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| Sweeney Todd in Concert: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Biographies |
Stephen Sondheim
Wrote the music and lyrics for Passion (1994); Assassins (1991); Into the Woods (1987); Sunday in the Park with George (1984); Merrily We Roll Along (1981); Sweeney Todd (1979); Pacific Overtures (1976); The Frogs (1974); A Little Night Music (1973); Follies (1971, revised in London, 1987); Company (1970); Anyone Can Whistle (1964); and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962); as well as the lyrics for West Side Story (1957); Gypsy (1959); Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965), and additional lyrics for Candide (1973).
Side by Side by Sondheim (1976); Marry Me A Little (1981); You're Gonna Love Tomorrow (1983), and Puffing It Together (1992) are anthologies of his work as composer and lyricist. For films, he composed the scores of Stavisky (1974) and Reds (1981), and songs for Dick Tracy (Academy Award, 1990). He won Tony Awards for Best Score for a Musical for Passion; Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd; A Little Night Music; Follies, and Company. Sunday in the Park with George received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1985. He is on the Council of the Dramatists Guild, the national association of playwrights, composers, and lyricists, having served as its President from 1973 until 1981, and in 1983 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1990 he was appointed the first Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Oxford University and in 1993 was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors.
Patti LuPone
Over the past year, Patti LuPone has moved effortlessly between the concert stage and acting roles in film and television. She performed her new concert Matters of the Heart (upon which her most recent CD is based) throughout the U.S., including an extended run at New York's Lincoln Center Theater. At the same time, she has performed a second concert evening, Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda, based on her triumphant 1999 solo concert debut at Carnegie Hall, with major symphony orchestras around the country. She also made her debut last season with the New York Philharmonic playing Mrs. Lovett to George Hearn's Sweeney Todd in a concert version of the Stephen Sondheim musical at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall.
In between these appearances, Miss LuPone filmed a recurring role in the CBS series Falcone, appeared with Yo-Yo Ma, John Williams and the Boston Pops on Evening at the Pops on PBS, and filmed roles in the following feature films: Heist (opposite Gene Hackman, written and directed by David Mamet); City By The Sea (opposite Robert DeNiro, directed by Michael Caton-Jones) and the TNT film Monday Night Mayhem (opposite John Turturro, directed by Ernest R. Dickerson), as well as a guest-starring role on CBS' Touched By An Angel. She can currently be seen in David Mamet's State and Main, winner of a National Board Of Review Award for Best Ensemble Cast.
As at home on the dramatic stage as she is in musicals, Miss LuPone's most recent Broadway appearances include critically -- acclaimed performances in David Mamet's The Old Neighborhood, as Maria Callas in Terrence McNally's Tony Award-winning play Master Class and in her own concert Patti LuPone On Broadway, for which she won an Outer Critics Circle Award.
After completing her training with the first class of the Drama Division of New York's Juilliard School, she began her career as a founding member of John Houseman's The Acting Company playing a variety of leading roles, both on and off-Broadway and on tour throughout the United States. Her subsequent New York dramatic credits include Dario Fo's Accidental Death of An Anarchist; David Mamet's The Water Engine, Edmond and The Woods; and Israel Horovitz' Stage Directions. Miss LuPone's memorable performances on the New York musical stage include Vera Simpson in the City Center Encores! production of Pal Joey; Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes, (1988 Drama Desk Award, Tony nomination, Best Actress in a Musical); The Cradle Will Rock; Evita (1980 Tony and Drama Desk Awards-Best Actress in a Musical); Working and Rosamund in The Robber Bridegroom (1976 Tony and Drama Desk Award nominations, Best Featured Actress in a Musical). In London, she created the role of Fantine in the RSC production of Les Miserables, a role she subsequently played on the West End. For that performance, as well as the reprise of her performance in the London production of The Cradle Will Rock, she won an Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Miss LuPone created the role of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard (1994 Olivier nomination, Best Actress in A Musical), and recreated her Broadway performance of Maria Callas in the West End production of Master Class.
Films: Just Looking, Summer of Sam, The 24 Hour Woman, Family Prayers; Driving Miss Daisy and Witness. TV: Bonanno: A Godfather's Story (Showtime); Frasier (1998 Emmy nomination); Law & Order, An Evening with Patti LuPone (PBS); the NBC movie Her Last Chance; Showtime's ACE Award and Emmy nominated The Song Spinner (Daytime Emmy nomination, Best Actress); The Water Engine; L.B.J.; AMC's Remember WENN and ABC's Life Goes On.
Recordings include: Sweeney Todd (live performance recording on NY Philharmonic's Special Editions Label); Pal Joey (DRG); "Heatwave" with John Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra (Phillips Classics); Sunset Boulevard (Polygram); Patti LuPone Live (RCA Victor).
George Hearn
George Hearn created the role of Max von Mayerling in the Los Angeles premiere and Broadway production of Sunset Boulevard for which he received his second Tony Award. He won his first Tony Award for playing Albin in La Cage aux Folles. He reprised his role in London earning an Olivier Award nomination. He received Tony Award nominations for his performances in A Doll's Life and Watch on The Rhine. He won an Emmy Award for his portrayal of the title role in Sweeney Todd after having played the role on Broadway and the national tour with Angela Lansbury.
His other Broadway appearances include Putting It Together with Carol Burnett; The Diary of Anne Frank with Natalie Portman, Meet Me In St. Louis; I Remember Mama with Liv Ullman; Ah, Wilderness! with Colleen Dewhurst and Jason Robards; An Almost Perfect Person with Ms. Dewhurst and The Changing Room. He starred in the New York City Opera's Kismet and in the all star concert production of Follies at Avery Fisher Hall. He appeared in many productions with the New York Shakespeare Festival and has a long association with Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven. Regional productions include I Do, I Do and Love Letters with Rue McClanahan.
His many television appearances include Murder! She Wrote; L.A. Law; The Golden Girls; Dear John; Star Trek: The Next Generation and the television films A Fire in the Dark; False Arrest; Annie: A Royal Adventure; Durango and Sarah, Plain And Tall: Winter's End. His motion pictures include Barney's Great Adventure; See You in the Morning; The Vanishing; Sneakers and The Devil's Own.
Rob Fisher
Conductor, pianist, and Norfolk native Rob Fisher is a recognized authority on numerous genres of American music, but his specialty lies in the production of classic musical theatre. He is the artistic advisor for Carnegie Hall's Gershwin Centennial Celebration, and was the music director and conductor for Ira at 100, the gala 1996 concert that was also broadcast on PBS' Great Performances. In 1996, Mr. Fisher served as music director and conductor of his own restoration of Irving Berlin's Louisiana Purchase, which was performed in concert at Weill Recital Hall and recorded for release by DRG records.
Mr. Fisher has been the music director of the critically acclaimed Encores! series at New York's City Center since the program's 1994 inception, conducting all twelve of the series' productions. He was the associate producer and conductor for the recordings of Call Me Madam, Out of this World, Pal Joey, and The Boys from Syracuse, which were also released by DRG Records.
For four seasons, Mr. Fisher was the music director for Garrison Keillor's American Radio Company, a weekly national broadcast. The broadcasts specialized in all types of American music, but also featured composers from all national and historic backgrounds, including Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Bernstein, Gershwin, and Jelly Roll Morton. Mr. Fisher holds degrees from Duke University and the American University, where his teachers included Evelyn Swarthout, Elizabeth Bullock, and Jerzy Sapieyevski.
Lonny Price
Lonny Price wrote the book to A Class Act with Linda Klein, which was Tony-nominated for Best Book of a Musical. He also directed and stars in the role of Ed. Mr. Price has appeared in a variety of plays and musicals on and off Broadway, including Class Enemy (Theatre World Award), The Survivor, Merrily We Roll Along, Master Harold...and the Boys, The Immigrant (Obie Award), Burn This, Rags and Falsettoland. He toured the country starring in the musical Durante (Drama Logue Award) and played the title role in two different musical adaptations of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. His most memorable film role was as Neil, the hotel owner's nerdy son, in Dirty Dancing. Mr. Price made his directing debut with the Off Broadway revival of The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N, followed by The Rothschilds and Juno (both of which received Outer Critics Circle nominations for Best Revival). Other New York directing credits include the Broadway comedy Sally Marr and Her Escorts (which he co-authored with Joan Rivers and Erin Sanders), Visiting Mr. Green (starring Eli Wallach), Jules Feiffer's Grown Ups, the Encores! Pal Joey and the Lincoln Center Annie Get Your Gun (both of which starred Patti LuPone and Peter Gallagher). Last season, he staged the New York Philharmonic's gala Sweeney Todd starring Ms. LuPone, George Hearn and Audra McDonald. He was a staff director for ABC's One Life to Live for which he received an Emmy nomination. He is currently the Artistic Director of Musical Theatre Works, the only not-for profit theatre solely dedicated to the development of new musicals.
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