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Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein was born on August 25, 1918 in Lawrence, Massachusetts.  He graduated from Harvard University in 1940, and took his first permanent conducting post as assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1943, then became music director of the New York City Symphony Orchestra (1945 - 1947).  From 1951 to 1956 he was head of the conducting faculty at Brandeis University.  His first TV appearance was in 1954, conducting Beethoven's Fifth Symphony for CBS' Omnibus.  In 1958 he became the music director of the New York Philharmonic (1958 - 1969).  The first of his Young People's Concerts was televised in 1958 on CBS, and continued until 1972, winning four Emmy Awards.

Bernstein's orchestral works include Jeremiah (1944, his first large-scale symphonic work), The Age of Anxiety (Symphony No. 2) (1949), Trouble in Tahiti (a one-act opera) (1952), Serenade (1954), Kaddish (Symphony No. 3) (1963), Five Anniversaries (1964), Mass: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players and Dancers (1971), A Quiet Place (an opera) (1983), Chichester Psalms (1988), Arias and Barcarolles (1989), and Concerto for Orchestra (subtitled Jubilee Games) (1989).

Bernstein's contributions to the Broadway musical stage include On The Town (1944), Peter Pan (1950), Wonderful Town (1953), The Lark (incidental music and lyrics) (1955), Candide (1956; composer's definitive recording 1989), West Side Story (1957; filmed 1961; composer's definitive recording 1985), and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (1976).  With choreographer Jerome Robbins, Bernstein collaborated on three major ballets, Fancy Free (1944), Facsimile (1946) and Dybbuk (1974).  He composed the film score for On the Waterfront (1954).

As a conductor, Bernstein made more than 400 recordings with the leading orchestras of the world (more than half with the New York Philharmonic).

His books include The Joy of Music (1959), The Infinite Variety of Music (1966), and Findings (1982).

Among Bernstein's many honors is the Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (1985), the Handel Medallion, and a special Tony Award (1969).  He won 11 Emmy Awards and in 1980 was a Kennedy Center Honoree.  He was conducting and creating music until his death on October 14, 1990.

External Links
The Official Leonard Bernstein Website
A Guide to Leonard Bernstein's Candide
The Leonard Bernstein Pages
Biography Page at the Unitel Website
Biography Page at the Boosey & Hawkes Website
The Leonard Bernstein Collection at the Library of Congress

Liz Callaway

Liz Callaway was born on April 13, 1961 in Chicago.  She made her New York debut in Godspell (1980).  Other off-Broadway appearances include The Matinee Kids, Brownstone (1986, Roundabout Theatre Company), No Way to Treat a Lady, 1-2-3-4-5 (1987, Manhattan Theatre Club), Marry Me a Little (1987, York Theatre Company), Say It With Music...The Irving Berlin Revue (1992), and The Spitfire Grill (2001, Drama Desk nomination).

Her Broadway credits include Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Baby (1983, Tony nomination), The Three Musketeers (1984), Miss Saigon (1991), and Cats (1993).  She also performed in the Lincoln Center concert of Follies (1985), the Encores! concert production of Fiorello! (1994) and the Oscar Hammerstein II 100th Birthday Concert Something Wonderful (1995).  Ms. Callaway is currently performing on Broadway in the Bachrach/David revue The Look of Love (2003).

Her regional credits include Shenandoah (National tour with John Raitt), A Little Night Music (Arena Stage), Evita and Sunday in the Park with George (both Blackfriars Summer Theater).

Television credits include the movie Senior Trip (1981), co-host of the daily children's program Ready to Go (WHDH Boston, 1989 Emmy Award), and voice work in Lyle, Lyle the Crocodile (1987, HBO).

Her voice work in animated films includes The Swan Princess (1994), the singing voice of Jasmine in The Return of Jafar (1994) and Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996), Anastasia (1997), The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars (1998), and The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998).

Her recordings include the solo albums Anywhere I Wander: Liz Callaway Sings Frank Loesser (1993), The Story Goes On: Liz Callaway On Broadway (1995), and The Beat Goes On (2001); an album with her sister, Ann Hampton Callaway, Sibling Revelry (1996); and the concert recordings of A Stephen Sondheim Evening (1983), and Follies in Concert (1985).  She is also a member of Bruce Kimmel's troupe of singers on the Varese Sarabande recording label's series of musical theatre compilations.

Liz has toured with her sister, Ann, performing their cabaret revue, Sibling Revelry (1996 MAC Award), as well as her own revues which include Infinite Joy: The Songs of William Finn and The Songs of Jimmy Webb and Paul Williams

External Link
The Liz Callaway Website

Len Cariou

Len Cariou was born on September 30, 1939 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.  He made his Broadway debut as Orestes in Tyrone Guthrie’s production of The House of Atreus (1968).  He returned in the title role of the American Shakespeare Festival production of Henry V (1969) and made his Broadway musical debut in Applause (1970).

Apart from creating the roles of Fredrik in A Little Night Music (1973) and the title role in Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), Mr. Cariou's other Broadway appearances include Nightwatch (1972), Cold Storage (1977), Dance a Little Closer (1983), Teddy and Alice (1987), The Speed of Darkness (1991), The Dinner Party (2000), and Proof (2002).  Off-Broadway he has appeared in A Sorrow Beyond Dreams (1977), Up From Paradise (1983), David Pownall’s Master Class (1986), Mountain (1990), Papa (1996), and The Persians (2003), as well as the Encores! presentation of No Strings (2003).

Mr. Cariou has played many of the great classical roles, as well as many contemporary ones, at theatres throughout the United States and Canada, among them the Stratford Shakespeare Festivals in both Ontario and Connecticut, the Guthrie, the Lincoln Center Theatre Company, the Manitoba Theater Center, the Long Wharf, the Old Globe, the Mark Taper Forum and the St. Louis MUNY.  His roles have included Orlando (1966), Iago (1968), Andrei in The Three Sisters (1969), Oedipus (1972), Lear (1974, 1982), Petruchio (1971, 1981), both Christian (1971) and Cyrano (1975), Dysart in Equus (1976), Jamie in Long Day’s Journey Into Night (1977), Hajj in Kismet (1977), Brutus (1981), Möbius in The Physicists (1981), Prospero (1982), Coriolanus (1982), Sergius in Arms and the Man (1982), Macbeth, Sam in Traveler in the Dark (1984), the Duke in Measure for Measure (1989), Bounine in The Anastasia Game (1989), Con Melody in A Touch of the Poet (1992), Ike/Leonard in Another Time, James Joyce in Himself (1998), General St. Pé in Paramour (1998), and Walsh in Neil Simon's Rose and Walsh (2003), among many others.  He has toured nationally as Cap’n Andy in Hal Prince’s production of Showboat (1997) and as Niels Bohr in Copenhagen (2001).  His Stratford, Ontario, performances as Prospero and Petruchio were shown on television, as was his Broadway performance opposite Martin Balsam in Cold Storage .  He has directed successful productions of such plays as The Crucible (1974), Of Mice and Men (1972 and 1976) and Death of a Salesman (1983).

His films include One Man (1977), A Little Night Music (1977), The Four Seasons (1981), Lady in White (1988), Never Talk to Strangers (1995), Executive Decision (1996), Thirteen Days (2000) and About Schmidt (2002).  His television films include Who’ll Save the Children? (1978), Surviving (1985), Those Were Times, Dear (1985), Killer in the Mirror (1986), Kurt Vonnegut’s Monkey House (1991), The Miracle on Interstate 880 (1993), Witness to the Execution (1994), The Summer of Ben Tyler (1996), and Nuremberg (2000).  Other television credits include guest appearances on Law and Order , Star Trek: Voyager, The Practice, The West Wing, and a recurring role on Murder, She Wrote.

Michael Cerveris

Michael Cerveris was born on November 6, 1960 in Bethesda MD, growing up in West Virginia.  After graduating from Yale University, he performed in regional theatres across America, including Shakespearean roles in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

Michael originated the title role of The Who's Tommy (1992, La Jolla) before making his Broadway debut in the 1993 production.  His performance was nominated for a Tony Award and won a Theatre World Award.  Other Broadway appearances include Titanic (1997), Assassins (2004) for which he won a Tony Award for his performance as John Wilkes Booth, and as the lead in Sweeney Todd (2005).  Off-Broadway appearances include Hedwig and the Angry Inch (1998), The Wild Party (1998, Manhattan Theatre Club), Fifth of July (2003, Signature), and Wintertime (2004, Second Stage).

He has performed the role of Giorgio in Stephen Sondheim's Passion no fewer than four times: Kennedy Center (2002), Ravinia Festival (2003), Tenth Anniversary Concert (2004), and in the nationally televised Lincoln Center performances (2005). Other Sondheim roles include Count Carl-Magnus in A Little Night Music (2003, Chicago Shakespeare) and Georges in Sunday in the Park With George (2004, Ravinia).

Michael also performed at the concerts Bravo Bernstein! (2003) and Wall to Wall: Stephen Sondheim (2005).

In addition to performing in musical theater, Michael was a regular on the TV series Fame (1986), the short-lived Fox Network series The American Embassy (2002), and made guest appearances on The Tracey Ullman Show (1987), The Equalizer (1988), 21 Jump Street (1990), Quantum Leap (1991), Dream On (1993), and CSI (2001).

His film work includes Tokyo Pop (1998), Rock & Roll High School Forever (1990), Lulu on the Bridge (1999), and The Mexican (2001).

Michael is also actively involved in rock music, having his own band and recording albums since the mid '90s, and touring with Bob Mould.

Paul Ford

Paul Ford was the original pianist for the Broadway orchestras of Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George (1984), Into the Woods (1987), Passion (1994), and the off-Broadway production of Assassins (1991).  He was also the rehearsal pianist when all four shows were being developed.

His other Broadway credits include A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine (1981), The Rink (1984), Rags (1986), The Secret Garden (1991), Falsettos (1992), and High Society (1998).  He was the rehearsal pianist for the Follies concert presentation at Lincoln Center, and performed in the Carnegie Hall concerts of Sondheim: A Celebration (1992) and Anyone Can Whistle (1995), the Tenth Anniversary concert of Sunday in the Park with George (1994), and the Library of Congress concert for Sondheim's 70th birthday (2000).

Mr. Ford accompanied Mandy Patinkin in the Dress Casual performances at the Public Theatre and on Broadway (1989), and in the Celebrating Sondheim performances at the Kennedy Center, as well as the subsequent Broadway engagement and concert recording (2002).  He has also performed on all of Mr. Patinkin's albums and tours.

George Furth

George Furth was born on December 14, 1932 in Chicago.  He got his bachelors' degree at Northwestern University School of Speech and went to Columbia for his graduate work.  He became a member of the Actors Studio, and made his Broadway acting debut in A Cook for Mr. General (1961).

He's acted in 40 movies including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Myra Breckinridge (1970), Blazing Saddles (1974), Shampoo (1975), Norman...Is That You? (1976), Oh, God! (1977), Airport '77 (1977), The Cannonball Run (1981), The Man with Two Brains (1983), and Doctor Detroit (1983).

He was in the television series Tammy (1965-66, ABC), The Good Guys (1968-70, CBS), and The Dumplings (1976, NBC).  His many TV credits also include guest appearances on Honey West (1965), The Monkees (1966), F Troop (1967), and The Odd Couple (1970).  Other television work includes a performance as George Cukor in The Scarlet O'Hara War (1980).

He wrote the books for the Stephen Sondheim musicals Company (1970) and Merrily We Roll Along (1981).  His other plays include Twigs (1972), The Act (1978), The Supporting Cast, Precious Sons (1986), and Getting Away With Murder (1996), a mystery in collaboration with Stephen Sondheim.  His most recent work is a musical, The End (2004 workshop, San Francisco) with music by Doug Katsaros.

Mr. Furth has won Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama-Logue and London Evening Standard Awards and is a member of the Actors Studio and the Dramatists Guild.  Future projects include seven one-act plays entitled Sex.

Larry Gelbart

Larry Gelbart has born in Chicago on February 25, 1928.  At the age of 16, he was a staff writer for the Maxwell House Coffee Hour radio program, and went on to write for Duffy's Tavern (1945-1947) and The Bob Hope Show (1948). 

For television he wrote for The Red Buttons Show (1952), The Pat Boone Show (1954), Caesar's Hour (1955-1957, the Sylvania Award), and The Danny Kaye Show (1963, the Peabody Award).  He developed and co-produced with Gene Reynolds the television series M*A*S*H (1972-1976) for which he won an Emmy Award, Peabody Award, and several Writers Guild of America Awards.  Other television work includes the ground-breaking, but short-lived, series United States (1980).

Mr. Gelbart wrote the screenplays for The Notorious Landlady (1960), The Wrong Box (1966, with Burt Shevelove), Oh, God! (1977, Oscar nomination), Movie Movie (1981), Neighbors (1981), and Tootsie (1982), which received the Los Angeles and New York Film Critcs Awards, National Film Critic Award, and nominations for the Oscar and British Academy Award.  Other films credits include screenwriter of Rough Cut (1980, as Francis Burns) and co-writer of Blame It On Rio (1984) and the remake of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's Bedazzled (2000).

For stage, he wrote the books for the musicals The Conquering Hero (1961), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (with Burt Shevelove) (1962, Tony Award), and City of Angels (1989, Tony Award).  His non-musical plays include Sly Fox (1976), Mastergate (1989; cable TV version, 1992), and Power Failure (1991) of which a feature film version is in development.  An omnibus edition of the last two plays was published in 1993.

Mr. Gelbart's most recent work includes the teleplays of the highly regarded HBO movies Barbarians at the Gate (1993) and Weapons of Mass Distraction (1997).

Gelbart's autobiography, Laughing Matters: On Writing M*A*S*H, Tootsie, Oh, God!, and a Few Other Funny Things , was published in 1998.

External Links
An Interview with Larry Gelbart on the Tonys Website
A Larry Gelbart Tribute on the Writers Guild of America Website

Paul Gemignani

Musical Director for more than 35 Broadway productions, Mr. Gemignani's credits include Follies (1971, replaced Harold Hastings and conducted the 1972 tour), Candide (1975, replaced John Mauceri), Pacific Overtures (1976), Side by Side by Sondheim (1977), On the Twentieth Century (1978), Sweeney Todd (1979), Evita (1979), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Dreamgirls (1982), A Doll's Life (1982), Zorba (1983, revival), The Rink (1984), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), Grind (1985), Smile (1986), Into the Woods (1987), Jerome Robbins' Broadway (1989), Assassins (1990, off-Broadway), Crazy for You (1992), Passion (1994), A Christmas Carol (1994), Big (1996), 1776 (1997), High Society (1998), Kiss Me Kate (1999), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (2001), and Into the Woods (2002 Revival). 

He conducted the studio cast recordings of Carousel (1987), Man of La Mancha (1990), and Kismet (1991) and the concert recordings of A Stephen Sondheim Evening (1983), Follies in Concert (1985), Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall (1992), Anyone Can Whistle (1995) and Do Re Mi (1999).

Mr. Gemignani made his opera conducting debut with the New York City Opera production of Sweeney Todd (1984), and returned to the NYCO to conduct The Student Prince (1985).  He also records with his own orchestra, The American Theatre Orchestra, on the BMG and Sony Classics labels.  Their recordings include albums with Placido Domingo, Samuel Ramey, Jerry Hadley and Marilyn Horne.  He has conducted the orchestra on several occasions for the PBS Great Performances television series My Favorite Broadway, and on Patti Cohenour's solo debut To an Isle in the Water (1998).

He was also the conductor/musical director for the film version of A Little Night Music (1978), Mandy Patinkin's first two solo recordings, Mandy Patinkin (1989) and Dress Casual (1990), the recordings of Broadway's Best (1993) by the New York City Opera Orchestra, and John Raitt's Broadway Legend (1995), and the George Gershwin 100th anniversary concert at the London Palladium in October, 1998.

In 1989, he received a special Drama Desk Award for his work as a musical director and commitment to the theatre.  He also received the 2001 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement.

James Goldman

James Goldman was born on June 30, 1927 in Chicago.  He graduated from the University of Chicago, was drafted into the Army, and later did his post-graduate work in musicology at Columbia University.

His plays include They Might Be Giants (1961), Blood Sweat and Stanley Poole (1961, with his brother, William Goldman), The Lion in Winter (1964), Tolstoy (1996),and the books for the musicals A Family Affair (1962, with William) and Follies (Broadway, 1971; revised: London, 1987)

His screenplays include The Lion in Winter (1968, Academy Award), Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), They Might Be Giants (1971), Robin and Marian (1976), and White Nights (1985)

Mr. Goldman's work for television includes Evening Primrose (1966 ABC-TV, with songs by Stephen Sondheim), adaptations of Oliver Twist (1982 CBS-TV) and Anna Karenina (1985 CBS-TV), and the mini-series Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (1986 NBC-TV).  He also co-wrote the television movie Queenie (1987) under the pseudonym Winston Beard.

He wrote the novels Waldorf (1965), The Man from Greek and Roman (1974), Myself as Witness (1979), and Fulton County, and his work as a journalist has appeared in Penthouse, Harpers Bazaar, Food and Wine, and Atlantic Monthly.

At the time of his death in October 1998, Mr. Goldman had completed the screenplay of Tolstoy and the book and lyrics for a musical The Celebrated, Scandalous, Heroic Misadventures of Tom Jones (music by Larry Grossman), which has a New York City workshop in June 2001.

Angela Lansbury

Angela Lansbury was born on October 16, 1925 in London, England.

She made her Broadway debut in Hotel Paradiso (1957).  Other Broadway credits include A Taste of Honey (1960), Anyone Can Whistle (1964, her musical debut), Mame (1966, Tony Award), Dear World (1969, Tony Award), Gypsy (1973 London; 1974 Broadway, Tony Award), The King and I (1978, limited Broadway engagement), Sweeney Todd (1979, Tony Award), and Mame (1983, revival).

Other stage work includes Prettybelle (1971, Boston), Edward Albee's All Over (1972, London, Royal Shakespeare Company), Hamlet (1975, London, National Theatre), two one-acts by Edward Albee: Counting the Ways and Listening (1976, Hartford), A Little Family Business (1982, Los Angeles and Broadway), A Stephen Sondheim Evening (1983, concert), and she was the narrator for the Carnegie Hall concert production of Anyone Can Whistle (1995).

Among her more than 40 films are Gaslight (1944, Academy Award nomination), National Velvet (1944), The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945, Academy Award nomination), Till the Clouds Roll By (1946), The Harvey Girls (1946), State of the Union (1948), The Three Musketeers (1948), Samson and Delilah (1948), The Court Jester (1956), The Long Hot Summer (1958), The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960), Blue Hawaii (1961), The Manchurian Candidate (1962, Academy Award nomination), The World of Henry Orient (1964), Something for Everyone (1970, directed by Harold Prince), Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), Death on the Nile (1978), The Lady Vanishes (1979), The Last Unicorn (1982, voice), The Pirates of Penzance (1983), The Company of Wolves (1984), Beauty and the Beast (1991, voice), and Anastasia (1997, voice).

Her television series Murder, She Wrote ran from 1984 to 1996 on CBS, and she continues to return to her role as Jessica Fletcher in occasional Murder, She Wrote movies.  She recently starred in Mrs. Santa Claus (1996), a new musical for television with songs by Jerry Herman.  Her latest work was in the television movie, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax (1999) which was directed by her son, Anthony Shaw. 

Besides the Tony Awards mentioned above, other honors include induction into the Theatre Hall of Fame (1982), an honorary doctorate in humanities from Boston University (1990), the Silver Mask for Lifetime Achievement from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (1992), named a Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II (1994), induction into the Television Hall of Fame (1996), and in 1997 she was given both a Lifetime Achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild and presented the National Medal of the Arts.  She has been nominated for 16 Emmy Awards (twelve for Murder, She Wrote).  She has won six Golden Globe Awards (four for Murder, She Wrote) and has been nominated for an additional eight.

In 1949, Ms. Lansbury married Peter Shaw, who was an agent with the William Morris Agency and later an executive at MGM Studios.  In 1972, they formed their own company, Corymore Productions.  They have two children, Deidre and Anthony, and son David from Peter's first marriage.

External Links
The Angela Lansbury Homage Page
Angela Lansbury: The Unofficial Home Page

James Lapine

James Lapine was born on January 10, 1949 in Mansfield, Ohio.  He first became involved with the theater in the mid-seventies while working as a graphic designer at the Yale School of Drama, where he staged his interpretation of Gertrude Stein's Photograph.  It was re-staged off-Broadway in 1977, winning Lapine his first OBIE Award.  In 1981, he wrote and directed Twelve Dreams at The Public, which was revived at Lincoln Center in 1995.  Other Public Theatre/New York Shakespeare Festival credits include directing A Midsummer Night's Dream (1982), and The Winter's Tale (1988) (with Mandy Patinkin, with music by William Finn and Michael Starobin).

He was the director of William Finn's musical March of the Falsettos (1981) and co-author with Mr. Finn and director of its sequel, Falsettoland (1990) (both at Playwrights Horizons), winning the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for the combined Broadway production Falsettos (1992).

As director and book writer, Mr. Lapine has collaborated three times with Stephen Sondheim: Sunday in the Park with George (1984; winner of the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama), Into the Woods (1987), and Passion (1994).  He also directed television productions of the latter two shows and a new production of the Stephen Sondheim/George Furth musical Merrily We Roll Along (1985, La Jolla Playhouse).

His other theatre work includes writing and directing an adaptation of Nathanael West's A Cool Million entitled Luck, Pluck & Virtue (1993, La Jolla; 1995, off-Broadway), and writing The Moment When (2000, Playwrights Horizon).

He made his film directing debut with Impromptu (1991), a comic romp about the lives of Fredric Chopin, George Sand, and Franz Liszt, which starred Judy Davis, Hugh Grant, and Julian Sands, and featured performances by Bernadette Peters, Mandy Patinkin, and Emma Thompson.  This was followed by Life with Mikey (1993), starring Michael J. Fox and Nathan Lane.

His latest work includes directing David Henry Hwang's Golden Child (1996, Public Theatre; 1998, Broadway), the Broadway revival of The Diary of Anne Frank (1997), co-writing the book for William Finn's new musical A New Brain (1998), directing a television adaptation of Anne Tyler's Earthly Possessions (1999), directing and writing the book for the stage production of Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1999, Berlin), co-conceiving and directing the Broadway production of Claudia Shear's Dirty Blonde (2000), and directing the Broadway Revival of Into the Woods (2002). 

Mr. Lapine is married to film director Sarah Kernochan.

Arthur Laurents

Arthur Laurents was born on July 14, 1918 in New York City.  He is the author of the plays Home of the Brave (1945, filmed by Mark Robson in 1949), The Bird Cage (1950), The Time of the Cuckoo (1953, filmed by David Lean in 1955 as Summertime), A Clearing in the Woods (1957), Invitation to a March (1960, also directed), The Enclave (1973, also directed), Scream (1978, also directed), The Radical Mystique (1996), and My Good Name (1997).  His latest work includes Jolson Sings Again (1995, Seattle; 1999, revised) and Venecia (2001, adapted and directed).

He has written the books for the musicals West Side Story (1957), Gypsy (1959), Anyone Can Whistle (1964, also directed), Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965, based on his play The Time of the Cuckoos), Hallelujah, Baby! (1967, Tony Award for Best Musical) and Nick and Nora (1991).

His other directorial credits include I Can Get It For You Wholesale (1962), two revivals of Gypsy (1974, with Angela Lansbury, and 1989, with Tyne Daly), The Madwoman of Central Park West (1979), La Cage aux Folles (1984, Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical, 1985 Sydney Drama Critics Award for Directing), and Birds of Paradise (1987).

His film screenplays include Rope (1948), The Snake Pit (1948, uncredited), Caught (1949), Anna Lucasta (1949), Anastasia (1956), Bonjour Tristesse (1957), The Way We Were (1973, based on his 1972 novel), and The Turning Point (1977; Golden Globe Award, Screen Writers Guild Award, Writers Guild of America Award, National Board of Review Best Picture Award).

He has been honored by awards from many organizations, among them the National Institute of Arts and Letters, Writers Guild of America, Antoinette Perry (Tonys), Golden Globe, Drama Desk, National Board of Review and the Sydney Drama Critics.  He is a member of the Theatre Hall of Fame, P.E.N., the Screenwriter's Guild, the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences and is an emeritus member of the Council of the Dramatist Guild.

His autobiography Original Story By: A Memoir of Broadway and Hollywood was published in 2000 by Alfred A. Knopf.

External Link
An Interview with Arthur Laurents
An article and interview on Playbill Online

Merle Louise

Merle Louise is the only person to have appeared in the original Broadway casts of four Sondheim shows.  When she was known as Merle Letowt, she played Thelma in the original cast of Gypsy (1959).  She moved up to the role of Dainty June, playing it for much of the Broadway run and on the first national tour.

She went on to create the roles of Susan in Company (1970); the Beggar Woman in Sweeney Todd (1979), for which she won the Drama Desk Award as outstanding featured actress in a musical; and Cinderella's Mother, the Grandmother and the Giant in Into the Woods (1987).

Other major Broadway appearances include Mme. Dindon in La Cage aux Folles (1983) and Molina's Mother in Kiss of the Spider Woman (1993), a role she also played in London, Toronto and on the national tour.  Off-Broadway, she created the role of Cecily MacIntosh in Charlotte Sweet (1982).  Among her many regional appearances have been performances in plays by Shakespeare, Chekhov, Moliere, Pinter, Ibsen and Shaw.  Her other musical roles have included Fraulein Schneider in Cabaret (1996) and Mme. Armfeldt in A Little Night Music (2000), both at the North Shore Music Theatre in Massachusetts.

John McMartin

John McMartin won a Theatre World Award for creating the role of Captain Billy Jester in the original off-Broadway production of Little Mary Sunshine (1959).  His first Broadway appearance was as Forrest Noble in The Conquering Hero (1961; musical with book by Larry Gelbart), shortly followed by Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole (1961; play written by William and James Goldman).  Other Broadway roles include Oscar in Sweet Charity (1966, Tony nomination; directed by Bob Fosse), Benjamin Stone in Sondheim and Goldman's Follies (1971), the Narrator in Happy New Year (1980; directed by Burt Shevelove), Ben in A Little Family Business (1982), Donner in Tom Stoppard's Artist Descending a Staircase (1989), Cap'n Andy in Kern and Hammerstein's Show Boat (1994, Tony nomination), Uncle Willie in Cole Porter's High Society (1998, Tony nomination), and the Narrator/Mysterious Man in the revival of Sondheim and Lapine's Into the Woods (2002, Tony nomination).  He was a leading member of the New Phoenix Repertory Company (under the artistic direction of Harold Prince and Stephen Porter) during their three Broadway seasons in the early 1970s, playing in Eugene O'Neill's The Great God Brown (1972, Drama Desk Award), Molière's Don Juan (1972, Tony nomination, Drama Desk Award), The Visit (1973), Chemin de Fer (1973), Pirandello's The Rules of the Game (1974), and Love for Love (1974).  He has twice played Fredrik Egerman in A Little Night Music (at the Berkshire Theatre Festival, opposite Barbara Barrie, and at the Ahmanson, opposite Lois Nettleton).  He played Anton Schell opposite Chita Rivera in Kander and Ebb's musical version of The Visit at the Goodman in Chicago (2002).

Besides recreating his original Broadway role in the film of Sweet Charity (1969), McMartin's other film appearances include What's So Bad About Feeling Good? (1968), All the President's Men (1976), Thieves (1977), Brubaker (1980), Blow Out (1981), Pennies From Heaven (1981), Native Son (1986), Legal Eagles (1986), Who's That Girl (1987), and A Shock to the System (1990).

In addition to regular roles on Falcon Crest (1985-86) and Beauty and the Beast (1987-89), he has also made guest appearances on many television series.  These include Marcus Welby, M.D., Love American Style, The Partridge Family, Hawaii Five-O, The Bob Newhart Show, Cannon, The Rockford Files, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Hart to Hart, Magnum, P.I., Murder, She Wrote, Golden Girls, Cheers, Coach, Law and Order, Sisters, Touched by an Angel, Frasier, Spin City, and Oz.

He has appeared in many television films and miniseries, including Concealed Enemies (1984), Murrow (1986), Lincoln (1988), Roots: The Gift (1988), Separate But Equal (1991), Citizen Cohn (1992), H.U.D. (2000), and Further Tales of the City (2001).  For PBS, he recreated his Broadway performance as Leone Gala in the Phoenix Repertory production of The Rules of the Game (1975).

In addition to his appearances on several original cast albums, McMartin can be heard on Sondheim: A Musical Tribute (1973).

Donna Murphy

Donna Murphy was born on March 7, 1959 in Corona, New York, and studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Institute and attended New York University.  She began her professional career in Neil Simon's They're Playing Our Song (1979).

She received the Tony and Drama Desk Awards for her portrayal of Fosca in Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Passion (1994).  She received the Tony Award, as well as Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations for her performance as Anna in The King and I (1996, revival).  Other Broadway credits include The Human Comedy (1984) and The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1986, replacing Betty Buckley in 1987).

Ms. Murphy was featured as Dorothy Trowbridge in James Lapine's Twelve Dreams at Lincoln Center (1995, Drama Desk nomination).  Other off-Broadway credits include Little Shop of Horrors, A...My Name is Alice, Birds of Paradise (1987), Where She Went, What She Did (1988), Showing Off (1989), Privates on Parade (1989), Song of Singapore (1991, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle nominations), Hey Love: The Songs of Mary Rodgers, and she was The Whore in the Lincoln Center production of Michael John LaChiusa's Hello Again (1994, Drama Desk nomination).  Regional theatre work includes Pal Joey (1992, Huntington Theatre, Boston), and Miss Julie (1993, McCarter Theatre, Princeton).  Her latest stage work was in the Encores! presentation of Wonderful Town (2000).

She made her feature film debut in Jade (1995).  Other film work includes Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), The Astronaut's Wife (1999), and Center Stage (2000).  She will appear next year in Spiderman II.

For her performance in Someone Had to Be Benny (1996, HBO), she won the Cable Ace Award.  Other made-for-television movies include A Table at Ciro's (1987, PBS Great Performances), Passion (1996, PBS American Playhouse) Liberty! (1997, PBS), The Day Lincoln Was Shot (1998, TNT), and The Last Debate (2000, Showtime).  She was Francesca Cross on Stephen Bochco's television series Murder One (1995), and has had recurring roles on What About Joan (2001), and Hack (2002).  Other television series appearances include Another World, Ally McBeal, The Practice, Remember WENN, Nothing Sacred, and Law & Order.

Ms. Murphy can be heard on the original cast recordings of Passion (1994, Grammy Award), Hello Again (1994), The King and I (1996), and is featured on Leonard Bernstein's New York (1996).

External Links
Donna Murphy Interview on Playbill.com

Mandy Patinkin

Mandy Patinkin was born on November 30, 1952 in Chicago.  In his Broadway debut, Mandy Patinkin won a Tony Award for his role as Che in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita (1980) and was again nominated for his starring role in Sunday in the Park with George (1984).  He returned to Broadway in the musical The Secret Garden (1991), and appeared as Marvin in Falsettos (1992).

Mr. Patinkin made his feature film debut in The Big Fix (1978).  Other film credits include Ragtime (1981), Yentl (1983), Daniel (1983), Maxie (1985), The Princess Bride (1987), Alien Nation (1988), The House on Carroll Street (1988), Dick Tracy (1990), Impromptu (1991, directed by James Lapine), The Doctor (1991), True Colors (1991), The Music of Chance (1993), Squanto: A Warrior's Tale (1994), Men With Guns (1997), Lulu on the Bridge (1998), The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999), and Piñero (2001).

In 1995 he won an Emmy Award for his role as Dr. Jeffrey Geiger in the CBS series Chicago Hope.  Other television work includes Arthur Miller's Broken Glass (1996) for the BBC/WGBH-Boston, the role of Quasimodo in a live action version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1997) for TNT, and Showtime's Strange Justice (1999).  He was a regular on the Showtime series Dead Like Me (2003-04), and will star in the upcoming CBS series Criminal Mind (2005).

The first of his solo albums, Mandy Patinkin was released in 1989, followed by Dress Casual (1990), reproducing his acclaimed Public Theater concerts.  Selections from his first two albums were compiled on Over the Rainbow (1996).

Others solo albums include Experiment (1994), featuring songs from nine decades of popular music from Irving Berlin to Alan Menken; Oscar & Steve (1995), featuring the songs of Oscar Hammerstein II and Stephen Sondheim; Mamaloshen (1998), a album of Yiddish songs, and Kidults (2001), a collection of songs about childhood and growing up.  He also appears on cast recordings of Evita (1979, studio cast), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), Follies in Concert (1985), South Pacific (1986, studio cast), Kismet (1991, studio cast), The Secret Garden (1991), Man of La Mancha (1996, studio cast).  Other recordings include Leonard Bernstein's New York (1996) and a performance with Betty Buckley of Mark Twain's The Diaries of Adam and Eve (1999, Grammy nomination)

In 2002, he created and began performing a concert Celebrating Sondheim, which was recorded and released as Mandy Patinkin Sings Sondheim (2002).

Mandy resides in New York City with his wife, actress and writer Kathryn Grody, and their two children.

External Links
The Mandy Patinkin Showcase
The Mandy Patinkin Picture Gallery
A Mandy Patinkin Interview

Bernadette Peters

Bernadette Peters was born on February 28, 1948 in Queens, New York.  She made her New York debut in the City Center revival of Most Happy Fella (1958) and later toured in a national company of Gypsy (1961).  She was in the musical The Penny Friend (1966, off-Broadway), before making her Broadway debut in the comedy-drama Johnny No-Trump (October, 1967, one performance).  Other credits include Curley McDimple (1967, off-Broadway), George M! (1968, Theatre World Award) as Josie Cohan, Dames at Sea (1968, off-Broadway) as Ruby, La Strada (1969) a musical version of Fellini's film which played only one performance, Nevertheless They Laugh (1971, off-Broadway) as Consuelo, On the Town (1971, Broadway revival) as Hildy, Mack and Mabel (1974) as Mabel Norman, Sally and Marsha (1982, off-Broadway), Sunday in the Park with George (1984) as Dot/Marie, Song and Dance (1985, Tony Award) as Emma, Into the Woods (1987) as The Witch, The Goodbye Girl (1993) as Paula, and Annie Get Your Gun (1999, Broadway revival) as Annie Oakley, and receiving her second Tony Award.  Her most recent Broadway role was as Mama Rose in the 2003 Broadway revival of Gypsy.

Ms. Peters' films include The Longest Yard (1974), Silent Movie (1976), The Jerk (1979), Pennies From Heaven (1981, Golden Globe Award), Heartbeeps (1981), Annie (1982), Pink Cadillac (1989), Slaves of New York (1990), Alice (1990), Impromptu (1991, directed by James Lapine), Anastasia (1997, voice), and Snow Days (Let It Snow) (1999). 

Her television work includes starring in the CBS television series All's Fair (1976-77), made-for-television movies including The Martian Chronicles (1979), David (1988), Fall from Grace (1990) as Tammy Faye Bakker, The Last Best Year (1990), The Last Mile (1992), The Odyssey (1997), Prince Charming (2001), and Bobby's Girl (2002), semi-regular on The Carol Burnett Show (1991), was the voice of Rita the cat in the animated series Animaniacs (1993-96), and gave an Emmy-nominated guest performance on Ally McBeal (2001).  She also starred in the television production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella (1997).

Her recordings include the solo albums Bernadette Peters (1980), Bernadette (1992), I'll Be Your Baby Tonight (1996, Grammy nomination), and Sondheim Etc (1997), a recording of her acclaimed Carnegie Hall concert with longtime musical director and conductor, Marvin Laird.  Her 1998 concert Live from Royal Festival Hall, which included much of the same material, was broadcast on PBS and available in home video.  In 2002, she released her latest recording Bernadette Peters Loves Rodgers & Hammerstein.

Other recordings include the cast albums of Dames at Sea (1968), George M! (1969), Mack and Mabel (1974), Annie (1982, film soundtrack), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), Song and Dance (1986), Into the Woods (1988), The Goodbye Girl (1993), and Annie Get Your Gun (1999).  She also sings on Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall (1993) and Anyone Can Whistle (1995, concert recording). 

Ms. Peters' husband, Michael Wittenberg, died in a helicopter crash in September, 2005. 

External Link
Official Bernadette Peters Website
A Bernadette Peters Page
Bernadette Peters: Broadway's Best

Harold Prince

Harold (Hal) Prince was born on January 30, 1928 in New York City.  In a remarkable career spanning five decades, he has directed and/or produced more than 50 musicals, plays and operas.

His first Broadway production was The Pajama Game (1954, co-prod), which was soon followed by Damn Yankees (1955, co-prod), West Side Story (1957, co-prod), Fiorello! (1959, co-prod), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), and Fiddler on the Roof (1964).

His musical directing credits include She Loves Me (1963, & prod).  It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman (1966, & prod), Cabaret (1966, & prod), Zorba (1968, & prod), Company (1970, & prod), Follies (1971, co-dir & prod), A Little Night Music (1973, & prod), Candide (1974, & prod), Pacific Overtures (1976, & prod), On the Twentieth Century (1978), Evita (1978, London; 1979, NY), Sweeney Todd (1979), Merrily We Roll Along (1981, dir & co-prod), Grind (1985, & co-prod), The Phantom of the Opera (1986, London; 1988, NY), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1993), The Petrified Prince (1994), Show Boat (1995, revival), Whistle Down the Wind (1996, Washington DC), Candide (1997, revival), Parade (1999), and Bounce (2003, Chicago and Washington DC).

Mr. Prince has directed two films: Something for Everyone (1970, with Angela Lansbury) and A Little Night Music (1977).

The productions he has directed for opera companies include Sweeney Todd (1984, New York City Opera), Turandot (1983, Vienna State Opera), Madame Butterfly (1982, Chicago Lyric Opera), Candide (1982, New York City Opera), Willie Stark (1981, Houston Grand Opera), Silverlake (1980, New York City Opera), and Girl of the Golden West (1978, Chicago Lyric Opera).

He serves as a Trustee for the New York Public Library and served on the National Council of the Arts of the NEA for six years.  He has received 20 Tony Awards, and was a 1994 Kennedy Center Honoree.  In 1995, an all-star gala concert in his honor was performed in Munich, Germany, conducted by his son, Charles, and recorded for release as A Gala Concert for Hal Prince 1996).

Mr. Prince is currently developing Sondheim and Weidman's Gold (previously known as Wise Guys) for a Chicago production, with plans for a Broadway production in 2003.

Thomas Z. Shepard

A student of the Yale Graduate School of Music, Thomas Z. Shepard spent 14 years with Columbia Records before joining RCA Records in 1974, becoming Division Vice President of RCA Red Seal, winning numerous Grammy Awards for his work in the production of classical and cast recordings.

Among the many recordings produced by Mr. Shepard are the following (all Original Broadway Cast recordings, unless noted): Show Boat (1962, studio with John Raitt and Barbara Cook), The King and I (1964, studio with Theodore Bikel and Barbara Cook), George M! (1968), Zorba (1968), 1776 (1969), Dames at Sea (1969), Dear World (1969), Company (1970), The Rothschilds (1970), Two By Two (1970), 70 Girls 70 (1971), No, No, Nanette (1971), Irene (1973), Raisin (1973), Candide (1974, revival), Goodtime Charley (1975), A Little Night Music (1975, London), Pacific Overtures (1976), 42nd Street (1977), The King and I (1977, revival), Sweeney Todd (1979), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), A Stephen Sondheim Evening (1983, concert), La Cage Aux Folles (1983), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), Me & My Girl (1986, revival), Song and Dance (1986), Carousel (1987, studio with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra), The Secret Garden (1991), Jelly's Last Jam (1992), Crazy for You (1992), Bajour (1992), Annie Warbucks (1993), Damn Yankees (1994, revival), Victor / Victoria (1995), Man of La Mancha (1996, studio with Placido Domingo), Wings (1996), and Chicago (1998, London).

Mr. Shepard also produced classical recordings by Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, the New York Philharmonic, and the Cleveland Orchestra, among others.  He has also produced albums of popular music including Harold Arlen and Barbra Streisand's Harold Sings Arlen (With Friend) (1966), Leontyne Price's God Bless America (1982), Barbara Cook's The Disney Album (1988), The Boston Pops' Music of the Night (1990), Peter Nero's Classic Connections (1991), Richard Tucker's Passover Seder Festival (1992), the New York City Opera Orchestra's Broadway's Best (1993), Betty Buckley's An Evening at Carnegie Hall (1996), Thomas Hampson's Leading Man (1996), and Julie Andrews' Classic Julie (2001).

In 1985, he produced both the concert and the recording of Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman's Follies with the New York Philharmonic.

Mr. Shepard was also the music director of the Otto Preminger films, Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (1970), and Such Good Friends (1971) and produced the soundtrack album of the former. 

He is currently supervising the remastering of the Columbia catalog of Broadway cast recordings for the Sony/Legacy reissue series.

Burt Shevelove

Burt Shevelove was born in Newark, New Jersey, graduated from Brown University and received a Master's degree in theater from Yale.  While at Yale, he wrote lyrics for a musical version of Plautus's Mostellaria and later became the resident director for the Yale Dramatic Association.  After serving as an ambulance driver in World War II, he began a career as a writer, director and producer for radio and television, working with such stars as Judy Garland, Red Buttons, Jack Paar, Cyril Richard, Nancy Walker and Victor Borge; his work won him Emmy and Peabody Awards.

He made his Broadway debut as the director and co-author of the revue Small Wonder (1948).  With Larry Gelbart he co-authored A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962, Tony Award), and directed the Broadway production of Hallelujah, Baby! (1968) and revivals of Kiss Me, Kate (1956) and No, No, Nanette (1971) for which he also revised the original 1925 book.

In 1972 he directed the Broadway revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and the following year directed the first major tribute to Stephen Sondheim, which was recorded and released as Sondheim: A Musical Tribute (1973).

Mr. Shevelove wrote and directed an adaptation of Aristophanes' The Frogs (1974), with songs by Stephen Sondheim.  He also wrote and directed Happy New Year (1980), a musical adaptation of Phillip Barry's Holiday, with interpolated Cole Porter songs.

For the screen he co-authored with Larry Gelbart and co-produced The Wrong Box (1966), and for television he produced, directed, and wrote hundreds of shows starring Jack Benny, Art Carney, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, and Barbra Streisand, for which he received numerous awards, including Emmy, Sylvania, and Christopher Awards, and the Peabody Award for Art Carney Meets Peter the Wolf.  At the time of his death in 1982, Mr. Shevelove was in London preparing a musical version of The Front Page.

Michael Starobin

Michael Starobin orchestrated the following musical productions (Broadway, unless noted): March of the Falsettos (1981, off-Broadway; orchestrations & musical director), In Trousers (1981, off-Broadway; orchestrations & musical director), Double Feature (1981, off-Broadway), The Death of Von Richtofen as Witnessed from Earth (1982, Public Theater), Face Value (1981, closed before opening), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), La Boheme (1984, Public Theatre), In Trousers (1985, Los Angeles amd off-Broadway), 3 Guys Naked from the Waist Down (1985, off-Broadway), Rags (1986), Birds of Paradise (1987, off-Broadway), Carrie (1988, London and Broadway), Romance, Romance (1988), Legs Diamonds (1988), Falsettoland (1990, off-Broadway), Once on This Island (1990), Assassins (1991, off-Broadway), Guys and Dolls (1992, Broadway revival), Falsettos (1992), My Favorite Year (1992, partial), Paper Moon (1993, off-Broadway), Hello Again (1994, Paper Mill), A Christmas Carol (1994, Madison Square Garden), Beauty and the Beast (1994 Broadway production, additional orchestrations), A New Brain (1998, Lincoln Center), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1999, Berlin), Lautrec (2000, London), Hans Christian Andersen (2000, ACT San Francisco). The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (2001), Dracula (2001, La Jolla), and Assassins (2004, expanded orchestrations), . 

He also served as musical director for the Broadway production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1985) and the first production of the revised Merrily We Roll Along (1985, La Jolla).

His film work includes: Beauty and the Beast (1991, additional orchestrations), Aladdin (1992, orchestrator), Life With Mikey (1993, conductor & orchestrator), Addams Family Values (1993, additional orchestrations), Pocahontas (1995, additional orchestrations), A Goofy Movie (1995, conductor & orchestrator), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996, arranger & orchestrator), Hercules (1997, additional orchestrations), In & Out (1997, additional orchestrations), and Chicago (2002, additional orchestrations).  He also orchestrated the music for the television productions of Cinderella (1997), South Pacific (2001). amd The Music Man (2003).

Mr. Starobin made the music arrangements on Mandy Patinkin's recording Dress Casual (1990), and provided the enchanced orchestrations for the Assassins cast recording (1991).

He composes music as well, including music for James Lapine's direction of The Winter's Tale (1988, The Public Theatre, with William Finn), incidental music for the Broadway play Face Value (1993), the songs and score of the 1998 and 1999 Ringling and Barnum & Bailey Circuses, the scores of the PBS documentary series The American Presidency (1999) and the upcoming The History of US, and several documentaries on The Discovery Channel. 

He is currently working on a feature film from Disney animation studios and new orchestrations for a Broadway production of Assassins.

External Link
Michael Starobin's Home Page

Jonathan Tunick

Jonathan Tunick was born in New York City on April 19, 1938.  After winning the first Tony Award for orchestration for his work on Titanic (1997), he became one of only nine people who have won all four major American performing awards: Oscar (film), Tony (Broadway), Grammy (recordings) and Emmy (television0. 

Long regarded as Broadway's preeminent orchestrator, Mr. Tunick has served in that capacity for Stephen Sondheim on Company (1970, and 1995 revival), Follies (1971, and 2001 revival), A Little Night Music (1973), Pacific Overtures (1976), Sweeney Todd (1979), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Into the Woods (1987, and 2002 revival), Passion (1994), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1996 revival), the US premiere production of Saturday Night (1999, and 2000 Broadway), Putting It Together (1999, Broadway), and Bounce (2003, Chicago and Washington DC).

Other musicals orchestrated include Promises, Promises (1969), Dames at Sea (1969, cast recording only), A Chorus Line (1975, partial), Goodtime Charley (1975), Ballroom (1979), Nine (1982, and 2003 revival), Baby (1983), Arthur Laurents's Nick and Nora (1991), Maury Yeston's Phantom (1993), the Harold Prince production of The Petrified Prince (1994), Martin Guerre (1996), Marie Christine (1999), Captains Courageous (1999), Napolean (2000, London), and Camille Claudel (2003).  He also orchestrated Leonard Bernstein's Mass (1971), and Elaine Stritch's At Liberty (2002) . 

Mr. Tunick is the composer and conductor of over 50 scores for films and TV, including Columbo, Murder, She Wrote, Amazing Stories (Emmy nomination) and Love and War (ASCAP Film and TV Music Awards and an Emmy nomination).  He received an Emmy for the television special Night of 100 Stars (1982), and the Academy Award for best score adaptation for the film version of A Little Night Music (1977).  He adapted the score for Warren Beatty's Reds (1981), orchestrated Sondheim's score for Stavisky (1974), and was the musical director and arranger of Mike Nichols' Regarding Henry (1991) and The Birdcage (1996).  He composed the score for Fort Apache, the Bronx (1980), Endless Love (1981), I Am the Cheese (1983), and The Last Good Time (1994), and orchestrated the music for Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles (1974) and Young Frankenstein (1974).  He also arranged the music for the film version of The Fantasticks (2000).

He has collaborated as arranger/conductor on recordings, including Judy Collins' Judith (1975), Cleo Laine's Cleo Sings Sondheim (1987) (winning a Grammy for best instrumental arrangement for "No One is Alone"), Dionne Warwick's Dionne Sings Cole Porter (1989), Patti LuPone's Live (1992), Kiri Te Kanawa's Kiri Sings Kern (1993) , Barbra Streisand's Back to Broadway (1993), Harolyn Blackwell's Strange Hurt (1994), and recordings by Placido Domingo, Itzhak Perlman, and Paul McCartney.  He also conducted the London Symphony Orchestra's recording of South Pacific (1986).  In 1998, Mr. Tunick conducted and co-produced the recording of the Paper Mill Playhouse production of Follies.

In 2002, Tunick conducted Sondheim's Company for the Kennedy Center Celebration.

John Weidman

John Weidman wrote the book for Pacific Overtures (1976, Tony nominations for Best Book and Musical), co-authored (with Alfred Uhry) America's Sweetheart (1984), and (with Timothy Crouse) the Tony Award winning revival of Cole Porter's Anything Goes (1987).  He wrote the books for Stephen Sondheim's Assassins (1991), Shire & Maltby's Big (1996), and co-created with Susan Stroman the Tony Award winner for Best Musical, Contact (2000).  In 1994, he adapted the book for the Encores! concert production of Fiorello!, which was originally co-written by his father, Jerome Weidman, and George Abbott.  He also adapted the book for a concert of Rodgers' and Hammerstein's South Pacific (2000, Lincoln Center), and wrote additional dialogue for Patti LuPone's show Matters of the Heart (2000).

In the 1970's, Mr. Weidman was a writer and contributing editor for National Lampoon.  Since 1986 he has written for Sesame Street, receiving nine Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing.  He was awarded the 1996 Kleban award, and has served as president of the Dramatists Guild of America.  He is currently writing the book for Stephen Sondheim's new musical, Wise Guys.

A graduate of the Yale Law School and a member of the New York Bar Association, Mr. Weidman lives in New York with his wife Lila and two children Jonathan and Laura.

External Link
Interview on the official Contact website

Robert Westenberg

Robert Westenberg was born on October 26, 1953 in Miami Beach, Florida.  He made his Broadway debut as Niko in Zorba (1983, revival; Theatre World Award), followed by the Soldier in Sunday in the Park with George (1984, replacing Mandy Patinkin as George in 1985), The Wolf and The Prince in Into the Woods (1987, Tony nomination, Drama Desk Award), Javert in Les Miserables, Dr.Craven in The Secret Garden (1991), Ninian Edwards in Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1993, Lincoln Center Revival), and Dr. Lyman Hall in 1776 (1997).

His off-Broadway roles include Henry IV, Part 1 (1981), Von Richthofen in The Death of Von Richthofen, Laertes in Hamlet (all at The Public), Three Birds Alighting on a Field (Manhattan Theatre Club), I Sent a Letter to My Love (Primary Stages), Fred in Alan Menken's A Christmas Carol (1994, Madison Square Garden), Harry in Company (1995, Roundabout), and the Bus Driver in Violet (1997, Playwrights Horizon).  His regional theatre work includes performances at ACT, Arena Stage, Center Stage, Berkshire Theatre Festival, and the MUNY. 

He has appeared on several soap operas and public television projects.  His feature film credits are Mr. and Mrs. Bridge (1991), The Stars Fell on Henrietta (1995), and Before and After (1996).  Television credits include Central Park West (1996), Aliens in the Family (1996), Third Watch (2001), and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (2001).

Mr. Westenberg has sung on several original cast albums, a new studio recording of the Gerhwin's Oh, Kay (1994) and appeared in the concert of Cole Porter's The Gay Divorcee at Carnegie Hall.

Hugh Wheeler

London-born naturalized American, Hugh Wheeler (1912-1987) began his writing career with mysteries novels.  Between 1931 and 1965, he published more than 70 novels, all except one (The Crippled Muse in 1951), under the pseudonyms Patrick Quentin, Q. Patrick, and Jonathan Stagge, some in collaboration with Richard Webb.  Several of the novels featuring detective Peter Duluth were reprinted by International Polygonics in the early 1990's.  Of interest to theatre fans would be Puzzle for Players (1938).  Four of his novels were made into films: Black Widow (1952), The Man With Two Wives (1955), Man in the Net (1956), and The Green-Eyed Monster (1960).

His first play was Big Fish, Little Fish (1961), starring Jason Robards and Hume Cronyn.  Others include Look: We've Come Through (1961) and We Have Always Lived in The Castle (1966, based on the Shirley Jackson novel).

He wrote the books for the Broadway musicals A Little Night Music (1973, Tony Award), Irene (1973, with Joseph Stein), Candide (1974, Tony Award), Sweeney Todd (1979, Tony Award), The Little Prince and the Aviator (1981, closed in previews) and Meet in St. Louis (1989, from the 1949 MGM musical).  He also contributed additional material to Pacific Overtures (1976), and wrote a new adaptation of the Kurt Weill opera Silverlake (1980), directed by Harold Prince for the New York City Opera.

Mr. Wheeler wrote the screenplays for Harold Prince's Something For Everyone (1970), George Cukor's Travels With My Aunt (1972), Harold Prince's A Little Night Music (1977), and Herbert Ross's Nijinsky (1980).  He was also an uncredited co-screenwriter of Bob Fosse's film version of Cabaret (1972). 

Before his death in 1987, Mr. Wheeler was working on a new adaptation of The Merry Widow.


Top of Sondheim People

Last modified on Saturday, February 18, 2006
Compiled by Michael H. Hutchins