Download The New Generation of Musical Theatre

SAG Foundation & Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation Present
The New Generation of Musical Theatre
Date: Monday, July 8th Time: 7:00 – 9:00 PM
Location: Baruch Performing Arts Center
Engelman Recital Hall Theater
55 Lexington Ave
New York
*Entrance on E. 25th St bet. Lexington & 3rd Ave.
This event is free.
Seating is limited
RSVP REQUIRED to [email protected]
There’s a new generation of musical theater mavericks taking New York City by storm. The days
of the standard musical are waning and the genres as you know them are bending into exciting
hybrids. From rock music to interactive productions and quirky subject matter, these pioneers
are breaking the barriers of the traditional musical by creating original productions that vibrate
with today’s savvy and diverse audience. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to hear from our
panel of musical theatre innovators.
*This event will be filmed and archived
Meet the Panelists
Stafford Arrima (Director) was nominated for an Olivier Award for his direction of the West End
premiere of Ragtime. Other work includes: Carrie (nominated for an Outer Critics Award for
Outstanding Revival of a Musical, and 5 Drama Desk Awards including Outstanding Revival of a
Musical, MCC Theater); Allegiance (nominated for 6 Craig Noel Awards including Outstanding
Direction of a Musical; awarded Outstanding New Musical, The Old Globe); Altar Boyz (Best OffBroadway Musical Outer Critics Circle Award and was nominated for 7 Drama Desk Awards);
Bare (2012, Off-Broadway); The Tin Pan Alley Rag (nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award
as Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical, Roundabout Theatre Company); Jacques Brel Is Alive and
Well and Living In Paris (Stratford Shakespeare Festival); Candide (San Francisco Symphony);
Ace (The Old Globe); The Secret Garden (World AIDS Day benefit concert, NYC); Bright Lights,
Big City (Prince Music Theater); A Tribute to Stephen Sondheim (Boston Pops); My Mother’s
Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding (NYMF – NYMF 2010 Award for Excellence in Direction and
Most Promising Musical); Chef’s Theater (The Supper Club, NYC); Marry Me A Little (Cincinnati
Playhouse); Abyssinia (Goodspeed Musicals); The Princess and the Black-Eyed Pea (San Diego
Rep. – nominated for 3 NAACP Theatre Awards); Ragtime – In Concert (Lincoln Center); 2009
Tisch Gala (NYC); Total Eclipse (Toronto); Children's Letters to God (Off-Broadway); and
“Bowfire” (PBS television special). Arima also served as associate director for the Broadway
productions of Seussical and A Class Act. He studied at York University in Toronto where he was
the recipient of the Dean's Prize for Excellence in Creative Work. www.staffordarima.com
Jeff Bowen wrote the music and lyrics and starred in the Broadway musical [title of show] for
which he won an Obie Award, as well as a GLAAD Media nomination and, along with his cast
mates, a Drama League nomination for Distinguished Performance by an Ensemble. He was
awarded the Jim Owles Human Rights Award and was named one of the 100 most influential
people in Out Magazine. He has written music and lyrics for Villains Tonight! for the Walt
Disney Company, the Easter Bonnet competition for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the
Actors Fund 125th Anniversary Gala, the Vineyard Theatre’s 25th Anniversary Gala, the 53rd
Annual Drama Desk Awards, Broadway in South Africa, and Broadway Bares 18: Wonderland.
He has composed music for several shows at P.S. 122 including Avant-Garde-A-Rama in
Sparklevision. He co-wrote and starred in the web series, "the [title of show] show". He's
developed projects with the ABC network and he most recently wrote the music and lyrics for
the musical Now. Here. This. which played off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre in 2012. Jeff is
a proud member of ASCAP, AEA, WGA, the Dramatists Guild, and the National Audubon Society.
@jefbowen
Kelly Devine is an internationally-recognized choreographer whose work spans the mediums of
film, television and live performance. Broadway: Rock of Ages; Rock of Ages 1st National Tour,
London, Australia (Green Room Award), Toronto (Dora Award nom.); Jersey Boys (Assoc.
Choreographer) and Memphis (Assoc. Choreographer). Opera: Faust at the Metropolitan Opera
House/London Coliseum. Off-Broadway: Rock of Ages; Frankenstein; Anne Wrecksick. La Jolla
Playhouse: Peter and the Starcatchers (In association with Disney Theatricals); Zhivago
(Australia; Helpman Nomination); and Private Fittings. Stratford Shakespeare Festival: Cabaret;
Romeo & Juliet. Regional: Toxic Avenger (The Alley Theater); A Christmas Story (Kansas City Rep.
and 5th Avenue Theatre); Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson; Sneaux (L.A. Weekly Theater Award
for Best Choreography); Wozzeck (San Diego Opera); The Wiz (Assoc. Choreographer).
Film/Television: "Happy Texas"; "Zombie Prom"; "So Little Time"; "Two of a Kind"; and
"Passport to Paris". Commercials: "Cingular Wireless"; "American Idol Promo"; "Oldsmobile".
Upcoming on Broadway: Toxic Avenger and Rocky.
Rick Elice co-wrote Jersey Boys (winner 2006 Tony Award, 2007 Grammy Award and 2009
Olivier Award for Best Musical) with Marshall Brickman. His play, Peter and the Starcatcher,
received nine 2012 Tony Award nominations (including two for Rick), and won five, more than
any play of the season. Peter and the Starcatcher continues to play in New York, begins a
national tour in August 2013, and will soon be a motion picture produced by Walt Disney
Studios. Also on Broadway, Elice wrote The Addams Family (with Marshall Brickman, music and
lyrics by Andrew Lippa), currently touring North America, with productions in Brazil, Sweden
and Australia. In 2014, The Old Globe Theater in San Diego will present the world premiere of
his new musical, Dog and Pony (music and lyrics by Michael Patrick Walker). Rick is currently a
musical for Disney Theatricals with Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, based on the film Make
Believe; Superfly (co-written with Seth Zvi Rosenfeld), directed and choreographed by modern
dance legend, Bill T. Jones; and another based on the life of renowned couturier,
Valentino. MFA, Yale Drama School; Teaching Fellow. Harvard University; charter member,
American Repertory Theatre.
Amanda Green is a Tony nominated composer-lyricist. She had the honor of having two new
musicals open on Broadway in the 2012-2013 season: She wrote the lyrics and co-composed
the music for Hands on a Hardbody which debuted on Broadway after a successful premiere at
The La Jolla Playhouse. Her collaborators were Trey Anastasio, famed leader of the legendary
rock band Phish, and the Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright Doug Wright.
She also co-wrote the lyrics for Bring It On, which opened on Broadway in August 2012 after its
successful National Tour. Her collaborators on the score were the Pulitzer Prize winning
composer Tom Kitt and Tony winner Lin Manuel Miranda.
Amanda’s score for Hands on a Hardbody was recognized with a Tony Award nomination, as
well as an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination and two Drama Desk Award nominations (for
Lyrics and Music). She received a third Drama Desk nomination for her lyrics for Bring It On,
which was also nominated for a Tony Award for Best Musical.
Also on Broadway, she wrote the lyrics for the musical High Fidelity, collaborating with Tom Kitt
and Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire (book).
Trey Anastasio performs songs of his and Amanda’s with his bands Phish and TAB in concerts
around the country – from Bonaroo to Madison Square Garden.
She wrote the lyrics and co-starred in For the Love of Tiffany, a NY Fringe Festival hit. Regionally,
the legendary Arthur Laurents tapped her to write additional lyrics for a revival of the musical
Hallelujah Baby (Arena Stage, directed by Mr. Laurents). She contributed two original songs to
the revue Stars Of David (book by Charles Busch) that premiered in 2012 at The Philadelphia
Theater Company. She wrote lyrics for the original musical Up the Week Without a Paddle (LA
Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Score).
Other Awards: Jonathan Larson Award for Excellence In Songwriting, Songwriters Hall of Fame
Scholarship Award.
She has written special material for Kristen Chenoweth and Christine Ebersole.
As a performer Amanda has won two MAC Awards and a Bistro Award. She, and a slew of
Broadway performers, sing her songs in concert everywhere, from Birdland and Carnegie Hall in
New York City to the Bluebird Café in Nashville. Her critically acclaimed and hilarious CD Put A
Little Love In Your Mouth! The Songs of Amanda Green is available at amazon.com.
On TV she has written episodes of the popular Nick, Jr. animated musical series “The Wonder
Pets.” She has also been a regular contributor of comic essays for Playboy Magazine. She is a
member of the Dramatists Guild and an alumna of the Lehman Engel BMI Musical Theater
Workshop. She received a BA from Brown University. She lives in New York and is married to
Dr. Jeffrey Kaplan.
Benj Pasek Benj Pasek & Justin Paul are the Tony-nominated songwriters of the Broadway
musical A Christmas Story (dir. John Rando, chor. Warren Carlyle), which opened in November
2012 and enjoyed a critically-acclaimed, record-breaking run at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. In
addition to the Best Score nomination, A Christmas Story also received Tony nominations for
Best Musical and Best Book. The holiday musical was named one of the Top 10 Shows of 2012
by Time Magazine, shared recognition as the #1 Musical of 2012 in USA Today and received
Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominations for Outstanding New Broadway Musical. Benj
and Justin’s score for the show also received a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Music.
The cast album was recorded and produced by Sony Masterworks and is published through
Warner/Chappell Music.
Benj & Justin are also the composers behind the Off-Broadway musical Dogfight, (dir. Joe
Mantello, chor. Christopher Gattelli), winner of the Lucille Lortel Award for Best New Musical
and nominated for the Drama League and Outer Critics Circle Awards. Benj and Justin also
received an Outer Critics Circle Best Score nomination for their work on the show. Dogfight
premiered in July 2012 at Second Stage Theatre, and a cast album was released in May 2013
(Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight Records). The album reached #2 on the Billboard Cast Album charts.
As television songwriters, their original songs were featured on Season 2 of NBC’s “Smash,” and
have risen to the Top 25 on the iTunes Pop Charts.
The duo made their debut as songwriters with their widely-acclaimed song cycle Edges, which is
licensed by Music Theatre International and has had hundreds of productions worldwide,
including South Korea, Australia, China, South Africa, Singapore, France, the Philippines,
Denmark and more. Other theatrical works include James & the Giant Peach (Kennedy Center,
Goodspeed Musicals, dir. Graciela Daniele, chor. Pilobolus), and Duck for President and If You
Give a Pig a Pancake (Theatreworks USA). Their other musical work for TV can be seen
on “Sesame Street” and “Johnny & the Sprites” (Disney TV series). Performances of their songs
have been featured on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” “The View,” “Good Morning America,”
“CBS Sunday Morning,” “VH1 Morning Buzz,” “The Rosie Show,” “Fox & Friends,” and more.
Benj & Justin are the recipients of the 2011 Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theatre from
the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a 2011 Sundance Institute Fellowship, the 2011
ASCAP Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award, the 2011 ASCAP Songwriters Fellowship Award,
and a 2007-2008 Dramatists Guild Fellowship. They are the youngest recipients of the Jonathan
Larson Award (2007) in the foundation’s history. They have participated in ASCAP’s Johnny
Mercer Songwriters Project and were named one of Dramatist Magazine's "50 to Watch" in
contemporary theatre.
As performers, Benj & Justin have traveled throughout North America, Europe & Australia
performing concerts of their work. They also teach master classes in songwriting and theatre
performance at universities around the world. They are proud graduates of the University of
Michigan BFA Musical Theatre program and members of the Dramatists Guild of America.
They are currently at work on a new original musical with playwright Steven Levenson (dir.
Michael Greif), as well as a new musical with playwright Rick Elice.
Moderator
Sheri Sanders Actress, teacher, and author Sheri Sanders is touring worldwide to teach teachers,
students, and aspiring actors how to choose, cut, arrange, research, style, and act songs on the
radio to successfully audition for rock musicals. Sanders' performance techniques have brought
her students to not only the Broadway stage, touring companies, and regional productions of
Rock of Ages, Sister Act, Mamma Mia, American Idiot, Spiderman, Wicked, Rent, Hairspray (to
name a few) and the workshops of Fat Camp, Cyndi Lauper's Kinky Boots, Sting's The Last Ship,
and Regina Spektor's Beauty, but also to television shows including “American Idol,” “The Glee
Project,” “The X Factor,” and the Rock of Ages movie. As the only coach to bridge the gap
between popular music and theatre, Sanders' book, Rock the Audition: How to Prepare for and
Get Cast in Rock Musicals (Hal Leonard Books) and her workshops are changing the face of
auditioning for musical theatre on the stage and screen.www.rock-theaudition.com/RockTheAudition.html