Musical Theatre Radio presents "Be Our Guest"

The Sages of Chelm is playing at the Segal Centre for the Performing Arts June 19-26th, 2022

https://www.segalcentre.org/

Michael Gordon Shapiro

Los Angeles-based Michael Gordon Shapiro composes for film, games, television, theater, and the concert hall. Classically trained, he delivers a romantic sound that blends the acoustic orchestra, evocative soloists, and organic-sounding electronics.

Michael’s background spans both film/television scoring and the more technical discipline of music for games. He entered the game world as audio director of Boston-based Zoesis Studios, where he composed live orchestral scores and designed the studio’s adaptive music system. 

Michael is also an active composer for musical theatre; his children’s show Super Sidekick: The Musical is published by Samuel French / Concord Theatricals and has been performed in front of young audiences throughout the United States, including Off-Broadway in 2012. His family musicals Gideon and the Blundersnorp and  The Bully Problem have won numerous awards and nominations, including (for “Gideon”) Best Musical at the 2021 Hollywood Fringe Festival.

Aimee Reid

Aimee is a Toledo-area native, graduating from Bowling Green State University with a bachelor of arts degree in theatre for youth and puppetry. Post-bachelor’s, she was admitted to Arizona State University, where she earned a Master’s of Fine Arts degree in Theatre for Youth and a master’s certification in nonprofit leadership and management. She teaches and directs for the Ensemble and the Young Theatre Professionals, and she leads the Creative and Brave Company (a community-based theatre program for teens, at CTW). She received the 2018 Ann Elgood Youth Theatre Director of the Year award with the American Alliance for Theatre and Education. Her favorite part about working at Children’s Theatre Workshop is seeing young people fall in love with theatre and helping them make the stories their own. It is her belief that when young people tell stories, amazing things can happen.

Gideon and the Blundersnorp

Gideon is a stablehand who yearns to join the Royal Cavaliers. Alanna is a young viscountess who feels trapped in the system of hereditary succession. The two have more in common than they think.

Thrown together by chance, Gideon and Alanna must contend with bandits, a treacherous forest, and a giant monster that just wants to eat everyone.

Gideon and the Blundersnorp combines witty characters, pulse-pounding excitement, and a rousing cinematic/medieval-folk score. Underlying the fun is a positive message: aspiration is fueled by personal character, not social class.

Kirsty Findlay is an Olivier award nominated actress hailing from bonny Scotland.

https://www.spotlight.com/5095-3426-0375

Joan is a playwright, musical theatre bookwriter and lyricist, opera librettist, and screenwriter. She is currently writing the book and lyrics for a new blues-infused musical, Black Swan Blues with composer Randy Klein, excerpts of which have been presented by Music Theatre of Connecticut. Other musicals include Imagining Monet (previously titled Monet) with composer/lyricist Carmel Owen, developed at The York Theatre, CAP21 with a generous grant from the Florence Gould Foundation, and at the French Consulate in an evening of songs and story; and In The Theatre with composer/lyricist/co-bookwriter Steven Fisher, developed at The York Theatre and The BMI Musical Theatre Workshop.

joanrosssorkin.com

We speak with Lisa Ruin the  artistic and executive  director of Segal Centre about the  North American premiere of April Fools: An Adult Rock Cabaret

May 1-22,2022

https://www.segalcentre.org/

Based between London and Melbourne, Ellen is a creative theatre producer, festivals manager, new musical theatre specialist and arts communications and management professional from Australia, with experience across Singapore, Vietnam, the Czech Republic and more. 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellenburgin

Jim starred as Henri Matisse in Jesse Kornbluth’s new play THE COLOR OF LIGHT at the Schoolhouse Theater in North Salem, NY.  Tim last appeared on Broadway in the role of Monsieur Firmin in Broadway's PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, the role he was selected to play in 2004 when PHANTOM became Broadway’s Longest-Running Show.  He returned to the role in 2012 for PHANTOM's 25th Anniversary.

Prior to that, he was Dick Latessa's understudy inThe Lyons. He was seen very briefly in the Off-Broadway revival of Dracula following a somewhat longer run in the rather more successful revival of Flamingo Court at New World Stages.

He starred as Alfred P. Doolittle in the acclaimed U.S. national touring production of the London revival of My Fair Lady for which he received the Carbonell Award and a Helen Hayes Award nomination. On Broadway, prior to his run in Phantom of the Opera, he played Jane’s father, Professor Porter, in Disney’s Tarzan and Belle’s father, Maurice, in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.  He performed leading roles in the original Broadway casts of Grand Hotel, The Moony Shapiro Songbook, Arthur Miller's Creation of the World and Other Business, The Rothschilds,  and was nominated for the 1987 Drama Desk and Tony Awards for his performance as The Family Solicitor in Me and My Girl.

He is the Founding President of National Music Theater Network, Inc. In 1983, he designed its core programs. NMTN, which promotes new musicals, is responsible for launching several successful programs featuring new works, notably The Songbook Series (monthly at the Donnell Library for 17 years); BroadwayUSA! (1998-2004: the prototype of MainStreet Musicals), and the annual New York Musical Theatre Festival (launched in 2004, winner of the 2004 Jujamcyn Award).

In 2004 he created Mainstreet Musicals a national consortium of theater professionals and their non-profit, commercial, and educational partners. Thanks to the generosity of professional directors and educators, MainStreet provides a valuable script evaluation service for writers and composers. Utilizing performance competitions, concert-readings, and (coming soon) radio-theater, MainStreet promotes development opportunities for original stage musicals throughout regional America.

www.mainstreetmusicals.org

Nicolette Blount is a producer, singer, actress, songwriter, and writer.  Nicolette started Take My Shot Productions and recently coproduced the Off-Broadway hit “Regina Comet” and is an investor in the new Broadway Museum opening summer 2022 on Broadway.  Savage, is based on Nicolette’s Chickasaw great grandmother, Wanda Savage.  Nicolette is also a member of the Chickasaw tribe.

Lindel Hart is a writer and performer whose work has led him to stages in the U.S. and in Europe in traditional and experimental theatre. His work with New York performance artists include Ping Chong’s The Angels of Swedenborg (Carnegie Music Hall, Pittsburgh, PA) and Penny Arcade’s Bitch! Dyke! Faghag! Whore! (New York City and tours to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, London, Ireland, and the Vienna Festival). In 2013 Lindel was commissioned to write a new adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in which he also portrayed the Creature.

Rachel Klein (Director) is a NYC based director, whose work The New York Times has praised: "What makes this show pop is the bracing vision of its director, Rachel Klein." Off-Broadway Direction: Red Roses, Green Gold (Minetta Lane Theatre/featuring the music of the Grateful Dead, Music Supervisor: Jeff Chimenti of Dead and Company); Around the World in 80 Days (The Davenport Theatre); The Anthem (The Lynn Redgrave Theatre, starring Randy Jones, the original cowboy from the Village People); Gay Bride of Frankenstein (iStar Theatre Lab).

David Serero is a critically acclaimed and awards-winner opera singer, actor, director, and producer. He has performed more than 2,500 performances in more than 45 countries, directed and produced nearly 100 theatrical productions, starred in over 100 films and TV series, recorded and produced over 100 albums and, played more than 50 lead and title roles (in several languages) from the opera, theatre, and musical repertoire. In New York, he starred Off-Broadway in iconic roles such as Shylock, Cyrano, Othello, Barabas, Yiddish King Lear, Don Giovanni, Figaro, Romeo, Nabucco, as well as new works such as Napoleon by Kubrick, Queen Esther, Anne Frank a Musical, among others. In his native Paris, he also starred as Don Quixote (Man of La Mancha) and Happy Mac (Beggar's Holiday by Duke Ellington). He entered the prestigious Who's Who America for demonstrating outstanding achievements in the entertainment world and for the betterment of contemporary society. In 2019, he received the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award, the Morocco Day Distinguished Achievement Award, the Trophy of the Culture of Morocco, and was named among the fifteen most influential Moroccans worldwide by Morocco's airline Royal Air Maroc. David is a member of the Recording Academy and the Television Academy and a voting member of both the Grammys and Emmys. In 2020, David Serero received the UNESCO Award for Diversity in Paris and became an Honorary Member of the United Nations of Arts and Science. In 2021, he won 4 BroadwayWorld Awards for Best Performer of the decade, Best Producer of a Musical of the decade, Best Producer of a Play of the decade, Best Opera singer of the Year. He was awarded the Certificate of Recognition by the Mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, for his contribution to the City's dynamic cultural landscape, enriching the vibrant performing arts sector, and uplifted and inspired diverse New Yorkers. 

www.davidserero.com

www.thetencommandmentsthemusical.com

Robert J. Sherman (“Robbie”) is a London-based songwriter, book writer and producer and is the latest in a long line of Sherman family music-makers. Born in Los Angeles in 1968 to Joyce and Robert B. Sherman (of the acclaimed Sherman Brothers), Robbie is one of the youngest songwriters ever invited to join BMI and is an alumnus of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. His numerous creative works and projects include musicals, musical revues and a songbook as well as an animated musical feature film and print book. In addition to his roles at Sherman Theatrical Entertainment, Robbie is the CEO/President of Music World LLC and MusicWorld UK and the general manager of Music World LP (which oversees the Robert B. Sherman family estate and archives and includes one half of the Sherman Brothers and Al Sherman estates). Robbie resides in London.

https://robbiesherman.com/

https://www.shermantheatrical.com/