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Bob Martin (comedian)
Robert Martin (born December 8, 1962) is a television and musical theatre actor and writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Career Theatre Martin began his career as an actor and director at The Second City in Toronto in 1996. He served as Second City Toronto's artistic director from 2003–2004. In 2005, he made his Broadway debut starring as “Man in Chair” in the musical ''The Drowsy Chaperone'', which he co-wrote with Don McKellar (book), and Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison (music and lyrics). He was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical and won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical with Don McKellar. He reprised his role in London's West End production of ''The Drowsy Chaperone'', for which he received an Olivier nomination. Martin then kicked off the show's North American tour on its first stop in Toronto. Martin wrote the book for the musical ''Minsky's'', which premiered at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles in 2009. He returned to Broadway as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Drowsy Chaperone
''The Drowsy Chaperone'' is a Canadian musical theatre, musical with music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison, and a book by Bob Martin (comedian), Bob Martin and Don McKellar. The story concerns a middle-aged, asocial musical theater fan who, feeling "blue", decides to play for the audience an LP of his favorite musical, the fictional 1928 show ''The Drowsy Chaperone''. As the record plays, the show - a parody of 1920s American musical comedy - comes to life onstage, as the man wryly comments on the music, story and actors. ''The Drowsy Chaperone'' debuted in 1998 at The Rivoli in Toronto, and, after a 2005 run in Los Angeles, opened on Broadway theatre, Broadway on May 1, 2006. The show was nominated for multiple Broadway and West End theatre, West End theatre awards, winning five Tony Awards and seven Drama Desk Awards. The show has had major productions in Toronto, Los Angeles, New York, London, Melbourne and Japan, as well as two North American tours as well as Bate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minsky's
''Minsky's'' is a musical by Bob Martin (book), Charles Strouse (music), and Susan Birkenhead (lyrics), and is loosely based on the 1968 movie ''The Night They Raided Minsky's''. Set during the Great Depression era in Manhattan, the story centers around a jaded burlesque producer (Billy Minsky), a politician trying to shut him down (Randolph Sumner), and an innocent young girl who gets caught between them (Sumner's daughter, Mary). Production history ''Minsky's'' began previews at the Ahmanson Theater on January 21, 2009, officially opened on February 6, 2009, and ran through March 1, 2009. Directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw, it starred Christopher Fitzgerald as Billy Minsky, Katharine Leonard as Mary Sumner, George Wendt as Randolph Sumner, and Rachel Dratch in the comedic role of Beula. Costume design was by Gregg Barnes, and lighting design by Ken Billington. In March 2010, the production won LA Drama Critics Awards for Music Direction, Musical Score, and Costum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Connick Jr
Joseph Harry Fowler Connick Jr. (born September 11, 1967) is an American singer, pianist, composer, actor, and television host. He has sold over 28million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top60 best-selling male artists in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America, with 16million in certified sales. He has had seven top20 US albums, and ten number-one US jazz albums, earning more number-one albums than any other artist in US jazz chart history. Connick's best-selling album in the United States is his Christmas album ''When My Heart Finds Christmas'' (1993). His highest-charting album is his release '' Only You'' (2004), which reached No.5 in the US and No.6 in Britain. He has won three Grammy Awards and two Emmy Awards. He played Leo Markus, the husband of Grace Adler (played by Debra Messing) on the NBC sitcom ''Will & Grace'' from 2002 to 2006. Connick began his acting career as a tail gunner in the World War II film '' Memphis Belle'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Urinetown
''Urinetown: The Musical'' is a satirical comedy musical that premiered in 2001, with music by Mark Hollmann, lyrics by Hollmann and Greg Kotis, and book by Kotis. It satirizes the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement, and municipal politics. The show also parodies musicals such as ''The Threepenny Opera'', ''The Cradle Will Rock'' and ''Les Misérables'', and the Broadway musical itself as a form. Productions ''Urinetown'' debuted at the New York International Fringe Festival, and then was produced Off-Broadway at the American Theatre for Actors from May 6, 2001, to June 25, 2001. The musical then opened on Broadway at Henry Miller's Theatre, running from September 20, 2001, through January 18, 2004, totaling 25 previews and 965 performances. It was nominated for 10 Tony Awards and won three. It was directed by John Rando and featured music and lyrics by Mark Hollman, book and lyrics by Greg Kotis, and choreography by J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Rando
John Rando is an American stage director who won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for '' Urinetown the Musical'' in 2002. He received his 2nd nomination in the same category in 2015 for the 2014 Broadway revival of '' On the Town''. Early life Rando grew up in Houston, Texas and attended the University of Texas in Austin, studying theatre. He received a Fulbright Program fellowship and studied theatre in Germany and Italy and then studied directing at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, graduating in 1988. He next worked as an assistant director at the Old Globe Theatre (San Diego). Career Rando has directed Off-Broadway, on Broadway and in regional theatre. His first Off-Broadway play was ''Fortune's Fools'', by Frederick Stroppel, at the Cherry Lane Theatre in 1995. He directed the musical ''The Toxic Avenger'', which opened Off-Broadway in 2009, after it premiered at the George Street Playhouse (New Brunswick, New Jersey). Rando has directed several ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greg Kotis
Greg Kotis (born 1965/1966) is an American playwright, best known for writing the book and co-writing the lyrics for the musical ''Urinetown''. Biography Career Kotis studied political science at the University of Chicago, where he was a member of the improvisational and sketch comedy group Off-Off Campus. He dropped out when he took a course on the Short Comic Scene, realizing that he wanted to be part of the theatre industry instead. Kotis became a member of the Cardiff Giant Theatre Company and the Neo-Futurists. He moved to New York City in 1995 where he established a branch of the Neo-Futurists together with his wife Ayun Halliday. While moonlighting in fringe theater, Kotis worked as a location scout for the show Law & Order. ''Urinetown'' By 1998, Kotis had a daughter with his wife, and thus the responsibility of supporting a family. Kotis began writing ''Urinetown: The Musical'', deciding it would be his last work: "I told myself, I tried to find a life in the theater ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Hollmann
Mark Hollmann is an American composer and lyricist. Hollmann grew up in Fairview Heights, Illinois, where he graduated from Belleville Township High School East in 1981. He won a 2002 Tony Award and a 2001 Obie Award for his music and lyrics to ''Urinetown''. He is a former ensemble member of the Cardiff-Giant Theatre Company in Chicago. He played trombone for the Chicago art rock band Maestro Subgum and the Whole, and piano for The Second City national touring company and Chicago City Limits, an improv company in New York City. He attended the musical theatre writing workshop Making Tuners at Theatre Building Chicago and the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop in New York. While at the Making Turners workshop he began a show with Chicago-based writer Jack Helbig that became "The Girl, the Grouch, and the Goat," which has had professional productions in Los Angeles and Chicago. Hollmann is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and ASCAP. He lives in Manhattan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Sting
''The Sting'' is a 1973 American caper film set in September 1936, involving a complicated plot by two professional grifters (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) to con a mob boss ( Robert Shaw).''Variety'' film review; December 12, 1973, page 16. The film was directed by George Roy Hill, who had directed Newman and Redford in the western ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid''. Created by screenwriter David S. Ward, the story was inspired by real-life cons perpetrated by brothers Fred and Charley Gondorff and documented by David Maurer in his 1940 book ''The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man''. The title phrase refers to the moment when a con artist finishes the "play" and takes the mark's money. If a con is successful, the mark does not realize he has been cheated until the con men are long gone, if at all. The film is played out in distinct sections with old-fashioned title cards drawn by artist Jaroslav "Jerry" Gebr, the lettering and illustrations rendered in a style ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Sting (musical)
''The Sting'' is a musical thriller with a book by Bob Martin and music and lyrics by Mark Hollmann, Greg Kotis, and Harry Connick Jr., based on the 1973 film ''The Sting.'' Productions The Paper Mill Playhouse presented the musical in a limited engagement from March 29 until April 29, 2018. The score contained music by Scott Joplin including "The Entertainer." John Rando directed, with choreography by Warren Carlyle and music direction by Fred Lassen. The Paper Mill Playhouse production was billed as a "pre-broadway tryout" but as of September 2021, the show is yet to open on Broadway. Synopsis Chicago. 1936. Get ready to enter a smoke-filled world of cons and capers, where nothing is what it seems and no one is who they appear to be. Based on the 1973 Academy Award-winning film, ''The Sting'' tells the tale of a pair of con men, small town grifter Johnny Hooker and big-time hustler Henry Gondorff (Harry Connick, Jr.), who plot to bring down the city's most corrupt rac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matthew Sklar
Matthew Sklar (born October 7, 1973) is an American composer for musical theatre, television, and film. His works have appeared on Broadway, the West End, and theatres worldwide. Sklar has written primarily with lyricist Chad Beguelin, having written music for their Broadway shows '' The Prom'', '' Elf the Musical'', and ''The Wedding Singer''. ''The Prom'' and ''The Wedding Singer'' earned him nominations for the Tony Award for Best Original Score. Biography Early life A native of Westfield, New Jersey, Sklar is the middle child of Dr. Talbot Sklar, a pediatric dentist, and Susan Sklar, a teacher. He attended Edison Intermediate School and graduated from Westfield High School in 1991. He was active in the high school's music and drama programs, and also participated in the Westfield Summer Workshop. Sklar credits his start in composing to his music teacher, Kristine Smith-Morasso at Edison, who asked him to write a song for his 9th grade graduation. On a whim, he sent the son ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chad Beguelin
Chad Beguelin (born September 24, 1969) is an American playwright and lyricist. He wrote the lyrics and co-wrote the book for '' The Prom''. He also wrote the book for Disney's '' Aladdin'', as well as additional lyrics for the score. He was nominated for Best Original Book and Best Original Score for ''Aladdin''. He is also known for his collaborations with composer Matthew Sklar, having written the lyrics and co-written the book for the Broadway musical ''The Wedding Singer'' and the lyrics for the Broadway musical '' Elf the Musical''. Beguelin was nominated for two Tony Awards for his work on ''The Wedding Singer'', as well as a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics. Biography Beguelin, a native of Centralia, Illinois, received an MFA from the graduate writing program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Beguelin wrote the book and lyrics for ''The Rhythm Club'' which was produced at the Signature Theatre, Arlington, Virginia in 2000 and was nominated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Meehan (writer)
Thomas Edward Meehan (August 14, 1929 – August 21, 2017) was an American playwright. He wrote the books for the musicals ''Annie'', '' The Producers'', ''Hairspray'', ''Young Frankenstein'' and ''Cry-Baby''. He co-wrote the books for '' Elf: The Musical'' and '' Limelight: The Story of Charlie Chaplin''. He received the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times—in 1977 for ''Annie'', in 2001 for ''The Producers'' (shared with Mel Brooks), and in 2003 for ''Hairspray'' (shared with Mark O'Donnell). Early life Meehan was born in Ossining, New York, but grew up in Suffern, New York. His father, Thomas, was a businessman, and his mother, Helen Cecilia O’Neill, was an emergency department nurse. He graduated from Hamilton College."Thomas Meehan bio" cityfile.com, accessed March 12, 2011. according to this biography, Meehan was bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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