By Jean Paul Yovanoff
5
22 ratings
The podcast currently has 311 episodes available.
He is the author of Broadway Bounty Hunter (with Lance Rubin and Jason SweetTooth Williams; Barrington Stage Company and Greenwich House Theater Off-Broadway), Bloodsong of Love (Ars Nova, NAMT), The Black Suits (Center Theater Group, Barrington Stage Company), ReWrite (Urban Stages, Goodspeed Opera House), Theaterworks USA’s The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks and We The People. Musicals currently in development include The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical (for La Jolla Playhouse), Punk Rock Girl, and Love In Hate Nation.
His music appeared on Season 2 of NBC’s “Smash,” with his song “Broadway, Here I Come!” hailed by The New York Times as a new entry in The Great American Songbook. Albums: Be More Chill (OCR), which has been streamed over 220 million times; Things To Ruin (OCR); Two-Player Game; and The Joe Iconis Rock and Roll Jamboree all available on Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight Records.
His concert act, Joe Iconis and Family, frequently plays Feinstein’s/54 Below, The Laurie Beechman Theater, Weston Playhouse, and other venues around the country.
Joe is deliriously inspired by Robert Altman, Dolly Parton, Martin Scorsese, Sardi’s, The Rolling Stones, whiskey, The Muppets, and The Family of artists he frequently surrounds himself with.
Dan Redfeld Composer / Conductor / Orchestrator
Award-winning composer, conductor, orchestrator, pianist and producer Dan Redfeld has had his music and arrangements performed internationally from the concert hall to the musical theatre stage to the recording studio.
Redfeld received his training at Boston’s New England Conservatory before transferring to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where he graduated with a degree in composition with an emphasis in conducting.
In June 2016, A Hopeful Place – A Song Cycle for Soprano & Chamber Orchestra, was released on Navona Records/ PARMA Recordings. With music by Redfeld and text by John Gabriel Koladziej, A Hopeful Place was written for soprano Kristi Holden and premiered in Los Angeles in 2010. The recording features Holden and the Hollywood Studio Symphony under the baton of the composer.
Christina Harding is an award-winning filmmaker, writer, performer, and choreographer. Ms. Harding is a protégé of the renowned dancer and choreographer Dean Barlow. Shows and credits include Anything Goes, Shrek the Musical, The Who’s Tommy, Chess, and The Billboard Music Awards. Her short film Moustache, a nod to film noir, has screened internationally and won numerous awards. Christina is also working on a new project with cowriter John Koladziej and composer Dan Redfeld.
John Gabriel Koladziej is a New York-based writer. A Hopeful Place marks John’s second collaboration with composer Dan Redfeld after co-writing the lyrics for Jo – The Little Women Musical (with lyricist Christina Harding). He is currently writing the libretto for Shoot the Moon. John is also currently working on a new musical piece with Redfeld and Harding, soon to be announced.
John trained at the Stella Adler Conservatory in New York City and holds a BFA in Drama and an MFA in Musical Theatre Writing, both from New York University.
JOAN ROSS SORKIN is a playwright, musical theatre bookwriter and lyricist, opera librettist, and screenwriter. Her two most current musical projects are Black Swan Blues with Randy Klein, and Bordello with Barbara Bellman and Emiliano Messiez. Black Swan Blues had a staged reading in October, 2022 as part of The York Theatre Company’s Developmental Reading Series, and Bordello is scheduled to have the same in December, 2023.
Joan’s family musicals include Dandelion, with Mary Liz McNamara, with its world premiere at Playhouse on Park, W. Hartford, CT in April, 2023, and the award-winning Isabelle and The Pretty Ugly Spell with Steven Fisher with productions at The Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre, Coral Gables, FL (Winner, National Children’s Theatre Award), NYMF (Outstanding New Family Musical), and Vital Theatre; and Go Green! Prince Charming’s Quest for Love and Ecology in NYC with Mary Feinsinger, presented in the very first New York Children’s Theater Festival.
He is the composer of For My People, a song cycle featuring the poetry of American author, Margaret Walker. For My People was featured at the Furious Flower Poetry Festival at James Madison University and the University of Kansas. The music premiere of the renowned poem by Margaret Walker ‘For My People’ was April 2, 2011 at the Forbes Center for the Arts, James Madison University, VA. His compositions, Facing It and Dear John, Dear Coltrane, based on the poetry of Yusef Komunyakaa and Michael Harper premiered at the 2014 Furious Flower Poetry Conference featuring the combined James Madison University and Morgan State Chorales.
His musical, Black Swan Blues, in collaboration with Joan Ross Sorkin, bookwriter and lyricist, inspired by the ballet “Swan Lake,”. Black Swan Blues explores white privilege and racism in America in the South in the early 1960’s. Set in New Orleans, a rich, idealistic journalist and a poor, vulnerable blues singer’s true love is challenged when secrets from their tangled past involving race, murder and the Ku Klux Klan are revealed. Only through the magic of voodoo do they find eternal love. The score is timeless and contemporary evoking the period.
Jaime Lozano is a musical theatre composer who has been heralded as the “next big thing” on Broadway by Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda. A native of Monterrey, Mexico, Jaime earned his BFA in Music and Composition from the School of Music at the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León and was the recipient of a full scholarship to New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he has the distinction of being the first Mexican to be accepted to and earn an MFA from the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. Jaime is one of the five artists selected for the 2020-2022 Joe’s Pub Working Group residency and one of the artists selected as part as The Civilians R&D Group 2020-2021.
A prolific composer, Jaime’s works have been produced at venues such as the Minskoff Theatre (Broadway), Lucille Lortel Theatre (Off-Broadway), The Pearl Theatre (Off-Broadway), The Players Theatre (Off-Broadway), Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre (Off Broadway), Goodspeed Opera House, The Juilliard School of Music, The Triad Theatre, Theatre for the New City
Dan Remmes is an award-winning, published playwright, screenwriter and actor.
He has appeared on stages across the country, as well as in film and television. His scripts have received productions and workshops across Europe and North America (including The White House). They have featured OSCAR-WINNING, TONY-WINNING, EMMY-WINNING and OBIE-WINNING actors.
Dan is best known as the book writer of GRUMPY OLD MEN: THE MUSICAL which recently received its United States premieres at the historic Ogunquit Playhouse featuring Hal Linden and Sally Struthers and at the The La Mirada Theater for the Performing Arts featuring Cathy Rigby and Ken Page. Both productions were greeted with rave reviews.
Among ongoing projects, Dan has three feature films in development. He currently writes, directs and stars in the award-winning online web series, COVID COUPLE.
Neil Berg is the composer/co-lyricist, along with Pulitzer Prize/TONY-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan, of the award-winning new musical The 12, which just finished a very successful pre-Broadway tryout to critical and audience acclaim at the Goodspeed Opera House, directed by TONY award-winning director John Doyle, produced for Broadway by Cody Lassen & Joe Grano. The 12 previously ran at The Denver Center to unanimous rave reviews and won the 2015 HENRY Award for best new play or musical. Broadway opening anticipated in 2025/2026 season.
Neil is currently in development as the composer of the new Broadway bound musical version of My Cousin Vinny, based on the iconic movie, with book/lyrics by original screenwriter, Dale Launer.
Neil has two new commissioned musicals opening in 2024: The Sabbath Girl which opens May 3rd at Penguin Repertory Theatre (directed by Joe Brancato), then transfers Off-Broadway in July to the Big Theater @ 59 East 59th, and How My Grandparents Met, opening this winter at The NJ Rep Theater, both written with playwright/book writer/co-lyricist Cary Gitter.
Neil is currently the composer of the new musical Charlie Hustle, about controversial baseball icon Pete Rose and the story of his gambling addiction that led to his downfall, with book/lyrics by Ryan Noggle. Charlie Hustle will have its first developmental production in Detroit, Michigan this fall.
Becky is a Scottish theatre director, facilitator and writer. She trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and was a finalist for the prestigious JMK Award in 2019 and 2021.
Her work spans Musical Theatre, Shakespeare, new writing and reworked classics in various forms and capacities. She also works across a variety of educational institutions and engagement departments across Scotland.
Directing credits include: Woman Walking (Sylvian Productions/Perth Theatre); God Catcher (Petrichor Productions); The Steamie (Dundee Rep); Seven Against Edinburgh (Lyceum Theatre); Bloodbank, He Who Opens the Door, Not Now, Absolute Bowlocks, Celestial Body, The Cameo (Play, Pie, Pint/Lemon Tree/Traverse Theatre); Glory on Earth, Little Women - The Musical, Faustus: That Damned Woman, 9 to 5 The Musical, The Pajama Game, Bad Roads, Much Ado About Nothing, Enron, Blue Stockings (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland); The Comedy of Errors (Petersfield Shakespeare Company); The Fairy that Fell off the Christmas Tree (She Productions); Bombshells, It's Different for Girls (She Productions/East Riding Theatre); Macbeth (Summer on Stage/Lyceum Theatre); It Never Ends (Traverse Theatre/Cumbernauld Theatre); Buffer, Riot Squat (Thrive Theatre); The Hen Night, Like a Moth to a Flame (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland).
Becky worked at the Royal Shakespeare Company for two years as an assistant director on Romeo and Juliet and The Hypocrite. At the Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh she has been commissioned as a writer, worked as a director and facilitator and was resident Assistant Director for the 2014/15 season.
Janine Robledo – Book/Music/Lyrics is a New York City based creative. Originally from Miami, Florida, she
is a Cuban-American librettist /composer/lyricist, and classically trained pianist. She holds an
M.F.A. from the Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program at NYU Tisch School of the Arts
and a B.A. from Florida Atlantic University where she studied piano performance. A recipient of
the Paulette Goddard Award, Janine is a member of the Dramatists Guild, ASCAP, and Maestra
Music. Her musical comedy "The Curious Contents of Christie's Wastebasket" (composer Aden
Kent Ramsey) has had a reading at NYU, and with Two River Theater in Red Bank. It also
received a workshop with the Berklee Theater Arts Collaborative in Boston and was presented
as part of the 2019 Emerging Artist’s Theater New Works Series at Tada Theater. Janine was
previously a writer in residence for 2 years with Three Act Theater Company which culminated
in two workshop performances of her musical "Chaundria and the Giant" (composer Micha Joel)
at the Manhattan Movement and Arts Center.
Ghost in the Machine
In a secluded lab nestled in the Argentinian mountains, an inventor named Victor
creates Cynthia, an android to save his son's life. When Cynthia meets Victor's son, Carlo,
an everlasting bond is formed. On a quest to keep Carlos alive and to free herself from the
psychological imprisonment of her creator, Cynthia ponders the creation of her own
invention. Janine Robledo's original musical Ghost and the Machine is part rom-com, part
sci-fi thriller in the vein of Frankenstein meets Edward Scissorhands.
Led by like-minded arts performers and creators from the Toronto theatre community, Bowtie strives to illuminate impactful stories and produce intimate, rarely produced pieces of fan-favourite theatre.
Bowtie hopes to continue providing opportunities for artistic expression, community building and professional growth within the Toronto arts community.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch tells the tale of how a “slip of a girlyboy” from communist East Berlin, Hanschel, becomes the “internationally ignored song stylist” known as Hedwig after a botched sex change operation. The show daringly breaks the fourth wall, as Hedwig directly tells the audience of her past tribulations and heartbreak in the form of an extended monologue paired with rock songs. With a little help from her band and her back-up singer Yitzhak, Hedwig examines her quest for her other half, for love, and ultimately for her identity.
Theatre Passe Muraille Mainspace
September 1-7, 2024
CAST
JESSIE JAMES as HEDWIG
LUCA MCPHEE as YITZHAK
CREW
DIRECTED by MEREDITH SHEDDEN
MUSIC DIRECTED by ETHAN ROTENBERG
PRODUCED by IAN KOWALSKI
SET AND PROP DESIGN by QUÝNH DIEP
LIGHTING DESIGN by NIALL DURCAN
COSTUME DESIGN by IRENE LY
SOUND DESIGN by PARKER MERLIHAN
WIG DESIGN by BRANDON DARCEL
WIG SUPERVISION by HANNAH DULONG
PROJECTION DESIGN by ALEX GROZDANIS
TECHNICAL DIRECTION by MATT HALLWORTH
STAGE MANAGED by TALFRYN QUIRING
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGED by JENNA BROWN
Logo Design by Valentina Caballero
Graphic Design by Macy Nguyen
Carol Ziske is an accomplished theatre director, choreographer, and actor with over five decades of professional experience in the industry. They have numerous acting credits on Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theatre and national tours. She has starred alongside the likes of John Lithgow, Jerry Zaks, Bob Gunton, Beth Fowler, Robert Morse, Rudy Valee, Rita Rudner, Chip Zien, Ron Holgate, and F. Murray Abraham. Additionally, I have worked with notable directors including Jerome Robbins, Joseph Hardy, Patricia Birch, and John Bowab. Carol is a recipient of the Colgate Palmolive Achievement Award and the New Jersey Drama Critics Award. They are directing a production of One Touch of Ava this summer at Ivoryton Playhouse as well as a series of workshops for the musical, Hurricane Jimmy later in 2023.
The musical centers around Quentin Roosevelt, the youngest son of Theodore Roosevelt, who embarks on a forbidden romance with Flora Payne Whitney, a wealthy heiress from a different social sphere. The Roosevelts, renowned for their political activism and their role in trust-busting (which significantly impacted the Whitney family's wealth), stand in stark contrast to the reserved Whitneys, who are determined to avoid scandal of any kind.
The story follows Quentin as he navigates the pressures of familial expectations, personal ambition, and the looming shadow of war. Through a mix of historical events and artistic interpretation, the musical delves into themes of heroism, love, and the impact of war on individuals and their families. Quentin weaves together dramatic scenes, emotional soliloquies, and powerful musical numbers to create a moving portrait of a young man caught between personal desire and duty, love and loss, and the enduring question of how to make one's mark in the shadow of a powerful legacy.
The podcast currently has 311 episodes available.