The Other Side of Broadway

The Other Side of Broadway is a project dedicated to the performance of classical music written by established and emerging theatre composers. Through our entertaining and educational concerts The Other Side of Broadway seeks to develop new audiences for musical theatre, classical music, and cabaret, and to provide an outlet through which theatre composers can have their little known but worthy classical 'other side' heard.

We believe that our performances help bridge the gaps between areas of music that need not be separated. David Amram (the first composer-in-residence with the New York Philharmonic, as well as composer of scores for films [The Manchurian Candidate and Splendor in the Grass] and for thirty-five of Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival productions) says it best: "There are no walls between true music built to last-purity of intent, hard work, joyful participation, and clarity of execution are all that are important to create work of enduring value that is also entertaining."

KELLY ELLENWOOD, soprano, has starred on Broadway in The Phantom of the Opera as "Carlotta Giudicelli," and as "Mrs. Fezziwig" in the Madison Square Garden production of A Christmas Carol. In 1997, she won the First Prize and the Oxnard Gold Medal at the Savannah (GA) Onstage American Traditions Competition. She also received an "Actress of the Year" Award for her performance as "the Witch" in Into the Woods (Chicago and subsequent National Tour production). Kelly recently workshopped her original play Dorothy Parker: Just A Little One with the Chekhov Theatre Ensemble, and premiered Stewart Gordon's one-woman opera/cabaret based on the life of 1920's singing sensation Libby Holman, in Los Angeles.

PETER SAMUEL, baritone. Broadway: Marie Christine; Parade; King David; Cats; The Secret Garden; Les Miserables; Rags; The Three Musketeers; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; and The First. Off-Broadway: Old Money; The Time of the Cuckoo; Dream True; Orpheus in Love; The Human Comedy; The Road to Hollywood; and Three Guys Naked from the Waist Down. Regional and Stock: Eliot Ness in Cleveland; The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz; Jane Eyre; Fields of Ambrosia; The Return of Martin Guerre; and Don't Stop the Carnival. Film & Television: The Secret Lives of Dentists; Law and Order SVU; and Late Night with David Letterman.

BARBARA IRVINE, musical director/pianist, has performed as a classical pianist in the United States and Europe, and has music directed or played for over 75 musical theatre productions on both continents, working with such stars as Dave Willetts, Michael Crawford, Sarah Brightman, Rebecca Luker, Julie Wilson, Patrick Cassidy, and many more. Holding degrees in both music and business, she currently heads The Other Side of Broadway, through which she has premiered classical piano works by Charles Strouse, Harvey Schmidt, David Shire and Galt MacDermot, and art songs by Mary Rodgers and Robert Waldman/Alfred Uhry.

TOM O'HORGAN, director, is the only director to ever have four productions running simultaneously on Broadway (HAIR, Lenny, Jesus Christ Superstar and Inner City), two plays Off Broadway (Futz and Tom Paine), plus four productions of HAIR running in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and London. With Ellen Stewart (La Mama Experimental Theatre Company), O'Horgan helped bring about a revolution in American Theatre. He studied musical composition with Alexander Tcherepnin and Leon Stein and worked directly with Leonard Bernstein and Leon Kirchner. O'Horgan has written over forty musical scores for operas, plays, drama, films and television. Current directing projects include Paul Foster's Kicks, Bites, and Scratches (based on Richard III), Rio by Nancy Manocherian & Michael Sahl, and legendary concert pianist Leonid Hambro's new one-man show.

THE COMPOSERS

DAVID FRIEDMAN wrote music and lyrics for "Listen To My Heart," "Help is on the Way," "My Simple Christmas Wish" ("Rich, Famous & Powerful"), and "We Live on Borrowed Time. Larger works include King Island Christmas, an oratorio written with Deborah Brevoort, and the musical Nicolette & Aucassin (book and lyrics by Peter Kellogg). David was music director/vocal arranger for Disney films Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahantas, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He is currently working on a songbook and CD of his own songs.

JOHN KANDER. Theatrical productions: (with James and William Goldman) A Family Affair, (with Fred Ebb) Flora the Red Menace, Cabaret (Tony Award), The Happy Time, Zorba, 70 Girls 70, Chicago, The Act, Woman of the Year (Tony Award), The Rink, Kiss of the Spider Woman (Tony Award), And the World Goes Round, Over and Over (Signature Theater, Wash. DC), Steel Pier, and his new show The Visit at the Goodman with Chita Rivera. Films: Something for Everyone, Cabaret, Funny Lady, A Matter of Time, French Postcards, Lucky Lady, New York, New York, Kramer vs. Kramer, Still of the Night, Blue Skies Again, Places in the Heart. Television: Liza with a Z, Gypsy in My Soul (w/Shirley MacLaine), Goldie and Liza Together, Baryshnikov on Broadway, An Early Frost, and Breathing Lessons.

GALT MACDERMOT is best known for his music in the landmark musical HAIR, and his Tony Award-winning score to Two Gentlemen Of Verona. Other musicals include The Human Comedy, Steel, and Time And The Wind. MacDermot has composed ballet scores (Salome), film scores (Cotton Comes To Harlem; Fortune And Men's Eyes; Mistress), chamber music (Wind Quintet), music for the Anglican Liturgy, poetry and drama accompaniments ("The Sun Always Shines For The Cool", "The Shooting of Dan McGrew"), and band repertoire. His compositions cross the boundaries of jazz, folk, gospel, reggae, and classical styles. MacDermot's New Pulse Jazz Band, formed in 1979, plays an eclectic repertoire of show tunes, orchestrated pieces, and material composed by MacDermot exclusively for the band.

NORMAN MATHEWS' one-woman musical about Dorothy Parker, You Might As Well Live starring Michele Pawk, is in workshop. Songs of the Poet, Mathews' song cycle composed to Walt Whitman poetry, was recorded for Capstone Records by Gregory Wiest. An evening of Mathews' cabaret songs, written with lyricist Patty Seyburn, will be sung by Debbie Gravitte and John Dossett at the Donnell Library on October 29 at 6:00PM. Mathews is currently at work on a musical of Lost Empires, J. B. Priestly's novel about English music hall.

CHARLES STROUSE graduated from the Eastman School of Music. He studied composition with Aaron Copland, Nadia Boulanger, David Diamond, Arthur Berger, and Israel Citkowitz, and orchestration with Darius Milhaud. His many classical works include Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, which was premiered by pianist Barbara Irvine in 1995. Musical theatre: Bye Bye Birdie; Applause; Annie; Charlie & Algernon; Rags; Nick & Nora; All American; Golden Boy; It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman; Dance a Little Closer; Mayor; Annie Warbucks. Film scores: Bonnie & Clyde; The Night They Raided Minsky's; Just Tell Me What You Want; All Dogs Go to Heaven. With Lee Adams he wrote the theme song for the TV show All in the Family, and in 1998 his rap hit, Jay-Z's "Hard Knock Life," went platinum. He recently completed Concerto America (commissioned by pianist Jeffrey Biegel), and he is currently at work on a musical stage version of the film Marty.

RICHARD PEARSON THOMAS has had works performed by the Boston Pops, Covent Garden Festival, Houston Grand Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, Banff Centre, Skylight Opera Theatre, and Riverside Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir. His songs have been sung in Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall and before the U.S. Congress. He is recipient of a Klinsky commission and Michael Stewart Foundation Award for his musical Golden Gate, currently in development at Second Stage Theater. Encompass Music Theatre produced his Off-Off Broadway musical Ladies in a Maze. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music.

ELLIOT WEISS earned his BA in music composition from The Juilliard School. His concert works include two oratorios, Dori-The Life and Times of Theodore Herzl and The 104 Bus (libretti by Eric Blau). Mr. Weiss's musical theatre works (with lyricist/bookwriter Michael Champagne) include Bittersuite: Songs of Experience (1987 MAC Award for Best Musical), The Witch of Wall Street (1990 Eugene O'Neill Award for Musical Theatre), and Casanova: A Musical Romance. Mr. Weiss is a frequent contributor of featured songs to "As the World Turns," "Guiding Light," and "Another World."