Musical Theatre Radio presents "Be Our Guest"

KRISTEN LEE ROSENFELD is a New York based composer and music director. Her songs have been performed by some of Broadway's finest talent at venues such as 54 Below, Joe's Pub, the Triad and the Metropolitan Room.  Her music has been commissioned by Sprouts Children's Theatre, Red Fern Theatre, The Atlantic acting School, American University and Wooden O theatre. Kristen's music direction credits include the 1st National Tour of the Broadway musical Spring Awakening and Band of Angels with collaborator Colman Domingo.  She recently served as Music Director for the Off Broadway hit Friends! The Musical Parody.  Kristen has also music directed and arranged for children's pop sensation Laurie Berkner and Backstreet Boy Howie D.  Other music direction credits include shows at NYMF,  Prospect Theatre Company, the John W. Engeman Theatre, the Olney Theatre Center and Village Theatre, as well as being a guest artist at Pomona College, American University and SUNY Cortland.

Divided tells the journey of two friends across decades, miles, and a country divided. Refusing to be defined by societal constraints, Eleanor and Hanna strive for personal freedom amidst a backdrop of hatred, lies, loss, and war.

Taking place pre and post Civil War, the story of Divided spans from Mississippi to Boston, following two friends separated by society, but forever bonded through their bravery. On a journey that takes them both far from home, they wonder if they will ever be reunited again.

Florencia

Caden Zane Marshall is a seasoned performer, American Sign Language interpreter, and influencer. He holds two Bachelor's degrees: American Sign Language Interpreting and Musical Theatre and combines his professions in a myriad of ways, with an emphasis on Deaf musical theatre and marketing. Currently, Caden is interpreting and performing across the country, often collaborating with Deaf writer/director/Broadway actor Joshua Castille on writing, directing, acting, translations, and various other projects.

Caden is well known as "@TheMusicalDealer," a theatre historian and connoisseur who spotlights, supports, and advises musical theatremakers all over the world. Thanks to his platform, Caden educates and entertains millions of theatre-goers on hidden gems and new works of musical theatre. Caden's 15+ years of experience in the theatre community has led him to focus on topics of queer activism and advocacy for inclusive spaces and works of art that highlight underrepresented communities.

As a certified/licensed BEI Intermediate ASL interpreter, Caden translates for a vast variety of topics. He specializes in arts/theatrical interpreting, mental health, and queer interpreting work. He is currently the personal interpreter for Joshua Castille and works with Deaf artists such as Peter Cook, Crom Saunders, Jules Dameron, and Alexandria Wales. He also interprets for Joshua's projects all across the USA for film, television, theatre, and more.

Composer and librettist Scott Eyerly has won acclaim across a wide range of genres. From The House of the Seven Gables (praised by Opera News for its "maximum drama and melodically memorable set pieces") to Missa Brevis No. 2 (called by Choral Journal "a study in beauty and simplicity"), Eyerly brings to all his works a direct, American lyricism. 

Eyerly notes, "I grew up singing hymns, but also show tunes. Then at college, I studied with composers from opposite corners of the ring, William Bolcom and Elliott Carter. In those days, after a lesson with Carter in the morning, I'd rush to rehearse songs for a theater revue that afternoon! 

Later I taught musical theater courses at Juilliard, interviewing masters like Sondheim, Harnick, and Burton Lane. My love of musicals has always 'balanced' my love of the longhairs." 

David Secter is an award-winning writer/producer/director of film, theater and television. He lives in Kona on the big island of Hawaii, where he is completing the book and lyrics for Rule of Fire, a new musical about old Hawaii, which dramatizes the encounter between an aging Captain Cook and a young Kamehameha the Great, and celebrates the islands’ polyamory culture. Secter’s movie Take the Flame! Gay Games: Grace, Grit & Glory is a documentary feature on the Games and founder Olympian Dr. Tom Waddell, narrated by Greg Louganis, which Secter is adapting as a narrative feature An All American Family. He produced Pacific Passions about the Festival of Pacific Arts in New Caledonia, and BURN on Burning Man, seen on the Discovery Channel. His narrative movie CyberDorm is an offbeat campus comedy about early webcasts.

Robert Bannon has been dazzling audiences on the stage and screen for years, his emotive and powerful vocals and knack for comedy bringing people by turns to tears of emotion, laughter and elation, and always to their feet. 

Now, the accomplished and lauded cabaret singer and "Saturday Night Live" actor is about to release "Unfinished Business," his debut album set for release in 2021. The highly anticipated album features Bannon's versatile vocal talents and includes duets with Grammy Nominee Jane Monheit and recording star Loren Smith. "Unfinished Business" consists of two originals and 11 classic songs by a variety of American Songbook crowd pleasers running the gamut from Frank Sinatra to Johnny Mercer to Whitney Houston. Bannon recorded the album in his home studio with all musicians adhering to social distancing guidelines.

The album's first single, a powerful rendition of the Bette Midler song, "From a Distance," is a highly emotional and inspiring performance that sums up 2020 perfectly, providing an unforgettable, uplifting soundtrack to a tumultuous year. The track spotlights Bannon's unforgettable and emotive rich, soaring voice and vocal flourishes as he signs of a hopeful, peaceful and prosperous future.

The album was produced by international cabaret superstar Lee Lassack. In 2020, Bannon and Lassack co-hosted the virtual sensation, “Quarantine, Cabaret, and Cocktails," a weekly live stream on Facebook and YouTube that has reunited the Broadway casts of “Frozen,” “Aladdin” and “Mrs. Doubtfire” and featured Broadway legends like Lea Salonga, Chita Rivera, Shoshana Bean and many more. They have also hosted the applauded "Best of Broadway and Music" on Facebook Live and YouTube.

Bannon, a tireless performer, brings a wealth of experience and rave reviews to listeners. In addition to his work on "Saturday Night Live" the past three years, Bannon has performed with a number of rhythm-and-blues, jazz and comedy icons including Patti LaBelle, George Benson and Whoopi Goldberg at legendary venues like Madison Square Garden, the Beacon Theatre and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Bannon also sang for Bill and Hillary Clinton during for Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center and for Hillary Clinton at a Martin Luther King Day event at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. 

Bannon has also traveled the country performing his hit one-man show, "Unfinished Business," including at New York's famed Feinstein's/54 Below cabaret. The autobiographical performance traces Bannon's journey from his time at the prestigious Juilliard Prep School to giving up music to become a teacher and finding his way back to the stage. He's also performed in national touring and regional productions of  “My Big Gay Italian Wedding," “Rent,” “We Will Rock You,” “My Way” and many more.

Robert Bannon has been singing since he was 12. He is a graduate of the William Esper Conservatory and Juilliard Prep, both in Manhattan. Bannon was admitted into the very first Juilliard Prep class for musical theater under the direction of Broadway icon Bertin Roswer at Lincoln Center. A Fort Lee, New Jersey, resident and native of Ridgefield Park, New Jersey, Bannon spends his "downtime" from singing and performing in the classroom as a 5th grade history teacher in North Bergen, New Jersey. 

Places Please Travel is a bespoke travel service for people who love theatre, seeing the world. and making memories

Born and raised in Perth, Australia, Carmel now resides in New York City, where she has been a respected member of the Broadway industry for over two decades. A multi-hyphenate theatre musician, her Broadway credits include Funny Girl, If/Then, American Idiot, Hands on a Hardbody and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. She has worked with luminaries such as Idina Menzel, Chita Rivera, Betty Buckley, and more, as well as with the rock bands Green Day and Phish, and pop singer Ingrid Michaelson. She sits on the Tony Award Nominating Committee and is a Tony voter.

She has also worked (and traveled) extensively in regional America, London and Australia.
Carmel is a Certified Travel Advisor with Fora Travel.

JAMES A. ROCCO is the visionary CEO of Thirty Saints Productions, creators of the Songbook Series and Broadway Songbook®. Thirty Saints Productions is a dynamic and innovative company that excels in creating original theatrical works for a diverse range of venues across the globe. In 2022, the company expanded its horizons, venturing into negotiating, consulting, and acquiring music licenses for popular jukebox musicals, solidifying its position as an industry leaders. 

With Broadway Asia, Thirty Saints toured Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat® to Tokyo and led the artistic team for the US Air Force's 9/11 tribute video, There Are No Words, seen by millions of viewers. Thirty Saints is an investor in the current Broadway, National Tour, and Toronto productions of Come from Away and Magic Mike in London. 

 From 2005-2017, Rocco was the VP of Programming and Producing Artistic Director of Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, where he presented and booked the best of touring Broadway (August, Osage County, An American In Paris, Kinky Boots, Les Misérables) and produced or co-produced award-winning theatricals (In The Heights, Love, Janis, Cabaret, West Side Story.) As the Ordway's representative and member of the Broadway League and the IPN (Independent Producer's Network), he was a producing partner and investor in Fun Home, Legally Blonde, The Color Purple, Monty Python's Spamalot, and others, as well as serving on the IPN's Governance Committee.  

 In 2019, he was recognized by The Broadway League and The Coalition of Broadway Unions and Guilds for "30 years of dedication, craft, and contribution to the theater" at their annual Broadway Salutes ceremony.

A longtime member of NAMT (National Alliance for Musical Theatre), he served on the Alliance's New Works committee.  Rocco commissioned the holiday musical A Country Christmas Carol and was part of the creative teams behind the off-Broadway cult hits Nite Club Confidential and Hooked on the 70s.  His re-versioned stage production of Singin' in the Rain has been seen worldwide.  Rocco was Producing Artistic Director of Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma and Interim Artistic Director of Stage One, a theatre dedicated to new musical development. 

On Video, he was the Executive Producer and Co-Director of the Regional Emmy Nominated Documentary, The World We Create, and directed the television musical, Born of A Dream.  For Mitsubishi/ArtSphere, he created the stage and television spectacular Galaxy Express 999.

Rocco's theatrical career started at three years old, as the youngest member of the (Art) Linkletter Totten Tots! He appeared in Oliver! with Ray Walston and Jules Munschin; Carousel as Enoch Snow Jr, with John Raitt; and as Sheppard in Sidney Lumet & David Merrick's Paramount motion picture thriller, Child's Play.  

James directed and produced his first show in New York at 16 (Henry, Sweet Henry, at the Mercer Arts Center and the Lamb Theatre).  As a performer, he appeared in the original Broadway production of Cats(as the Rum Tum Tugger), the International and TV Ashai Productions of Duke Ellington's Sophisticated Ladies; sang back up for Frank Sinatra and was featured singer for Herbie Hancock and the Super Sounds. He played Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar, The Witch in Into The Woods, appears on 10 Ben Bagley albums, and his CD, It's Between Us, produced the FMQB Top 40 hit, And The Night Stood Stillby Diane Warren. In 2021, Broadway World Minneapolis cited him as Vocalist of the Decade.