Clayton Howe’s Entertainmentx

RYAN SCOTT OLIVER (ryanscottoliver.com) (IG:@ryanscottoliver)(TW:@ryanscottoliver) was called “the future of Broadway… a major new voice in musical theatre” (Entertainment Weekly) and is “shaking up musical theater with his dark, twisted and genius work … [Oliver] could very well be musical theater’s answer to an auteur filmmaker or a gothic novelist” (Huffington Post).He wrote the book, music and lyrics for Jasper in Deadland (book by Tony Award-nominee Hunter Foster) which was first Off-Broadway in a spring 2014 run, and then presented at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre in May 2015;as well as Darling; Havana! (with director Warren Carlyle); Otherbody, a brief musical allegory; and Mrs. Sharp (read at Playwrights Horizons July 2009 starring Jane Krakowski, dir. by Michael Greif); and more.

Both Jasper in Deadland and 35mm: A Musical Exhibition are licensed worldwide by Samuel French, and have cast recordings on the Ghostlight/Sh-k-boom label. Oliver is a Jonathan Larson Grant Recipient, Richard Rodgers Award Winner, Lortel Award Nominee, numerous ASCAP awards, a Dramatists Guild Fellow, a guest lecturer at Harvard University, and the recipient of residencies at 5th Avenue Theatre, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Weston Playhouse, Cap 21, the York Theatre, Running Deer Ranch, Pace University, Harvard University, San Diego State University, Playwrights Horizons and more.

Off-Broadway and elsewhere: Disney Theatricals commission, TheatreWorksUSA’s We the People, Rosie O’Donnell’s Theater Kids, and cabarets worldwide. Additionally, he is the Director of New Musicals at Pace University in downtown Manhattan and the Artistic Director of the Pasadena Musical Theatre Program. His songbook, Music+Lyrics by Ryan Scott Oliver: Vol. 1, was published by Hal Leonard in 2011.  M.F.A. Musical Theatre Writing NYU; B.A. Music Composition, UCLA. Songbooks and sheet music available at ryanscottoliver.com.

Oliver is also currently at work on a new project for Universal Theatrical Group with Kirsten Guenther and a trilogy of new musicals about American desperation in war-time: the first, a southern Gothic thriller set in small-town Missouri, 1945 entitled We Foxes (commissioned by Broadway Across America);the second, a Civil War drama called Rope (commissioned by Grove Entertainment, 2015);and the final part, a contemporary “marriage play” called Three Points of Contact.His morbidly optimistic musings may be followed on all platforms.

Kyle McMahon (kylemcmahon.me)(IG:@kmacmusic)(TW:@KMacMusic)(LI:@kyledmcmahon) is an active media millennial. As an iHeart Radio on-air personality, Kyle has a weekend show on 92.9 TOM-FM and hosts the Pop Culture Weekly Podcast. As 111/Warner recording artist K.Mac (Kyle Mac) he is currently working on his debut SchizoSONIC which features such superstar collaborators as Monte Pittman (Madonna, Adam Lambert, Prong), Alex G (Justin Timberlake), The Passengerz (Madonna , Seal, Cher) and The Underground (Justin Timberlake, LFO). His first music video “A Letter 2 My Younger Self (Fatherless Sons)” hit 100,000 views in its first month. As a four time guest on the Emmy winning Oprah’s Lifeclass, Kyle McMahon has become the face of fatherless sons. Through his work with fatherless sons issues, he joined with NBC‘s Veronica De La Cruz and Everclear‘s Art Alexakis to create the Stand Up Man Up campaign – spawned from And Then There Were Two, a non-profit promoting responsible fatherhood.

Kyle McMahon (kylemcmahon.me)(IG:@kmacmusic)(TW:@KMacMusic)(LI:@kyledmcmahon) is an active media millennial. As an iHeart Radio on-air personality, Kyle has a weekend show on 92.9 TOM-FM and hosts the Pop Culture Weekly Podcast. As 111/Warner recording artist K.Mac (Kyle Mac) he is currently working on his debut SchizoSONIC which features such superstar collaborators as Monte Pittman (Madonna, Adam Lambert, Prong), Alex G (Justin Timberlake), The Passengerz (Madonna , Seal, Cher) and The Underground (Justin Timberlake, LFO). His first music video “A Letter 2 My Younger Self (Fatherless Sons)” hit 100,000 views in its first month. As a four time guest on the Emmy winning Oprah’s Lifeclass, Kyle McMahon has become the face of fatherless sons. Through his work with fatherless sons issues, he joined with NBC‘s Veronica De La Cruz and Everclear‘s Art Alexakis to create the Stand Up Man Up campaign – spawned from And Then There Were Two, a non-profit promoting responsible fatherhood.

Liz Callaway(lizcallaway.com)(TW:@LizGoesOn)(IG:@lizgoeson)(YT:@LizCallawayOfficial)(FB:@LizCallawayOfficial) is a Tony nominee and Emmy Award-winning actress, singer and recording artist. She made her Broadway debut in Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, received a Tony Award nomination for her performance in Baby, and for five years, won acclaim as Grizabella in Cats. She has also starred in the original casts of Miss Saigon, The Three Musketeers, and The Look of Love.

Off-Broadway she received a Drama Desk nomination for her performance in The Spitfire Grill (Playwrights Horizons), and also appeared in Brownstone (Roundabout), No Way to Treat a Lady, Marry Me a Little, and Godspell. Other New York appearances include the legendary Follies in Concert at Lincoln Center, A Stephen Sondheim Evening, Fiorello!(Encores!), and Hair in Concert.   Regional and international credits include Dot in Sunday in the Park with George, Eva Peron in Evita, Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, the European premiere of Sondheim on Sondheim at London’s Royal Festival Hall, and most recently, starred in the one-person play “Every Brilliant Thing”.

Ms. Callaway has also established a major career as a concert and recording artist.  The award-winning Sibling Revelry(created with sister Ann Hampton Callaway) was presented to great acclaim at the Donmar Warehouse in London. Boom!,a celebration of the music of the 60’s and 70’s, also created with her sister was recorded live at Birdland, and is currently touring performing arts centers around the country. Recently she had the pleasure of singing Chances Are with singing legend Johnny Mathis in Vancouver. She  also co-starred with Jimmy Webb & Paul Williams in their critically acclaimed engagement at Feinstein’s in New York and joined Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick, and Stevie Wonder at Hal David’s 90th Birthday Celebration Concert at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.  Her extensive US symphony work includes appearances at The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Ravinia, and The Hollywood Bowl. Worldwide, she has performed in China, Australia (with Stephen Schwartz),  New Zealand, Iceland, Estonia, France (Theatre du Chatelet, Paris), Slovenia, South Korea, and Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu where she premiered a new concert featuring the music of Stephen Sondheim.

Liz sang the Academy Award nominated song “Journey to the Past” in the animated feature Anastasia and is also the singing voice of Princess Jasmine in Disney’s Aladdin and the King of Thieves and The Return of Jafar. Other film work includes the singing voice of the title character in The Swan Princess, Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride, Beauty and the Beast, The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars and The Rewrite with The Hugh Grant.

She received an Emmy Award for hosting Ready to Go, a daily, live children’s program on CBS in Boston.  Other TV credits include In Performance at the White House, Inside the Actor’s Studio: Stephen Sondheim, In Performance at the White House, Christmas with the Boston Pops, The David Letterman Show, and Senior Trip (CBS Movie of the Week).

Liz has released six solo albums: Passage of Time, The Beat Goes On, The Story Goes On: Liz Callaway On and Off-Broadway, Anywhere I Wander: Liz Callaway Sings Frank Loesser, Merry and Bright, and her latest CD The Essential Liz Callaway. Liz recently released three singles, “The Morning After” by Oscar-winning songwriter David Shire, “Beautiful City” from Godspell, and a duet of her Oscar-nominated song from Anastasia, “Journey to the Past” with the star of Anastasia on Broadway, Christy Altomare.  Her numerous other recordings include Sibling Revelry, Boom! Live at Birdland. The Maury Yeston Songbook, Dreaming Wide Awake: The Music of Scott Alan, Hair in Concert, and the complete recording of Allegro produced by the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization. 

Liz Callaway(lizcallaway.com)(TW:@LizGoesOn)(IG:@lizgoeson)(YT:@LizCallawayOfficial)(FB:@LizCallawayOfficial) is a Tony nominee and Emmy Award-winning actress, singer and recording artist. She made her Broadway debut in Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, received a Tony Award nomination for her performance in Baby, and for five years, won acclaim as Grizabella in Cats. She has also starred in the original casts of Miss Saigon, The Three Musketeers, and The Look of Love.

Off-Broadway she received a Drama Desk nomination for her performance in The Spitfire Grill (Playwrights Horizons), and also appeared in Brownstone (Roundabout), No Way to Treat a Lady, Marry Me a Little, and Godspell. Other New York appearances include the legendary Follies in Concert at Lincoln Center, A Stephen Sondheim Evening, Fiorello!(Encores!), and Hair in Concert.   Regional and international credits include Dot in Sunday in the Park with George, Eva Peron in Evita, Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, the European premiere of Sondheim on Sondheim at London’s Royal Festival Hall, and most recently, starred in the one-person play “Every Brilliant Thing”.

Ms. Callaway has also established a major career as a concert and recording artist.  The award-winning Sibling Revelry(created with sister Ann Hampton Callaway) was presented to great acclaim at the Donmar Warehouse in London. Boom!,a celebration of the music of the 60’s and 70’s, also created with her sister was recorded live at Birdland, and is currently touring performing arts centers around the country. Recently she had the pleasure of singing Chances Are with singing legend Johnny Mathis in Vancouver. She  also co-starred with Jimmy Webb & Paul Williams in their critically acclaimed engagement at Feinstein’s in New York and joined Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick, and Stevie Wonder at Hal David’s 90th Birthday Celebration Concert at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.  Her extensive US symphony work includes appearances at The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Ravinia, and The Hollywood Bowl. Worldwide, she has performed in China, Australia (with Stephen Schwartz),  New Zealand, Iceland, Estonia, France (Theatre du Chatelet, Paris), Slovenia, South Korea, and Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu where she premiered a new concert featuring the music of Stephen Sondheim.

Liz sang the Academy Award nominated song “Journey to the Past” in the animated feature Anastasia and is also the singing voice of Princess Jasmine in Disney’s Aladdin and the King of Thieves and The Return of Jafar. Other film work includes the singing voice of the title character in The Swan Princess, Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride, Beauty and the Beast, The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars and The Rewrite with The Hugh Grant.

She received an Emmy Award for hosting Ready to Go, a daily, live children’s program on CBS in Boston.  Other TV credits include In Performance at the White House, Inside the Actor’s Studio: Stephen Sondheim, In Performance at the White House, Christmas with the Boston Pops, The David Letterman Show, and Senior Trip (CBS Movie of the Week).

Liz has released six solo albums: Passage of Time, The Beat Goes On, The Story Goes On: Liz Callaway On and Off-Broadway, Anywhere I Wander: Liz Callaway Sings Frank Loesser, Merry and Bright, and her latest CD The Essential Liz Callaway. Liz recently released three singles, “The Morning After” by Oscar-winning songwriter David Shire, “Beautiful City” from Godspell, and a duet of her Oscar-nominated song from Anastasia, “Journey to the Past” with the star of Anastasia on Broadway, Christy Altomare.  Her numerous other recordings include Sibling Revelry, Boom! Live at Birdland. The Maury Yeston Songbook, Dreaming Wide Awake: The Music of Scott Alan, Hair in Concert, and the complete recording of Allegro produced by the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization. 

Billy Porter (IG-@theebillyporter TW-@theebillyporter) best known for his Emmy-winning performance as Pray Tell on FX's Pose, though he's appeared in American Horror Story and Law & Order. In addition, he's a celebrated theater actor, having won a Tony Award for his performance in Kinky Boots. And in the latest casting news, Porter will be playing the Fairy Godmother in the live-action remake of Cinderella along with Camila Cabello in the titular role. also directs and writes new works. We talk about everything from his journey through college to the present day. He shares some very enlightening pieces of information that I feel all of us can benefit from. This man is truly a trail blazer, challenging the social norm and standing up for what is right. I was blown away from this episode. Fasten your seatbelts and Enjoy!

Billy Porter (IG-@theebillyporter TW-@theebillyporter) best known for his Emmy-winning performance as Pray Tell on FX's Pose, though he's appeared in American Horror Story and Law & Order. In addition, he's a celebrated theater actor, having won a Tony Award for his performance in Kinky Boots. And in the latest casting news, Porter will be playing the Fairy Godmother in the live-action remake of Cinderella along with Camila Cabello in the titular role. also directs and writes new works. We talk about everything from his journey through college to the present day. He shares some very enlightening pieces of information that I feel all of us can benefit from. This man is truly a trail blazer, challenging the social norm and standing up for what is right. I was blown away from this episode. Fasten your seatbelts and Enjoy!

Judine Somerville(justjudine.com)(IG:@judinesomerville) is the recipient of the Stephen A. Goldberg Award, the F. Lammot Belin Arts Scholarship, and the Legacy Robe Honor, awarded to the ensemble member who has performed in the most Broadway musicals. She has performed in five original Broadway musicals, including the eight-time Tony-Award winning Musical HAIRSPRAY, where she was part of the original singing trio sensation The Dynamites. Judine also reprised her role for NBC's HAIRSPRAYLIVE directed by Kenny Leon and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell. Including cast members: Harvey Fierstein, Martin Short, Jennifer Hudson, Kristin Chenoweth, Ariana Grande, Dove Cameron, Sean Hayes and Rosie O'Donnell. Judine is a former Rockette at Radio City Music Hall, and is an accomplished Musical Theatre performer with an impressive list of credits. A Motivational Speaker Dance Fitness Leader she is invited to speak around the world at Educational & Wellness Conferences as well as family & woman organizations. Using her personal story of growing up in an underserved community in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn and making it to the bright lights of BROADWAY, RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL, HOLLYWOOD AND BEYOND. Judine is known for her Enthusiasm, Positivity, and ability to make all in her presence feel like a CHAMPION. She inspires people from all walks of life to DREAM BIG and empowers them with the tools and confidence to achieve their greatest potential. 

SEE it ! BELIEVE it ! ACHIEVE it! Regardless of your circumstances .

Judine Somerville(justjudine.com)(IG:@judinesomerville) is the recipient of the Stephen A. Goldberg Award, the F. Lammot Belin Arts Scholarship, and the Legacy Robe Honor, awarded to the ensemble member who has performed in the most Broadway musicals. She has performed in five original Broadway musicals, including the eight-time Tony-Award winning Musical HAIRSPRAY, where she was part of the original singing trio sensation The Dynamites. Judine also reprised her role for NBC's HAIRSPRAYLIVE directed by Kenny Leon and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell. Including cast members: Harvey Fierstein, Martin Short, Jennifer Hudson, Kristin Chenoweth, Ariana Grande, Dove Cameron, Sean Hayes and Rosie O'Donnell. Judine is a former Rockette at Radio City Music Hall, and is an accomplished Musical Theatre performer with an impressive list of credits. A Motivational Speaker Dance Fitness Leader she is invited to speak around the world at Educational & Wellness Conferences as well as family & woman organizations. Using her personal story of growing up in an underserved community in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn and making it to the bright lights of BROADWAY, RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL, HOLLYWOOD AND BEYOND. Judine is known for her Enthusiasm, Positivity, and ability to make all in her presence feel like a CHAMPION. She inspires people from all walks of life to DREAM BIG and empowers them with the tools and confidence to achieve their greatest potential. 

SEE it ! BELIEVE it ! ACHIEVE it! Regardless of your circumstances .

Ayn Gailey (ayngailey.com)(FB:@ayngailey)(IG:@ayngailey)(TW:@AynGailey)is an accomplished writer in multiple mediums. We discuss her process and among so many topics. This is her quote from her website and I think it sums Ayn up pretty darn well. "This is where I honor that quiet is stronger than loud; that substance will always trump status; that real leaders don't obsess over creating more followers (because they're busy creating more leaders). This is also where I share work that I create for myself and others, with some rumination and occasional lolly-gagging along the way.  Other writers, artists, and intellectuals will be invited to do the same in The Honest Q & A's.  Until our paths cross again, please make yourself at home." Ladies and Gentleman, Ayn Gailey. Enjoy!