Musical Theatre Radio presents "Be Our Guest"

Al TapperProducer of AMT Theater

Al Tapper wears many hats.  Besides being Producer of AMT, he considers himself a renaissance man whose various careers as a Broadway composer, lyricist, playwright, humorist, baseball maven, leveraged buyout specialist and philanthropist have woven a rich tapestry of distinction and success. He recently won a prestigious Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting for his exuberant 2013 documentary Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy; this follows his acclaimed 2004 film “Broadway: The Golden Age”. He has written songs and lyrics for numerous musicals, including Sessions, An Evening at the Carlyle, From Where I Stand, National Pastime, All Aboard, The Paparazzi, David and more. He is co-author of two joke books — A Minister, a Priest, and a Rabbi and A Guy Goes into a Bar – and is a notable collector of baseball memorabilia.  His musical National Pastime has played in Cooperstown and his latest documentary on the great hitter Ted Williams is available online.

Tony Sportiello

Artistic Director

Tony Sportiello is a playwright and producer whose work has been seen all over the country and all over the world.  Along with Al Tapper he has written the book for the shows National Pastime, All Aboard, The Paparazzi and Upside Down.  National Pastime has played in New York, Washington, Phoenix, Austin, Wilkes Barre, The Major League Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and Guadalajara, Mexico.  His play Star Power has been performed in London, Tickets, Please! in Los Angeles and Crossed Wires in China.  He produced the musical Sessions, which ran for 300 performances Off Broadway.  The ultimate goal is to have a Broadway show but in the meantime he's looking to work with theater artists and colleagues to help make AMT the ultimate 'regional theater' for Hell's Kitchen, bringing original shows, children's theater, cabaret and more to the area. 

Emily Simonian 

Book, Music, and Lyrics

Emily Simonian is an acoustic pop singer-songwriter, published author, and a musical theatre composer, lyricist, and librettist. Raised on a steady diet of 90's pop, Beatles, Disney movies and classic musicals, she earned a merit-based scholarship to study at Berklee College of Music, and finished her degree at Musicians Institute in Los Angeles, earning a B.F.A. in Contemporary Music.

Emily has released two acoustic pop EPs and has been recognized with awards, grants, and finalist placements in new works festivals. Her artistic vision has garnered multiple visionary sponsorships from benefactors who believe in her work, supporting her latest musical theatre project, When Two of Us Meet. Early reviewers in the theatre community have hailed the musical as "a Broadway-worthy stage production."​In September 2024, Emily received the Laurel Karabian Fund for the Arts Grant from the Armenian International Women's Association for her current musical project. When Two of Us Meet  is currently in development and will receive a concert reading at The Green Room 42 in New York City on March 22, 2025, sponsored by the Armenian International Women's Association. (Read more at BroadwayWorld.com). When Two of Us Meet is a top 12 finalist in the Florida Festival of New Musicals 2025, and a top 10 finalist in Colorado's New Musical Project 2025.

 ​In addition to writing music, Emily has a Masters Degree in Psychology and utilizes music and art therapies. Her contributions to mental health conversations have reached a broad audience through media outlets like TIME magazine, The Washington Post, Huff Post, Newsweek, Healthline, Cosmopolitan, Instyle, and Women's Health. ​Simonian is an active member of The Dramatists Guild, ASCAP, Maestra Music, and Musical Writers Academy. Emily serves as a volunteer at D.C. fashion nonprofit, Suited For Change, and also gives back to the arts community by dedicating her time as a Theater Tour Greeter, Lounge Host, and Friend of The Kennedy Center. 

When Two of Us Meet tells the story of a spirited family’s turbulent journey from Armenia to America in the early 20th century, emphasizing the pivotal roles of faith, hope, and love in their personal, familial, and cultural evolution. 

JACK FELDSTEIN – he/him (Book & Co-Lyrics / Radio Play Adaptation)

Jack is an award-winning writer and neon animation filmmaker. His almost thirty neon animation films, including The Ecstasy of Gary Green and A Wondrous Film about Emma Brooks have screened worldwide from Lincoln Center and NYC's Angelika Cinema to Rotterdam International Film Festival and Sydney International Film Festival. As a writer, his playscripts including A House Like Any Other, The Confessions of Peter McDowell and The Process have won prizes in Australia, Britain and the USA. His playscript of Three Months with Pook was a finalist in the BBC International Play Competition and winner of the TRU VOICES COMPETITION in New York. His plays have been staged with many productions in Australia, New York and the USA.  Originally from Australia, he lives in NYC and developed many of his plays at Workshop Theater in Midtown where he was an artist member.

PAUL DOUST - he/him (Music & Co-Lyrics / Additional Orchestrations / Arrangements)

Paul is an award-winning composer for stage and screen and the composer of the world’s first Theremin-based musical: Falling in Love with Mr. Dellamort. Paulʼs TV credits include Pawn Stars, Catfish and Chrisley Knows Best. He also wrote original music for Google Waymo, LPGA and Morgan Stanley, among other recent advertising campaigns. Paul is also a renowned choral composer and arranger. He released his debut album Reinventions in 2019.

InFalling in Love with Mr. Dellamort, the new audio musical, three lost souls receive an unexpected invitation to spend New Year’s Eve at Maison Dellamort: a remote South Carolina guest house with a peculiar yet magnetic host. With its original take on classic themes of unrequited love, mortality and deception, and featuring a stunning cast of Broadway’s most beloved stars, this distinctive audio experience will transport listeners into a world laced with the iconic theremin, Foley-style effects, and an original pop score.

Hank Temple (Music & Lyrics), is a junior music composition major at Baldwin Wallace. His band, Temple Brothers, has released music on all streaming platforms. Gideon and Hank study songwriting with Scott Simons (America’s Got Talent, The X Factor) and composition with Dr. Clint Needham. They also have studied composing for musical theater with Andrew Lippa, Bill Russell, and Michael Kooman & Chris Dimond. Hank recently served as the directing/writing apprentice at Theatre Aspen, where he performed in multiple shows and made his professional pit debut playing mandolin in Come From Away.

Gideon Temple (Music & Lyrics), is a composer, music director and award-winning filmmaker.

He’s a senior studying music theater music direction at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music. His first musical comedy, You’re the Worst, debuted at Pittsburgh Musical Theater in May 2021. He is on the creative team at Goodspeed Musicals as the Music Assistant to Resident Music Director Adam Souza.

Jaz and Nikki are a talented sister act striving to
break into the LA music scene in the summer of
2002. Jaz craves stardom no matter the cost, while Nikki seeks approval from the Juilliard elite. When the sisters land on a ridiculous TV talent show, this conflict threatens to tear them apart.

Punctuated by early-aughts nostalgia and cameos from the likes of Lance Armstrong and Bernie Madoff, Star Machine chronicles the triumphs and rock-bottoms of young performers navigating the roller coaster of show business. The show is a reflection on ambition that poses a universal question for all creatives: how do you strike a balance between commercial success and art?

Neil Berg's latest musical The Sabbath Girl: The Musical, written with book writer/co-lyricist Cary Gitter, just finished an incredible, sold-out run at The Penguin Repertory Theatre (directed by Joe Brancato), before transferring to NYC for a six-week summer run Off-Broadway at 59 East 59th Theaters to rave reviews. The Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording of The Sabbath Girl: The Musical is available on Centerstage Records. Producers are now in the process of moving the show for an open-ended commercial run.

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 a new commissioned musical, How My Grandparents Fell in Love, opening in July of '25 at The NJ Rep Theater, collaborating again with book writer/co-lyricist Cary Gitter, directed by Artistic Director SuzAnne Baribas.

Neil's other new musical, Charlie Hustle, with book/lyrics by Ryan Noggle, is about controversial baseball icon Pete Rose and the story of his gambling addiction that led to his downfall. Charlie Hustle will have its first developmental production in Detroit, Michigan in the fall of '24.

Neil is the composer for the popular musical version of Grumpy Old Men: The Musical, based on the Warner Brothers movie classic starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, which had its official U.S. Premiere at The Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine to rave reviews, and La Mirada Theater in LA, starring Cathy Rigby. Other actors include F. Murray Abraham, TONY Award winner George Hearn, Marilu Henner, and Carole Kane. It is currently produced/licensed at many regional & community theaters across the United States. Licensing rights are with TRW (Theatrical Rights Worldwide). The Original Cast Recording of Grumpy Old Men: The Musical is available on Centerstage Records.

Neil Berg is also the composer/lyricist of the hit Off-Broadway musical The Prince and the Pauper, which ran for two years at the Lambs Theater in New York City. The New York Times raved that The Prince and the Pauper "[soars] on wings of theatrical fun." The original cast CD is released internationally on Jay Records, sheet music published by Hal Leonard, and licensing by Samuel French Inc. Songs from this show are also featured with many other classic songs in the official Off-Broadway Songbook, published by Hal Leonard.

CARY GITTER is the playwright-in-residence at Penguin Rep Theatre in Stony Point, New York. His plays include THE STEEL MAN (Penguin Rep); GENE & GILDA (George Street Playhouse, Penguin Rep); THE VIRTUOUS LIFE OF JOSEPH ANDREWS (Penguin Rep), adapted from the Henry Fielding novel; and THE SABBATH GIRL (off-Broadway, 59E59 Theaters; Penguin Rep; Invisible Theatre; Theatre Ariel; published by Stage Rights). His musicals include THE SABBATH GIRL (59E59, Penguin Rep) and HOW MY GRANDPARENTS FELL IN LOVE (New Jersey Repertory Company), both written with composer/co-lyricist Neil Berg.

His play HOW MY GRANDPARENTS FELL IN LOVE was a New York Times Critic’s Pick as part of the Ensemble Studio Theatre’s (EST’s) 36th Marathon of One-Act Plays. It was later recorded for the acclaimed podcast Playing on Air, as was his one-act THE ARMY DANCE. He has received commissions from the EST/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science & Technology Project, Penguin Rep, and West of 10th. He is an alumnus of EST’s Obie Award-winning Youngblood playwrights’ group.

His full-length plays have been developed by the Berkshire Playwrights Lab, the Chameleon Theatre Circle, the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, EST, the Jewish Ensemble Theatre, the Jewish Plays Project, the Levine Jewish Community Center, NJ Rep, NYU, Seven Angels Theatre, West of 10th, and Wordsmyth Theater Company. He is a three-time O’Neill semifinalist and a two-time Jewish Playwriting Contest finalist, and he has received NYU’s John Golden Playwriting Prize and honorable mentions for the New England Theatre Conference’s Aurand Harris Memorial Playwriting Award and the Kennedy Center’s Rosa Parks Playwriting Award.

Bina Gehres, Director, received her master’s in education from Western Maryland College in Westminster, MD in 1972. She was a teacher of the deaf in Dayton, Ohio and after moving to Rhode Island, taught at the Rhode Island School for the Deaf for three years. Bina then went into the healthcare field in Rhode Island in 1979 and became a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), where she worked in nursing homes, private duty healthcare agencies and doing home care etc. for 35 years. In 2007 she co-founded with composer and poet, Noreen Inglesi, a non-profit organization,

Notable Works Publication and Distribution Co., Inc., which is dedicated to raising community awareness through the arts for environmental and social issues. Since 2004 to the present time (2024) and at the age of 75, Bina has been instrumental in organizing 3 - 5 original musical and poetic events a year in libraries, churches and open spaces specifically following the Notable Works mission concerning homelessness, domestic violence and especially the recent variances in our Earth’s climate. Also, most recently Bina has collaborated with three others on a new musical called Sell Division: A Musical in Two Acts About Breaking the Chains of

Perception which will be presented in the form of a live stage reading at the Community College of Rhode Island in Warwick, Rhode Island towards the end of 2024.

Noreen Inglesi, co-founder and Artist in Residence for Notable Works, taught music for the Town of North

Providence and the Community College of Rhode Island. Noreen was twice nominated for Teacher of the Year and received her Associates of Fine Arts Degree at the Community

College of Rhode Island and her undergraduate and master’s degree in music education and composition at the University of Rhode Island. She’s received much recognition for her music and poetry which has been featured both nationally and internationally by the Insight Quartet in Italy, the Dallas

Songwriter’s Association, the Contemporary Record Society, The Music Educators’ National Conference, the Culver Music Series in California and on the Women of Substance Music Podcast. Locally, Noreen’s music has been featured by The American Band, The Nature Conservancy in Rhode Island, The State Ballet of Rhode Island, The Colonial Theatre, Verdant Vibes, Vibe of the Venue, the Westerly Band and WaterFire Providence. Noreen is also proud to be a member of Ocean State Poets and her poetry has been published

by Crosswinds Poetry Journal, Nobel House, the National Library of Poetry, Rhode Island Bards, Frequency Writers, The Poetry Loft and Notable Works Publication. Her music has been recorded and released with the Contemporary Record Society, Andreu Marc Publications, The Music Library, Platinum Records and Notable Works Publication and Distribution Co., Inc. And just recently, Noreen wrote the

musical “Sell Division” with three of her colleagues.

Marianne Quinn, B.A, has been not only an author on this project but has served as a consultant regarding social issues and the prison system. Her experience with diverse cultures has informed the content of the musical, lending validity to the characters. She is a retired social worker of 25 years from the State of Rhode Island.

Mary Zema is a career vocalist, singer/songwriter and guitarist. She began playing guitar at the age of seven and singing and writing songs at age ten. A native of Warwick, RI, Mary has played throughout New England. Her style is eclectic, pop, rock, ballads, electronic, etc. Her debut release, co-produced by Richard Bone, “Songs of Early Paradise” was in the top twenty on DMX radio New York. Mary recently

released my second album “Whistles, Dimes and Dragonflies” and a video of the same name. She taught music in the Fall River Public School system for 33 years. She is

presently performing with her band, “Throwback,” playing music from the 60s -90s.

Ben Jones is an award-winning singer, comedian, storyteller and actor who has appeared in front of audiences worldwide. He's shared the spotlight with the likes of Rita Moreno, Michael Tilson Thomas, Frederica von Stade, Nathan Gunn, Isabel Leonard, Helmuth Rilling, Michael Morgan, Val Diamond and the Bang on a Can All-Stars.

Ben’s versatile voice has been featured on recordings on the Albany, Naxos and Delos labels, on A Prairie Home Companion, on the soundtracks for the best-selling video game franchises Halo and Civilization, and on commercials for Coors Light and Meow Mix.

Ben made his Carnegie Hall debut virtually in 2021, performing a selection from Greg Pliska and Charles Moorey’s new Musical A Most Dangerous Man in Carnegie Hall’s Voices of Hope festival.

He was most recently seen in Off-Broadway productions of Twist of Fate and Brooklyn’s Bridge at The York Theatre. Ben received the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Best Performance in a Musical for his portrayal of Sid Sorokin in The Pajama Game. Two of his solo shows–I Think I'm in Love and I Think We Should See Other People–were featured in BroadwayWorld's Best of 2022.

Sam Tsui and Casey Breves are a married, LA-based songwriting duo, who together have written and produced viral music for numerous pop artists, brand campaigns, and their own individual artist projects. They met at Yale singing together in both a cappella and musical theater. Sam was among the first independent musicians to harness the power of Youtube and social media to cultivate an international following (calling themselves the “Samily”), with his creative mashups, covers, and original music videos.'Eight Immortals' features a collection of self-contained vignettes, each song serving as a modern interpretation of one of the eight classic archetypes from Taoist legend. The album's tracks range from the absurd to the heartfelt, with a catchy, vocal-driven score that invites audiences on a transformative journey. Included in the lineup are songs such as 'So You Want To Be Immortal', '#MyMorningRoutine', 'I Know The Wildflowers', 'Three Treasures', and 'To Cross The Sea', each providing a unique take on the themes of enlightenment and personal transformation.

SCOTT LOGSDON has written the book/lyrics for STICKS & STONES (with composer John McDaniel) which had a premiere concert starred Audra McDonald, Javier Muñoz, and George Salazar for Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation/BC/EFA; 12 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS (with composer Dana P. Rowe, currently in development as a film with Jerry Mitchell attached); JOYCE JACKSON’S GUIDE TO DATING, (with composer Steve Marzullo) which premiered in Orlando and was seen in concert at 54 Below; AN AMERICAN COUNTRY CHRISTMAS CAROL (with various CMA winning and nominated composers) THE CRINOLYNNS and LOVE (r)EVOLUTION, a song cycle covering 120 years of LGBTQIA+ history, both written with Aaron Gandy. Both STICKS & STONES and JOYCE JACKSON won the Florida Theatrical Association’s New Musical Discovery Competition. JOYCE was featured in the NAMT Composer’s Concert Series and was a finalist for Richard Rodgers/ Jonathan Larson Awards. Scott has written Broadway specialty lyrics for Roundabout Theater Company’s Tribute to Alec Baldwin (directed by Scott Ellis) and the GYPSY OF THE YEAR Competition for the LES MISERABLES company, as well as for notable performers including Jason Alexander. Logsdon was vetted by the Cole Porter estate to rewrite lyrics for the documentary, Fabulously Fake: The Real Life of Kenneth Jay Lane. With Dana P. Rowe, he wrote the theme song for the series Stars In the House. His non-musical plays include THE BOIS (an all-male, contemporary take on the classic play THE WOMEN), which received a staged reading at the Abbey in Orlando, and THE MOURNING AFTER (a dark comedy.) As an actor, he was an originating cast member in the LES MISÉRABLES national company. He’s been seen in such roles as Thenardier, Sweeney Todd, Billy Bigelow, Che, El Gallo, and King Herod. He has performed across North America as a soloist with symphonies and as a guest star in the award-winning Sondheim Unplugged at 54 Below in New York City. His many directing credits include CHESS, THE FANTASTICKS, DRIVING MISS DAISY, THE GLASS MENAGERIE, and the southeastern premiere of SECRETS EVERY SMART TRAVELER SHOULD KNOW. He holds a degree in musical theatre from Shenandoah Conservatory and received a Distinguished Alumni Award for work in the field of musical theatre.

A specialist in American musical theater and American popular song, Aaron Gandy's concerts and recordings embrace the best of Broadway from Kern to Lloyd-Webber, while encompassing Swing, Jazz and the golden age of Hollywood. Recent recordings include the all-star Jule Styne In Hollywood (PS Classics) and the upcoming Busker Alley (Jay Records). In 2004 he conducted the premiere recording of Kay Swift's Fine & Dandy on PS Classics featuring Broadway's Carolee Carmello and HBO's Mario Cantone. Upcoming recordings include Alec Wilder's Miss Chicken Little (originally broadcast on CBS television in 1953) and a restoration of Walter Donaldson's jazz-age romp Whoopee! Regarded as a leading authority on composer Vincent Youmans, Mr. Gandy restored and conducted the premiere recording of Youmans' final Broadway score Through the Years starring Metropolitan Opera Soprano Heidi Grant Murphy.

Mr. Gandy restored the original film orchestrations for Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I, and Irving Berlin's White Christmas. His restoration of the original film orchestrations for Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma! was performed by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra in 1997.