composed the music for The Body Beautiful (lyrics by Sheldon Harnick), Mr. Wonderful (starring Sammy Davis, JR.), Fiorello! (winner of Broadway’s Triple Crown: the Tony, NY Critics Circle Awards and the Pulitzer, the third musical to do so), Tenderloin, She Loves Me (winner of Variety’s poll of critics as Best Musical and citing Bock and Harnick as Best Composer and Lyricist), Fiddler on the Roof (nine Tony Awards including Best Musical), The Apple Tree, and The Rothschilds. He also composed the score for the film A Stranger Among Us.
started as a violinist in Chicago, then moved to New York to pursue a theatrical career. In the 1950s he contributed songs (e.g. “The Boston Beguine,” “Merry Little Minuet”) to revues on and Off Broadway. In 1957 he teamed with Jerry Bock to create a number of memorable musicals, including Fiorello! (Tony, Pulitzer), She Loves Me (Grammy), and Fiddler on the Roof (Tony). Other collaborations: Rex with Richard Rodgers, A Christmas Carol with Michel Legrand, A Wonderful Life with Joe Raposo. Member: Dramatists Guild, Songwriters Guild of America.
was only 22 when he made his debut as a novelist with I Can Get It For You Wholesale. His debut in the theatre was equally remarkable, as he was the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, the New York Drama Critics award and the Tony Award for his co-authoring of Fiorello! with Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick, and George Abbott. Mr. Weidman is best known, however, as a novelist and short story writer. Among his more than twenty novels are The Enemy Camp, The Sound of Bow Bells, the so-called Benny Kramer Sequence (Fourth Street East, Last Respects, Tiffany Street) and A Family Fortune. In 1986, he published his autobiography, Praying For Rain. Other credits include The Mother Lover, Tenderloin and Ivory Towers (theatre); The Damned Don’t Cry, House of Strangers and I Can Get It For You Wholesale (film) and the television series The Reporter.
A Broadway actor, director, playwright and producer, George Abbott wrote and starred in his first comedy, Perfectly Harmless, while attending Harvard. In the 20s/30s, his plays were mostly comedies, including Twentieth Century, Three Men on a Horse, and Room Service. In the 30s he also collaborated on his first musicals—Jumbo, On Your Toes and The Boys From Syracuse. Over the next three decades, musical projects included Pal Joey, On the Town, The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees and Fiorello! From the 70s onward, he directed several revivals of his own shows, including 1987s Broadway, as well as new projects, such as a musical version of Twelfth Night. Among Mr. Abbott’s many awards are six Tonys (including one for lifetime achievement) and the 1959 Pulitzer Prize for directing and co-authoring Fiorello!
directed Broadway’s 1999 Tony nominated Peter Pan starring Cathy Rigby. He is pleased to be back at REPRISE! after directing last season’s The Threepenny Opera. Winner of many Drama Critics Awards on both coasts for directing, some of Glenn’s other credits include the west coast premiere of Moon Over Buffalo at the Pasadena Playhouse; Bill C. Davis’ Wrestlers starring George Clooney and Mark Harmon; the word premiere of Lainie Robertson’s Stringbean starring Leslie Uggams; Tyne Daly and Charles Durning in The Queen of the Stardust Ballroom; Company and From the Top! With Carol Burnett, the latter written for and starring Ms. Burnett. Glenn directed The Faculty starring Meredith Baxter for ABV-TV and is currently working on a musical featuring the catalog of Barry Mann and Cynthia Wiel.
was orchestrator/conductor on Broadway for Noel Coward’s Sail Away and Richard Rodgers’ No Strings; he created orchestrations for Jule Styne’s Halellujah, Baby and more recently Tommy Tune’s Grand Hotel; on records Matz has arranged, conducted and produced albums for Rosemary Clooney, Tony Bennett, Dionne Warwick, Melissa Manchester, Kiri te Kanawa, Nancy LaMott, Barbra Streisand and most recently he arranged Barbara Cook’s recording of songs with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein. On TV, Peter was arranger/conductor for Carol Burnett’s long-running series, and composed scores for more than 50 TV movies, as well as many feature films (Sidney Lumet’s Bye Bye Braverman is still his favorite). Peter and his wife, actress/singer/psychotherapist, Marilynn Lovell are active fundraisers for APLA, Shanti Foundation, Aid for AIDS and other local AIDS organizations, as well as the GMHC in New York; the CD of their show “Say It With Music,” recorded live in New York, is available on the “Original Cast Records” label.
directed Broadway’s 1999 Tony nominated Peter Pan starring Cathy Rigby. He is pleased to be back at REPRISE! after directing last season’s The Threepenny Opera. Winner of many Drama Critics Awards on both coasts for directing, some of Glenn’s other credits include the west coast premiere of Moon Over Buffalo at the Pasadena Playhouse; Bill C. Davis’ Wrestlers starring George Clooney and Mark Harmon; the word premiere of Lainie Robertson’s Stringbean starring Leslie Uggams; Tyne Daly and Charles Durning in The Queen of the Stardust Ballroom; Company and From the Top! With Carol Burnett, the latter written for and starring Ms. Burnett. Glenn directed The Faculty starring Meredith Baxter for ABV-TV and is currently working on a musical featuring the catalog of Barry Mann and Cynthia Wiel.
has had the pleasure of working as a director/choreographer at such prestigious theatre companies as The Pasadena Playhouse, Mark Taper Lab, Manhattan Theatre Club, and MCCoy Rigby Entertainment. Highlights include Sweeney Todd with Kelsey Grammer and Christine Baranski at the Ahmanson Theatre, The Threepenny Opera with Patrick Cassidy for REPRSIE!, A Chorus Line for American Musical Theatre of San Jose and Sacramento Civic Light Opera, Assassins for L.A. Rep (Ovation Award Nominee), Cabaret for East/West Players (Dramalogue Award winner), Lauri Johnson’s one-woman show She’s a Handful, the smash hit musical Is It Me or Is It Hot in Here?, Lullaby of Broadway at the Tiffany Theatre, and the London West End productions of Snoopy and Blockheads. Television and film credits include directing the feature film The Human Quality, Country, an original musical movie, the pilot for Brooklyn Bridge, and Guidepost Junction (six children’s videos starring Jodi Benson). Ms. Cole has directed and choreographed the annual Alzheimer’s Gala (1992 through 1998) and Sony Pictures’ Broadway. Most recently, she added Shakespeare to her varied career by choreographing As You Like It for Shakespeare L.A.
This is Mr. Wissmann’s third design for REPRISE!, the others being The Boys From Syracuse and last season’s production of Of Thee I Sing. He has designed for The Pasadena Playhouse, the La Mirada Performing Arts Center, The Westwood Playhouse, South Bay Civic Light Opera, The Tiffany, The Colony, The Odyssey, The Beverly Hills Playhouse, The Ivy Substation, The Matrix and Coconut Playhouse, Florida. He has also worked as Set Designer for the Rogue Music Theatre, Oregon, and is the Resident Set Designer for The Ensemble Theatre Company of Santa Barbara. He has received numerous Dramalogue Awards and the NAACP Theatre Award for Set Design for the musical Sisterella. He resides in Pasadena with his wife Shelley, and their co-designs, Michael and Joanna.
REPRISE! credits include The Boys From Syracuse, Bells Are Ringing, Sweeney Todd starring Kelsey Grammer and Christine Baranski, The Threepenny Opera, starring Patrick Cassidy, and Wonderful Town, starring Lucie Arnaz and Stephanie Zimbalist. Additional recent credits include the Shakespeare Festival/LA productions of As You Like It and The Comedy of Errors starring Tom Hanks; the Baltimore, Chicago, and New York productions of Clue—The Musical; the New York Encores! production of Fiorello!; the Sacramento Light Opera productions of The Secret Garden, starring Robert Cuccioli, and The Most Happy Fella; and the Sacramento Theatre Company’s production of Pericles. Film credits include Nice Guys Sleep Alone, starring Sean O’Brien and Morgan Fairchild, Joe Brooks’ Sara’s Life Before It Became a Movie, and the PBS miniseries, The Came For Good. Prior to his career in theatre and film, Mr. Zyla’s name was on an international fashion label, carried in all major stores and featured in national and international press. In addition to designing for numerous celebrities, Mr. Zyla designed the wardrobe for First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton for her trip to the Far East.
have enjoyed collaborating on lighting designs for many varied productions and architectural projects for the past four years. Together, they have designed six productions for REPRISE!, the 20th Anniversary concert production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd at the Ahmanson Theatre, and the world premiere of the musical Masada at the Shubert Theatre. Other noted productions include Forbidden Hollyowod, and two seasons with the Fabulous Palm Spring Follies. Their work has been seen in theme park attractions, restaurants, retail stores, and entertainment centers for Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, Warner Brothers Movie World Germany and Australia, Universal Studios Japan, and Knott’s Berry Farm.
has designed over 70 theatrical shows, including Measure For Measure, Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Cinderella at the Ahmanson, First Picture Show at the Taper, and the first two seasons of REPRISE! Broadway’s Best in Concert at UCLA. Other design work includes Play On, and Only a Kingdom and 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, Blues in the Night, and Sweet & Hot a t the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami, The King and I, South Pacific, Company, and Into the Woods for the Long Beach Civic Light Opera. For television, Mr. Allen has worked on the 1998 Academy of Country Music Awards, the 56th Golden Globe Awards, and 14th Soap Opera Awards. As a mixer, he engineered Saturday Night at the Summit attended by Bill Clinton and the leaders of seven countries, which featured Michael Bolton, Amy Grant, Crystal Gayle, Chuck Berry, Kool and the Gang, and Ronnie Spector. He has earned five LA Dramalogue Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design, and an Ovation Award nomination for Best Sound Design in a Large Musical.