All performances at:
The City Playhouse
888 Morro St., SLO
Box Office:
(805) 786-2440
REACH THE SKY
"Reach the Sky" - an Evening of Songs by Broadway's Future Songwriters
COMPOSERS:
Anna Jacobs wrote the music for Pop! (Yale Repertory Theatre, 2009) and Stella and the Moon Man (Sydney Theatre Company/ Theatre of Image/ Australian Youth Orchestra, 2005), which won a Helpmann Award. Current projects include music for Harmony, Kansas, about a gay men’s chorus in rural Kansas, and lyrics for inclusion in Shooting from the Hip, a song cycle commissioned to open the 2011 Sydney Festival. M.F.A. Musical Theatre Writing, NYU-Tisch; B.Mus (Honors I) Composition, University of Sydney; Member:Dramatists Guild of America. www.annakjacobs.com/
Bobby Cronin is the composer/writer of B.R.A.T.T. Camp, which was recently produced at Chicago's LaRed Music Theatre. He is also the composer/lyricist for ‘Til Death Do Us Part and an untitled Kate Pazakis vehicle with book by Harry McEwan. His musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol written with Angelyn Benson has had five regional productions and a mini-tour. He also wrote a new book for the Ergo Theatre Company revival of Personals and co-wrote the musical That’s Andy. A member of ASCAP and graduate of Yale University, Cronin’s music has been performed in various venues from NYC to Japan, including Symphony Space, Lincoln Center and The Minskoff Theatre. http://bobbycronin.com
Rick Hip-Flores has recently played in the orchestras of illy Elliot, The Radio City Christmas Spectacular and Spelling Bee. As a usical director and conductor, credits include High School Musical (MUNY), Singin’ in the Rain (North Shore Music Theatre), Jacques Brel (Zipper Theatre), Breaking Up is Hard to Do (Actors’ Playhouse), Shakespeare on Broadway (Symphony Space), 8 by Tenn (Hartford Stage), Henry and Mudge, A Christmas Carol (TheatreworksUSA) and numerous productions for Musicals Tonight. As a composer and lyricist, Rick has written songs for Neon Mirage (Humana Festival, 2006), A Tooth Fairy Tale, My New York (Vital Theater), Dido and Aeneas (Prospect Theater), Tartuffe, As You Like It (Worth Street Players) and the Columbia University Varsity Show. His songs have been recently featured in the York Theater's NEO3 Concert, and 4@15 series.
Adam Gwon is a rising musical theater writer named one of "50 to Watch" by The Dramatist magazine. He won the 2008 Fred Ebb Award for excellence in musical theater songwriting and has been hailed "an extremely talented composer and lyricist" who "is seriously going places." (The New York Sun, StageSpace.com). Adam's musical Ordinary Days made its NYC premiere with a sold-out run at Roundabout Theatre Company and is currently licensed by the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, with an original cast recording on Ghostlight Records. The show has been produced around the world, including London's West End, South Coast Repertory, Adirondack Theatre Festival, Human Race Theatre Company, Pennsylvania Centre Stage, the Finborough Theatre, and more, and was selected for the 2008 NAMT Festival of New Musicals. www.adamgwon.com/
Adam Gwon is a rising musical theater writer named one of "50 to Watch" by The Dramatist magazine. He won the 2008 Fred Ebb Award for excellence in musical theater songwriting and has been hailed "an extremely talented composer and lyricist" who "is seriously going places." (The New York Sun, StageSpace.com). Adam's musical Ordinary Days made its NYC premiere with a sold-out run at Roundabout Theatre Company and is currently licensed by the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, with an original cast recording on Ghostlight Records. The show has been produced around the world, including London's West End, South Coast Repertory, Adirondack Theatre Festival, Human Race Theatre Company, Pennsylvania Centre Stage, the Finborough Theatre, and more, and was selected for the 2008 NAMT Festival of New Musicals. www.adamgwon.com/
Salzman and Cunningham met in the NYU Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. Their thesis musical, I Love You Because, went on to be professionally produced Off-Broadway, earned a Drama Desk nomination for the team, spawned a cast album on PS Classics, and garnered a licensing deal with Theatrical Rights Worldwide, resulting in productions both nationally and internationally. They continue their collaboration with many projects, including: Queen Esther, a family musical comedy based on the story of Purim and commissioned by the Kaufman Center; Next Thing You Know, a song cycle currently in development with director John Simpkins. They are contributing songwriters on the Disney Channel's Johnny and the Sprites. Their song "Just Not Now," from I Love You Because, was featured on Lauren Kennedy's new solo album Here and Now. Cunningham and Salzman are both members of the BMI Advanced Writing Workshop, ASCAP, and the Dramatist Guild. www.salzmanandcunningham.com/
Timothy Huang Composer. Lyricist. Asian dude. Timothy holds an MFA in Musical Theater Writing from NYU/TSOA, as well as a BFA in Drama from the Tisch School/CAP21 Conservatory. Composer/lyricist of The View From Here.
(Top 10 Cast Albums 2006, TalkinBroadway.com) And The Earth Moved (2009 CAP21 residency), Lines: A Song Cycle (NYMF 08), Death and Lucky (2008 MacDowell Fellowship), Changing Times (NYU at the York, 2009). Timothy is a member of the BMI Musical Theater Writer’s Lab and a proud fellow of the MacDowell Artist Colony. timothyhuang.net
(Top 10 Cast Albums 2006, TalkinBroadway.com) And The Earth Moved (2009 CAP21 residency), Lines: A Song Cycle (NYMF 08), Death and Lucky (2008 MacDowell Fellowship), Changing Times (NYU at the York, 2009). Timothy is a member of the BMI Musical Theater Writer’s Lab and a proud fellow of the MacDowell Artist Colony. timothyhuang.net
Kait Kerrigan and Brian Lowdermilk have been awarded the Jonathan Larson Award, a Dramatists Guild Fellowship, and are members of the BMI Musical Theatre Advanced workshop, ASCAP and the Dramatists Guild. Separately, Kait Kerrigan is the 2009 recipient of the Kleban Award for Most Promising Musical Theater Librettist and Brian Lowdermilk has been awarded the Richard Rogers and Alan Menken awards for his works. They have written numerous musicals together including The Unauthorized Autobiography of Sam Brown, Tales from the Bad Years, and their off-Broadway debut Henry and Mudge. http://kerrigan-lowdermilk.com
Ryan Scott Oliver is a 2009 Jonathan Larson Grant recipient and wrote the music and lyrics for Mrs. Sharp (2008 Richard Rodgers Award Winner, at Playwrights Horizons July 2009 starring Jane Krakowski, dir. by Michael Greif), Darling (Pace New Musicals 2009), the song cycle Out of My Head, Quit India (commissioned by UCLA), and the music for Angus Oblong's The Debbies. A collection of his work, Rated RSO, was recently seen at Joe's Pub, where it will return January 2010 following an engagement at the New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF). His work has also been heard on the hit YouTube TV show The Battery’s Down ("This is Your Life" among others) and in showcases presented by Summer Play Festival (SPF), The York Theatre, Goodspeed Musicals, William Finn & Barrington Stages, New York Theatre Barn, Monday Nights New Voices, and the Festival of New American Musicals in Los Angeles. Ryan is a 2007 Dramatists Guild Fellow and the recipient of numerous awards including the first-ever ASCAP Foundation Harold Adamson Award for Excellence in Lyric Writing, the Margo Lion Award for Excellence in Adaptation (Mrs. Sharp, with Kirsten A. Guenther), the Looking Glass Theatre Favorite Production Award (Out of My Head) and the John Denver New Composers Award. Currently he is the Executive Director of the Pasadena (PUSD) Musical Theater Program in California, produces The Spotlight Cabaret in New York City, and is at work developing a commission by Broadway Across America as well as We the People for TheatreWorksUSA, directed by Alex Timbers, which will premiere Off-Broadway in 2010. B.A. Music Composition, UCLA; M.F.A. Musical Theatre Writing, NYU-Tisch, a proud member of A.S.C.A.P. http://www.ryanscottoliver.com
Jeremy Schonfeld is a singer / songwriter / composer / lyricist. A benefit concert version of his musical Drift was recently performed at BB Kings starring Adam Pascal, Julia Murney, Terrence Mann, Jarrod Emick, and Adam Kantor, among others, and will be remounted at North Carolina’s “Hot Summer Nights at the Kennedy,” September 2009. Upcoming theatrical projects include the development of a new musical with director and producer Daisy Prince (Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years) and playwright Jonathan Marc Sherman. Other recent projects include: the album 37 Notebooks, which featured the vocal talents of Shoshana Bean, Tracie Thoms, Amy Spanger, Lauren Kennedy, Luther Creek, and Kate Shindle, among others; the feature film Clear Blue Tuesday; as well as the musicals Home and innumerable atrainplays; and the Broadway Dreams Foundation’s “Broadway Bootcamp,” for which Jeremy serves on the Board of Directors and as Musical Director. Schonfeld has also contributed original music for numerous benefit concerts including “Defying Inequality,” “Broadway in South Africa,” “The Pink Campaign on Broadway,” and “Broadway for a New America,” among others. Jeremy’s recording, “Song for New Orleans,” is currently being used as part of a recruitment video for the American Red Cross. www.jeremyschonfeld.com
Marcy Heisler & Zina Goldrich
Marcy Heisler has been collaborating with composer Zina Goldrich since 1993, providing book and lyrics for Dear Edwina (2009 Drama Desk Nomination, Outstanding Lyrics), Dear Edwina Junior, and the Lucille Lortel Award Nominated Junie B Jones. As a lyricist, Ms. Heisler has contributed songs for many Disney projects, including Johnny and The Sprites (Disney Television), Pooh’s Learning Adventures (Disney Toon Studios), and The D Show (Disney Interactive). As an adaptor, she wrote new versions of 101 Dalmatians, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and The Jungle Book for Disney Theatricals. Other productions include Adventures in Love (Ordway Theatre), Allison Under the Stars (Workshop, Second Stage Theatre), and The Marcy and Zina Show, which tours around the country and Canada. Ms. Heisler was a co-recipient of ASCAP’S 2002 Richard Rodgers Theatre Award and was a Joseph Papp Artist in Residence at Second Stage Theatre. She recently collaborated with composer Michael Picton on songs for Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus 137th Edition. Current projects with Goldrich include a musical adaptation of 20th Century Fox’s Ever After and an original musical with bestselling author and fashion expert Clinton Kelly. Alphabet City Cycle, a collection of her poems set to music by Georgia Stitt, was recorded by Kate Baldwin and released by PS Classics this past Spring. She is also the co-author of Goldrich and Heisler, Songbook, Vol. 1, now in its fifth printing. An active member of the Publications Committee of the Dramatists Guild, Ms. Heisler is a contributing writer to Dramatist magazine. She graduated with High Honors from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts Dramatic Writing Program and previously studied acting at Northwestern University.
Zina Goldrich was recently nominated for a Drama Desk award for Outstanding Music for the Off-Broadway show, Dear Edwina, written with lyricist Marcy Heisler. Other Goldrich & Heisler productions include Junie B. Jones (2005 Lucille Lortel Nomination, Best Musical), Allison Under the Stars (Workshop, Second Stage) and Adventures in Love (Ordway). Current projects with Heisler include Ever After, based on the 20th Century Fox film, and an original musical with author and fashion expert, Clinton Kelly. She is also the co-author of Goldrich and Heisler, Songbook Volume 1, now in its fifth printing. An accomplished television composer, Goldrich scores episodes of Nickelodeon’s Emmy Award-winning Wonderpets, as well as Third and Bird for the BBC. She has also written music for many Disney projects, including Johnny and the Sprites, Pooh’s Learning Adventures and The D Show. Goldrich was a co-recipient of ASCAP’s Richard Rodgers New Horizon Award, the Seldes-Kanin Fellowship, a Larson award and was a Joseph Papp Artist in Residence at Second Stage. She studied under the tutelage of Jerry Goldsmith at USC’s Scoring for Motion Picture and Television Program, and has played keyboards for numerous Broadway shows including Avenue Q, Oklahoma and Titanic, where she also conducted. www.goldrichandheisler.com
J. Oconer Navarro is an award-winning composer/lyricist and musical director based in NYC. As a writer, he is the recipient of a 2009 Musical Theatre Society of Emerson College New Works Festival production, 2008 NYU Alumni Grant made possible by the Frederick Loewe Foundation, 2007 Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Grant, 2006 Margo Lion Award, and 2005 Paulette Goddard. He was musical director for the acclaimed Adding Machine Off-Broadway, and some favorite NYC music department credits include: The Apple Tree, Curtains, Mary Poppins, Pig…Pancake, Rooms: a rock romance, plus countless readings, workshops, and concerts of new work. Regionally, he has served as musical director at Barrington Stage Company, The Hangar Theatre, Theatreworks (Palo Alto), Two River Theater Company, Westport Country Playhouse, and will make his Kennedy Center debut this fall. BS 2004 Vanderbilt University, MFA 2006 NYU. www.joconernavarro.com
Brad Alexander's music has been featured on VH1, Showtime, Sony Records and at theaters across the country. He wrote the music for TheatreworksUSA’s Just So Stories, Lilly’s Big Day (from If You Give A Pig A Pancake), the upcoming I Have To Go, and Click, Clack, Moo, coming soon to the Lucille Lortel Theater and directed by John Rando. Brad and collaborator Adam Mathias won the 2008 Richard Rodgers Award and 2007 Jerry Bock Award for See Rock City & Other Destinations, which premiered at Barrington Stage Company and was recently workshopped with Transport Group Theatre Company. Brad is a member of The BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, National Academy of Popular Music, National Alliance for Musical Theatre, and The Dramatists Guild of America. http://www.bradalexander.com
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul are a musical theatre writing team living in New York City. Their first show, EDGES, has been produced throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe and is licensed by Music Theatre International. Current projects include the musical adaptation of Roald Dahl’s JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH, A CHRISTMAS STORY at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theater, and DOGFIGHT, a new musical commissioned by Lincoln Center Theater. They contributed additional music to WHITE NOISE, which has been announced for Broadway. They are the youngest winners of the Jonathan Larson Award and served as series songwriters for Disney Channel’s four-time Emmy nominated series JOHNNY AND THE SPRITES. They co-wrote IF YOU GIVE A PIG A PANCAKE and DUCK FOR PRESIDENT for Theatreworks USA and were listed as part of the “50 to Watch” up-and-coming writers by The Dramatist Magazine. They were interviewed on National Public Radio, selected as 2007-2008 Dramatist Guild Fellows, and their music has been broadcast on Sirius XM’s On Broadway Channel. The duo has played sold-out concerts across America at venues including The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Joe’s Pub in New York City and the Falcon Theater in Los Angeles, and will soon perform in Australia’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival in June of 2010. They wrote DR. WILLIAMS for Orchard Theater’s 24-Hour Musicals benefit and will be featured in the upcoming documentary “Overnight Musicals” about the process by Incubation Films. They are proud graduates of The University of Michigan. http://www.pasekandpaul.com/
DIRECTOR:
German Stage Director Daniel Witzke works extensively in both Opera and Musical Theatre in Europe and the United States. As a Staff Director at the Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna Operahouse) he was responsible for directing, reviving and assisting on more than twenty productions including Tristan und Isolde, Tosca, Turandot, Aida and Die Fledermaus. Highlights include Hamburgische Staatsoper (La Forza del Destino), Spoleto Festival USA (Don Giovanni), the Bregenzer Festspiele (Tosca). Daniel was responsible for the original German production of Elton John’s Musical Aida with Disney Theatrical Productions and collaborated with Broadway Composer and Lyricist Maury Yeston on the German premiere of Yeston’s "December Songs". Since his early career as a stage performer Daniel has been involved with numerous theatre productions throughout Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the US working with some of the most distinguished singers, actors, artists agents, stage directors, conductors and choreographers in the business.