was born in Peru, Indiana, to Samuel Fenwick and Kate Cole Porter, and was married in 1919 to Linda Lee Thomas. His first songs and musicals were presented at Yale where he was an undergraduate. His yearbook entry read: “Porter expects to enter the Harvard Law School, after which he will go into either mining, lumbering or farming.” He did go to Harvard, but shortly transferred to the music department where he stayed, so to speak, permanently. He wrote the music and lyrics for more than 50 musicals and movies in the course of his life. At the age of 46 both his legs were injured in a ring accident which, in spite of the pain he would suffer for the rest of his days, did not interfere with his life’s work. He actually wrote more musical and movie scores after the accident than before. His work, impossible to list here in entirety, includes music and lyrics for these shows: Cora (1911); And The Villain Still Pursued Her (1912); See America First (1916); Hitchy-Koo of 1919 and 1922; Greenwich Village Follies (1924); Paris (1928); Wake Up and Dream (1929); The New Yorkers (1930); Gay Divorce (1932); Nymph Errant (1933); Jubilee (1935); Born to Dance (film, 1936); Red, Hot, and Blue (1936); Rosalie (film, 1937); You Never Know (1938); Leave It to Me (1938); Broadway Melody of 1940 (film, 1939); Du Barry Was a Lady (1939); Let’s Face It (1941); Something for the Boys (1942); Mexican Hayride (1943); Seven Lively Arts (1944); Around the World in Eighty Days (1946); The Pirate (film, 1948); Kiss Me, Kate (1948); Out of This World (1950); Can-Can (1953); Silk Stockings (1955); High Society (film, 1956); Les Girls (film, 1957); and Aladdin (television, 1958). Some tunes to hum in the lobby: “Another Op’nin, Another Show,” “Be a Clown,” “Begin the Beguine,” “Friendship,” “Get Out of Town,” “I Get a Kick out of You,” “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” “Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall in Love,” “My Heart Belongs to Daddy,” Night and Day,” Too Darn Hot,” What Is This Thing Called Love,” and “You’re the Top.”
Bolton (1884-1979) and Wodehouse (1881-1975) were both born in England. They didn’t set eyes upon each other, however, until Christmas Eve, 1915, in New York at the opening night performance of Jerome Kern’s Very Good Eddie. Bolton, a very hot young writer in town, had supplied the book and Wodehouse was there to review the show for Vanity Fair. Late that night, they were introduced by Kern, who knew Wodehouse to be an excellent lyricist, and suggested they all work together. So they did, tirelessly, and in the beginning of their collaboration wrote nearly one show per month—the famed Princess Theatre musicals. During this fruitful period, however, Wodehouse was wary of success. He kept his day job at Vanity Fair, sometimes even reviewing his own shows. Bolton and Wodehouse went on to write more than 20 musicals together. Usually, they collaborated on the book and Wodehouse wrote the lyrics. Both lived into their nineties and both, together and individually, were astoundingly prolific. Bolton, with one collaborator, or another, or on his own, had a hand in well over 100 musicals and straight plays, as well as numerous film scripts and novels. Wodehouse wrote 97 books – most notably, the “Jeeves” novels – and countless short stories, articles, essays and films, and in 1975 was knighted side by side with Charlie Chaplin. Bolton said late in his life, “I don’t find it hard to work 12 hours a day, but Wodehouse, who is older than I am, seems to be in perpetual literary motion.” Their work together includes Miss Springtime; Have a Heart; Oh! Boy, Oh! Joy; Leave it to Jane; Kitty Darlin’; The Riviera Girl; Miss 1917; Oh Lady! Lady!!; See You Later; Oh My Dear!; The Rose of China; Sitting Pretty; Oh, Kay!; The Nightingale; Rosalie; Who’s Who?; and Come On, Jeeves. They also co-authored an autobiography entitled Bring on the Girls (The Improbable Story of Our Life in Musical Comedy, with Pictures to Prove It) and remained friends and neighbors throughout their final days.
Early in the summer of 1934, Howard Lindsay (1889-1968) was hired by producer Vinton Freedley to stage a musical comedy about hijinks on a ship. The songs were by Cole Porter and the book, still in progress, by Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse. Casting was completed, with Victor Moore, William Gaxton, and Ethel Merman – Porter’s favorite performer – among the principals, and rehearsals were set to begin when the draft of the Bolton/Wodehouse script arrived on Freedley’s desk. Like most productions of the time, Anything Goes was scheduled for only three weeks of rehearsal and revision before opening out of town. Bolton and Wodehouse were helplessly stuck in Europe at the time and couldn’t be there to do the necessary work on the script. Furthermore, the plot line involved an on-board explosion which became un-comic when 134 people were killed in a fire on the steamship Morro Castle off the Jersey coast. Freedley had no time to spare, so he turned to Lindsay to do the rewrites, and he agreed, provided that Freedley find him a collaborator, “somebody with brains, good taste and a bent for comedy.” Legend has it that the suggestion came from artist Neysa McMein who had a dream about press-agent Russel Crouse (1893-1966) and told Freedley. Freedley spent the day phoning around town for Crouse and finally spotted him that evening in an office window across the street. The new script was written at breakneck speed and Anything Goes opened in November of 1934, setting the pattern for an uninterrupted string of successes for the partners. As writers, their subsequent works include Horray for What; Red, Hot and Blue; Life with Father, State of the Union (1945 Pulitzer Prize); Life with Mother; Call Me Madam; The Prescott Proposals; The Great Sebastians; Happy Hunting; Tall Story; The Sound of Music and Mr. President. They were also producers of such plays as Arsenic and Old Lace (by Joseph Kesselring, with substantial rewrites by Lindsay and Crouse), The Hasty Heart, Detective Story and One Bright Day. They worked together for more than 30 years. “Crouse is the most beloved man in New York,” said Lindsay. “The longest collaboration since Sodom and Gomorah, but for different reasons,” said Crouse. “Getting together with Lindsay was the greatest break of my life. Nothing ever happened to anybody better than that.”
has written numerous newspaper and magazine articles and The Boys on the Bus, a classic account of the role of the press in presidential campaigns. He has been a contributing editor of Rolling Stone and the Village Voice, and the Washington columnist for Esquire. With Luc Brebion he translated Roger Martin du Gard’s Lieutenant-Colonel de Maumort (Knopf, 2000). He is currently writing a book of short stories. He and John Weidman first collaborated as the librettists of a Hasty Pudding Show at Harvard College. His father, Russel Crouse, was one of the original authors of Anything Goes.
has written for the theatre, the movies and for television. For many years, he was an editor at the National Lampoon Magazine and he is now writing for “Sesame Street.” He wrote the book for Pacific Overtures (music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim). Mr. Weidman is an attorney and lives in New York with his wife and five-year old daughter.
directed Broadway’s 1999 Tony nominated Peter Pan starring Cathy Rigby. This is Glenn’s 3rd show with REPRISE! after directing Tony Danza in Fiorello and Patrick Cassidy in The Threepenny Opera. This past fall he directed Dragapella, which he was nominated for Drama Desk and Lortel awards for best production. A native New Yorker, Glenn transplanted himself to Los Angeles where Wrestlers, his first L.A. production, starring George Clooney and Mark Harmon, won critical acclaim. He went on to stage the world premier of Lainie Robertson’s Stringbean at Theatre Three in Dallas. He received his master’s degree from University of Nevada Las Vegas. For producer Barry Brown, Mr. Casale mounted two important Los Angeles revivals: Tyne Daily and Charles Durning in The Queen of the Stardust Ballroom, and Patrick Cassidy and Carol Burnett in Company. He had the pleasure to helm Top!, a musical written for and starring Ms. Burnett. He has staged some 50 productions including the West Coast premiers of Lend Me A Tenor, Lunch, The Foreigner and Sondheim’s Anyone Can Whistle. Mr. Casale directed The Wayans Brothers Show for Warner Brothers TV and The Faculty starring Meredith Baxter for ABC-TV. He is working on a new production of Camelot, which will be starting next year.
After musically directing Follies, Mr. Sternbach is proud to be handed the baton from Maestro Matz having been his associate for twelve REPRISE! musicals, including Promises/Promises, Wonderful Town, Of Thee I Sing, Boys from Syracuse, Call Me Madam, Sweeney Todd, Mack and Mabel, and Hair. Other credits; Associate-conductor - Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, Merlin, The Tap Dance Kid (all Broadway), Les Miserables (LA). Conductor/Musical Director - Song and Dance (with Melissa Manchester), Gilligan's Island, The Musical (produced/co-written by Sherwood Schwartz), Shire/Maltby’s Closer Than Ever (LA premiere), original casts of A Chorus Line and Dreamgirls in Michael Bennett tribute (LA Shanti), a STAGE benefit honoring Sondheim, Jason Graae's and Donna McKechnie's acts. Composer credits - new musicals: Heartbeats (co-writer with Amanda McBroom), The Gay 90's and Virgin Vampires From Venus (both directed by David Galligan); The Three Musketeers (co-written with Valerie Dunlap, CSUN premiere); ASCAP Rising Songwriter Showcases on both coasts. Cabaret Conventions at NYC 's Town Hall and (collaborating with Lindy Robbins) the 93-98 editions of the Ringling Brothers’ Circus; worked with Mel Shapiro, Nancy Dussault and Karen Morrow on a student-featured project part of UCLA'S theater department, vocal arranger for the live rock-and-roll/ stunt show, Spiderman Rocks (directed by Barbara Epstein), playing at Universal Studios Theme Park, Hollywood through next year.
As part of the original Broadway creative team, Mr. Mojica has been associated with Disney's Beauty and the Beast (Associate Director / Associate Choreographer), for the last eight years. In that time, he mounted, staged, and supervised all 16 companies of the show around the world, with productions premiering in London, Tokyo, Madrid, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Stuttgart, Sydney, and three US National Tours. He has directed and/or choreographed productions of Victor/Victoria (1st National Tour) w/ Toni Tennille, Singin' in the Rain w/ Andrea McArdle, Cabaret w/ Sam Harris, Hello, Dolly! w/ Jo Anne Worley, The Music Man w/ John Davidson, Guys and Dolls w/ Jack Jones, Camelot w/ John Cullum, Dreamgirls, Damn Yankees, Fiddler on the Roof, over 14 productions for the Sacramento Music Circus, and most recently Enter the Guardsman for The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, CA. He directed the Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS benefit launching EddieBauerKids.com, choreographed The Disney Channel's opening special for the animated feature The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and the world premiere of Flavia and the Dream Maker (Access Theatre) based on Flavia Weedn's popular storybook greeting cards. For up and coming shows and projects, please visit www.danmojica.com.
is happy to be returning to REPRISE! after past productions of Three Penny Opera and Bells Are Ringing. Recent work includes the Colony Theatre's You're A Good Man Charlie Brown, The Laramie Project and Side Show, all critics choices. His work has been seen throughout Los Angeles and beyond, including numerous shows at the Interact Theatre, International City Theatre and various small theatres, along with two cruise ship shows and some small tours still out on the road. In addition, his design work is seen by thousands on a daily basis at Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea, including Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln (featuring a "cast" of one) and the Porto Paradiso Water Carnival (featuring a cast of 200 and six Spanish galleons.)
have been working together for over 25 years. Their most recent credits include Paint Your Wagon, Camelot, and The Unsinkable Molly Brown for Sacramento’s Music Circus. Last fall they designed the Off-Broadway premiere of Dragapella! Starring the Kinsey Sicks for which they received a Lucille Nortel Award nomination. In addition to stage, they have designed extensively for television, for which they have received a combined 9 Emmy Awards and 19 Emmy Award nominations. Their television credits include General Hospital, Port Charles, Dick Clark’s Your Big Break, The American Music Awards and most recently, American Bandstand 50th Anniversary. Premiering in the fall of 2003, they have been chosen to design the costumes for a new national tour of Camelot, working alongside Anything Goes director, Glenn Casale.
has created designs for eighteen REPRISE! productions including Sweeney Todd, Mack & Mabel, and Hair. He recently designed the acclaimed production of Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks at the Geffen Playhouse. He has designed over seventy-five productions for South Coast Repertory Theatre and shows for the Mark Taper Forum, International City Theatre, Opera Santa Barbara, CLO of South Bay Cities, Fullerton CLO, Sacramento Music Theatre, and Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C. His lighting can be seen at theme parks in six different countries including Universal Studios Hollywood, Japan, and Orlando; Warner Bros. Movie World Australia, Germany, and Spain; Knott’s Berry Farm and Disneyland. His architectural lighting can be seen at Santa Monica Place, South Coast Plaza Mall, Orange County Performing Arts Center, the Los Angeles Music Center, and many other shopping malls, restaurants, churches, residences and Las Vegas casinos and hotels. A recipient of the Lighting Designer of the Year 2000 Award, Mr. Ruzika is also head of the Graduate Lighting Design Program at U.C. Irvine.
has designed over 80 theatrical shows, including Measure for Measure, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Cinderella at the Ahmanson, Flower Drum Song and First Picture Show at the Taper, and all five seasons of REPRISE! Other design work includes Six Dance Lessons In Six Weeks and A'int Nothin' But the Blues at the Geffen, Play On, Only A Kingdom and Blame it on the Movies at the Pasadena Playhouse, Masada at the Shubert Theatre in LA, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Singing in the Rain for Denver's Arvada Center for the Arts, Forever Plaid, and Blues in the Night at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami, The King and I, South Pacific, and Into the Woods, for the Long Beach Civic Light Opera. On Broadway he assisted long time design partner Jon Gottlieb on last season's If You Ever Leave Me I'm Coming With You. For television Mr. Allen assisted Emmy Award winning sound designer Bruce Burns in the sound system design's for the 33rd Academy of Country Music Awards, the 56th and 59th Golden Globe Awards and 14th Soap Opera Awards. As a mixer he served as Production Sound Engineer for Thoroughly Modern Millie at La Jolla Playhouse before its move to Broadway and was the head soundman for the national tour of Titanic. In 1997 he engineered the gala production Saturday Night at the Summit attended by Bill Clinton and the leaders of the G-7 countries, which featured performances by Michael Bolton, Amy Grant, Crystal Gayle, Chuck Berry, Kool and the Gang, and Ronnie Spector. He won the 1999 LA Drama Critics Circle Award with Jon Gottlieb for their sound design of Cinderella, as well as five LA Dramalogue Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design, and two Ovation Award nominations for Best Sound Design.