THEATERLIFE - Key Persons
For over 20 years, Alan Silvesrtri has been one of the most prolific and busiest composers. In addition to his Oscar-nominated score for Forrest Gump and Best Song, "Believe," from The Polar Express, he's written scores for over 70 films and TV series. In 2011, he was honored with the prestigious Max Steiner Film Music Achievement Award in Vienna - the annual gala that celebrates the career of the film composer extraordinaire.
Alix Cohen is the recipient of nine New York Press Club Awards. She has a BA in Literature and one in Theater. Writing history began with poetry, segued into lyrics and took a commercial detour while holding executive positions in product development/design. A cultural sponge, she now turns her diverse personal and professional background to authoring pieces about culture with particular interest in artists and performers.Theater, music, art/design are lifelong areas of study and passion. She's a voting member of Drama Desk.
Barry is an internationally renowned photographer, whose celebrity photos have appeared in publications world wide including People and InTouch. His weekly photo column in Dans Papers has been a staple of the social scene for the past decade and his photos appear regularly in virtually every publication in the Hamptons. His work has appeared in numerous group shows at galleries in SoHo and on the Eastend. Barry is also a Theatre Critic and a voting member of the Drama Desk as well as Editor In Chief of DramaDesk.org.
Job Titles:
- Critic for New York Theater News
Bernard Carragher is a theater critic for New York Theater News and The Catholic Transcript. He has written for The New York Times, Playbill, and Show Magazine. He has done an Oral History on Jerome Robbins Theater Work for the Jerome Robbins Foundation and the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center. He was one of the producers of My One and Only and Chita Rivera:The Dancer's Life.
Brian Scott Lipton has been a nationally renowned journalist, specializing in entertainment and fashion for over 30 years. He has been Editor in Chief of TheaterMania.com and Resident Publications, Managing Editor of DNR, MR and Accent, and is currently a theater critic for Cititour.com, TheaterPizzazz.com and Theaterlife.com. In addition, his byline has appeared in dozens of publications including Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, CT Voice and the New York Post.
Job Titles:
- Actor / Playwright / Cabaret Performer / Drag Legend - 11 - 16 - 23
David is a respected writer, editor, and critic. He is the former executive editor and theater critic for Back Stage, the actors' resource. He has published three books on show business: Rage and Glory: The Volatile Life and Career of George C. Scott, It's a Hit! The Back Stage Book of Broadway's Longest-Running Shows and The Big Book of Show Business Awards. He served as president of the Drama Desk, the organization of New York-based theater critics, editors and reporters for seven years. He's also a member of the New York Drama Critics Circle, the Outer Critics Circle and the American Theater Critics Association where he currently is a member of the organization's New Play Committee. For over ten years, he was a contributing correspondent on NY-1 News' weekly theater show On Stage. In addition to his blog (The David Desk 2), David also provides Broadway walking tours: http://criticschoicetours.com/
Edward Medina is a native New Yorker who over time has built a significant and multifaceted career. He is a producer and director with over thirty-five years of production experience in theatre, live events, and digital media.
Currently, Edward is an Amazon KDP bestselling author of high fantasy, dark horror, and epic adventure books, short stories, and poems. Edward is also a freelance critic and entertainment news journalist covering Broadway, Off Broadway, Off-Off Broadway, Clubs and Cabarets for TheatreReviewNYC, Theater Pizzazz, and OnStage Blog.
Edward Medina attended Adelphi University for Theatre Arts and is proud to be a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators, the Horror Writers Association, the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs, and Theater Resources Unlimited.
He's a member of the American Theatre Critics Association, where he serves on both the Membership and Diversity & Inclusion Committees, and is also a voting member of The Drama Desk.
Ellis Nassour, an international arts journalist, is the author of Honky Tonk Angel: The Intimate Story of Patsy Cline. His new book, launching in Fall, is Jesus Christ Superstar Behind the Scenes of the Worldwide Musical Phenomenon.
Ellis is a veteran of The New York Times and New York Daily News. As VP, artist relations, MCA Music/Universal Pictures, he participated in the development of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar and careers of The Who, Neil Diamond, Brenda Lee, and Elton John, supervising his American debut and first U.S. tour. He worked with Jerry Herman, Stephen Sondheim, and Gloria Gaynor. Ellis authored Rock Opera: The Creation of Jesus Christ Superstar and Honky Tonk Angel: The Intimate Story of Patsy Cline, four pages of which are source material for hit revue, Always, Patsy Cline.
Back to the Future's Grammy-winning Composer Glen Ballard -
"Part of the dream is knowing it will happen … Never give up hope."
Job Titles:
- Professional Entertainment Writer
Iris is a professional entertainment writer with a long career of commentary, reviews and interviews. Her portfolio contains a diverse collection of work centered on all genres of entertainment, including theater, music, books, film, and television. Her work has been featured in 25A, Long Island Woman, Long Island Pulse, TheaterMania, Patch, The Improper, The Long Island Herald, Entertainment This Week, The Long Islander Newspapers, and Figure. Iris has also contributed red carpet interviews to WOR710 News Talk Radio and has been interviewed for Bio Channel's Biography. Additionally, she has five years of experience as a teacher of English, and two years of experience as Lead Researcher for CastingAbout, a division of Breakdown Services. She is a proud voting member of the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle. www.IrisWiener.com
As a theater critic Isa Goldberg has served as the president and as a board member of The Drama Desk. Her theater reviews appear in diverse media from The Broadway Channel to The Advocate. She has interviewed theater and television celebrities, playwrights and novelists for PBS' "In The Life," Reuters Television, The Financial Times, The Times of India, and New York Daily News, among many others. Isa is proud to have been on of the very first contributors to theaterlife.com.
Job Titles:
- Producer, October 13, 2023
JK Rowling was most intrigued with the idea of diving into Harry's life as a father-the boy who grew up orphaned is now a parent. It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn't much easier now that he's a husband, father of three school-age children, and an overworked Ministry of Magic employee.
Taking over the lead of the adult Harry in the American cast is James Snyder (If/Then, In Transit, Cry-Baby,) who explained, "Harry is still grappling with his past thatrefuses to stay in the past. His middle son, Albus, also struggles with the weight of a legacy he never wanted. It really is a deep and complex family drama, abetted with all the JK Rowling trappings and mindboggling magic and illusion." James says he's always tried to book shows that are different "and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is not only different, there's nothing like it. Nothing!"
In his career, he points out, "I've been fortunate. Since L.A. was my home I was able to pick and choose what I wanted to go after without having to worry too much about where I'd hang my hat. The roles have been so varied. Thankfully, I got to work with great people who are interested in furthering the art."
In October 2018 when he auditioned, he was hoping to get the role of Draco. "I did a lot of homework: read four books, spoke to friends familiar with the show. Malfoy. That part was going to be mine. And then…" Well, he was offered the role of Harry.
James, 38, was born in San Jose but raised in Sacramento. "I'm a real California boy, through and through. Luckily, I was raised in a musical family." His father, a realtor, and grandfather, a barber, sang Barber Shop. Along with family members, they formed a group which won several awards. James' mother is a writer. He credits his Christian Brothers High/Sacramento choir teacher Christian Bohm with instilling a love of theater in him. It was there he began appearing onstage.
"I grew up listening to the Beatles, Beach Boys, Billy Joel, and Andrew Lloyd Webber, so when I got into high school, I saw a path," he says. "I was already a bit of a ham. I played soccer in the Fall and did track in Spring. I didn't see a fit with the baseball guys, so freshman year I auditioned for Godspell, and won the role of Jesus. That's where I clicked."
He explained that with shows such as Gilmore Girls and Smallville, there were lots of opportunities in TV. It didn't hurt that he was drop-dead handsome. He also appeared in musicals on the West Coast and at Goodspeed and Paper Mill Playhouse. The actors who've influenced him, that he looks up to, run the gamut from Albert Finney to Hugh Jackman.
Judy Kaye is married 34 years to actor David Green, whom she met in the bus and truck company of Twentieth Century. He's a character guy and was playing Oliver Webb, Oscar Jaffee's temperamental business manager. "We called it the bus and truck company from hell. If we hadn't met each other, I think we'd both be dead by now." Green, who was on Broadway in Teddy & Alice, from the late 70s through the early 80s was featured in the second and third national tours of Annie.
Lauren is an award-winning editor who reviews theater in New York and Connecticut. She is Second Vice President of The Drama Desk, a Voting Member of The Outer Critics Circle and The American Theater Critics Association, a member of the League of Professional Theatre Women (co-founder of its Connecticut Chapter), a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle and The Episcopal Actors' Guild and a Contributing Editor for BroadwayWorld.com. She reviews books for Publishers Weekly and is a member of the National Book Critics Circle. She also is a playwright. Visit her new website at CriticalArtsConnection.com.
Job Titles:
- Founder and Director of the Singing Experience
Founder and Director of The Singing Experience (www.SingingExperience.com), renowned cabaret and musical theater performance workshops since 1977 that has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning, The Today Show, The NY Times and many others. For the past 15 years, the TSE Cable TV show has been shown weekly on MNN and her Youtube channel (www.Youtube.com/SingingExperience) features hundreds of her talented graduates. Linda is also a sought after vocal coach and has written, booked and directed hundreds of cabaret acts and revues. She is the winner of two MAC Awards, The 2016 TRU Entrepreneur Award, and honored at The Metropolitan Room in a special Tribute Evening for her four decade contribution to cabaret and the music world. Linda has been the President of the American Popular Song Society (www.APSSinc.org) for the past 20 years producing award winning, star-studded monthly entertainment programs. She is proud to be a noted Critic, Reviewer, Writer for TheaterLife.com and several publications.
Magda has been in the entertainment world for most of her life as a child actress, assistant to the head publicist of Avco Embassy Pictures, theatrical print agent. She went on to manage the show business career of her 2 children for over 15 years.
For the last five years Magda has been filming and editing video trailers of live performances as well as celebrity interviews. Broadway After Dark was the first website to feature her video trailers. She contributed in creating a star studded 90th birthday party for Mickey Rooney at Feinstein's at the Regency Hotel. Her video trailers have a large international following. All of Magda's videos can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/user/MagdaCorrespondent
Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based arts writer who has been running This Week in New York (twi-ny.com) since 2001, covering theater, film, dance, art, literature, music, and more. A children's books executive managing editor by day, his writing and photography have appeared in newspapers, magazines, artist monographs, encyclopedias, and other publications. An avid traveler and a voting member of the Drama Desk, he also writes a more personal Substack column, which can be found here: https://twiny.substack.com.
Paulanne Simmons is a multi-faceted writer whose work has been seen in magazines and newspapers, and on stage and television. Her writing abilities were recognized early on, when she was chosen to read her essay, "What My American Citizenship Means to Me," at her 6th grade graduation.
Paulanne began her professional writing as a copywriter for various New York City advertising agencies. After a decade of writing ad for the likes of Oscar de la Renta and Alitalia Airlines (to say nothing of American Standard plumbing products), she moved on to journalism, writing for such publications as Newsday, The Big Apple Parent's Paper and The Brooklyn Papers.
But ever since Paulanne's first experience at a Broadway show - Dory Schary's Sunrise at Campobello - her biggest love has been theater. After several years of reviewing theater, she succumbed to the challenge, "If you think you know so much, why don't you write a play yourself?" and wrote her first drama, Basketball Lessons, which was produced at Theater for the New City in 2001.
Since that inaugural production, Paulanne's work has been produced at Theater for the New City, The Ensemble Studio Theater's Octoberfest, Makor/92 St. Y, the New York Fringe Festival and The Richmond Shepard Theatre. Her theater reviews can be seen on CurtainUp.
Paulanne is a proud member of several professional organizations, including The Dramatists Guild, Outer Critics Circle and The Drama Desk.
RANDIE LEVINE-MILLER,spent over 30 years as a public relations consultant specializing in TV and Radio placement throughout the U.S. (Accent on Broadcasting, Etc.) She handled several authors/publishers;consumer products; health and medical technology clients including minimally invasive breast biopsies, radiation seed implants for prostate cancer, videoscopic surgery for chronic heartburn as well as "The Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons Complete Home Medical Guide".She helped launch acupuncture, biorythym and recycling, and handled clients in the alternative/nutritional supplement field. For 5 years, she was the broadcast consultant to Discover Magazine and also publicized the Discover Awards for Technological Innovation at Epcot.
For 20 years, she was in charge of special events for the Drama Desk Awards and produced the annual nominations breakfast, with major stars doing the announcements at the Friars Club; then Feinsteins. She also nurtured 2 musicals, including "No Way To Treat A Lady" by Douglas J. Cohen, and "After The Fair" by Stephen Cole and Matthew Ward.
Randie is known around town as a modern day "hostess with the mostess." She has produced, performed in and hosted benefits for the Actors Fund, the Actors Temple, Multiple Sclerosis, and Prostate Cancer Research, and Operation Warrior Shield(for returning vets and first responders who suffer from PTSD. Randie's performance venues have included: Feinstein's, 54 Below, Metropolitan Room, the Friars Club and TheTriad.
She annually produces and hosts "Tomatoes Got Talent", a talent competition for women past 40 who have segued to other professions...several of whom have since gone back to performing and have been nominated for the MAC Award.
Randie produced over 85 star-studded events at the Friars Club (where she was named Friar of the Year) including tributes to: Charles Strouse, Marvin Hamlisch, Ervin Drake, Marty Richards, Tovah Feldshuh, Jim Dale, Len Cariou, Tony Roberts and Lee Roy Reams. Her "Showstopper Divos and Divas - A Swell Party!" evenings, in support of the Actors Fund,spotlight the best of Broadway and cabaret.
Job Titles:
- Author / Theater Critic, September 26, 2023
Sam is a New York-based playwright/actor/educator. He was a certified Special Educator for the NYC Department of Education for over twenty-five years. He taught inclusion model classes for "special needs" students and championed inclusive education throughout the city. He introduced playwriting to his students as a means of motivating them to improve their reading skills and won an Astor Fellowship for his ‘excellence in teaching' efforts.
He has written six full-length plays and over a dozen shorter works. His short play, Peanut Butter Patty, was a semi-finalist in the 37th Annual Samuel French OOB Short Play Festival in NYC. Sam's play, The Finalist, was produced in Washington, DC as part of the McLean Drama Company's 10th Annual 10-Minute Play Festival. His latest work, The Bully's Eye, was published (2015) by Applause Theatre and Cinema Books in an anthology entitled More 10-Minute Plays for Teens, edited by Lawrence Harbison.
Sam is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild, Actors' Equity, SAG-AFTRA, SAG Nominating Committee and Theatre Resources Unlimited.
www.samaffoumado.com
Samuel L. Leiter is Distinguished Professor Emeritus (Theater) of Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center, CUNY. Sam, a Drama Desk voter, has written and/or edited 27 books on Japanese theater, New York theatre, Shakespeare, and the great stage directors. For more of his reviews, visit Theatre's Leiter Side (www.slleiter.blogspot.com), The Broadway Blog (http://thebroadwayblog.com/), and Theater Pizzazz (http://theaterpizzazz.com/category/theater-reviews/).
Sandi is Publisher/Editor of TheaterPizzazz.com and a critic. She has been writing, reviewing, producing, having a voice in the theater, cabaret and entertainment communities for over 25+ years. She is a Voting Member of the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards; member of the American Theatre Critics Association. Her columns also appear on www.TheThreeTomatoes.com.
Sandi has produced numerous revues as well as songwriter events for the American Popular Song Society (APSS), is a producer on the benefit CD "Our Heart Sings," and on the Award winning film "Broadway the Golden Age" (with Rick McKay).
She is a member of the League of Professional Theatre Women, Board Member of American Popular Song Society (APSS), Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU - Advisory Board),100+ year old Dutch Treat Club, The Lambs; an occasional theater "angel " and has had a career as a vocalist-performer.
Van Dyke never forgot Rivera. He cast her opposite he and Hope Lange for a season on The New Dick Van Dyke Show. "I was Dick's neighbor. It was a great opportunity, but I didn't have a lot to do. On one show I was to come in loaded with groceries and find Dick all doped up after being at the dentist. I was to try to rouse him. My lines were, ‘Dick. Dick? Dick!' I knew I had to make the most of it, so I really rehearsed ways to have the most impact. ‘Dick!! Dick?? DICK!' We did it and I immediately felt it was time to throw in the towel. Done in by three Dicks, I headed back to New York."
She was back in the razzle-dazzle soon gathering raves as jealous jail-house rival Velma Kelly, co-starring with her great pal Gwen Verdon, as the infamous Roxie Hart, for Bob Fosse and Kander & Ebb's Chicago. Rivera had a cameo in the Oscar-winning film adaptation.
She entered the 80s "stumbling through a very short-lived Bring Back Birdie with the adorable Donald O'Connor. We tried valiantly to bring him back, but hard as we tried, we couldn't do it. One show closes and you hope for another. That was Elmer Bernstein/Don Black and Richard Levinson/William Link's lackluster Merlin (1983), where she portrayed the Queen. "I was mostly window-dressing for Doug Henning's magic, but I was blessed to Nathan Lane in the cast (Prince Fergus). We struggled through six months until audiences magically disappeared."
The stars realigned a year later when she received raves playing Liza Minelli's free-spirited mom, Anna, in Kander & Ebb and Terrence McNally's The Rink. "Along with Jason Alexander and Scott Ellis, Liza and I skated through our share of trials and tribulations, We managed to make it work for six months managed six months, but look at the music we introduced ["Colored Lights," "Chief Cook and Bottle Washer," "What Happened to the Old Days," "The Apple Doesn't Fall," and "Marry Me"]. She also grabbed the brass ring: her fist Tony.