MICHAEL STEWART ( Book ) scored on Broadway the first time out when he won a Tony® for his Bye Bye Birdie libretto. He was the librettist for Carnival! (Drama Critics Circle Award) and Hello, Dolly! , which won him both Tony® and Drama Critics prizes. He also wrote the books for 42nd Street (with Mark Bramble, Tony® nomination), George M! (with John and Francine Pascal), Mack and Mabel , and The Grand Tour ; both book and lyrics for I Love My Wife ; and lyrics for Barnum . Mr. Stewart, a graduate of the Yale School of Drama, died in 1987.
LEE ADAMS ( Lyrics ) received two Tony Awards® for Bye Bye Birdie and Applause with Lauren Bacall. Other Broadway: All American, Golden Boy with Sammy Davis Jr., It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman . With his composer-collaborator Charles Strouse, Adams wrote I and Albert in London and the film The Night They Raided Minsky’s . He wrote the lyrics for TV’s long-running All in the Family theme, “Those Were the Days.” Adams’ other awards include an Emmy for “Let’s Settle Down” from the TV version of Bye Bye Birdie , the ASCAP Richard Rodgers Awards for Outstanding Contributions to the American Musical Theatre, and his induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He has taught seminars on American musical theater at Yale, Columbia, and NYU.
CHARLES STROUSE ( Music ) Broadway: Bye Bye Birde, All American, Golden Boy, It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman, Applause, Annie, Dance a Little Closer, Charlie and Algernon, Rags, and Nick & Nora . Film: Bonnie and Clyde, There Was a Crooked Man, The Night They Raided Minsky’s , and All Dogs Go to Heaven . TV: All in the Family (“Those Were the Days”). Strouse has also written numerous orchestral works, chamber music, piano concertos, and opera. Founder of the ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop in NY. Winner of three Tony Awards® (six nominations), two Grammy Awards®, an Emmy, and the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein Awards. Member of the Theatre Hall of Fame. His book, Put on a Happy Face: a Broadway Memoir , was published by Union Square Press in 2008 in honor of his 80th birthday.
MARC BRUNI ( Director ) returns to the Kennedy Center after directing The Music Man, How to Succeed .., and 50 Years of Broadway . He directed the Tony, Grammy, and Olivier Award–winning Beautiful : The Carole King Musical on Broadway, in the West End, US/UK Tours, and in Australia, winning the Helpmann and Green Room Awards for Best Direction of a Musical. Other directing credits include: Trevor (Disney+, Off Bway—Stage 42), The Nutty Professor (Ogunquit), The Explorers Club (Manhattan Theater Club), The Tale of Despereaux (w/PigPen Theatre Co.—Old Globe, Berkeley Rep), Old Jews Telling Jokes (Westside Theatre and Royal George—Jeff Award nom for Direction), Hey, Look Me Over!, Paint Your Wagon, Pipe Dream , and Fanny for NY City Center Encores!, Roman Holiday : The Cole Porter Musical (Golden Gate), The Sound of Music (Chicago Lyric Opera, Aspen), A Killer Party , and seven shows for the St. Louis MUNY. Graduate of Dartmouth College.
DENIS JONES (Choreographer), is a two-time Tony Award®–nominated choreographer, and his work has been seen on Broadway in Tootsie , Holiday Inn, and Honeymoon in Vegas . Recent credits also include: Chasing Rainbows : The Road to Oz (Paper Mill Playhouse), Hello Dolly! (Marriott Theater), The Sound of Music (Aspen Music Festival), Chicago (The Muny), Eurydice (Metropolitan Opera), A Chorus Line (Signature Theater) Call Me Madam and Paint Your Wagon (NY City Center ENCORES!), How To Succeed… (Kennedy Center), The Flamingo Kid (Hartford Stage), The Music Man (Goodman Theatre), The Tempest (Shakespeare in the Park), and Thoroughly Modern Millie (Goodspeed Opera House).
JOHN BELL ( Music Director ) is delighted to return to Broadway Center Stage at the Kennedy Center, where he was music director for Monty Python’s Spamalot last season. He served as music supervisor/director for the Broadway transfer of the BCS production of Spamalot in 2023. On Broadway, Bell has also conducted: Into the Woods, My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof, On the Town, and An American in Paris . Bell was music director of the first national tours of Into the Woods and My Fair Lady . City Center Encores!: 12+ productions of classic American musicals. Irish Repertory Theatre: revivals of Finian’s Rainbow, On A Clear Day You Can See Forever , and Meet Me In St. Louis . Sondheim’s Marry Me A Little and Adam Gwon’s Ordinary Days (Keen Company), Radio City Christmas Spectacular . BFA in musical theater from Ithaca College, masters in music from CUNY, MBA from Boston University.
LEE SAVAGE ( Scenic Design ), The Lightning Thief . NYC: Women’s Project, Second Stage Uptown, Keen Company, Acting Company, Mabou Mines, Labyrinth, Primary Stages, LCT3, Roundabout Underground, Page 73, Atlantic, NAATCO, Clubbed Thumb. REGIONAL: ACT, Asolo Rep, Baltimore Centerstage, Chautauqua, Cleveland Play House, Dallas Theater Center, Glimmerglass, Goodman,
Guthrie, Huntington, KC Rep, Long Wharf, Old Globe, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Signature, Philadelphia Theatre Company, PlayMakers, Trinity Rep, Two River Theater, Washington National Opera, Wilma Yale Rep and Others. AWARDS: Helen Hayes, NAACP and Connecticut Critics Circle. AFFILIATIONS: Wingspace and USA829. MFA (Yale School of Drama), BFA (RISD), Head of Scenic Design at Rutgers, Mason Gross.
LINDA CHO ( Costume Designer ) Broadway: The Great Gatsby; Doubt; Harmony; Summer, 1976; Take Me Out; Grand Horizons; Anastasia (Tony® nomination); The Great Society; A Gentlemen’s Guide … (Tony® and Henry Hewes Design Awards, Outer Critics Circle nomination); The Lifespan of a Fact; Velocity of Autumn . Selected Opera: Turandot (Washington National Opera); The Dwarf (LA Opera); Samson and Dalila (The MET). Currently residing in NYC, this Korean-born designer is on the Advisory Committee of the American Theatre Wing, MFA Yale School of Drama; BA McGill University and Paris American Academy.
CORY PATTAK ( Lighting Designer ) 11th BCS show including 50 Years of Broadway at the Kennedy Center . Broadway: The Great Gatsby, Spamalot, A Wonderful World (Upcoming). Off- Broadway: The Lucky Star, Final Follies, Stalking the Bogeyman, Handle with Care, Skippyjon Jones, Unlocked . Regional: Shows at Paper Mill Playhouse, Old Globe, Portland Stage, Ordway, Goodspeed, KC Rep, Everyman, Philadelphia Theatre Comp, Asolo Rep, Miami New Drama, Olney, Alabama Shakespeare, Ogunquit Playhouse. In the Heights in Puerto Rico, shows for Norwegian Cruise Line and MSC Cruises. National Tour of Flashdance . International: Pretty Woman, Sunset Blvd, Singin’ in the Rain (Brazil). corypattak.com. IG: @corypattak.
HALEY PARCHER ( Sound Designer ) is a Seattle-based sound designer. Recent design credits include; Broadway: Monty Python’s Spamalot , Regional: Something Rotten! (Stratford Theatre Festival), Cabaret (The Old Globe), The Wiz, Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, White Christmas and Something’s Afoot (5th Avenue Theatre), Blue (Washington National Opera), Mamma Mia (Village Theatre), How Can I Love You (Cave B), and We’ve Battled Monsters Before (ArtsWest). Previous designs for Broadway Center Stage at the Kennedy Center include Guys and Dolls, Sunset Boulevard , Monty Python’s Spamalot, and tick, tick... BOOM!
NATHAN W. SCHEUER ( Projection Designer ) is a projection and lighting designer based in Los Angeles. Select Projection Credits: Something Rotten! (Broadway At Music Circus), Oslo (Rep of St. Louis), tick, tick... BOOM! (Pittsburgh CLO), Seussical , Jerome Robbins’ Broadway (TUTS), Guys and Dolls, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Gypsy, Holiday Inn, The Wizard of Oz , (The Muny), Network (Florida Studio Theatre), Traffic & Weather (ATF), Fly (Capital Repertory), Somnium (La Jolla WOW Festival), A Taste of
Things to Come (Broadway in Chicago), Miss You Like Hell, Water by the Spoonful (TheatreSquared), Dreamgirls, Sister Act (New Theatre), Halcyon Days (Oberon Theatre Ensemble), Lord Tom (York Theatre). Nathan has also had the pleasure of designing for artists like Mandy Patinkin, Patti Lupone, Selena Gomez, Barry Manilow, and Alice Cooper as well as working with the New York City Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Lincoln Center, Center Theatre Group, and the San Francisco Opera. Proud member of USA-829.
TOM WATSON ( Hair & Wig Design ) Originally from Northern Ireland, Watson headed the wig/ makeup department at the Metropolitan Opera for 17 years. He has designed more than 100 Broadway productions. Harmony, Spamalot (2023), Wicked, Rock of Ages, The King & 1, Fiddler on the Roof, Oslo, Falsettos, The Little Foxes, Junk, My Fair Lady, King Kong, All My Sons Great Society, and Plaza Suite .
ROBERT CARY & JONATHAN TOLINS
( Kennedy Center Adaptation ) Robert Cary & Jonathan Tolins write for stage and screen. Rob is the co-bookwriter for The Ballad of Johnny & June (La Jolla Playhouse) and Summer: The Donna Summer Musical (Broadway), as well as the co-author and co-lyricist of Flashdance (West End, US national tour). Rob co-authored the play Inventing Avi (Off-Broadway) and directed the feature films Ira & Abby, Save Me, and Anything but Love , for which he co-wrote the screenplay. Jon’s plays include Buyer & Cellar (Off-Broadway), The Twilight of the Golds (Broadway), and The Last Sunday in June (Off-Broadway). Television credits include Elsbeth (showrunner), Schmigadoon!, The Good Fight , and Queer as Folk . Jon co-wrote the films The Twilight of the Golds and Martian Child . As a team, Rob and Jon adapted Grease Live! and A Christmas Story Live! for FoxTV and wrote additional material for the Broadway revival of On the Town . Additional collaborations include their children Selina and Henry.
BANJI ABORISADE ( Associate Director ) Broadway: Beetlejuice the Musical (Assistant Director). Select Directing/Choreography Credits include: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at Asolo Rep (Choreographer); Yo u're A Good Man Charlie Brown at Forestburgh Playhouse; Urinetown Off-Broadway (Choreographer); Guys and Dolls at the Arthur Storch Theater; The Christine Jorgenson Show at 59e59 (Choreographer); Urinetown at Riverside Theater; Shout at Syracuse University. Film/TV: SC7NARIO on BroadwayHD, The Last Fall, While You Were Dreaming, SYNC: The Dance Series (Choreographer), and Every Right . Assistant/ Associate Directing credits include: Bye Bye Birdie at the Kennedy Center, The Hairspray National Tour, Oliver at New York City Center, The Griswolds Broadway Vacation at 5th Avenue, Virgin Voyages It's A Ship Show, Beetlejuice on
Norwegian Cruise Line, How to Load a Musket at 59e59, and SoftPower at the Public Theater. BFA Syracuse University.
RACHEL LEIGH DOLAN she/her ( Associate Choreographer ) is a two-time Helen Hayes Award Recipient for Outstanding Choreography with eight total nominations. TV/FILM: Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade WONKA (co-choreographer). NYC: DLNY: Connect, Holland America Line: Humanity and Stages (Associate Choreographer). REGIONAL: Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma: James and the Giant Peach ; Olney Theatre Center: Annie ; RepStage: Dorian’s Closet ; Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre: Cinderella ; Lake Dillon Theatre Company: A Funny Thing Happened…, Man of La Mancha ; Keegan Theatre: Chicago [Helen Hayes Award], Big Fish, Parade, American Idiot, Hair, Cabaret ; NextStop Theatre Company: Catch Me If You Can [Helen Hayes Award], Kiss Me, Kate ; Imagination Stage: A Year with Frog and Toad ; Adventure Theatre: James and the Giant Peach, Oliver ; Arena Stage: Carousel (Assistant). Proud member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. Faculty Member: Pace University Sands College of Performing Arts and Steps on Broadway. @therizdiz.
DANNY PERCEFULL ( Associate Musical Director ) Broadway: Spamalot, Ragtime 25th Anniversary Reunion, Miss Saigon, Les Miserables, Follies, A Chorus Line, Peter and the Starcatcher . City Center Encores!: Merrily We Roll Along, Road Show, Promenade, Mack and Mabel . Boston Pops: Ragtime (Associate Music Supervisor and Piano). Danny is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. With gratitude to John.
GEOFF JOSSELSON ( Casting ) Previously for the Kennedy Center: Guys and Dolls, Sunset Boulevard, Spamalot, tick, tick... BOOM! Broadway credits include: Into the Woods (Artios Award), Sweeney Todd, Spamalot, The Velocity of Autumn . Off-Broadway includes: Kinky Boots, Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors, Altar Boyz, Southern Comfort, Yank! Select Regional and Off-Broadway Theatre companies: Alley Theatre, Arena Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Baltimore Center Stage, Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Civilians, The Irish Repertory Theatre, The Old Globe, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Paper Mill Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse, Pittsburgh CLO, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Signature Theatre, South Coast Rep, Studio Theatre, Village Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. For more information, please visit www.geoffjosselson.com.
ADAM JOHN HUNTER ( Production Stage Manager ) is very excited to be working on his first Broadway Center Stage production. He has been the PSM on the Rialto for Peter Pan Goes Wrong, Mrs. Doubtfire, The Encounter, Bronx Bombers, Relatively Speaking, Rock of Ages, A Catered Affair ,
and Sweeney Todd, and for the world premieres of The Exorcist, Moulin Rouge, and August Rush . He was also the PSM for over 20 Encores! productions at New York City Center.
CHRISTINE DʼAMORE ( First Assistant Stage Manager ) Broadway: Peter Pan Goes Wrong, Mrs. Doubtfire, The Color Purple, Les Misérables . 20 productions at New York City Center Encores! World premieres: August Rush and Moulin Rouge! Other productions at The Public Theater, Shakespeare in the Park, Lincoln Center Theater, Signature Theatre, and Berkeley Rep.
AMY CASTRO ( Second Assistant Stage Manager ) Broadway: Here Lies Love, A Doll’s House, A Beautiful Noise, Mr. Saturday Night, Mrs. Doubtfire , and Anastasia . Other favorites include Bright Star, The Play That Goes Wrong, and Always...Patsy Cline (Hale Centre Theatre), along with Third Rail Projects’ long-running immersive show Then She Fell . Survivor Wannabe & Chocolate Chip Cookie Enthusiast. @amyecastro.
BROADWAY CENTER STAGE (Jeffrey Finn, Artistic Director & Executive Producer) is a theater initiative launched in 2017 showcasing beloved musicals exclusively created and produced for the Kennedy Center. The mission of the series is to collaborate with the best artists and creative teams direct from Broadway to offer unique programming that can only be seen at the Kennedy Center. The inaugural season featured sold-out productions of Chess starring Karen Olivo, Ramin Karimloo, Raúl Esparza, and Ruthie Ann Miles; In the Heights starring Anthony Ramos, Ana Villafañe, and Vanessa Hudgens; and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying starring Skylar Astin and Betsy Wolfe. BCS shows have been hailed by the Washington Post as “a premiere addition to the Kennedy Center’s programming and a magnet for top Broadway talent.” Other productions include: Little Shop of Horrors starring Megan Hilty and Josh Radnor; The Music Man starring Norm Lewis and Jessie Mueller; The Who’s Tommy starring Casey Cott, Christian Borle, and Mandy Gonzalez; Footloose starring Quinton Johnson; Next to Normal starring Rachel Bay Jones and Brandon Victor Dixon; Guys and Dolls starring James Monroe Iglehart, Jessie Mueller, Steven Pasquale, and Phillipa Soo; and Sunset Boulevard , starring Stephanie J. Block, Derek Klena, AuliÊ»i Cravalho, and Nathan Gunn. The most recent BCS production, Spamalot , transferred to Broadway in November 2023, starring James Monroe Iglehart, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer, Michael Urie, and Alex Brightman. Broadway Center Stage initially presented semistaged concert musicals, but with the growing success of the series, the shows are now produced as fully staged musicals which proudly feature the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra.
