Cast & Creative

SANDY BINION (Cast). MMAS continues a line of exciting projects with director Rob Ruggiero: Elegies, Falsettos (Trina) and NoWay to Treat a Lady (Sarah). In addition to cabaret and concert performances, her theatrical credits include Jane Eyre: The Musical on Broadway and the first national tour of Sunset Boulevard, performing Norma Desmond. Off-Broadway: Showtune. Her regional credits include Make Me a Song (originated role), Follies (Sally), A Little Night Music (Charlotte), I Got Merman (American premiere), Hall & Levy's Jekyll & Hyde (originated role of Lily), Sunday in the Park with George, The Rocky Horror Show. Her TV/film credits include All My Children, The Sopranos, Law & Order:CI and Wilderness. www.sandybinion.com

D.B. BONDS (Cast) is thrilled to be a part of this show after having just returned from playing Freddy Benson on the national tour of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Broadway and national tour: Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, The Scarlet Pimpernel. D.B. was the standby in the original Off-Broadway production of Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years. Favorite regional roles: Bobby, Urinetown; John, john and jen; Jesus, Godspell. Thank you to the entire Make Me a Song family for this opportunity. Also, as always, thank you to Craig Holzberg, Joan Lader, Craig Carnelia and my wonderful family. Love to Shannon!

ADAM HELLER (Cast). Broadway: Caroline, or Change; A Class Act; Victor/Victoria; Falsettos; Les Misérables. Off-Broadway: Endgame (Irish Rep); Normal (Transport Group); The Immigrant (New World Stages); Merrily We Roll Along (York). National tours: Titanic; Falsettos. Regional: Party Come Here (Williamstown); Caroline, or Change (Arden); Merrily We Roll Along (Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration); Dinner With Friends (Coconut Grove); March of the Falsettos & Falsettoland (Hartford Stage); Ragtime (Sacramento); Art (Hartford TheaterWorks); No Way to Treat a Lady (Barrington); American Vaudeville (Alley). Film: Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's, Isn't She Great. TV: The Sopranos, Law & Order (All), Oz. Graduate: NYU/Tisch.

SALLY WILFERT (Cast). Broadway: Assassins, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Disney's King David. National tour: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Off-Broadway: The Mistress Cycle, The Prince & The Pauper. Other NY: West Side Story Suite (NYCB Lincoln Center), South Pacific, Sondheim Tribute, Cole Porter's Jubilee (all at Carnegie Hall). Original cast recordings: Assassins, King David, The Prince & the Pauper, A Christmas Survival Guide, Sondheim: A Tribute, The Americans (for Comedy Central). Regional: Make Me a Song (originated role), Cathy in The Last Five Years, Woman 1 in Elegies, Rose in Enchanted April, Constanze in Amadeus, to name a few. Television: Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Loving, Sondheim: A Tribute (PBS), South Pacific (PBS).

JASON DULA (Understudy) is thrilled to be part of this project. Off-Broadway: Lingoland (Jay Records), The Grass Harp (Collin), and A New Girl In Town at the York Theatre. 1st National:Kopit/Yestin's Phantom (Count Philippe). Regional: Beauty and the Beast (Beast), Ragtime (Younger Brother), Carousel (Mister Snow), Children of Eden (Cain/Japeth) and Great Expectations atGoodspeed. Jason appeared in the Linda Eder Holiday Concerts at the Gershwin and Palace Theatres. He has been seen in numerous readings of new musicals, loves his family and girlfriend and is a successful manager of way too many fantasy sports teams (see previously mentioned girlfriend).

ALYSHA UMPHRESS (Understudy) is a graduate of The Boston Conservatory. Alysha just returned from Barrington Stage Company, performing in Songs.... hosted byWilliam Finn and the premiere of Kirsten Childs' new musical Funked Up Fairy Tales.  Alysha opened for Diana Krall at the Fujitsu Jazz Festival, soloed along side Carlos Santana at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium and performed with the Boston Pops. She was a 2007 MAC award nominee for Best Female Jazz Vocalist. Alysha has sung all over NYC from Joe's Pub and The Iridium to B.B. Kings and Birdland. Thanks to Bill. Love to Mom, Dad, All my dork sihded dorlins and especially Matt. www.AlyshaUmphress.com

WILLIAM FINN (Writer and Composer). Mr. Finn is the writer and composer of Falsettos, for which he received two Tony Awards, Best Book of a Musical (with James Lapine) and Best Original Score. He has also written and composed In Trousers, March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland (Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, two LosAngeles Drama Critics Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, the Lucille Lortel Award and Guggenheim Fellowship in Musical Composition). Mr. Finn wrote the lyrics to Graciela Daniele's Tango Apasionado (music by the great Astor Piazzolla) and, with Michael Starobin, the music to Lapine's version of The Winter's Tale. His musical Romance in Hard Times was presented at The Public Theater. Recently, he wrote Painting You for Love's Fire,a piece commissioned and performed by the Acting Company, based on Shakepeare's sonnets. For television, Mr. Finn provided the music and lyrics for the Ace Award-winning HBO cartoon ?Ira Sleeps Over,? ?Tom Thumb and Thumbelina,? ?Pokey Little Puppy's First Christmas? and, with Ellen Fitzhugh, two ?Brave Little Toaster? cartoons. Mr. Finn has written for Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and The New Yorker. A graduate of Williams College, where he was awarded the Hutchinson Fellowship for Musical Composition, Finn now teaches a weekly master class at the NYU Tisch Graduate Program in Musical Theatre Writing. His most recent projects include Elegies, A Song Cycle (Lincoln Center) and The25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee which is currently running on Broadway and has been produced nationally and internationally as well.

ROB RUGGIERO (Conceiver and Director). This is Rob's third collaboration with William Finn, having previously directed productions of Falsettos and Elegies. His work was first seen Off-Broadway as director of All Under Heaven (starring Valerie Harper), which toured regionally and had a critically acclaimed run in Los Angeles. In 2005 he conceived and directed the highly successful Ella, a musical about the life of jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald (starring Tina Fabrique), which continues to be produced nationally. A Chicago company of Ella (starring E. Faye Butler) will premiere later this year. Rob's work on both plays and musicals has been seen at many regional theatres around the country, including Barrington Stage Company, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Arizona Theatre Company, Cleveland Play House, Asolo Repertory Theatre, San Jose Repertory Theatre and Goodspeed Opera House. Make Me A Song earned him his second Connecticut Critics Award, this time for Best Director of a Musical. He is also the recipient of two Kevin Kline Awards, for both Best Director of a Musical (Urinetown) and Best Director of a Play (Take Me Out). He is currently the Associate Artistic Director of TheaterWorks in Hartford, Connecticut where he has been a key partner in its artistic leadership since 1992. An online portfolio of his work can be viewed at www.robruggiero.com.

LUKE HEGEL-CANTARELLA (Set Designer). NY: Human Error (Atlantic Theater Company), Her Majesty the King (HERE), Cam Jansen (Lamb's), Norman and Beatrice (Synapse), Junie B. Jones (Lortel).Regional: Life X 3, Lobby Hero (Pittsburgh Public), West Side Story,Wonder of the World, Falsettos (Barrington Stage), Bomb-itty of Errors, The Unexpected Man (Adirondack Theatre Festival), Driving Miss Daisy, The Exonerated, Blue/Orange, Ten Unknowns, The Last Five Years, Dinner with Friends,Spinning into Butter, Chesapeake(TheaterWorks Hartford), Pal Joey (Prince Music Theater), The Imaginary Invalid (Yale Rep). Opera: Così fan tutte (Curtis), La Clemenza di Tito (Wolf Trap), Albert Herring (NECM). Upcoming: Rabbit Hole (Pittsburgh Public), Bomb-itty of Errors (St. Louis Rep).

ALEJO VIETTI (Costume Designer). New York: Tryst, Roulette, The Last Sunday in June, 16 Wounded, 2 X Tennessee, The WauWau Sisters, Servicemen (directed by Sean Mathias), Waiting for Godot, Five Flights, Love's Labour's Lost, Measure for Measure, Othello, Of a White Christmas. Regional: The Alley Theatre Houston; Hartford Stage; Long Wharf Theatre; Colorado Ballet; Pasadena Playhouse; Cleveland Play House; Ford's Theatre Washington, DC; Signature Theatre Washington; New York Stage & Film; Pittsburgh Public Theater; Saint Louis Repertory Theatre; TheaterWorks Hartford;San Diego Rep.; Arizona Theatre Company; Goodspeed Musicals; Philadelphia Theatre Company; Barrington Stage Company; Florida Stage; Hangar Theatre; Columbia University; Donetsk Opera Ukraine.Upcoming: Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Gold Tour 07/09.

JOHN  LASITER (Lighting Designer). Design credits include Actors Theatre of Louisville, Arizona Theatre Company, Asolo Repertory, CenterStage, Cincinnati Playhouse, Cleveland Play House, Dallas Theater Center, Goodspeed Musicals, Hartford Stage, Milwaukee Repertory, Pittsburgh Public, San Diego Repertory, San Jose Repertory, South Coast Repertory, St. Louis Repertory, Syracuse Stage, TheaterWorks, Virginia Stage. Opera design credits: EOS Orchestra, Curtis Institute of Music, Gotham Chamber Opera, Glimmerglass Opera,Manhattan School of Music, Opera Delaware, Skylight Opera. Dance: Ballet Memphis, Danzantes, Irene Hultman, Randy James Dance Works. Off-Broadway: Blue Light Theater, Music-Theatre Group. 629 Entertainment. Mr. Lasiter's portfolio can be viewed online at www.johnlasiter.com.

ZACH WILLIAMSON (Sound Designer).Recent NY designs include Sive, Gaslight, Defender of the Faith, The Hairy Ape, TheField and Beowulf (Irish Rep), ?Size Zero(DR2), Absolute Clarity (Players Theatre), Darkling (American Opera Projects), Joy (Actors' Playhouse), Shape of Metal, Trousers, Crestfall, Communion and Misterman (Origin/59E59), Séance and Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Two River), Nelson, 'nami, Baby Girl, A Matter of Choice and The Bigger Man (Partial Comfort/Theatre Row) and Full Bloom (Vital). Hewas also the assistant designer on The Ritz( Roundabout). Zach is the house audio engineer at John Jay Theater and is a member of United Scenic Artists, Local 829.

DARREN R. COHEN (Musical Director, Pianist). Broadway and national tours from A Chorus Line to Chicago. Off-B'way: ZombieProm, Carnival, Ann E. Wrecksick, Anyone Can Whistle, A?My Name is Still Alice, The Fantasticks, And the World Goes ?Round, ShowMe Where the Good Times Are and CarnegieHall. Regional: Sacramento Music Circus, Goodspeed, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Cincinnati Playhouse, Barrington Stage, San Jose CLO, North Shore Music Theatre, MUNY, George Street Playhouse, Westport Playhouse, Asolo Theatre, Downtown Cabaret Theatre. Author, The Complete Professional Audition (BackStage Books) and graduate of the Eastman School of Music. For Mom.

MICHAEL MORRIS (Musical Supervisor).A Berklee College professor at age 18, theatre credits include orchestrator for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, O. Henry's Lovers (Goodspeed), The Game, Sweet Charity (Barrington Stage), The Hunchback of NotreDame (Tennessee Rep), The Piper, Hot and Sweet (NYMF) and Kevorkian Café (Niko). Also dance arranger for Big! (nat'l tour), vocal arranger for Peggy Sue Got Married (Marriott Lincolnshire) and music prep supervisor for Bombay Dreams (Broadway). Recordings: Liza Minnelli, Alan Cumming, Christine Ebersole, Liz & Ann Hampton Orchestra. An award-winning songwriter as well, Michael now serves on the faculty of Connecticut's Hartt School.

STUART HOWARD ASSOCIATES (Casting Director)?Stuart Howard, Amy Schecter, Paul Hardt?have cast hundreds of shows over the past 25 years in the USA, Canada and Great Britain. Among their favorites are: B'way: Gypsy (Tyne Daly), William Finn's & James Lapine's Falsettos, Chicago (Bebe Neuwirth, Ann Reinking), Sly Fox (Richard Dreyfuss), Fortune's Fool (Alan Bates, Frank Langella) and the original La Cage aux Folles. Off-B'way: I Love You,You're Perfect, Now Change and The Normal Heart. Currently they are represented on B'way with August: Osage County.

BLUECURRENT PUBLIC RELATIONS/ PETE SANDERS (Press Representative). Pete Sanders headed his own firm, The Pete Sanders Group, for 13 years before joining BlueCurrent PR, a new agency and an offshoot of Fleishman Hillard. Shows handled by Pete Sanders include Tony-winning productions of  Chicago (for 11 years), Journey's End, Bridge & Tunnel, the revivals of Annie Get Your Gun (with Bernadette Peters and Reba McEntire) and Grease!, Def Poetry Jamon Broadway as well as Wonderful Town and Whoopi. Off-Broadway includes Nunsense (ten years), Thom Paine? and Family Secrets. Current: Xanadu, the national tour of African Footprint and as a corporate account, Safe Horizon. Pete represented Falsettos on Broadway and is especially happy to reunite with Bill Finn.

CAMBRA OVEREND (Production Stage Manager). Off-Broadway: Opus (Primary Stages); Crazy Mary, Pen, Miss Witherspoon and Fran's Bed (all at Playwrights Horizons); A Spanish Play (Classic Stage Company); Satellites (The Public Theater); Anaïs Nin: One of Her Lives (Theatre Row). Regional: Permanent Collection, Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Price, all at CenterStage in Baltimore; Tintypes and Fully Committed at Rep Stage in DC; Williamstown Theatre Festival. Member of the Virtual Theatre Project and Actors' Equity Association.

FRED HEMMINGER (Assistant StageManager). New York: Opus (Primary Stages), A Spanish Play (Classic StageCompany), New York Butoh Festival, Disney's Tarzan (Assistant to the Director),Unsung 2006 (BC/EFA). Regional: The Second City (national tour and Las Vegas), Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Playhouse On The Square (Memphis), Arkansas RepertoryTheatre and Texas Shakespeare Festival.M.F.A., Columbia University and B.A., Allegheny College.

CRAIG CACCAMISE (Production Supervisor) has worked as Electrician, Head Electrician and Production Electrician on Broadway, Off-Broadway and Industrials including Avenue Q, Urban Cowboy, Our Town, Noises Off, Riverdance, Jesus Christ Superstar, Waiting in the Wings, Dame Edna, Beauty Queen of Leenane, Side Show, Fool Moon, Rent, The Donkey Show, IBM, CBS Paramount, News Corporation and FOX.

SNUG HARBOR PRODUCTIONS(General Management). Steven Chaikelson and Brannon Wiles' Broadway credits include Ring of Fire, Elaine Stritch at Liberty, George Gershwin Alone, A Moon for the Misbegotten, Death of a Salesman, The Price, Fool Moon, John Leguizamo's Freak.Off-Broadway: Evil Dead The Musical; Almost, Maine; The Normal Heart; The Tricky Part; Private Jokes, Public Places. National tour: Trumbo (starring Brian Dennehy). Steven is Chair of the Theatre Division of the Columbia University School of the Arts, where he directs the M.F.A. concentration in Theatre Management & Producing. Brannon is an adjunct faculty member at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Both are attorneys and graduates of the joint J.D.-M.F.A. program at Columbia.

JUNKYARD DOG PRODUCTIONS (Producer) specializes in developing and producing new musicals. Partners: Randy Adams (former Managing Director, TheatreWorks, CA), Sue Frost (former Associate Producer, Goodspeed), Kenny Alhadeff (Chairman, Elltaes Enterprises, Seattle WA). This is their first commercial venture. Upcoming:Vanities, A New Musical by Jack Heifner and David Kirshenbaum, directed by Judith Ivey, and Memphis by Joe DiPietro and David Bryan, directed by Christopher Ashley.

LARRY HIRSCHHORN (Producer) Broadway: Producer of last season's Tony-nominated Butley starring Nathan Lane. Associate Producer of Lisa Kron's Well (two Tony nominations). Off-Broadway: Founder of Melting Pot Theatre. Highlights: Cobb (commercial transfer co-produced with Kevin Spacey and Elizabeth McCann; Drama Desk winner), Woody Guthrie's American Song (two Drama Desk nominations), Cookin' at the Cookery (two Drama Desk nominations), NY premiere of Miss Evers' Boys and Flight. Favorite productions: Jessica, Joshua and Benjamin! Thanks M.P.

JAYSON RAITT (Producer) produces new musical theatre, events and live performances. Recently he produced New Line Cinema's 40th Anniversary Gala and appearances for the Hairspray movie on Oprah and The Today Show. Jayson is currently producing/ developing Being Alive (a new, all-black Stephen Sondheim musical), a musical adaptation of Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory and a new Bob Merrill revue. Jayson produced for Pasadena Playhouse and the NAMT Festival of New Musicals in NYC in 2006. Education: University of Michigan, UCLA Film Producers' Program.

STACEY MINDICH (Producer) is honored to be a part of this production, which marks her first involvement in the world of commercial theatre. Stacey is a journalist who has written under the name Stacey Okun for magazines and newspapers. She is an author of non-fiction books, an essayist and Contributing Editor of Town & Country Magazine. A mother of three boys, Stacey is dedicated to making sure they share her lifelong love of musical theatre.

JAMIE DEROY (Producer). Theatre: Dividing the Estate, Opus, Coram Boy, The Two and Only (Tony Award), Chita Rivera?,Say Goodnight Gracie, Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell, Exits and Entrances, Adrift in Macao, Indian Blood (OCC Award), Dedication?, The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged). TV: ?Jamie deRoy & friends,? ?CityArts.? Film: Broadway: The Golden Age.

ERIC FALKENSTEIN/ SPARK PRODUCTIONS (Producer). Upcoming:All My Sons with John Lithgow. Additional plays: The Seafarer, Coram Boy, Spalding Gray?, Butley, The History Boys, Bridge & Tunnel, Democracy, Whoopi, Long Day's Journey Into Night, The Crucible, Frankie & Johnny?. Spark's founder, Eric Falkenstein, is at work on theatre, film, environmental,human and civil rights projects.

ROBERT R. ECKERT (Associate Producer) is a retired newspaper publisher (Gannett, Hearst and International Herald Tribune) now pursuing his second love, theatre. He co-produced Summer of ?42 Off-Broadway and has produced several musical revues regionally. In the Navy he wrote and produced two revues, one starring the King Sisters.

IMPRESARIO'S CHOICE ON BROADWAY (Associate Producer). Raymond Poliquit, Mariano Tolentino, Ezekial J. Moore, Jeanette Tan. Broadway: The Drowsy Chaperone (five Tonys), La Cage aux Folles (two Tonys), The Little Dog Laughed (one Tony), Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life, High Fidelity, Talk Radio. Regional: For the Glory. West End: The Drowsy Chaperone. National tour: The Drowsy Chaperone. Broadway presenter, Monroe, Louisiana, since 1998. Louisiana Governor's Arts Award, Promotion of Arts, 2004. www.impresarioschoice.com

EILEEN T'KAYE (Associate Producer). Broadway: The Elephant Man revival. Off-Broadway: Temporary Help and Cologne. Ms. T'Kaye has a long history of developing and producing award-winning theatre in Los Angeles. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the critically acclaimed Theatre @ Boston Court in Pasadena, California, now in its 4th season.

BARBARA MANOCHERIAN (Associate Producer). Broadway shows: Cyrano de Bergerac, Butley. Numerous Off-Broadway and West End productions. The Melting Pot Theatre Company board member. Love to Ian.

NICK DEMOS/FRANCINE BIZAR (Associate Producers). Demos Bizar Entertainment is also an Associate Producer of the national tour of The Drowsy Chaperone. Nick is the Artistic Director for Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma. Francine, while pursuing her passion for producing, is also a trustee of the family's charitable foundation and operates a realty company.

REMMEL T. DICKINSON (Associate Producer) is a newcomer to the New York theatre. Mr. Dickinson was inspired by his friendship with playwright Daniel Goldfarb whose musical Party Come Here he supported at the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

NEW WORLD STAGES is a new theatrical complex in the heart of the theatre district. Constructed on the site of lively Worldwide Plaza, it has five theatres ranging in size from 199 to 499 seats complemented by thousands of square feet dedicated to audience and artist services. New World Stages is part of Stage Entertainment, the international entertainment group that produces live entertainment for an international audience. www.newworldstages.com

OFF-BROADWAY. An intimate New York experience, Off-Broadway is the home of such long-running shows as Stomp, Blue Man Group, and the world's longest-running musical, The Fantasticks. Off-Broadway audiences were the first to be up close to see such hits as A Chorus Line, Godspell, Rent and Driving Miss Daisy. Of the last 11 Pulitzer Prize-winning Dramas, 10 were born Off-Broadway. www.OffBroadway.com.

THEATERWORKS, HARTFORD (Original Theatre) TheaterWorks is a nonprofit professional theater company housed in the historic Art Deco Building in the heart of downtown Hartford. Founded in 1985 by its Artistic and Executive Director, Steve Campo, TheaterWorks is dedicated to producing contemporary theater that is both intimate and compelling. Over its history, Theater Works has staged more than 100 major plays and currently presents close to 250 performances each season. In addition, the company owns the landmark 1927 Art Deco Building at 233 Pearl Street in downtown Hartford, which, besides housing TheaterWorks, also provides a permanent home for an entire family of small non-profit arts organizations.