Cast

NEIL DIAMOND (Music and Lyrics). Throughout an illustrious and wide-ranging musical career, Neil Diamond has sold more than 130 million records worldwide and has charted 39 Top 40 singles and 16 Top 10 albums, both in the US and internationally. A Grammy Award-winning artist, Diamond is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame and a recipient of the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award, one of the highest honors bestowed upon songwriters. Diamond’s many other achievements include a Golden Globe Award, 13 Grammy nominations and 2009’s NARAS’s MusiCares Person of the Year award. In 2011, Diamond received the prestigious Kennedy Center Honor for his lifetime of contributions to American culture.

ANTHONY McCARTEN (Book). A four-time Academy Award-nominated and double BAFTA-winning screenwriter and film producer of The Theory of Everything (2014), Darkest Hour (2017) and The Two Popes (2020), as well as the writer of Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)—winner of four Oscars and the Golden Globe for Best Drama—and the upcoming Whitney Houston biographical film I Wanna Dance With Somebody (2022). New Zealand-born McCarten is also a celebrated novelist and playwright. As a playwright, he received early career success with the global hit Ladies Night. His 2019 play The Two Popes, which inspired the Netflix film, marked his return to writing for the stage for the first time in 20 years. His latest play, The Collaboration, about Andy Warhol and Jean Michel Basquiat, premiered to criti- cal acclaim at The Young Vic Theatre in a sold-out run and will open on Broadway on December 20, 2022. He lives in London.

MICHAEL MAYER (Director).  Currently: Little Shop of Horrors off-Broadway, Funny Girl national tour.  Broadway: A Beautiful Noise, Funny Girl starring Lea Michele, Hedwig…, Spring Awakening, American Idiot (co-author), Thoroughly Modern Millie, Side Man, A View From the Bridge, Everyday Rapture, Charlie Brown, Head Over Heels, Burn This. London: Funny Girl, Spring Awakening, …Millie, American Idiot, Side Man, Marnie (ENO). Metropolitan Opera: Marnie, Rigoletto, La Traviata. Film: Single All the Way, The Seagull, Flicka, A Home at the End of the World. TV: “Smash” (pilot & season one producing director). Upcoming Broadway: Swept Away. Upcoming Metropolitan Opera: Grounded, Aida.

STEVEN HOGGETT (Choreographer). Recent credits as movement director/choreographer include Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Broadway, West End, international); Sweeney Todd (Broadway); Nye (National Theatre); Angels in America (Broadway); The Crucible (Broadway); The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Royal National Theatre, West End, Broadway); The Last Ship (Broadway); Let the Right One In (National Theatre Scotland); Rocky! (Broadway); The Glass Menagerie (A.R.T., Broadway, EIF); Once (A.R.T., Broadway, West End); Peter and the Starcatcher (Broadway); American Idiot (Broadway); Ocean at the End of the Lane (National Theatre); and as associate director/movement, Black Watch (National Theatre Scotland). As director, his recent credits include Burn (National Theatre Scotland/Joyce Theatre), Social! Distance Dance Club (Park Ave Armory) and Close to You: Bacharach Reimagined (New York Theatre Workshop, West End). Hoggett was a director and founding member of Frantic Assembly Theatre Company, and with Scott Graham co-wrote The Frantic Assembly Book of Devising Theatre (Routledge).

DAVID ROCKWELL (Scenic Design). Broadway: Doubt; Into the Woods; Take Me Out; Kiss Me, Kate; Lobby Hero; She Loves Me (Tony, Drama Desk, and OCC awards); On the Twentieth Century (Tony nom.); You Can’t Take It With You (Tony nom.); Kinky Boots (Tony nom.); Lucky Guy (Tony nom.); Hairspray (Tony, Drama Desk, OCC noms.); and the upcoming productions of Into the Woods and A Beautiful Noise. Off-Broadway: Into the Woods; Seven Deadly Sins; and Shakespeare in the Park. Founder and President of the architecture and design firm Rockwell Group.

EMILIO SOSA (Costume Design). Chair, American Theatre Wing. Broadway: Purlie Victorious (Tony nomination), Ain’t No Mo’ (Drama Desk award, Tony nomination), Good Night, Oscar (Tony nomination), Trouble in Mind (Tony nomination), 1776, Skeleton Crew, On Your Feet!, Motown: The Musical, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess (Tony nomination), Topdog/Underdog. TV: “Annie Live!” (NBC). Film: Descendants: Rise of Red (Disney+), The Famous Lillian Hall (HBO), Red Hook Summer (dir. Spike Lee). Usher’s Las Vegas, Big Apple Circus, The Rockettes, NY Knicks City Dances (NBA), Diana Ross, Mariah Carey, Gloria Estefan, Wynton Marsalis. @esosafashion

KEVIN ADAMS (Lighting Design) has received four Tony Awards for his work on Broadway, including Funny Girl, The Cher Show, Head Over Heels, SpongeBob the Musical, Hedwig…, American Idiot, Next to Normal, Passing Strange, The 39 Steps, Spring Awakening, Hands on a Hardbody, Hair, Take Me Out, A Class Act and solo shows by Michael Moore, Eve Ensler and John Leguizamo. Off-Broadway: Hedwig…, The Scottsboro Boys, Carrie. Metropolitan Opera, Hollywood Bowl and Las Vegas.

JESSICA PAZ (Sound Design). Broadway: Hadestown (Tony Award, Drama Desk Award); POTUS. Associate sound designer: Dear Evan Hansen; Bandstand; Disaster! The Musical; The Assembled Parties (MCC); and Fela! Off-Broadway: Little Shop of Horrors (Westside Theatre); Ugly Lies the Bone (Roundabout); A Sucker EmCee and The Muscles in Our Toes (Labyrinth); The Kings Whore (Starcatcher Productions); Becoming Dr. Ruth (Westside Theatre). Numerous productions at The Public Theater including Twelfth Night, Othello, Miss You Like Hell, Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and As You Like It. Regional: American Repertory Theatre, The Old Globe; Hartford Stage, Berkeley Repertory, among others.

LUC VERSCHUEREN (Hair, Wig and Makeup Design). Broadway: Water For Elephants; Almost Famous; Bad Cinderella; The Devil Wears Prada (Chicago); Funny Girl; The Music Man; King Lear; Head Over Heels; Carousel; Three Tall Women; Hello, Dolly!; Groundhog Day; The Front Page; The Crucible; Misery; Sylvia; Betrayal; Les Misérables; Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark. Broadway/West End: Tammy Faye; Back to the Future; Leopoldstadt, To Kill a Mockingbird, Company, A Christmas Carol, Tina–The Tina Turner Musical (Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Wig and Hair Design), The Ferryman, Farinelli and the King, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, Ghost, Billy Elliot. West End: Cinderella, Anything Goes, Rosmersholm, All About Eve. Film/TV: “The Gilded Age,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Downton Abbey (movie).

SONNY PALADINO (Music Supervisions and Arrangements, Orchestrations). Music supervisor, arranger and orchestrator: Gettin’ the Band Back Together (Broadway), Smokey Joe’s Café (Off-Broadway), Dion’s The Wanderer (upcoming). Other Broadway: Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 (music supervisor), POTUS (music director/arranger), Sting’s The Last Ship and Pippin (associate conductor). Arrangements and orchestrations for the Indianapolis, Baltimore, Seattle, Vancouver and Detroit Symphony Orchestras and The Philly Pops. Performances with Josh Groban, Sting, Patina Miller and Matthew Morrison. Record producer: GTBBT, The Great Comet…, Soul Vol. 2, Mistletoe and Carly and four albums for the hit touring group The Doo Wop Project (music director/arranger and founding member).

ANNMARIE MILAZZO (Vocal Design). Spring Awakening; Next to Normal; If/Then; Finding Neverland; Bright Lights, Big City; Super Hero; revival of Carrie; Dangerous Beauty; Prometheus Bound; Some Lovers; Dave; revival of 1776; A Beautiful Noise. As composer/lyricist: Pretty Dead Girl (winner of a Special Jury Award, Sundance Film Festival), Joy, Lucky Us, A Walk on the Moon. As orchestrator: Once on This Island (with Michael Starobin). Nominations: Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Grammy

BRIAN USIFER (Incidental Music and Dance Music Arrangements, Orchestrations). Broadway: The Heart of Rock and Roll (Music Supervisor, Arrangements, Orchestrations), A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical (Arrangements, Orchestrations), Disney’s Frozen (Music Director), The Book of Mormon (Associate Music Supervisor) and Kinky Boots (Music Director, Associate Music Supervisor; Tour, London and Toronto). Chess at the Kennedy Center, Bobby and Kristen Lopez American Songbook at Lincoln Center. Orchestrations: Swept Away and Galileo at Berkeley Rep, Mr. Chickee’s Funny Money at the Atlantic. Additional orchestrations: NBC’s “Annie Live!,” “The Wiz Live” and can be heard as a pianist on “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” on Amazon.

JAMIE HARRISON (Illusion Designer). Most recently Jamie directed, designed and illusion designed Bedknobs and Broomsticks for Disney/Michael Harrison in the UK and Flight for the Edinburgh International Festival. Jamie created the magic and illu- sions for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child for Sonia Friedman/Colin Callender. He is artistic director of Vox Motus.

AUSTIN REGAN (Tour Director). Broadway: American Idiot, Everyday Rapture, On a Clear Day, Head Over Heels, A Beautiful Noise. Off-Broadway: Little Shop of Horrors. Directing: Rigoletto (Minnesota Opera), The Trojan Women (Hangar Theatre), Mad Libs (New World Stages), Left and Right (National Sawdust), Threepenny Opera (Opera Columbus). Drama League Fellow. www.austinregan.nyc

YASMINE LEE (Tour Choreographer) has worked across theatre, concert dance, film, television, music videos, ceremonies and with major recording artists in over 35 countries and in every state of the union. Broadway credits include Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, The Curious Incident of the Dog…, The Crucible, Once, Rent.

JOHN MILLER (Music Coordinator). Over 140 Broadway shows, including The Great Gatsby, Tommy, MJ: The Musical, Mrs. Doubtfire, Ain’t Too Proud, Tina—The Tina Turner Musical, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Waitress and Jersey Boys. Studio musician (bass) for Leonard Cohen, Eric Clapton, Carly Simon, BB King, Portishead, Bob Dylan and Michael Jackson. johnmillerbass.com

RANDY COHEN (Keyboard Programmer). Broadway: over 100 shows including Hamilton, The Book of Mormon, Almost Famous, Some Like It Hot, Jagged Little Pill, Anastasia, Kinky Boots, Dear Evan Hansen, In the Heights, Grey Gardens. TV: “Sesame Street.” Thanks to the RCK team: Tim, Sam and Nick.

KATHY FABIAN (Production Properties Supervisor) has created props and set dress- ing for well over 80 Broadway productions over the past two decades. Most recently: The Piano Lesson, POTUS, Clyde’s and American Buffalo. Off-Broadway: Kinky Boots (Stage 42), Black No More (TNG), Trevor (Stage 42). Recent TV: “Annie Live!”

JIM CARNAHAN, CSA (Casting) has cast over 150 Broadway shows. His work on Broadway this season includes Sunset Boulevard, Swept Away, Cult of Love, Hills of California, Our Town, Stranger Things, Pirates of Penzance, Harry Potter; Moulin Rouge!; as well as off-Broadway’s Little Shop of Horrors. Film: Ari Aster’s Beau Is Afraid.

JASON THINGER, CSA (Casting). Broadway: Sunset Boulevard, Pirates of Penzance, Merrily We Roll Along, New York, New York, Almost Famous, Funny Girl, Take Me Out, A Christmas Carol, Tootsie. Off-Broadway: Little Shop of Horrors, Medea (BAM). Regional/Tours: A Christmas Carol, The Light in the Piazza (Lyric Opera of Chicago). London: The 47th.

BOND THEATRICAL (Tour Booking, Marketing & Publicity) is an independently-owned theatrical booking, marketing and publicity company representing award-winning Broadway shows and live entertainment properties. BOND connects artists and audiences by forming strategic, authentic and profitable partnerships between producers and presenters across North America. For a complete list of current projects, please visit BondTheatrical.com

JAMES OLMSTEAD (Music Director) Broadway conductor: A Beautiful Noise, The Wiz, Once Upon a One More Time, On Your Feet. Orchestral conductor: Batman 1989, The Batman, 4U: The Music of Prince. Add’l Broadway pianist: Gatsby, Paradise Square, Harmony, The Music Man, Mean Girls, Waitress, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Orchestrations: 2022 Tony Awards, Great Performances: Celebrating 50 Years of Broadway, Once Upon a One More Time. Love to Ash & Iris. IG: @olmsteady

STACY N. TAYLOR (Production Stage Manager) is a proud graduate of the SM program at the University of Cincinnati – CCM. Select touring Credits: Jersey Boys, Dear Evan Hansen, Funny Girl, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, Bodyguard, School of Rock, and Beauty and the Beast. All my love to my family for their continued support.

TRAVIS BLACKWELL (Stage Manager). Previous credits include 5 companies of Hamilton across North America, Asia, Australia, and the Middle East. Tours: The Bodyguard, The Color Purple. NYC: St. Ann’s Warehouse, BAM, Bang on a Can, Park Avenue Armory. Regional: Weston Playhouse, Glimmerglass Festival, Orpheum Memphis, Lost National Theater. BFA Memphis. Love to Josh. This one’s for Patsy. www.smtravis.com

KALI ASHURST (Assistant Stage Manager) National Tour: Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas 22’ & 23’ (ASM). NYC: UC-CCM Honors Alumnus Stephen Flaherty at Carnegie Hall (PSM). Regional: San Francisco Opera, Weston Theater Company. MFA: Stage Management, UC-CCM. Thanks to her family and friends for all their love and support!
@kali.ashurst kaliashurstsm.com