A
Abbott, George
(1887-1995) A Broadway actor, director, playwright and producer, George Abbott wrote and starred in his first comedy, PERFECTLY HARMLESS, while attending Harvard. In the 20's/30's, his plays were mostly comedies, including TWENTIETH CENTURY, THREE MEN ON ...
Abrahams, Maurice
Maurice Abrahams (1883-1931) was an early 20th century composer, publisher and a charter member of ASCAP (1914), the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. He is known for having written material for vaudeville singers, including ...
Adler, Bernie
Bernie Adler, turn-of-the-century composer, co-wrote "That Dying Rag" with Irving Berlin in 1911. He also wrote music for "Just As The Ship Went Down," (about the sinking of the Titanic) with composer Sidney Gibson, ...
Adler, Gary
The offspring of a big band singer and a trombonist, Gary developed a passion for music at age three, when he discovered that he could play "Lean On Me" by utilizing the top four white keys of the piano. At age ten, he was bitten by the theatre ...
Afanasieff, Walter
Walter Afanasieff (b. 1958) is a songwriter and producer, best known for his hit "Hero," co-written with Mariah Carey in 1992. He has also worked with singers Celine Dion ("Beauty and the Beast"), Savage Garden ...
Agee, James
James Rufus Agee (1909-1955) is known as a novelist, screenwriter, journalist, poet and film critic. He was born in Knoxville, Tennessee to Hugh James Agee, a rugged Tennessee farmer, and Laura Tyler, a more educated and artistic woman of a middle-class ...
Anderson, Maxwell
Maxwell Anderson (1888-1959) was born in Atlantic, Pennsylvania, and educated at the University of North Dakota and Stanford University. He was a schoolteacher and journalist until 1924, when his play, written in collaboration with Laurence Stallings, ...
Anstey, F. J.
Thomas Anstey Guthrie (1857-1934) used F. Anstey for his stage signature. His best known plays were A TINTED VENUS which was used as the basis for the musical ONE TOUCH OF VENUS (1945) by Kurt Weill, S. J. Perelman and Ogden Nash and THE BRASS ...
B
Bagley, Ben
BEN BAGLEY (1933-1998), was one of the true innovators of American Musical Theatre in the second half of the 20th century. Born in Vermont during the Great Depression, Bagley's grandmother introduced him to the theatre with annual treks to Broadway. In ...
Baker, Karin
KARIN BAKER has performed with the Pacific Ballet, on The Carol Burnett Show, and, most notably, on Broadway, where her dancing feet have been heard in GEORGE M! (1968), starring Joel Grey, and in COCO (1969), starring the legendary Katherine Hepburn. ...
Barrett, Mary Ellin
Author, journalist and editor Mary Ellin Barrett was born and raised in New York City. The oldest of three daughters of Irving Berlin and Ellin Mackay Berlin, she attended the Brearley School and received her Bachelor of Arts from Barnard College. ...
Bell, Hunter
Hunter Bell wrote the book and co-starred in the Broadway musical [title of show]. He received an OBIE Award and Tony Award and Drama League nominations for [title of show]. Writing credits include, SILENCE! THE MUSICAL (book writer/Overall Excellence ...
Benjamin, Nell
NELL BENJAMIN received 2007 Tony and Drama Desk nominations for her work on LEGALLY BLONDE. She is the author of PIRATES!, an adaptation of THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE, developed at Goodspeed Opera House and Paper Mill Playhouse. She wrote CAM JANSEN with ...
Bennett, Robert Russell
In a career spanning more than five decades, Robert Russell Bennett (1894-1981) arranged more than 300 Broadway musical scores; in musical comedy's golden era of the '20's he orchestrated up to twenty-two shows a season. Among his credits were SHOW ...
Berlin, Irving
With a life that spanned more than 100 years and a catalogue that boasted over 1000 songs, Irving Berlin epitomized Jerome Kern's famous maxim that "Irving Berlin has no place in American music -- he is American music."Irving Berlin was born Israel ...
Bingham, June
A funny thing happened to June Bingham (in photo, left) on her way from majoring in playwriting at Barnard in 1940 to having her musical, ASYLUM: THE STRANGE CASE OF MARY LINCOLN, produced off-Broadway in 2006. What appeared as a decades-long detour ...
Bizet, Georges
Georges Bizet (1838-75) was born Alexandre Cesar Leopold Bizet in Bougival near Paris, and trained at the Paris Conservatoire under the French composer Jacques Halévy. Bizet's operas include LES PÊCHEURS DE PERLES (The Pearl Fishers, 1863), ...
Black, Don
Don Black (b. 1938) began writing lyrics after a brief career as a stand-up comedian in his native London. He has written over 100 songs for motion pictures, has been nominated for five Academy Awards, and won an Oscar for his song "Born Free." ...
Blake, Paul
Paul Blake has served as Executive Producer of the St. Louis Muny since 1990; with 11,350 seats, the Muny is America's largest theatre. At The Muny, where Irving Berlin's WHITE CHRISTMAS began in Summer 2000, Mr. Blake has produced over 150 productions, ...
Blank, Larry
Larry Blank is one of the most prolific and sought after composers, conductors, and orchestrators in the entertainment business today. His work has been presented all over the world, including some of Broadway’s most successful musicals, Carnegie Hall, ...
Blitzstein, Marc
Marc Blitzstein (1905-64) was born in Philadelphia and appeared as a pianist with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the age of 15. He later studied with the influential French teacher Nadia Boulanger and the Austrian-born composer Arnold Schoenberg. His ...
Bobbie, Walter
Walter Bobbie (b. 1945) directed Irving Berlin's WHITE CHRISTMAS (San Francisco 2004, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Boston 2005) and the Broadway revival of SWEET CHARITY starring Christina Applegate. He also directed TWENTIETH CENTURY (2004) ...
Bolt, Jonathan
Jonathan’s first play, THREADS, premiered at New York City's famed Circle Repertory Company. TO CULEBRA and THE WHORE AND H'EMPRESS premiered at Actors Theatre of Louisville. His experience directing a Communist Bulgarian theater ...
Bowen, Jeff
JEFF BOWEN wrote the music and lyrics and co-starred in the Broadway musical [title of show]. He was awarded an OBIE for his work on [title of show], and has composed music for several shows at PS 122, including AVANT GARDE A RAMA IN SPARKLEVISION and ...
Brecht, Bertolt
Bertolt Brecht was born in Augsburg, Germany on February 10, 1898, and died in Berlin on August 14, 1956. He grew to maturity as a playwright in the frenetic years of the twenties and early thirties, with the plays MAN EQUALS MAN, THE THREEPENNY OPERA, ...