WHO’S WHO E.Y. HARBURG, 1896-1981 (Lyrics) Edgar Yipsel Harburg, known as Yip Harburg, was an American popular song lyricist who worked with many of the most famous composers of the 20th century, including George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Jule Styne and Burton Lane. His best known songs, apart from those in The Wizard of Oz, include the perennial standards “Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?,” “April In Paris” and “It’s Only A Paper Moon.” Broadway musicals include Bloomer Girl, Finian’s Rainbow, Flahooley, Jamaica and Darling of the Day. Films include Gold Diggers of 1937, At The Circus, Cabin In The Sky and the animated film Gay Purr-ee. He won an Oscar for the song “Over The Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz. HERBERT STOTHART, 1885-1949 (Original Background Music) Herbert Stothart was nominated for nine Oscars and won for Best Original Score for his work on the 1939 film of The Wizard Of Oz. As a young man he studied music in Europe and at the University of Wisconsin where he also taught. He worked as a musical director for Arthur Hammerstein and later began writing music for the producer’s nephew, Oscar Hammerstein II, including some for the operetta Rose Marie. In 1929, he was signed to a contract by Louis B. Mayer and spent the last 20 years of his life at MGM Studios working on films including Rose Marie, A Night At The Opera, Anna Karenina, David Copperfield, Madame Curie, Idiot’s Delight, Northwest Passage, Mrs. Miniver, Mutiny On The Bounty, National Velvet and What Every Woman Knows. ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER (Music) Andrew Lloyd Webber is the composer of some of the world’s best known musicals including CATS, Evita, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Phantom of the Opera and Sunset Boulevard. His new musical, a stage version of the movie School of Rock, opened on Broadway in December. As theatre producer he has presented not only his own shows, but others including the Olivier award-winning La Bête and Daisy Pulls It Off. As composer he has received many awards including seven Tonys, seven Oliviers, a Golden Globe, an Oscar, two International Emmys, the Praemium Imperiale, the Richard Rodgers Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre, a BASCA Fellowship, the Kennedy Center Honor and a Grammy for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for Requiem, his setting of the Latin Requiem mass which contains one of his best known compositions, Pie Jesu. He owns six London theatres including the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and the London Palladium. He was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 1992 and created an honorary member of the House of Lords in 1997. The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation has become one of Britain’s leading charities supporting the arts and music.
wrong reason, or simply for turning up. Latest show: From Here To Eternity (music: Stuart Brayson) makes US début at Finger Lakes Music Festival, NY, June 2016. JEREMY SAMS (Director and Adaptation) Directing includes: The Wizard of Oz (West End & Toronto); Educating Rita (West End); The Sound of Music (West End and Toronto); 13 (Broadway); Little Britain (London & UK tour); Noises Off (RNT and Broadway); Die Fledermaus (Metropolitan Opera, New York) Passion; Wild Oats; Marat/Sade; Enter the Guardsman; The Wind in the Willows; Two Pianos, Four Hands; Spend Spend Spend; Benefactors. Lyrics: Amour (Tony Nominated); Translations: Indiscretions; The Miser and Mary Stuart (RNT); The Rehearsal; Beckett; Figaro’s Wedding; La Boheme; The Magic Flute; Wagner’s Ring Cycle (ENO); and Merry Widow (Covent Garden and the Met Opera). As Composer: The Wind in the Willows; Arcadia (RNT); The Merry Wives of Windsor (RSC); The Mother (BBC); Enduring Love (Pathe); Hyde Park on Hudson and Le Weekend (Film 4); and Persuasion (BBC Films, BAFTA Award). As Adaptor: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (London & New York), The Enchanted Island (Met Opera). ARLENE PHILLIPS (Choreographer) Choreographer of films: Annie, Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life; music videos: Whitney Houston, Queen and Elton John; Ballet: Dance Me to the End of Love; for Whelan/ Watson: Other Stories (coming to New York); musicals: Starlight Express, The Sound of Music, Grease, Saturday Night Fever and We Will Rock You; arena shows: Monty Python Live, and as a director Strictly Come Dancing Live, Lord of the Dance, Manchester Commonwealth Games and creative director of Judy- The Songbook of Judy Garland. Arlene’s insightful entertainment expertise has been broadcast to millions in her role as a TV Judge: “So You Think You Can Dance” and “Strictly Come Dancing.” The Queen has honoured her for her services to dance. Twitter: @arlenephillips
ROBERT JONES (Scenic and Costume Designer) Robert has designed more than 30 West End productions including Rock ‘n’ Roll (also Broadway), Heroes (also Los Angeles), and The Sound of Music (UK tour, Toronto, Tokyo). He is an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company where he has designed more than 15 productions. For the Royal National Theatre, Look Back in Anger, Noises Off (also Broadway, West End and UK tour). Numerous productions for The Almeida Theatre and the Donmar Warehouse. Opera includes Tristan & Isolde (Vienna State Opera and Tokyo), Andrea Chenier (Royal Opera House), Don Carlos (Frankfurt), L’incoronazione di Poppea (Paris, Berlin) and Anna Bolena, Die Fledermaus and Guilio Cesare (Metropolitan Opera New York). Film- RSC Hamlet with Patrick Stewart and David Tennant. He TIM RICE (Additional lyrics) has been writing words has won a Dora Award and a Dramalogue Award and for musicals since 1965, and moderately successfully been nominated for four Olivier Awards. since 1970, when the original recording of Jesus Christ Superstar, written and produced with Andrew HUGH VANSTONE (Lighting Designer) has designed Lloyd Webber, was a smash album before any stage lighting for plays, musicals, operas and ballets in London, production existed. He has done stuff since with Alan New York and around the world. Recipient of three Menken (e.g. Aladdin), Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Olivier Awards for his work in London. New York Andersson (e.g. Chess) and Elton John (e.g. The Lion credits include: An Act of God (Studio 54), Matilda King). He has won several awards, mostly for the (Shubert- Tony Award for Best Lighting); I’ll Eat You