Films: (author or co-author) Sleeper, Annie Hall (A. Award), Manhattan, Manhattan Murder Mystery, For the Boys, Intersection; (as writer/ director) Simon, Lovesick, The Manhattan Project, Sister Mary Explains It All. Television includes: "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" (head writer) and the ABC "Dick Cavett Show" (head writer/ co-producer, 2 Emmy Awards). Mr. Brickman entered show business as a musician with the folk group The Tarriers; then, with John and Michelle Phillips, formed the pre-Mamas and Papas group The New Journeymen. Brickman's recording (with Eric Weissberg) of the soundtrack of Deliverance earned gold status twice. He has published in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Playboy and other periodicals and was the 2006 recipient of the Writers' Guild of America's Ian McClellan Hunter Award for Lifetime Achievement. Jersey Boys is his first venture into musical theatre.
Jersey Boys, Rick's first Broadway credit, won the 2006 Tony Award, the 2007 Grammy Award and the 2009 Olivier Award for Best Musical. With Marshall Brickman and Andrew Lippa, he wrote another musical, The Addams Family, also on Broadway. This spring, his play, Peter and the Starcatcher, suggested by the popular novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, will be presented at New York Theatre Workshop. From 1982-2000, as creative director at Serino Coyne Inc, he produced ad campaigns for some 300 Broadway shows, from A Chorus Line to The Lion King. Since 2000, he has served as creative consultant for the Walt Disney Studio. Rick saw his first Broadway show when he was three. His mother said he was very well-behaved. From that day, he dreamed of working in the theatre. From the age of 19, he has. Heartfelt thanks to those he's been lucky enough to know, whose work makes him grateful for the day he was born: Sondheim, Stoppard, Bennett, Prince, Fosse, Robbins, Nichols, Tune, Nunn, Laurents, Stone, Mackintosh, Taymor, Papp, Schumacher, Schneider, Coyne, Brickman and Rees. Rick thinks about them a lot. He never thought about Jersey much. He does now. And he's really glad Jersey got him to Sydney.
Bob Gaudio wrote his first hit, ‘Who Wears Short Shorts’, at 15, for The Royal Teens, and then became a founding member of The Four Seasons and the band’s principal songwriter. He also produced the hit ‘You Don’t Bring Me Flowers’ for Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand (Grammy nomination, Record of the Year) as well as six albums for Diamond, including The Jazz Singer. Other producing credits include albums for Frank Sinatra, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Michael Jackson and the soundtrack for the film of Little Shop of Horrors. Several songs co-written with Bob Crewe have been cover hits for artists including The Tremeloes (‘Silence Is Golden’), The Walker Brothers (‘The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore’) and Lauryn Hill (‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’). With his wife, Judy Parker, Gaudio produced and co-wrote the Who Loves You album for The Four Seasons and one of Billboard’s longest-charted singles (54 weeks), ‘Oh, What a Night’. A high point in his career came in 1990 when, as a member of the original Four Seasons, Gaudio was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1995, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, which hailed him as ‘a quintessential music-maker’. To this day, Bob Gaudio and Frankie Valli still maintain their partnership…on a handshake.
‘New York was pregnant in the fifties,’ says Bob Crewe, ‘gestating with possibilities.’ Crewe and music partner Frank Slay became independent writer producers when the category hadn’t yet been invented. In 1957 they wrote and produced ‘Silhouettes’ for The Rays, which skyrocketed to No 1. Suddenly, producers in demand, they launched Freddie Cannon’s ‘Tallahassee Lassie’ and Billy & Lillie’s ‘Lah Dee Da’. Crewe’s 1960s unprecedented producing success with The Four Seasons birthed a new sound, striking a major chord in American pop. ‘Sherry’, Big Girls Don’t Cry’, ‘Walk Like a Man’, ‘Candy Girl’, ‘Ronnie’ – all smashes. When lead Frankie Valli demanded a solo turn, Crewe and Bob Gaudio wrote (and Crewe produced) ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’, which eventually became the century’s fifth most-played song. Crewe ran hot with artists from Vicki Carr, Oliver and Lesley Gore to Mitch Ryder, co-writing with Charles Fox the soundtrack for Jane Fonda’s film Barbarella. Then his own Bob Crewe Generation exploded with Music to Watch Girls By. In 1972 Bob was in LA, where he revived Frankie Valli with ‘My Eyes Adored You’ by Crewe and Kenny Nolan. They also co-wrote Patti LaBelle’s ‘Lady Marmalade’ (No 1, 1975), which was a hit again on the soundtrack of Moulin Rouge (No 1, 2001).
Biog by David Ritz.
Des McAnuff is a two-time Tony Award-winning director and Artistic Director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. He is Director Emeritus of La Jolla Playhouse, where during his tenure as Artistic Director he directed more than 30 productions of classics, new plays and musicals. Broadway: Guys and Dolls; Aaron Sorkin's The Farnsworth Invention (2007); Jersey Boys (2006, four Tonys including Best Musical, now with seven companies throughout the world); Billy Crystal's 700 Sundays (2004, Tony Award); Dracula the Musical (2004); How to Succeed… (1995); The Who's Tommy (director/ co-author with Pete Townshend, 1993 Tony Best Director; 1997 London Olivier Best Director/Best Musical); A Walk in the Woods (1988); Big River (1985, seven Tonys including Best Director, Best Musical). Stratford: Romeo and Juliet, Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra starring Christopher Plummer, Macbeth, Sondheim's Forum. Film: Cousin Bette, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (director), Iron Giant (producer), Quills (executive producer). Upcoming: adapting Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots for stage with Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips.
Broadway: 2010 Tony Award winning Best Musical Memphis (OCC Award, Astaire and Drama Desk Award Noms.); 2006 Tony and Olivier Award winning Jersey Boys (Olivier, Drama Desk, Dora, OCC Award Noms.); The Addams Family; Next to Normal (2010 Pulitzer Prize); All Shook Up and Guys and Dolls (Astaire Award nom.). Off Broadway: Saved; Romeo & Juliet; A Tree Grows in Brooklyn; Kismet; Salome. Regional: The Wiz; Zhivago; Mambo Kings; The Marriage of Figaro; Chita and All That Jazz. International: Disney's Tarzan; West Side Story; The Sound of Music; Peggy Sue Got Married (West End). TV: "Broadway: The American Musical" (PBS), "The 14th American Comedy Awards" (ABC), "Triple Sensation" (CBC). Upcoming: Broadway: White Noise and Havana. The Public: The Capeman. 1st National Tours: Memphis, Next to Normal and The Addams Family.
Music Direction, Vocal Arrangements and Incidental Music
Music direction: Scarlet Pimpernel and Imaginary Friends, Radio City's Sinatra. Dance/vocal arranging: Sweet Smell of Success, Jekyll & Hyde, Perfectly Frank, The Act, Marilyn: An American Fable, Woman of the Year, Cabaret. Composing: Superdimensional Microbabes (anime-based chamber musical); Fourtune (Off-Broadway); The Silver Swan (National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship); three theatrical CDs (The Missing Peace, Early One Morning, Songs I Won't Be Singing); two Harvard Hasty Pudding shows (Tots in Tinseltown, Bewitched Bayou); a gospel-based Requiem; and additional songs for church choir, various cabaret artists and "Saturday Night Live." Education: Harvard (philosophy), Westminster (choral conducting). Now Californian. Thanks and love to Alexandra.
Broadway: The Farnsworth Invention, Jersey Boys (Tony nomination) and The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe. Off-Broadway: Wrecks, Controversy (Public Theatre), Yellowman (Manhattan Theater Club), First Love, What You Get and What You Expect (New York Theater Workshop), Irish Repertory Theater and others. US regional includes: La Jolla Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse, Dallas Theater Center, Portland Center Stage, Seattle Rep, Florida Stage, McCarter Theater, Wilma Theatre, Williamstown Theater Festival, Old Globe Theater and Yale Repertory Theater. Awards: 2005 Lumen Award (Dodger Stages), 2003 Drammy Award for Best Set Design, 2000 Carbonell Award for Best Set Design, Best Touring Production of the 2003 LA Ovation Award. Graduate of Yale School of Drama.
New York credits include: The Homecoming with Ian McShane, Cymbeline, Jersey Boys, The Apple Tree with Kristin Chenoweth, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, Lincoln Center’s The Rivals (Tony Award), Julius Caesar with Denzel Washington, Henry IV, Take Me Out (also Donmar Warehouse), Enchanted April, Proof, Love! Valour! Compassion!, The Most Happy Fella, Dinner with Friends, How I Learned to Drive, Buried Child and The Mineola Twins (Lortel and Hewes Awards). Opera: Jack O’Brien’s Il Trittico (Met 2007) and NYC Opera’s The Pirates of Penzance. Film: A Walk on the Moon, Love! Valour! Compassion! and The Substance of Fire.
Proud 2006 Henry Hewes Design Award, Outer Critics Circle Award and Tony Award winner for Jersey Boys! B'way works include: Million Dollar Quartet, Memphis, West Side Story (2009 Tony nomination), Guys and Dolls, Gypsy starring Patti LuPone, In The Heights (2008 Tony nomination), Avenue Q, The Full Monty, Parade, Kiss Of The Spider Woman (Tony nomination/Olivier Winner), How To Succeed... The Joffrey Ballet's Billboards, and designs for more than sixty pieces for Parsons Dance which he co-founded with David Parsons. Six musicals in rep for The Kennedy Center's Sondheim Celebration. Five time Helen Hayes Award recipient.
Steve Canyon Kennedy was production engineer on Broadway shows including Cats, Starlight Express, Song & Dance, The Phantom of the Opera, Carrie and Aspects of Love. Broadway sound design credits include: Mary Poppins, The Lion King, Jersey Boys (Drama Desk Award), Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays, Hairspray, The Producers, Aida, Titanic, Big, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Carousel and The Who’s Tommy (Drama Desk Award). Steve is married to actress Loni Ackerman and together they have two sons, Jack and George.
Michael Clark designs film and video for live events. Credits include: Ring of Fire (Broadway and Studio Arena Theatre), 700 Sundays (Broadway and La Jolla), Dracula the Musical (Broadway and La Jolla), The Elephant Man (Broadway), Manon Lescaut (Washington Opera), Allegro, One Red Flower and Hedwig (Signature Theatre), The Last Five Years (Philadelphia Theate Company), Company, Sunday in the Park with George and Merrily We Roll Along (Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration), Spider-Man Live (tour), Music from a Sparkling Planet (Drama Dept), Aeros (tour) and Dinner with Friends (ACT).
Broadway: A Raisin in the Sun, Henry IV, The Rivals, Good Vibrations, Sight Unseen, The Apple Tree, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, High Fidelity, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Radio Golf, The Color Purple, Julius Caesar and Xanadu. US regional: McCarter, Alliance, American Repertory Theatre, Huntington Theatre, Williamstown, Hartford Stage and La Jolla Playhouse. Opera includes: Opera Theatre of St Louis, Santa Fe Opera, Minnesota Opera, Opera Omaha and Philadelphia Opera Company. Love to James.
Steve Rankin received critical praise as fight director and actor in the Tony Award-winning Lincoln Center Theater production of Henry IV (director Jack O’Brien). Other Broadway: Dracula the Musical, Twelfth Night, Two Shakespearean Actors, Anna Christie, The Real Inspector Hound, Getting Away with Murder and The Who’s Tommy. Off-Broadway: Pig Farm, The Night Hank Williams Died and Below the Belt. As an actor he can be seen as Alvin Green on the new series Saving Grace starring Holly Hunter on TNT.
International supervisor of all Jersey Boys companies including, New York, Chicago, Las Vegas, the US Tour, Toronto and London. Broadway credits include: Jersey Boys, Gypsy, Sweet Smell of Success, Annie Get Your Gun, Patti LuPone's Matters of the Heart, A Delicate Balance, The Old Neighborhood, Titanic, The Phantom of the Opera, The Red Shoes, The Secret Garden. US National tours: Wicked, The Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story. US Regional: Jersey Boys (La Jolla Playhouse). Production supervised Patti LuPone's national concert appearances for ten years. Cofounder/ producer with Bernadette Peters and Mary Tyler Moore of Broadway Barks! an annual animal adoption event in NY since 1999.
Steve received a Tony nomination for his work on Jersey Boys. Most recently, he orchestrated productions of Turn of the Century, Paint Your Wagon, 110 in the Shade, Snapshots, Time After Time and Can-Can. As a composer, he has scored numerous television series and specials, and has orchestrated and conducted albums for Helen Reddy, Judy Kaye, Petula Clark and Deborah Gibson. His orchestrations have been performed by the Boston Pops and at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the White House and around the world. Passionate about the theatre, Mr. Orich resides in both Los Angeles and New York.
West Hyler has worked on companies of Jersey Boys in Las Vegas, San Francisco, Chicago, London, Toronto as well as cities throughout the USA with the Touring production. He has directed over 40 plays and worked at such theatres as The Guthrie, La Jolla Playhouse, and Actors Theater of Louisville. In addition to his theatre career, he's currently directing his first short film "Jake and Tom" with funding from the South Carolina Arts Commission. West received his directing MFA from the University of California at San Diego
Theatre includes: assistant choreographer Jersey Boys (Broadway, US first national tour, Chicago, Las Vegas, London and Toronto), Hairspray (associate choreographer London, resident director/choreographer Toronto, associate choreographer international tour), artistic director Dare to Dance (Canada), resident director Charlottetown Festival , artistic director Charlottetown Festival Young Company, artistic director/choreographer One Sky (Trafalgar Square) and Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada (acting company, seven seasons). Danny was featured on the hit TV series "Hairspray: High School Musical" on Sky TV UK. Awards include: two Tyrone Guthrie Awards (Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada) and Artistic Director's Award (Charlottetown Festival).