Program Notes - Lincoln Center`s American Songbook

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Sponsored by Prudential Investment Management
Saturday Evening, April 5, 2014, at 8:00
Unsung Carolyn Leigh
with Donna Bullock, Rachel de Benedet, Drew Gehling,
Autumn Hurlbert, Adam Kantor, Jeremy Kushnier,
Alli Mauzey, Jenny Powers, Max von Essen, and Teal Wicks
Fran Minarik, Musical Director, Arranger, and Piano
John Convertino, Bass
Justin D. Hofmann, Drums
Ben West, Creator and Director
Produced for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook by
UnsungMusicalsCo.
This evening’s program is approximately 75 minutes long and will be performed
without intermission.
This performance will be streamed live at www.lincolncenter.org/watch.
Major support for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook is provided by Fisher Brothers, In Memory of
Richard L. Fisher; and Amy & Joseph Perella.
Wine generously donated by William Hill Estate Winery, Official Wine of Lincoln Center.
This performance is made possible in part by the Josie Robertson Fund for Lincoln Center.
Steinway Piano
Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse
Please make certain your cellular phone,
pager, or watch alarm is switched off.
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Additional support for Lincoln Center’s American
Songbook is provided by The Brown Foundation, Inc.,
of Houston, The DuBose and Dorothy Heyward
Memorial Fund, The Shubert Foundation, Jill and
Irwin Cohen, The G & A Foundation, Inc., Great
Performers Circle, Chairman’s Council, and Friends
of Lincoln Center.
Endowment support is provided by Bank of America.
Public support is provided by the New York State
Council on the Arts.
Artist catering is provided by Zabar’s and
Zabars.com.
MetLife is the National Sponsor of Lincoln Center.
Movado is an Official Sponsor of Lincoln Center.
United Airlines is the Official Airline of Lincoln
Center.
WABC-TV is the Official Broadcast Partner of
Lincoln Center.
William Hill Estate Winery is the Official Wine of
Lincoln Center.
We would like to remind you that the sound of coughing and rustling paper might distract the
performers and your fellow audience members.
In consideration of the performing artists and members of the audience, those who must leave
before the end of the performance are asked to do so between pieces. The taking of photographs
and the use of recording equipment are not allowed in the building.
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Fairytales Can Come True
by Ben West
Fiercely talented and famously difficult, Carolyn
Leigh (1926–83) was a rare and remarkable artist,
fashionably spinning a tumultuous, three-decade
career into a gloriously tuneful tunestack that
is itself a hit parade. The breadth and quality of
her work leaves little doubt that the New York
native has firmly secured her standing as one of
the greatest lyricists of American popular song,
with a catalogue boasting such timeless treasures as “Young at Heart,” “The Best Is Yet to
Come,” “Firefly,” “When in Rome,” “Witchcraft,” and countless more.
Defined not only by its boisterous, blissfully
effervescent wordplay and the precision with
which each poetic line is sculpted, Leigh’s singular style is perhaps most often characterized by
its uncommonly sophisticated use of language,
the Tony- and Grammy-nominated lyricist regularly infusing her work with dexterous doses of acerbic wit, cool confidence, and effortless sensuality. Note the opening lines of “You Fascinate Me So,” written with composer
Cy Coleman (her principal collaborator from 1957–64) and replete with the gorgeous intricacies of a classic Carolyn Leigh lyric:
I have a feeling that beneath the little halo on your noble head
There lies a thought or two the devil might be int’rested to know.
You’re like the finish of a novel that I’ll fin’lly have to take to bed.
You fascinate me so…
I feel like Christopher Columbus when I’m near enough to contemplate
The sweet geography descending from your eyebrow to your toe.
The possibilities are more than I can possibly enumerate.
That’s why you fascinate me so.
This particular item having been featured in the 1958 nightclub revue Demi-Dozen, Leigh’s
skillful endeavors often extended beyond the pop world, most notably to the Broadway
stage, providing in Little Me and How Now, Dow Jones what are considered among the
best comedy lyrics written for the musical theater. Moreover, the score to each of her four
main stem entries has proven especially fruitful, generating an abundance of popular hits:
“I’m Flying,” “I Gotta Crow,” and “I Won’t Grow Up” (Peter Pan, 1954); “Hey, Look Me
Over” (Wildcat, 1960); “I’ve Got Your Number,” “Here’s to Us,” and “Real Live Girl” (Little
Me, 1962); and “Step to the Rear” (How Now, Dow Jones, 1967). Still, her only other fulllength stage work to reach production was Something to Do, a special 1976 Kennedy
Center cantata for the U.S. Department of Labor.
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If Leigh’s musical theater canon seems strangely slender, it is not for a shortage of projects. Beyond her four produced Broadway musicals, Leigh had been working fastidiously
on numerous shows, all of which were ultimately aborted. See: Roman Holiday, producer
David Merrick’s stage version of the classic film, which was to have opened on Broadway
in October 1964; Flyers, based on a rather interesting and complex idea by Leigh, which,
in the 1980–81 season, was to star Tommy Tune as Hermes, messenger of the gods, who
arrives on Earth to post its closing notice; even Dream Girl, a musical adaptation of the
Elmer Rice play on which she had begun collaborating with Rice himself in 1959 (seven
years before Broadway saw its Dream Girl–inspired musical in the 1966 tuner Skyscraper).
And yet, despite the high-profile names attached to these three particular ventures, each
appears to have been abandoned rather early on in the creative process, leaving little or
no evidence of its brief existence, save the several script treatments Flyers managed to
receive. Of her dozen or so unproduced undertakings, it would instead be the musicals
Gatsby, Caesar’s Wife, Juliet, and Smile that would consume the formidable lyricist for
over a decade. The cumulative results yielded some of her most extraordinary and adventurous work, perhaps none more so than the highly promising musical adaption of F. Scott
Fitzgerald’s classic novel.
As initially reported in the New York Times, Gatsby was to begin rehearsals in December
1969 toward a spring Broadway opening, but the $600,000 Artie Shaw production never
came to fruition, leaving shelved an exceptionally rich, stylistically complex Jazz Age score
written with “Catch a Falling Star” composer Lee Pockriss. (Hugh Wheeler provided the
elegant libretto.) The vibrant, romantically lush 1920s musical tapestry they wove is quite
unlike any of Leigh’s other work, marking a distinct departure from the classic Broadway
brass that had previously defined her catalogue.
Working then on the long-aborning Caesar’s Wife (again with Pockriss, from 1967–73) and
Smile (with Marvin Hamlisch, from 1981–83), she would return to her bright and brassy
roots, albeit peppering the former, an original work centering on Julius Caesar’s fourth
wife, with fiery Latin flavors. (It should also be noted that Smile did finally reach Broadway
three years after its 1983 workshop, though none of Leigh’s contributions remained.
Hamlisch and Howard Ashman rewrote the entire score.)
Rather, it is the material for Juliet that saw the lyricist again daring to explore new ground.
Penned with Pulitzer Prize winner Morton Gould for a musical adaption of Fellini’s Juliet
of the Spirits, the score stands out as being her most emotionally raw and exquisitely lyrical. And quite possibly her most personal:
What beautiful is, is most undemocratic.
What beautiful is, is really quite unfair,
When beautiful is a teenaged acrobatic
Who never has kept a house or slept with curlers in her hair.
Oh, let me escape to some delightful planet
Where everyone’s past the age of twenty-three.
And beautiful is what I’d adore,
Like fair and fat and forty-four;
In other words, something sort of more like me.
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The lyric, written circa 1977, is perhaps especially poignant when you consider it is by the
same woman who 20 years earlier advised, “fairytales can come true; it can happen to
you, if you’re young at heart.”
That 1954 Frank Sinatra hit proved an auspicious start to an arresting career. And so, with
her untimely death in 1983 at the age of 57, we are left to look back at her extraordinary
catalogue and simply marvel, for Carolyn Leigh not only markedly enriched, but, more
importantly, helped to define that iconic era of popular music known today as the American
Songbook. Her brilliance: undeniable. Her legacy: undying. Her work: pure witchcraft.
—Copyright © 2014 by Ben West
Hotheaded, hardhearted;
Unstoppable once started.
A dangerous toy, that much is true.
But I’m all woman!
All woman...
Five fingers, six senses;
No hurdles and no fences.
All set to destroy ev’ry taboo...
—Carolyn Leigh, “All Woman” (circa 1969)
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Meet the Artists
Donna Bullock
Donna Bullock has had the great pleasure
of working with Ben West in UnsungMusicalsCo.’s production of Platinum as
well as Nothing Is Forever, a song cycle
featuring lyrics by Carolyn Leigh and music
by Morton Gould. She was last seen by
New York audiences in the world premiere
of A Perfect Future at the Cherry Lane
Theatre. Broadway credits include Mother
in Ragtime (Jefferson Award, Chicago),
Lucy in A Class Act (Ovation Award nomination, Los Angeles), and Bobbi/Gabby in
City of Angels. Some theatrical favorites
include Take Me Along (Irish Repertory
Theatre), Rabbit Hole (Huntington Theatre
Company), Foxfire with Hume Cronyn and
Jessica Tandy, Sweet Bird of Youth with
Lauren Bacall (Ahmanson Theatre), Terra
Nova (Mark Taper Forum), Me and My Girl
opposite Tim Curry (first national tour), Top
Girls (Obie Award, Public Theater), Portrait
of Jennie, Julie Taymor’s Liberty’s Taken,
and Much Ado About Nothing as Beatrice
to her husband Sherman Howard’s
Benedick at the Shakespeare Theatre of
New Jersey. Some television credits
include Monk, Medium, Six Feet Under,
Smallville, Frasier, and Touched by an
Angel, to name a few. She starred in the
brief but critically acclaimed NBC series
Against the Grain. Her film credits include
Air Force One, All Good Things, and The
Girl Next Door.
Rachel de Benedet
Rachel de Benedet has performed on
Broadway in Catch Me If You Can (Paula
Abagnale, Astaire Award nomination), The
Addams Family (Morticia opposite Nathan
Lane), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Muriel
opposite both John Lithgow and Jonathan
Pryce), Nine (with Antonio Banderas and
Chita Rivera), and The Sound of Music. Her
national tours include Camelot as
Guenevere opposite Lou Diamond Phillips
and The Sound of Music as Elsa opposite
Richard Chamberlain (Judy Award for Best
Supporting Actress). Among her OffBroadway credits are Christopher Durang
and Peter Melnick’s Adrift in Macao
(Barrymore Award for Best Actress for the
original Philadelphia Theatre Company production) and The Second Tosca. Regional
favorites include the Tommy Tune–helmed
Turn of the Century with Jeff Daniels at the
Goodman Theatre, The King and I opposite
Lorenzo Lamas at Ogunquit Playhouse, As
Bees in Honey Drown (Denver Drama
Critics Circle Award for Best Actress in a
Play) at the Arvada Center, Blithe Spirit at
Riverside Theatre, Brigadoon for Theatre
Under the Stars, Kiss Me, Kate (IRNE Award
nomination) for North Shore Musical
Theatre, and most recently Tell Me on a
Sunday for Hesston Bethel Performing Arts.
She can be seen in the soon-to-be-released
film Creedmoria. Ms. de Benedet has
worked previously with UnsungMusicalsCo.
in Carolyn Leigh’s Nothing Is Forever in concert at both Symphony Space and the
Connelly Theatre.
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Drew Gehling
Drew Gehling was an original cast member
in the revival of On a Clear Day You Can See
Forever, in which he played the role of
Warren to critical acclaim alongside the
incomparable Harry Connick Jr. He starred in
the original Chicago production of Jersey
Boys, and has now portrayed the role of Bob
Gaudio across the country, including on
Broadway. He has also performed in shows
and/or workshops for Lincoln Center
Theater, the Goodman Theatre, Paper Mill
Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, Utah
Shakespeare Festival, and the New York
Theatre Workshop, including A Minister’s
Wife and Anne of Green Gables (both OffBroadway, with award-winning cast recordings). On screen he can be seen in the
Stephen Frears film Muhammad Ali’s
Greatest Fight starring Christopher Plummer,
Danny Glover, and Ben Walker; 30 Rock as
the nemesis of Kenneth the page; and
Smash. Mr. Gehling co-authored a paper
about professional singers along with several
faculty members at the NYU Voice Center in
Manhattan, and is also a post-baccalaureate
student at Columbia University. He holds a
degree from the Carnegie Mellon University
School of Drama.
Autumn Hurlbert
Autumn Hurlbert is thrilled to be revisiting
the beautiful work of Carolyn Leigh. She
has appeared on Broadway in Legally
Blonde, and she performed in the first
national tour of Little Women. Her OffBroadway/regional theater credits include
Nobody Loves You (Second Stage), Tomorrow Morning (York Theatre), Killing
Women (Theatre Row), On the Town
(Encores!), Legally Blonde (North Carolina
Theatre), Private Lives (Huntington Theatre), every tongue confess (Arena Stage),
Becky’s New Car (Theater Aspen), and
Lucky Guy (Goodspeed). Ms. Hurlbert’s
television, film, and web credits include The
Sound of Music Live (NBC), runner-up in
Legally Blonde: The Search for Elle Woods
(MTV), Guiding Light, Sudden Death!, and
Research (web series).
Adam Kantor
Adam Kantor most recently played Jamie in
the acclaimed New York revival of The Last
Five Years, directed by the composer Jason
Robert Brown at Second Stage Theatre. He
starred in Rent on Broadway as Mark, the
final performance of which was captured
by Sony Pictures for Rent: Filmed Live on
Broadway. Mr. Kantor subsequently played
Henry in the Pulitzer Prize–winning musical
Next to Normal on Broadway, as well as
Princeton/Rod in the smash comedy
Avenue Q Off-Broadway. He originated the
role of Jeff in Nobody Loves You by Itamar
Moses and Gaby Alter at the Old Globe. On
television, Mr. Kantor played Ezra on The
Good Wife. He is a graduate of Northwestern University in Chicago, and he also
studied at the British American Academy of
Dramatic Arts in London and at Stella Adler
Studio in New York. Mr. Kantor serves on
the board of American Musical Theatre
LIVE! in Paris, and he is a co-founder of the
nonprofit arts education organization
Broadway in South Africa.
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Jeremy Kushnier
Jeremy Kushnier’s Broadway credits include
Ren McCormick in Footloose, Roger in Rent,
and Tommy DeVito in Jersey Boys. His
national tour credits include Radames in Aida
and Dr. Madden in Next to Normal. On television and film, he has appeared in Person of
Interest, The Good Wife, and the independent short Will. Mr. Kushnier’s recordings
include In Time and the self-titled Jeremy
Kushnier, both independent releases. Learn
more at jeremykushnier.com.
CHRIS MACKE PHOTOGRAPHY
playing the title role in Cinderella alongside
the Nashville Symphony, benefiting the
charity Show Hope.
Jenny Powers most recently originated the
roles of Samira in the world premiere of
Secondhand Lions (Seattle’s 5th Avenue
Theatre) and Maggie in the upcoming world
premiere of A Little More Alive (Kansas City
Rep). She has starred on Broadway as Rizzo
in Grease and Meg in Little Women. Other
theater highlights include Lois Lane in the
City Center Encores! production of It’s a
Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman, Mary
Kate Danaher in the Irish Rep revival of
Donnybrook! (Drama Desk nomination),
Veronica Franco in the world premiere of
Dangerous Beauty (Pasadena Playhouse),
Gina in Happiness (Lincoln Center Theater),
Sydney Sharp in It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s
Superman (Dallas Theater Center), Diana
Devereaux in Of Thee I Sing (Encores!), and
Young Phyllis in Follies (Encores!). Ms.
Powers’s television and film credits include
Blue Bloods, The Good Wife, Mercy, Law &
Order: Criminal Intent, Six Degrees, Nurse
Jackie, I Think I Love My Wife, and
Confessions of a Shopaholic. Gonna Make
You Love Me is her debut album with her
husband, Matt Cavenaugh. Learn more at
jenny-powers.com.
GENINE ESPOSITO
Alli Mauzey
Alli Mauzey most recently starred as Glinda
in the Broadway company of Wicked. Before
that she made her City Center Encores!
debut in the role of Sydney in It’s a Bird…It’s
a Plane…It’s Superman. Other Broadway
credits include Lenora in the musical CryBaby, for which she won a Theatre World
Award and was nominated for a Drama
League Award. Ms. Mauzey also originated
the role of Lenora in the pre-Broadway production of Cry-Baby at La Jolla Playhouse in
San Diego (Theatre Critics Circle Award). She
played Brenda in Hairspray on Broadway and
in the original company of the first national
tour. Regionally Ms. Mauzey has appeared
as Mallory in City of Angels for Reprise!,
Snookie in 110 in the Shade at the Pasadena
Playhouse, and Audrey in Little Shop of
Horrors at the Muny, for which she was
nominated for a Kevin Kline Award. She
has also performed several concerts with
symphonies across the country, including
Jenny Powers
Max von Essen
Max von Essen recently completed a successful run on Broadway in the revival of
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Evita, appearing as Agustin Magaldi and regularly stepping in for Ricky Martin as Che. His
other Broadway credits include the first
revival of Les Misérables, Dance of the
Vampires, the closing company of the original Les Misérables, and the 2000 revival of
Jesus Christ Superstar, where he understudied and frequently performed the title role.
Mr. von Essen also appeared in the world
premiere of Maury Yeston’s Death Takes a
Holiday at the Roundabout Theatre Company
and the Transport Group’s revival of Michael
John LaChiusa’s Hello Again (Drama League
nomination). Other New York credits include
Jerry Springer: The Opera at Carnegie Hall,
Finian’s Rainbow at the Irish Repertory
Theatre, and The Fantasticks at the Sullivan
Street Playhouse. His television and film
credits include The Good Wife, Royal Pains,
Gossip Girl, The Beautiful Life, Sex and the
City 2, and the upcoming short film Blonde.
He is a regular on the hit web series
Submissions Only. Mr. von Essen’s recordings include Evita, Death Takes a Holiday,
Love Songs of Andrew Lloyd Weber, Finian’s
Rainbow, and Broadway Musicals of 1928.
Learn more at maxvonessen.com.
Fran Minarik
Fran Minarik’s (musical director, arranger, and
piano) Broadway credits include Xanadu and
In My Life. His Off-Broadway credits include
Life on the Mississippi and The J.A.P. Show.
He served as musical director or associate
musical director for Radio City Christmas
Spectacular Christmas Across America
engagements, and as conductor or pianist
for My Way, Smokey Joe’s Cafe (Lyric
Theatre), and 1776 (Ford’s Theatre). Mr.
Minarik composed original music for Making
the Boys, When Ocean Meets Sky, and
Tagged (Barnes and Noble). His short film
credits include The Rub, directed by James
Horvath. For UnsungMusicalsCo., he has
served as musical director and music, vocal,
and dance arranger for the new productions
of How Now, Dow Jones, Platinum, Make
Mine Manhattan, At Home Abroad, and
Bless You All!, and for the world premiere
concerts of Gatsby and Nothing Is Forever.
Works in process include The Compleat Tap
Dancer. Mr. Minarik is a member of the staff
at the American Musical and Dramatic
Academy (AMDA) in New York.
John Convertino
Teal Wicks
Teal Wicks was last seen as Emma Carew
in the recent Broadway revival of Jekyll &
Hyde. She is well known for her portrayal
of Elphaba in the Los Angeles, San
Francisco, and Broadway productions of
Wicked. Other notable credits include the
critically acclaimed production of Carousel
at Goodspeed Opera House, Pippin on tour
and at Goodspeed, Belle Époque musical
The Blue Flower Off-Broadway at Second
Stage and at Boston’s American Repertory
Theater, and the City Center Encores! production of Stairway to Paradise.
John Convertino (bass) is a prominent
bassist working in musical theater, chamber music, and jazz. He toured the U.S.
with the first national productions of My
Way: A Tribute to Frank Sinatra, Happy
Days: A New Musical, and How the Grinch
Stole Christmas. Mr. Convertino is also
solo bassist with the Lyons Chamber
Orchestra and the Orchestra of Our Time.
He began studies at The Juilliard School in
1992. His teacher Homer Mensch often
asked Mr. Convertino to work with him,
performing with the Little Orchestra
Society at Avery Fisher Hall.
Justin D. Hofmann
Justin D. Hofmann (drums) is a full-time
drummer and multi-instrumentalist who
leads the group Lights over Caves, and he
performs with Orca Age, Mil’s Trills, and
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Golden Bloom. He is also writing and
performing pieces for prepared vibraphone,
composing scores and commercial works,
and watching Battlestar Galactica.
Ben West
Ben West (creator and director) is the
founder and artistic director of UnsungMusicalsCo. (UMC), a New York–based notfor-profit production company dedicated to
investigating, revitalizing, and giving new
voice to obscure but artistically sound musical works. Upcoming projects include The
Passing Show, a new music hall revue by a
team of contemporary writers; Up in Arms!,
a new musical utilizing material from Arnold
Auerbach and Frank Loesser’s World War II
army revues; and Rodgers and Hart’s PeggyAnn, a reading of which he will direct this
May at the New York Public Library for the
Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. For UMC,
Mr. West’s recent directing credits include
newly conceived productions of Make Mine
Manhattan, At Home Abroad, The Fig
Leaves Are Falling, and Bless You All!; world
premiere concerts of Gatsby, Nothing Is
Forever, and Caesar’s Wife; and several
developmental readings including Barefoot
Boy with Cheek and Sounds Like Love, a
new romantic comedy adapted from an
unpublished 1955 work by Arnold B. Horwitt.
On Broadway, Mr. West served as assistant
director and dramaturge for Old Acquaintance, and assistant producer for both
August: Osage County and The Homecoming. Unsung Carolyn Leigh is his fifth
Carolyn Leigh project, beginning in 2009 with
his new adaptation of How Now, Dow Jones.
UnsungMusicalsCo.
UnsungMusicalsCo. (UMC) is a New York–
based not-for-profit production company
dedicated to the preservation of musical theater through the revitalization and presentation of obscure but artistically sound works.
Focusing primarily on overlooked projects
from the Golden Age of musical theater
(1931–71), UMC treats each property as a
new musical, thereby providing a unique
bridge between the artists of today and
those of the past. Founded in 2009 under
the artistic direction of Ben West, UMC has
recently presented critically acclaimed,
newly conceived productions of Make Mine
Manhattan and The Fig Leaves Are Falling; a
starry concert production of At Home
Abroad with Bruce Vilanch, Julie Halston,
Christine Pedi, Noah Racey, Liz Larsen, and
KT Sullivan; world premiere concerts of
Gatsby, Caesar’s Wife, and Nothing Is
Forever; and the critically acclaimed New
York International Fringe Festival production
of How Now, Dow Jones. UMC also
recently launched its Unsung concert series
with Unsung Jimmy Van Heusen, hosted by
Tony Award nominee Tom Wopat. Devoted
to researching, assembling, and ultimately
preserving rare musical material for future
generations, UMC is receiving its own collection in the Billy Rose Theatre Division of
the New York Public Library for the
Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, where
the company’s developmental reading
series is also in residence at the Bruno
Walter Auditorium. For current projects, production history, press, media, and a full list
of donors, please visit UnsungMusicals.org.
American Songbook
In 1998, Lincoln Center launched American
Songbook, dedicated to the celebration of
popular American song. Designed to highlight and affirm the creative mastery of
America’s songwriters from their emergence at the turn of the 19th century up
through the present, American Songbook
spans all styles and genres, from the
form’s early roots in Tin Pan Alley and
Broadway to the eclecticism of today’s
singer-songwriters. American Songbook
also showcases the outstanding interpreters of popular song, including established and emerging concert, cabaret, theater, and songwriter performers.
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Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center for the
Performing Arts, Inc.
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
(LCPA) serves three primary roles: presenter of artistic programming, national leader
in arts and education and community relations, and manager of the Lincoln Center
campus. A presenter of more than 3,000
free and ticketed events, performances,
tours, and educational activities annually,
LCPA offers 15 programs, series, and festivals including American Songbook, Great
Performers, Lincoln Center Festival,
Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Midsummer
Night Swing, the Mostly Mozart Festival,
and the White Light Festival, as well as the
Emmy Award–winning Live From Lincoln
Center, which airs nationally on PBS. As
manager of the Lincoln Center campus,
LCPA provides support and services for the
Lincoln Center complex and the 11 resident organizations. In addition, LCPA led a
$1.2 billion campus renovation, completed
in October 2012.
Lincoln Center Programming Department
Jane Moss, Ehrenkranz Artistic Director
Hanako Yamaguchi, Director, Music Programming
Jon Nakagawa, Director, Contemporary Programming
Lisa Takemoto, Production Manager
Bill Bragin, Director, Public Programming
Charles Cermele, Producer, Contemporary Programming
Kate Monaghan, Associate Director, Programming
Jill Sternheimer, Producer, Public Programming
Mauricio Lomelin, Associate Producer, Contemporary Programming
Nicole Cotton, Production Coordinator
Regina Grande, Assistant to the Artistic Director
Julia Lin, Programming Associate
Ann Crews Melton, Programming Publications Editor
For American Songbook
Rocky Noel, Lighting Design
Scott Stauffer, Sound Design
Kyle Moore, Sound Engineer
Jessica Barrios, Wardrobe Assistant
Sara Sessions, Production Assistant
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For UnsungMusicalsCo.
Ben West, Artistic Director
Ben Coleman, Associate Producer
Joe Hodge, Lighting Designer
Josh Liebert, Sound Designer
Brittany Kramer, Stage Manager
Gerilyn Shur/Brigade Marketing, Press Representative
Simma Park, Artwork and Website
Mr. West would like to offer special thanks to June Silver, Sonja Pockriss, the Gould
Family, Michael Kerker, Charles Cermele, Jon Nakagawa, Geoff Josselson, Mark Eden
Horowitz, Chamisa Redmond Nash, Cait Miller, Jonathan Hiam, Katrina Dixon, Edward
Comstock, Martha Yavers, Judi Bainbridge, Peter Millrose, Nathan Romano, Dan Seabolt,
Library of Congress, and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.