nine
January 21 - February 26, 2011Book by Arthur Kopit
Music & Lyrics by Maury Yeston
Adaptation from the Italian by
Mario Fratti
Directed by Paul Daigneault
Musical Direction by Nicholas Connell
Choreography by David Connolly
Scenic Design by Eric Levenson**
Costume Design by Charles Schoonmaker**
Lighting Design by Jeff Adelberg
Video & Projection Design by
Seághan McKay
Sound Design by Aaron Mack
Stage Managed by Amy Weissenstein*
Assistant Stage Managed by
Emily Page*
Producing Artistic Director Paul Daigneault celebrates SpeakEasy’s 20th anniversary with a very special production of his all-time favorite musical, nine. Based on Fellini’s classic film 8½, this spectacular show tells the story of celebrated film director Guido Contini, who is facing both mid-life and marital crises after turning 40. Drifting toward a nervous breakdown, Guido finds himself examining his past flawed relationships with the many women who have come through his life, while struggling to accept and live life as a mature adult man.
Featuring:
Timothy John Smith*………………………………Guido Contini
Aimee Doherty*………………………………………………….Luisa
McCaela Donovan……………………………………………….Carla
Cheryl McMahon*……………………..…………Guido’s Mother
Amy Jackson……………….…………Stephanie Necrophorus
Maureen Keiller*………………………………….Liliane LaFleur
Brittany Morello………………………..Diana/Ilse Von Hesse
Julia Broder…………………….Maria/A Venetian Gondelier
Santina Umbach………..……….…………………….Lina Darling
Kerry A. Dowling*……………………….………………Sarraghina
Leigh Barrett*………………………………..…Mama Maddelena
Rachel Prather ………………….Annabella/Heidi Von Sturm
Shana Dirik*…………………………Giulietta/Olga Von Sturm
Holly King………………….……Renata/Gretchen Von Krupf
Jennifer Ellis*…………………………..……………………Claudia
Kami Rushell Smith*……………..……….Our Lady of the Spa
Erik March………….……….…………………………Little Guido
Andrew Stewart………….…………………………….Little Guido
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Who's Who
Cast & Crew
JEFF ADELBERG** (Lighting Design) SpeakEasy: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson; The Motherf**ker with the Hat; Next to Normal; Red; reasons to be pretty; Nine; Body Awareness; Adding Machine: A Musical (Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Design); [title of show]; Blackbird; The New Century; The Little Dog Laughed; Fat Pig. Other recent work: The Last Goodbye (The Old Globe); The Lily’s Revenge(American Repertory Theater); John Kuntz’s The Hotel Nepenthe (Huntington Theatre Company’s Emerging America Festival); Middletown, Medea, The Hotel Nepenthe (IRNE Award)(Actors’ Shakespeare Project); Equally Divided (Merrimack Repertory Theatre); The Company We Keep and John Kuntz’sThe Salt Girl (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre); Miracle on 34th Street, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Thoroughly Modern Millie (Stoneham Theatre); A Soft Murder, Noises Off, Oklahoma, Thoroughly Modern Millie (The Boston Conservatory); Boston’s Christmas Revels since 2010. Jeff attended the University of Connecticut and teaches at Boston College. LDJeff.com
JULIA BRODER is proudly making her SpeakEasy debut! Other regional credits include: Helen/Vinnie in The Donkey Show (American Repertory Theater); The Old Woman in Candide (Berkshire Theatre Festival); Masha in The Suicide (1st Stage); understudy Little Edie in Grey Gardens andunderstudy Miss L’Arriere in The Solid Gold Cadillac (Studio Theatre). She received her BA in Theatre Arts and Economics from Brandeis University, and she trained at the British American Drama Academy in London. Julia is also one of the founders of The Actor’s Choice Reading Series
NICHOLAS JAMES CONNELL (Musical Director) is so happy to be back in Boston at his favorite theatre company. He is an award-winning singer/songwriter and music director from Las Vegas with a BM in Songwriting from Berklee College of Music. Past SpeakEasy shows include music direction forThe Color Purple, In the Heights (IRNE Award for Best Musical Direction),Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Xanadu, Next to Normal, The Drowsy Chaperone, Nine, and The Great American Trailer Park Musical. Check out his original pop music on iTunes and Spotify. www.nicholasconnell.com
DAVID CONNOLLY SpeakEasy: The Drowsy Chaperone (direction and choreography — 2012 IRNE Award); Nine; The Great American Trailer Park Musical; Adding Machine: A Musical; [title of show]; Jerry Springer – The Opera; The Light in the Piazza; The Mystery of Edwin Drood; and Zanna, Don’t! (Elliot Norton Award nomination). He is co-director of Dance Explosion Studio of Performing Arts in Dedham, MA; a member of the dance faculty at Boston University; and artistic director of the theater program at Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood, MA. David has worked as a master teacher, guest artist, and adjudicator for numerous organizations including Boston College, The Boston Conservatory, Dance Masters of America, and Dance Ovations Performing Arts Competition.
PAUL DAIGNEAULT (Producing Artistic Director) was the recipient of the 2014 Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence by the Boston Theater Critics Association. Since founding SpeakEasy in 1992, he has produced over 100 Boston premieres. SpeakEasy directing highlights include: The Color Purple; In the Heights; Xanadu; Next to Normal; Nine; Body Awareness; The Great American Trailer Park Musical; [title of show]; The Savannah Disputation; Jerry Springer – The Opera; The New Century; Some Men; Zanna, Don’t!; Parade (2008 Elliot Norton Award – Outstanding Director, Midsize Company); Almost, Maine; Caroline, or Change; Take Me Out; Company; A Man of No Importance (co-production Súgán); Bat Boy: The Musical (2003 Elliot Norton Award – Outstanding Director, Small Company); Passion; A New Brain; Violet; Songs for a New World; Floyd Collins; Jeffrey; and Love! Valour! Compassion! Regional credits: Grand Hotel and Nine (The Boston Conservatory and Cincinnati Conservatory of Music); Rent, City of Angels, Sunday in the Park with George, and Merrily We Roll Along (The Boston Conservatory); and Into the Woods, Urinetown, and Blue Window (Boston College). Paul is also on the faculty at The Boston Conservatory where he teaches musical theatre and directing. He has also been honored with the Boston College Arts Council’s Alumni Award for Distinguished Achievement in 2007, and served as the 2011-2012 Rev. J. Donald Monan S.J. Professor in Theatre Arts. Outside the theatre, Paul serves on the Boards of the Barbara C. Harris Camp and Conference Center and the ICU Patient & Family Advisory Council at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
REBECCA K. DAVID (Asst. Props Master) – This is Rebecca’s SpeakEasy debut, she is excited to be working on Nine, especially since she just served as props master for Emerson Stage’s Nine in December. Rebecca is a Junior Stage and Production Management major at Emerson College where she also does Props and Sound Design.
RON DE MARCO (Props Master) is making his debut with SpeakEasy on this production of Nine. He is the Properties Director at Emerson College where he teaches prop design and management. Ron has recently propped productions for the Boston Early Music Festival, Boston Lyric Opera, Commonwealth Shakespeare, and The Nora Theatre. He is a member of The Society of Property Artisan Managers.
SHANA DIRIK* SpeakEasy: Nine. Local credits: Chicago (Palace Theatre, Manchester, NH); Calvin’s Monster(Boston Children’s Theatre); Lettice & Lovage (Next Door Theater);A Child’s Christmas in Wales (Boston Playwrights’ Theatre); A Little Night Music (Metro Stage, 2010 IRNE for Best Supporting Actress in a musical); and Sweeney Todd (Metro Stage, 2009 IRNE for Best Actress in a Musical). Past credits: Man of La Mancha, The King & I, Sideman, Kiss Me Kate, Mame, Into the Woods, Follies, Blood Brothers, Cabaret, California Suite, Nunsense, and Evita. Shana can also be heard with the Colonial Radio Players on Sirius XM worldwide.
AIMEE DOHERTY* (Sandra Bloom) returns to SpeakEasy, having previously appeared in Far From Heaven, Nine (IRNE Award – Best Actress), The Women, and Company. Recent local credits include The Witch in Into the Woods (Lyric Stage) and Betsy/Lindsay in Clybourne Park (New Century Theatrre). She is also a rotating cast member for Shear Madness at the Charles Street Playhouse. Television and radio credits include The Makeover (ABC), The Making of a Monster: Whitey Bugler (Discovery); and various radio spots for D’Angelos, Papa Gino’s, and the Museum of Science. This past spring, Aimee was honored with an Elliot Norton Award for her work in both Hairspray (Wheelock Family Theatre) and On the Town (Lyric Stage).
McCAELA DONOVAN* (Marcy/Peggy/Hippie) is always happy to be back at SpeakEasy, where she has appeared in Necessary Monsters, Xanadu, The Drowsy Chaperone, and Nine. Local credits: Huntington Theatre Company (A Little Night Music, Candide), American Repertory Theater, Berkshire Theatre Group, Reagle Music Theatre, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, ArtsEmerson, New Repertory Theatre, Brandeis Theater Company, Stoneham Theatre, Actors’ Shakespeare Project, The Lyric Stage, Bridge Rep of Boston, Fiddlehead Theatre, and Company One. New York Credits: NYMT Festival, Primary Stages. BFA – Musical Theatre (Ithaca College); MA -Theatre Education (Emerson College); MFA Acting (Brandeis University). She is also a member of Actors’ Equity, SAG-AFTRA, and SAFD, and serves as the Assistant Director of the School of Theatre at Boston University. Thanks to the SpeakEasy family, her amazing BU colleagues and students, and to JS.
KERRY A. DOWLING* (Rita)returns to SpeakEasy having performed in Carrie; Far From Heaven; Clybourne Park; Next to Normal;The Drowsy Chaperone; Nine; The Great American Trailer Park Musical; Reckless; Jerry Springer – the Opera; The New Century; The Mystery of Edwin Drood; Parade; The Women; Bat Boy; Company; Elegies; A New Brain; Triumph of Love; Lips Together, Teeth Apart; Songs for a New World(SpeakEasy); Nicholas Nickleby, Follies(Lyric Stage); A Man of No Importance (Súgán/SpeakEasy); Steel Magnolias, Pal Joey (Stoneham);The Most Happy Fella, Dueling Divas (Gloucester);Distracted(Underground Railway);Gypsy(Next Door). Kerry is the recipient of the 2010 SpeakEasy Stage Outstanding Artist Award.
JENNIFER ELLIS* is thrilled to return to SpeakEasy Stage, having last been seen in Nine. Local credits include Commonwealth Shakespeare, Lyric Stage, Gloucester Stage, New Rep, Central Square Theater, Metro Stage, Boston Lyric Opera, Peterborough Players, The Huntington Theatre, and Stoneham Theatre. She also regularly appears in the long-running hit Shear Madness at the Charles Playhouse, and received an IRNE Award for her portrayal of Rosabella in The Most Happy Fella at Gloucester Stage. Jen also works as a corporate spokesperson and voiceover artist. Love to Ben. www.JenEllis.net
MARIO FRATTI (Adaptation from the Italian) professor emeritus of Italian literature at Hunter College, is an internationally acclaimed playwright and drama critic. Author of such works as Suicide, The Cage, The Return, The Academy, Mafia, Races, and The Bridge, he is best known for his musical Nine (inspired by Fellini’s famous film, 8 1/2) which in its original production in 1982 won the O’Neill Award, the Richard Rodgers Award, two Outer Critics Circle Awards, eight Drama Desk Awards, five Tony Awards and in 2000 was a recipient of the Otto Award for Political Theater. In its 2003 revival, Nine won three Outer Critics Circle Awards and two Tony Awards. Fratti’s nearly seventy plays have received some six hundred productions in two dozen countries and have been translated into many languages. Fratti was born in Italy but has been living in New York City since 1963. In addition to his writing achievements, he also serves as New York drama critic for nine European newspapers.
CELIA HOTTENSTEIN is thrilled to be making her SpeakEasy debut! Celia is a sophomore Musical Theater major at The Boston Conservatory where she was most recently seen in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, ensemble and u/s Johanna. Some of her favorite roles include Polly Peachum, The Threepenny Opera; Miss Adelaide, Guys and Dolls; Mabel, Pirates of Penzance; Laurey, Oklahoma! A heartfelt thanks to Nick Connell and Paul Daigneault for this incredible opportunity and to my wonderful family for their love and support.
AMY JO JACKSON* is delighted to return to SpeakEasy after appearing as Necrophorus in NINE! Broadway: Kinky Boots(Production Dialect Coach; Spring 2013). Off-Broadway: Nymph Errant (Prospect). NYC:The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler(EPBB); Kaspar Hauser, Great Recession (The Flea); multiple MUSICALS TONIGHT; Newsadoozies (UCB). Regional: Henry IV,Rocky Horror, The Laramie Project, Godspell, As Bees in Honey Drown, Tommy, The Full Monty,and two trips flying Lufthansa inBoeing Boeing. As Text/Dialect Coach: the 2012 Drama Desk nominated These Seven Sicknesses (The Flea); The Cell; Prospect; Lake Dillon; Bowery Electric; NYTW. BFA BoCo. www.amyjojackson.com
JULIE JENTZEN SpeakEasy: The Divine Sister, The Drowsy Chaperone, Nine, and Striking 12. New York City props artisan credits: Broadway’s Anything Goes, Playwrights Horizons’Assistance and The Public’s The Total Bent. Julie is training to be a wardrobe substitute on Rent at New World Stages.
MAUREEN KEILLER* SpeakEasy shows: Nine, The Little Dog Laughed, Almost, Maine, The Women (IRNE Award, best play), The Wild Party. Other credits include 33 Variations, Big River, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (Elliot Norton Award and IRNE Award, Best Play), Speech and Debate (Elliot Norton Award, best play), Epic Proportions, Inspecting Carol (Lyric Stage of Boston); Oh God (Israeli Stage);Car Talk, The Musical!!! (Central Square Theatre); The Sweetest Swing in Baseball (Boston Theatre Works); A Streetcar Named Desire (New Repertory Theatre): Anne of Green Gables (Wheelock Family Theatre); Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (Lyric West). Maureen is a two-time recipient of the IRNE Award for best supporting actress (for The Women and The Wild Party). Film and television credits include Olive Kitteridge (HBO series), The Makeover (Hallmark/ ABC Family), Fever Pitch, We Pedal Uphill, My Best Friend’s Girl, Brotherhood (Showtime series). Maureen is a member of Actor’s Equity and SAG/AFTRA. Thanks to David and Paul for this wonderful opportunity.
HOLLY KING is excited to be making her SpeakEasy debut. Her favorite roles include Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady; Cinderella in Into the Woods; Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls; and Lady Larken in Once Upon a Mattress. She was most recently seen in the cast of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at The Boston Conservatory where she is pursuing a BFA in Musical Theater. Being an Arizona native, Holly misses the sun, riding horses, and, most of all, her wonderful family!
ARTHUR KOPIT (Book) is also the author of the plays Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feelin’ So Sad; Indians (Pulitzer Prize finalist); Wings (Tony Nominee, Pulitzer Prize finalist); End of the World, with Symposium to Follow ; a new translation of Ibsen’s Ghosts; the book for the musicals Nine and Phantom (both with scores by Maury Yeston); the book for the musical High Society; Road to Nirvana; Because He Can (originally entitled Y2K); and numerous one act plays. Current projects include Discovery of America, a play based on the journals of the Spanish conquistador, Cabeza de Vaca, a new musical,Eureka!, and four other new plays, Secrets of the Rich, Autumn Light, The Incurables, and A Dram of Drumchhicit, the latter written with Anton Dudley, and slated for production in 2011 at the La Jolla Playhouse, Chris Ashley directing. Mr. Kopit is a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Lark Play Development Center, where he heads the Lark Playwrights’Workshop.
ERIC LEVENSON** (Scenic Design). Previous SpeakEasy designs include sets for Far from Heaven; CARRIE the musical; Kurt Vonnegut’s Make Up Your Mind; Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson; The Motherf**ker with the Hat; Next to Normal; Nine; [title of show]; The Savannah Disputation; Jerry Springer – The Opera; Blackbird; Some Men; Parade; Kiss of the Spiderwoman; Take Me Out; Company; A Man of No Importance (co-production with Súgán); A Class Act; Three Days of Rain; An American Daughter and Balm in Gilead (Elliot Norton Design Award). Eric recently participated in Sally Taylor’s Consenses, a multi-discipline project which premiered on Martha’s Vineyard in August. Eric is an All-Categories member of United Scenic Artists, IATSE Local USA 829.
AARON MACK is glad to be back at SpeakEasy for his 5th season. Aaron is a freelance sound designer and composer based in greater Boston, and has two Elliot Norton Awards for Best Design for his work on The Adding Machine: A Musical at SpeakEasy, and The Aliens with Company One. Aaron is also the Titles Administrator at the Santa Fe Opera Company. Recent notable work includes: The Drowsy Chaperone (SpeakEasy), I Speak Therefore I Am (A.R.T. Institute), The Foreign Play Festival (Apollinaire Theatre Company), Nine (SpeakEasy) and Xanadu (SpeakEasy). As always, Aaron would like to thank the entire SpeakEasy family for their love and support, and his family and friends.
ERIK MARCH is honored to be making his SpeakEasy debut. Credits: Johnny Baseball (American Repertory Theater); Storyville Detective; Into the Act with Aesop’s Fables; Camp Pirate, Good Fortune, and Henry and Ramona (all productions of Theater Workshop and the Firehouse Center for the Arts, Newburyport, MA). Erik has received training in performance through the summer arts workshops of Theater in the Open in Newburyport and Circus Smirkus of Greenville, VT. He is a student at the River Valley Charter School in Newburyport, MA.
SEAGHAN MCKAY** (Projection Designer) returns to SpeakEasy having previously designed projections for Kurt Vonnegut’s Make Up Your Mind; Next to Normal; Nine; Striking 12; [title of show]; and Jerry Springer – The Opera. Other local designs include The Flying Dutchman (Boston Lyric Opera);Gershwin Spectacular: Promenade (Boston Pops); Educating Rita (Huntington Theatre Company); On The Town (IRNE Nomination – Best Projection Design), Big River (Lyric Stage); Memory House(Merrimack Repertory Theatre); Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992; Light Up The Sky (Emerson Stage);Merrily We Roll Along, Rent (The Boston Conservatory); Hecuba, As You Like It (Brandeis Theater Company); The Threepenny Opera (Boston College); and Godspell (Gordon College). He assisted Projection Designer Peter Nigrini on the PBS documentary Becoming Helen Keller. Seághan is a member of United Scenic Artists, IATSE Local USA 829. www.seaghanmckay.com
CHERYL MCMAHON* is delighted to return to SpeakEasy Stage, having last appeared here in 2005 in The Moonlight Room, directed by Paul Melone. Other local credits include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Lyric Stage); Marty and The Rose Tattoo ( Huntington Theatre); Cabaret (New Rep); Monsters! The Musical (CentaStage); On the Twentieth Century (Overture Productions); and numerous shows at both Wheelock Family Theatre and Stoneham Theatre. Regionally, Cheryl has also appeared in A Christmas Carol and Sweeney Todd for North Shore Music Theatre, and Half a Sixpence and High Button Shoes for Goodspeed Opera House. Last fall, she also reprised her role in Jack Neary’s critically acclaimed comedy The Porch at the Majestic Theater in West Springfield. A two-time IRNE Award recipient, Cheryl has also appeared in Theresa at Home and Better Off Dead for Village Theatre Project, of which she is a founding member.
BRITTANY MORELLO is so pleased to be making her SpeakEasy debut! Most recently Brittany appeared as an emergency replacement in the role of Eliza Doolittle at Maine State Music Theatre. Other credits include Pippa in Pirates! (Huntington Theatre), Ensemble in A Christmas Carol (North Shore Music Theatre), Julie Jordan in Carousel and Hope Harcourt in Anything Goes (Summer Theatre in Meredith Village), and Jo March in Little Women (Emerson College). She has also performed on the Spirit of Boston Harbor Cruise. Brittany holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Emerson College, Class of 2010. www.brittneymorello.com
EMILY PAGE* (Assistant Stage Manager) is excited to be working with SpeakEasy for the very first time. She recently worked on Hot Mikado, Opus, Boom, Indulgences, A Christmas Carol, Speed the Plow, and Mister Roberts with New Repertory Theatre. Other recent credits include Trojan Barbie (American Repertory Theatre), The Miracle at Naples (Huntington Theatre Co.), and In a Dark Dark House (Almeida Theatre Co. London). She is a graduate of Boston University’s College of Fine Arts with a B.F.A. in Stage Management.
RACHEL PRATHER is thrilled to be making her SpeakEasy debut. She is currently a junior Musical Theater Major at The Boston Conservatory, where her credits include: For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls, Man of La Mancha, and Our Town. Other credits: Thoroughly Modern Millie, Urinetown, and Into the Woods (EOT, Florida). Special thanks to Paul Daigneault, Trent, family, and friends.
KAMI RUSHELL SMITH* SpeakEasy: Nine. Other local credits: Big River (Lyric Stage Company); Harriet Jacobs (Underground Railway Theater—IRNE nomination–Best Actress); Hairspray (Reagle Music Theatre); Passing Strange, Darling Divas Deck the Holidays, Dessa Rose (New Repertory Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing (Actors’ Shakespeare Project); The Phantom Tollbooth, The Little Mermaid (Wheelock Family Theatre); Macbeth (Shakespeare Now!); and The Life (The Boston Conservatory). Kami has a BA in English from Carnegie Mellon, and a Masters in Musical Theater from The Boston Conservatory. www.KamiRushellSmith.com
CHARLES SCHOONMAKER** (Costume Design) is happy to be back at the SpeakEasy. Previous work here includes The Light in the Piazza, Nine, and Other Desert Cities. He is the recipient of four Daytime Emmy Awards for his work in television. Boston-area theatre credits include Venus in Fur, God of Carnage, and A Long and Winding Road (Huntington Theatre Company); Tarzan (North Shore Music Theatre); Race, The Clean House (New Rep); Grey Gardens, The Legacy of Light, and 33 Variations (The Lyric). Credits in the Berkshires include the Berkshire Theatre Festival, The Dorset Theatre Festival, The Chester Theatre Company, and seven seasons as the resident costume designer at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. Television credits include Another World, All My Children, and As the World Turns. He teaches costume design at Bennington College. Charles-Schoonmaker.com
TIMOTHY JOHN SMITH returns to SpeakEasy having previously appeared as Satan in Jerry Springer – The Opera (IRNE Award), Britt Craig in Parade, and The Dancing Kid in Johnny Guitar. Other local credits include: Little Shop of Horrors at Theatre-By-The-Sea, Prelude to a Kiss at the Huntington Theatre, and various roles at Trinity Rep, Lyric Stage and New Rep. He has been a company member with the Breadloaf School of English Acting Ensemble. Later this season, Tim will appear as a guest artist at the new Paramount Theatre as Don Quixote in the Emerson College spring production of Man of La Mancha. He is a Graduate of Saint Anselm College and the Trinity Rep Conservatory.
AMY LOUISE SPALLETTA* previously stage managed Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Next to Normal, Next Fall, Nine, and In the Next Room (or the vibrator play) for SpeakEasy. Previous Boston-area credits include: Our Town, God of Carnage, Educating Rita, The Miracle at Naples, and Third (Huntington Theatre); All’s Well That Ends Well (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company); Hot Mikado, Opus, Indulgences, Speed-the-Plow, Mister Roberts, Exits and Entrances, Cabaret, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, and Eurydice(New Repertory Theater); The Scene, This Wonderful Life, and Miss Witherspoon (Lyric Stage); and Mr. Marmalade (Company One). Other regional credits include: The Europeans and Scenes from an Execution (PTP/NYC). Amy graduated from Boston University with a concentration in stage management and is a proud member of Actor’s Equity.
ANDREW STEWART SpeakEasy: Debut. Local Credits: Trouble in Tahiti (Boston Midsummer Opera), Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (New Repertory Theatre), Oliver!, Robin Hood, School House Rock (Concord Youth Theatre), Fame (Theatre with a Twist), Willy Wonka! (Metrowest Family Theatre). In Andrew’s free time, he enjoys reading and playing soccer. Andrew would like to thank his parents for making all this possible.
SANTINA UMBACH is thrilled to be returning to the SpeakEasy Stage after a year of touring overseas with Norwegian Cruise Lines! Other SpeakEasy credits include Lina Darling in Nine and Pickles in The Great American Trailer Park Musical, earning her an IRNE Nomination. She has appeared in numerous readings in NYC and is a proud 2011 Boston Conservatory graduate. Thanks to BRS, Paul, and her always supportive and loving friends and family!
AMY WEISSENSTEIN* (Production Stage Manager) is thrilled to be returning to Speakeasy after stage managing In the Next Room (or the vibrator play) this fall. Previous Boston area credits include: The Miracle at Naples and Third (Huntington Theatre); Hot Mikado, Opus, Indulgences, Speed-the-Plow, Mister Roberts, Exits and Entrances, Cabaret, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, and Eurydice (New Repertory Theater); The Scene, This Wonderful Life, and Miss Witherspoon (Lyric Stage); and Mr. Marmalade (Company One). Other regional credits include: The European sand Scenes from an Execution (PTP/NYC). Amy is also Associate General Manger for Boston Midsummer Opera.She graduated from Boston University with a concentration in stage management and is a proud member of Actor’s Equity.
MAURY YESTON (Music & Lyrics) is a composer, lyricist, author and teacher. In addition to winning his second Tony Award for Best Score for Broadway’s Titanic (which won five Tonys including Best Musical), Yeston won a Tony Award and two Drama Desk Awards for his music and lyrics to Broadway’s Nine (based on Fellini’s 8 ½). Yeston’s contribution to the score for Broadway’s Grand Hotel was nominated for a Tony and two Drama Desk Awards, and the Donmar Warehouse London production of this show won the Olivier Award. His score for Phantom has received national and international acclaim and is currently in production across America and Europe and Japan. Yeston’s music and lyrics cover a wide variety of styles, from his Cello Concerto (premiered by Yo Yo Ma) to the concert album “Goya– A Life In Song,” (featuring Placido Domingo and Gloria Estefan). The song “Till I Loved You,” from the “Goya” album became a Top 40 hit for Barbra Streisand. Twice nominated for a Grammy Award, Yeston’s recordings include cast albums of Nine Titanic, Phantom, Grand Hotel, The Maury Yeston Songbook, December Songs, Goya, and the film soundtrack of Nine. Yeston also wrote the incidental music to the Broadway 2009 hit revival of The Royal Family, directed by Doug Hughes, and to the legendary Off Broadway premiere of Cloud 9, directed by Tommy Tune. Headed soon for the New York stage is Yeston-penned musical Death Takes A Holiday, with a Book by Peter Stone and Thomas Meehan. Scheduled for 2011 is Yeston’s new full-length ballet Tom Sawyer, commissioned for the Kansas Ballet to inaugurate Kansas City’s new Opera House and Arts Center.
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