David Nehls & William E Lester Rocky Horror 1996

David Nehls (born 28 April 1964) is an American actor, singer, composer and lyricist who, with Betsy Kelso, wrote ''

The Great American Trailer Park Musical ''The Great American Trailer Park Musical'' is a two-act musical, written by David Nehls and Betsy Kelso. It explores the relationships between the tenants at the Armadillo Acres Trailer Park in Starke, Florida, particularly between Pippi, "the s ...

''. Among other appearances he originated the role of Riff Raff in the 1996-2000 European tour of ''

The Rocky Horror Show ''The Rocky Horror Show'' is a musical with music, lyrics and book by Richard O'Brien. A humorous tribute to the science fiction and horror B movies of the 1930s through to the early 1960s, the musical tells the story of a newly engaged couple ...

''.Dave Thompson, ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show FAQ: Everything Left to Know About the Campy Cult Classic'', Applause Theatre and Cinema Books (2016)
-

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...

pg 1999'The Rocky Horror Show Kicks off Italian Tour'
- ''

Playbill ''Playbill'' is an American monthly magazine for theatergoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most copies of ''Playbill'' are printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the show's pr ...

'' (1998) Today he works as a Musical Director for various theatres across the United States.

Acting career

Born as David Ronald Nehls and a native of Uniontown in Pennsylvania, he is the son of Ronald Nehls (1937-2008), a former Fayette County commissioner, and Darlene (née Duall), who worked at the Uniontown Hospital. In 1982 Nehls graduated from

Laurel Highlands High School Laurel Highlands High School is a public high school serving around 1,100 students in grades 9–12 from the outlying Uniontown, Pennsylvania city limits. Due to the campus' location, some students from Uniontown do attend Laurel Highlands for con ...

; he had studied piano for ten years before being accepted into the Shenandoah Conservatory, an arts college near Washington, D.C., where in 1987 he wrote his first musical, ''Starting Another Day''. Following this Nehls began an acting career which included playing in American National Tours as Seymour in '' Little Shop of Horrors''; Lord Jasper Tring in '' Me and My Girl''; Sonny the Gangster in '' City of Angels'', and

Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Familiar to Broadway, radio, movie, and early television audiences, ...

in ''Ziegfeld: A Night at the Follies'' (1991). He originated the role of Don Wand in a Rock'n'Roll version of ''Beauty and the Beast''. In regional theatre Nehls appeared as

Cosmé McMoon Cosmé McMunn (February 22, 1901 – August 22, 1980), who used the name Cosmé McMoon, was an Irish-Mexican-American pianist and composer, best known as the accompanist to notably tone-deaf soprano Florence Foster Jenkins.McKinnon, George"Scene C ...

in ''

Souvenir A souvenir (), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and transported home by the traveler as a m ...

'';

Tom Sawyer Thomas Sawyer () is the titular character of the Mark Twain novel ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876). He appears in three other novels by Twain: ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884), ''Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894), and ''Tom Sawyer, Dete ...

in '' Big River''; Herod in ''

Jesus Christ Superstar ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Gospels' accounts of the Passion, the work interprets the psychology of Jesus and other characters, with ...

'';

George M. Cohan George Michael Cohan (July 3, 1878November 5, 1942) was an American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer and theatrical producer. Cohan began his career as a child, performing with his parents and sister in a vaudev ...

in ''

George M! ''George M!'' is a Broadway musical based on the life of George M. Cohan, the biggest Broadway star of his day who was known as "The Man Who Owned Broadway." The book for the musical was written by Michael Stewart, John Pascal, and Francine P ...

''; and The Top Banana in ''Little Rhody's Big Burlesque'' opposite

Gennifer Flowers Gennifer Flowers (born January 24, 1950) is an American author, singer, model, actress, former State of Arkansas employee, and former TV journalist. In January 1998, President Bill Clinton testified under oath that he had a sexual encounter wit ...

.Nehls biography on the ''Killer Wigs from Outer Space'' website
/ref> From 1996 to 2000 Nehls played Riff Raff in the European tour of ''

'' and appeared on the soundtrack CD which was released by Lava Records/Polymedia International Music Service and which had been recorded in January 1996 at the Livingstone Studios in London.

Writing credits

Nate Christensen - Killer Wigs From Outer Space

Among others, Nehls wrote the music and lyrics for ''Starting Another Day'' (1987), which premiered at the

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

in 1987; ''

'' (

New York Musical Theatre Festival The New York Musical Festival (NYMF) was an annual three-week summer festival that operated from 2004 to 2019. It presented more than 30 new musicals a year in New York City's midtown theater district. More than half were chosen by leading theate ...

(2004),

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

Production (2005), National Tour (2007), the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...

(2008) and various regional productions across the U.S.), written with Betsy Kelso during their European tour of ''

''; ''Broadway Bares''; ''The Watercoolers'' (Off-Broadway Production (2002) and a 2007 National Tour); ''Breach'' (Evolution Theatre Company, 2011); ''It's A Wonderful Life'' (National Tour (1993) and regional productions); ''Killer Wigs from Outer Space'' (animation project - GenCon Selection (2013), Terror Film Festival, Philadelphia (2013),

(2017); ''The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical'' (

Stages Repertory Theatre Stages (Houston) is a theatre company in the city of Houston, Texas formerly known as Stages Repertory Theatre. It produces performances at The Gordy, the company's three-stage venue that opened in 2020 in Houston's Montrose, Houston, Montrose neig ...

2016); ''Down on the Pharm''; and ''Mommie Dearest'' (2017) in collaboration with

Christina Crawford Christina Crawford is an American author and actress, best known for her 1978 memoir and exposé, ''Mommie Dearest'', which described her abusive relationship with her adoptive mother, film star Joan Crawford. Early life and education Christi ...

, produced by Out of the Box Theatrics in New York City.Nehls on ''The Great American Trailer Park Musical'' website
/ref> He composed the score for the short ''Rogue Eagle Creek'' (2010).

Musical Director

As a Musical Director Nehls has overseen 50 productions at the

Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities The Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities is a nonprofit, multi-use cultural facility in Arvada, Colorado, United States, which opened in 1976. The Arvada Center facility comprises the Arvada History Museum, three theatres, 10,000 square feet o ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

and winning 9 Henry Awards - four for Musical Direction (2008, 2009, 2013, 2014) and five for Best Musical Production of the year (2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013). He has also worked regionally as Musical Director at theatres including the Riverside Theatre in Vero Beach, Florida; the Fox Theatre in Denver, Colorado;

American Musical Theatre of San Jose The American Musical Theatre of San Jose (AMTSJ), previously known as the San Jose Civic Light Opera (SJCLO), was a major professional nonprofit musical theatre company in San Jose, California. Founded in 1934 as the San Jose Light Opera Associatio ...

, California;

Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) is an art museum and exhibition space located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America. The museum was founded as the Boston Museum of Modern Art in 1936. Since then it has gone through multiple na ...

; TheatreWorks in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

and Carousel Dinner Theatre in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 C ...

. Nehls was Vice President of the Historic Elitch Gardens Theatre Foundation (2014–16), working to restore the 125 year old

Elitch Theatre The Historic Elitch Theatre is located at the original Elitch Gardens site in northwest Denver, Colorado. Opened in 1890, it was centerpiece of the park that was the first zoo west of Chicago. The theatre was Denver's first professional theatre ...

in Denver, CO. He also served as Co-Chairman of the Elitch Theatre New Works Festival (2015–16).After 24 years, live performances return to Historic Elitch Theatre
- ''

The Denver Post ''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in Denver, Colorado. As of June 2022, it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 ...

'' 18 August 2015 He is a member of BMI and is represented by

Creative Artists Agency Creative Artists Agency LLC (CAA) is an American talent and sports agency based in Los Angeles, California. It is regarded as an influential company in the talent agency business and manages numerous clients. In March 2016, CAA had 1,800 emplo ...

References

External links

*
Nehls performing as Riff Raff in the European tour of ''The Rocky Horror Show
'' - YouTube">The Rocky Horror Show">Nehls performing as Riff Raff in the European tour of ''The Rocky Horror Show
'' - YouTube]''

''
The David Nehls Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nehls, David 1964 births People from Uniontown, Pennsylvania American male stage actors American male musical theatre actors American musical theatre librettists American male composers Living people