers Penn & Teller, actress Joelle Righetti and the cast of the Jersey Boys for 230 seconds of spine-tingling whimsicality. The song, available for download on iTunes, Youtube and Music Avenue Records, is also included on DVD video packages “Best of Halloween” and “Hot HD’s” by top music aggregator Promo Only (serving DJs, program directors and in-store music and video providers).

But it’s the names behind the video that really help give it its ghoulish power. It was co-written by Denny Randell and Biddy Schippers, who also performed on the recording. Randell, nominated for the 2014 Songwriters Hall of Fame, has had more than 45 of his songs reach the Billboard charts, including “A Lover’s Concerto” by The Toys, “Native New Yorker” by Odyssey (featured on the last season of Sex and the City), and “Can’t Get enough of You Baby” by Smash Mouth. Other artists who have recorded songs penned or co-written by Randell include Quincy Jones, Diddy, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, Barry Manilow, Diana Ross, The Spinners. The Monkees and Busta Rhymes. All told, Randell’s songs have sold over 200 million records.

GALO recently had a chance to speak with Randell about “This Time I’ve Got It.” Here’s what he had to say.

GALO: First of all, how did the video come together and why did you decide to do a video for this particular song — what was the driving force behind it?

Denny Randell: We always felt the song conjured up a great visual story. When we produced the recording, the video was always part of the production plan.

GALO: Why the Halloween theme instead of, say, Christmas or another holiday?

DR: It starts with our song, which had already been written. Being about a mad scientist, it definitely lent itself to a fun and campy Halloween treatment.

GALO: The video involves a great deal of special guests, such as Penn & Teller, The Great Tomsoni and Las Vegas Jersey Boys cast members among others. What was it like working with so many people from diverse  artistic backgrounds?

DR: It was great to have all the wonderfully talented Las Vegas entertainers involved and performing along with John and Pam Thompson, The Great Tomsoni & Co. In addition to being a revered and award-winning magician himself, John has created magic and illusions for many of the top magicians: David Copperfield, Criss Angel, Lance Burton, Siegfried and Roy, and Penn & Teller, who make a special guest appearance in our video.

Being Las Vegas based ourselves, we had the opportunity to work with many of the entertainers in the video before. Three of my songs are in the Tony Award winning show Jersey Boys, and the video contains musicians, singers and dancers supporting the Great Tomsoni as he seeks to create a formula to woo the girl of his desires. It seemed like fun and a natural to include some of these great talents from the Las Vegas cast.

GALO: What was shooting the video like in terms of the process? Any funny moments on set that were not caught on film?

DR: The video was a two-day shoot, after weeks of preparation, including John, Pam and us running like mad to get the props and costumes together and [having] the sets designed and built, and then a number of days of editing and post production — including incorporating John’s speaking lips into the “singing” scientist pictures. One of John’s friends had the perfect location adjacent to the original Liberace Museum. As the executive producers, as well as being part of the cast, it was on us to oversee the entire shoot for which we brought in Los Angeles video producer Emery Emery to direct and finalize.

Every time we straightened up the pictures on the wall and were ready to shoot, we saw they were crooked again and we all laughed about the idea of other spirits being in the room. Also, having a bird as part of the cast created quite a few funny moments. He took us by surprise when he turned his head and seemingly winked during the last frames of the video — as if he knew he was on camera.

GALO: The video calls to mind classic horror television programs such as The Addams Family or The Munsters. Is that intentional, and were those shows an inspiration?

DR: We definitely envisioned that genre and are glad to see that it evokes that feeling. In addition to everything else, John and Pam are incredible actors and have appeared in TV and film, in addition to their magic act, and they really were great at playing the characters in that spirit.

GALO: What was your favorite aspect of the video and what do you hope people take away from seeing it? Is there a certain message you were trying to get across apart from the fun holiday theme?

DR: John’s performance as an actor and as a magician in the video is an incredible combination of visuals and all the magic he performs was real time — no film editing. Also, we appreciate the feedback that people see new things when they watch the video. For example, not everyone gets the whole lyric the first time or realizes that it’s John’s face morphed into the various scientists in the pictures. That people feel there are new layers of entertainment to uncover is great.

As writers and producers, the most important thing of all is that we hope we created something fun and entertaining. We’re grateful about the response that the video is getting from TV and Web video stations and in-store play.

GALO: A project like this one often elicits new ideas; therefore, I have to ask, do you have any plans for future videos?

DR: Yes, but right now we’re in a writing stage.

GALO: Is there anything else you’d like to add concerning the video or future projects?

DR: Thanks so much for featuring “This Time I’ve Got It” and inviting us to tell you a little more about the project. Both the record and the video are available on iTunes as well as many [other]places; it can be watched online and on TV. For more information on our songs and productions visit www.dennyrandell.com.

Featured image: Pictured: Songwriter Denny Randell. Photo Courtesy of: LUCK Media.