A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Alan Brady performed at Two River Theater in their successful run of Camelot last year, as well as The Music Man at Two River and NJPAC. Other recent projects include a well-reviewed run at 54 Below in NYC with Emily Bergl and an upcoming performance at the legendary Deer Head Inn with the Derwyn Holder Ensemble, as well as performing with Don Rickles at the Bergen PAC. He is also a frequent performer with the Garden State Philharmonic, Westfield Symphony (NJ Festival Orchestra), and the NE PA Symphony Orchestra; recently played with the Verismo Opera Company (La Boheme); and has played on many shows at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn. He has performed with legendary performers such as Ray Charles, Bernadette Peters, Tommy Tune, Bob Hope, Joan Rivers, and many others.

Simon Hutchings Originally from London, UK, Simon Hutchings now resides in New York City. Before his recent relocation to The Big Apple, he spent several years as one of the most in-demand woodwind performers in Florida, where he regularly performed with visiting entertainers and touring Broadway musicals including Marie Osmond, The Four Tops, Aretha Franklin, Chicago, Wicked, and Spamalot. Simon has enjoyed a diverse career to date, having performed with groups such as the Phoenix Symphony, USAF Falconaires, and Naples Philharmonic. He is also an accomplished chamber musician, having performed for six years with the Joseph Wytko Saxophone Quartet, and being a founding member of both the Areté Woodwind Doubling Quartet and the Helios Saxophone Quartet. He currently subs on the Broadway shows The Book of Mormon and The Lion King, and recently completed a run of the new Disney show Freaky Friday at Cleveland Play House. Simon has held positions on the adjunct faculty at Bethune-Cookman University, where he taught saxophone and chamber music, and Daytona State College, where he taught saxophone, clarinet, and chamber music. He is featured in Alfred Music Publishing’s new Sound Innovations band method series, where he presents a DVD masterclass to accompany both the clarinet and alto saxophone books.

Adam Machaskee is originally from Cleveland, Ohio, where he studied with such locals as Mark Russo, Mike Shively and Paul Ferguson. He then completed a Bachelors of Music degree in Jazz Studies from University of Cincinnati’s College–Conservatory of Music, where he studied with professors Marc Fields, Tim Anderson, and Kim Pensyl. While earning his Master of Music degree studying with New York-area professionals Conrad Herwig and Andy Hunter at Rutgers University, Adam had the privilege of performing in the school’s top ensembles including the Scarlet Knights Jazz Trombones, winners of the 2011 International Trombone Association’s (ITA) Kai Winding Jazz Trombone Ensemble Competition. Adam has also appeared with the Mingus Band, Birdland Big Band, Blue Wisp Big Band, Mike Dease Big Band, Orrin Evans’ Captain Black Big Band, the Valery Ponomarev Big Band, and The US Army Blues Band. He has performed professionally with such artists as Jon Faddis, Bill O’Connell, Rufus Reid, Andy Martin, Ken Peplowski, Bobby Selvaggio, Jon Von Ohlen and Dr. John the Night Tripper. Adam was the winner of the 2012 Eastern Trombone Workshop’s Jazz Soloist Competition and the 2011 ITA J.J. Johnson Jazz Soloist Competition and was awarded the grand prize of a Rath Trombone. He is an active performer, composer and teacher in the New York, New Jersey, and surrounding areas.

Robert Marriner studied with Ed Jones, Richard Davis and Bob Cerulli at Glassboro State College. He has played with the Monmouth Symphony Orchestra, the Duprees, the Drifters and Oldies Acts. He teaches at the Peddie School and Monmouth Academy of Musical Arts.

John Morrison holds a Bachelors of Arts from the Hartt School of Music and a Masters from Rutgers University. He received private trumpet instruction from Roger Murtha, William Babcock and William ‘Prof’ Fielder. Mr. Morrison enjoys a varied performance career. He has played locally with the Premier Theatre Company, Phoenix Productions, RTG Productions and most recently at the Algonquin Theatre. He is also a member of St. Peter’s Orchestra by the Sea and the Billy Lawlor Band. For 28 years, Mr. Morrison taught instrumental music in the Metuchen and Rumson-Fair Haven school systems. He currently is the Director of Music at Lincroft Presbyterian Church.

Joe Mosello is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. After Eastman, Joe played lead trumpet with the Jazz Ambassadors of the U.S. Army Field Band in Washington, D.C. He then toured with Maynard Ferguson’s Band for the next five years. Joe was a member of the band when they recorded the hit song from the Academy Award-winning movie Rocky. He then settled in New York City and has been one of the most respected trumpet players around today. Joe is a veteran of over a dozen Broadway shows, and has played lead trumpet with every jazz band in NY. Joe has performed with Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, B.B. King, Julie Andrews, Sammy Davis Jr., Johnny Mathis, Jerry Lewis, Wayne Newton, Vic Damone, Sarah Vaughn, Nancy Wilson, Ashford and Simpson, Chuck Mangione, The Temptations, The Four Tops, and Blood Sweat & Tears, among others.

Scott Neumann Since arriving in New York City in 1988, percussionist/composer/bandleader Scott Neumann has been involved in a diverse and creative mixture of musical experiences. Scott leads and composes for his three acclaimed bands, Spin Cycle (Origin Records), Neu3 Trio (Origin Records) and Osage County (Chicken Coup Records), which perform music from very different corners of the creative music spectrum. As a performer, Scott has performed and toured with such artists as Ann Hampton Calloway, Marilyn Maye, Madeline Peyroux, Lesley Gore, James Naughton, Ann Harada and the Woody Herman Orchestra. Since moving to New York City he has performed on over 60 CDs as a sideman. Scott has also performed in the orchestras of over twenty Broadway productions ranging from the classic shows Gigi and 42nd Street to the more modern productions of Avenue Q and Xanadu. Scott is excited to be rejoining Jessica Stone, Christopher Fitzgerald and Gary Adler in this production of Forum, which had its debut run at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2010. Scott is an exclusive artist/educator for GMS drums, Sabian cymbals and Aquarian drumheads. www.scottneumannmusic.com

Lynette Wardle is principal harpist of the Richmond Symphony and the Albany Symphony. As a freelance musician she performs with New Jersey Symphony, American Symphony Orchestra, and New York City Chamber Orchestra. For the holiday seasons, she has been the harpist for A Christmas Story: the Musical and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. She also performs regularly at Wicked, The King & I, The Fantasticks, and with her husband Chad Smith in Sax-O-Philm: Sounds and Sights of the 20’s. Lynette was the harpist for the national tour of the Tony Award-winning musical Light in the Piazza. She has performed with many artists, such as Pavarotti, Josh Groban, Johnny Mathis, Neil Sedaka, Marvin Hamlisch, David Burnham, Megan Hilty, Bjork, Olivia Newton-John, Ann Hampton Callaway, Deborah Voigt, Edgar Meyer, Yo-Yo Ma, Phillippe Quint, Gil Shaham, and Joshua Bell.

Larry Gelbart (February 25, 1928 – September 11, 2009) wrote for radio, television, film, and the stage. His radio credits include material for Duffy’s Tavern, Jack Paar and Bob Hope, and for television he wrote for The Bob Hope Show, Caesar’s Hour, The Danny Kaye Show, for which he received a Peabody Award, and the Art Carney specials, for which he received a Sylvania Award. He developed and co-produced (with Gene Reynolds) the television series M*A*S*H, which earned him an Emmy Award, Peabody Award, Humanitas Award and several Writers Guild of America Awards. His screenplays include The Notorious Landlady (1960); The Wrong Box (1966, co-authored with Burt Shevelove); Oh, God! (1977), for which he received the Writers Guild of America Award and Edgar Allen Poe Award and an Oscar nomination; Movie, Movie (1981); and Tootsie (1982), which received the Los Angeles and New York Film Critics Circle Awards, National Film Critics Award and nominations for the Oscar and British Academy Award. For the stage he wrote the book for the musicals The Conquering Hero (1961), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962, in collaborations with Burt Shevelove) and City of Angels (1989), and his plays include Jump (1971), Sly Fox (1976, based on Ben Jonson’s Volpone) and Mastergate (1989). He received Tony Awards for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and City of Angels, and a second Edgar Allen Poe award for the latter.

Burt Shevelove (September 19, 1915 – April 8, 1982) made his Broadway debut as the director and co-author of the revue Small Wonder (1948). He co-authored (with Larry Gelbart) the book for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), for which he received a Tony Award; directed the award-winning productions of Hallelujah, Baby! (1968) and No, No Nanette (1971), for which he also restructured the long and involved book of the original 1925 production; adapted and directed William Gillette’s play Too Much Johnson (1964) for Off-Broadway; wrote the book for and directed the musical The Frogs (1974, adapted from the comedy by Aristophanes, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim); and wrote and directed the musical Happy New Year (1980, adapted from Philip Barry’s play Holiday). For the screen he co-authored with Larry Gelbart and co-produced The Wrong Box (1966), and for television he produced, directed and wrote hundreds of shows starring, among others, Jack Benny, Art Carney, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra and Barbara Streisand, for which he received numerous awards, including Emmy, Sylvania and Christopher Awards, and the Peabody Award for Art Carney Meets Peter and the Wolf. At the time of his death in 1982 Mr. Shevelove was preparing a musical version of The Front Page.

Stephen Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics for Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), Anyone Can Whistle (1964), Company (1970), Follies (1971), A Little Night Music (1973), The Frogs (1974), Pacific Overtures (1976), Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979), Merrily We Roll Along (1981), Sunday in the Park with George (1984), Into the Woods (1986), Assassins (1990), and Road Show (2008); the lyrics for West Side Story (1957, music by Leonard Bernstein), Gypsy (1959, music by Jule Styne) and Do I Hear a Waltz? (1965, music by Richard Rodgers); and additional lyrics for a new production of Candide (1973, music by Leonard Bernstein). He provided incidental music and lyrics for the television production Evening Primrose (1966), composed the film scores for Stavisky (1974) and Reds (1981); wrote songs for the motion pictures The Seven Percent Solution (1976) and Dick Tracy (1990); and co-authored the film The Last of Sheila (1973). He won Tony Awards for his scores for Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods, and all of these musicals won the New York Drama Critics Circles Award for Best Musical, as did Pacific Overtures and Sunday in the Park with George, the latter also receiving the Pulitzer Prize in 1985. Among his many honors and awards, he was elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1983, received the London Evening Standard Award in 1989 for his contribution to the musical theater, and in 1993 was honored with a Kennedy Center Lifetime Achievement Award.

Jessica Stone worked as an actress on and Off Broadway and in television and film for the last 30 years. Concurrently, she was an assistant/associate director on and Off Broadway to Nicholas Martin, Joe Mantello, David Warren, and Christopher Ashley. Ms. Stone’s directing career began in earnest with her all-male 2010 production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum for Williamstown Theatre Festival. She directed A Funny Thing…. and Absurd Person Singular for Two River. Her directing credits also include Theresa Rebeck’s Bad Dates (Huntington), Ken Ludwig’s Robin Hood! (Old Globe), David Lindsay Abaire’s Ripcord (Huntington), Joshua Harmon’s Bad Jews (George Street Playhouse), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Bucks County Playhouse), Arms and the Man (The Old Globe), Chris Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (The Old Globe, Huntington), Charlotte’s Web (Theatreworks USA), June Moon and Neil Simon’s Last of the Red Hot Lovers (Williamstown). Ms. Stone’s upcoming productions include Barefoot in the Park for The Old Globe and Kate Hamill’s Vanity Fair for Shakespeare Theatre Company and A.C.T. She currently lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons.

Denis Jones Recent projects include Moonshine: That Hee Haw Musical (Dallas Theater Center), Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn (Goodspeed Opera House, The Muny), The Tempest (New York Shakespeare Festival), Paint Your Wagon (City Center Encores!), Luck Be a Lady (Asolo Rep), Honeymoon in Vegas (Broadway), Johnny Baseball, She Loves Me (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Pirates! (Huntington), The Sound of Music (Chicago Lyric Opera), and Damn Yankees (Paper Mill Playhouse/5th Ave).

Gary Adler hails from the Detroit suburbs and attended the University of Michigan, where he studied Music Composition with William Bolcom and accompanying with Martin Katz. He has been a working theater musician in New York City for over 20 years. As a pianist and conductor, his credits include Avenue Q, Kinky Boots, Next to Normal, Urinetown, and The Radio City Christmas Spectacular. As a writer, Gary wrote both music and lyrics for the long-running Off-Broadway musical Altar Boyz, for which he received two Drama Desk nominations. Other writing credits include Disney Channel’s Johnny and the Sprites and a number of contributions to the Carols for a Cure album series.

Joshua Clayton made his Lincoln Center American Songbook debut earlier this year orchestrating Judy Kuhn’s concert: Rodgers, Rodgers, and Guettel, which was subsequently recorded and released by PS Classics. He provided additional orchestrations for last season’s Broadway revival of Leonard Bernstein’s On the Town. Last year, he orchestrated the Goodman Theatre of Chicago’s award-winning production of Brigadoon. He provided new orchestrations for New York City Center’s production of Marc Blitzstein’s The Cradle Will Rock. Recently, he has written orchestrations for The Radio City Christmas Spectacular, as well as the Irish Repertory Theatre’s productions of New Girl in Town and Donnybrook!. He provided additional orchestrations for the 2008 Tony and Grammy-nominated Gypsy, starring Patti LuPone. He has orchestrated for Kristin Chenoweth, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Laura Osnes, Nathan Lane, Faith Prince, Kate Baldwin, Cheyenne Jackson, and Denyce Graves. Josh currently serves as Assistant Musical Director for the New York City Center Encores! Series.

Alexander Dodge (Scenic Designer) Alexander was born in Switzerland, raised in Arizona, and lives in Manhattan with his husband and two sons. TWO RIVER: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. BROADWAY: I Need That, Anastasia (Outer Critics Nomination), A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Nominations), Present Laughter (Tony Nomination), Old Acquaintance, Butley, Hedda Gabler. OFF-BROADWAY: Russian Troll Farm: Vineyard, The Whisper House: 59E59, Harry Clarke: Vineyard/Minetta Lane, The Understudy: Roundabout, Ripcord: MTC, The Water’s Edge, Trust: Second Stage, Paris Commune: Public, Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Toward the Somme: LCT (Lortel Winner). LONDON WEST END: Harry Clarke, All New People. OTHER: Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame: La Jolla and Paper Mill Playhouses/Japan/Germany/Austria; American Buffalo: The Gate, Dublin. OPERA: Samson et Dalila: Metropolitan Opera; The Thirteenth Child: Santa Fe; Ghosts of Versailles: L.A. Opera; Ukiyo-E: Grand Théâtre de Genève; Dinner at Eight, Minnesota Opera/ Wexford Festival: Il trittico: Deutsche Oper Berlin, Lohengrin: Budapest. TRAINING: MFA-Yale. alexanderdodgedesign.com @alexanderdodgedesign 

Clint Ramos designed the scenery for A Wind in the Willows Christmas at TRT in 2013. Recent designs include the Broadway productions of The Elephant Man with Bradley Cooper (also West End) and Violet (Roundabout), Eclipsed and Barbecue (Public), Here Lies Love (New York and London). He is the principal costume designer for Encores! Off-Center, where he recently designed A New Brain, Little Shop of Horrors (with Jake Gyllenhaal and Eddie Cooper) and The Wild Party. More than 100 New York, regional and international design credits. Honors include the Obie Award for Sustained Excellence, three Lucille Lortel Awards, the TDF Irene Sharaff Young Master Award, two American Theatre Wing Henry Hewes Awards, and a Helen Hayes Award. Upcoming: sets and costumes for Eclipsed with Lupita Nyong’o on Broadway. www.clintramos.com

Jeff Croiter Broadway credits: Something Rotten!, Penn & Teller on Broadway, Newsies, Peter and the Starcatcher (Tony Award), Mothers and Sons, A Time to Kill, Soul Doctor, Jekyll & Hyde, The Anarchist, The Performers, The Pee-wee Herman Show, Next Fall, Kiki & Herb. Other NYC: Parade; Fly By Night; Last Five Years; Much Ado About Nothing, King Lear, Love’s Labour’s Lost; Love, Loss, and What I Wore; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark; Rapture, Blister, Burn; A Lie of the Mind; Ordinary Days; The Voysey Inheritance; The Internationalist; Jacques Brel; Almost, Maine; Jennifer Muller The Works. Jeff is a producer of Submissions Only.

Jake Degroot Recent designs include SeaWife (Naked Angels), Here’s Hoover! (Les Freres Corbusier); Company and National Pastime (Bucks County Playhouse);, Ars Nova; The Griffin, The Linney (NYMF); The New Ohio; The Peter J. Sharp (Theatre C); The Beckett; The Lion; 3 Legged Dog; Huntington; The Geffen; Cincinnati Playhouse; Repertory Theatre of St. Louis; New York Stage and Film; Williamstown; W.H.A.T.; ReVision; Yale Dramat. Associate: Broadway: A View from the Bridge, Skylight, The Performers, Born Yesterday, Time Stands Still, Mary Stuart, Old Acquaintance. International: Theatre de la Ville, Paris; The National Theatre, London; National Theatre of Norway; TheatreWorks Singapore; Norwegian Cruise Line; Holland America Line; Regent Seven Seas; Shanghai Centre Theatre. Co-Lighting Supervisor: Williamstown Theatre Festival 08-09. USA Local 829. BFA, Carnegie Mellon. www.jakedegroot.com

Drew Levy (he/him) (Sound Design) Broadway: A Strange Loop (Tony nom.), Oklahoma! (Tony nom., Drama Desk nom.), Honeymoon in Vegas (Drama Desk nom.), Chaplin (Drama Desk Award), The Winslow Boy, The Importance of Being Earnest, Present Laughter. West End: A Strange Loop, Oklahoma! (Olivier nom.). Off-Broadway: Judgment Day (Park Avenue Armory), Oklahoma! (St. Ann’s), Cleopatra, One Day the Musical, The Weir, Why Torture is Wrong…, Emergence-See!, Rainbow Kiss, Dutchman (AUDELCO Viv nom.). Regional: The Old Globe, Heartbreak Hotel (Chicago), ART, Williamstown, Huntington, Westport Country Playhouse, Two River Theater, McCarter Theater, Arena Stage, Long Wharf. Other: Reconfiguration: An Evening with Other Lives at BAM; Drama Desk Awards 2014 & 2015; Metropolitan Opera 125th Anniversary Gala; annual holiday installations for Saks 5th Avenue, Cartier, and others.

Aaron Rhyne Designs include: Broadway: A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder (Drama Desk Award), Bonnie and Clyde. Opera: The Ghosts of Versailles (LA Opera), La Traviata (Wolf Trap), Florencia en el Amazonas (Opera Colorado, Utah Opera), Jerry Springer: The Opera (Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House). Off-Broadway: The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey (Westside), Bootycandy (Playwrights Horizons), Appropriate (Signature), Water By the Spoonful; Lonely, I’m Not; The Blue Flower; All New People (Second Stage), Wild with Happy (The Public, Drama Desk nomination), Graceland (Lincoln Center). Regional: Hartford Stage, The Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, Asolo Rep, Huntington Theatre Company, The Geffen Playhouse, Shakespeare Theatre, Ford’s Theatre. www.aaronrhyne.com

David Bova Broadway designs include The Visit, The Real Thing, Violet, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, Motown, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, All About Me, and Next to Normal. Films include Angelica and The Night Before. TV includes Six by Sondheim, Scream Queens, Gotham, Mozart in the Jungle, and Inside Amy Schumer.

Adam Caldwell works with Cindy Tolan. Broadway: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Betrayal, Cinderella, The Performers, Lysistrata Jones, Relatively Speaking, That Championship Season, A View from the Bridge, All My Sons, Avenue Q, and Xanadu. Previous productions with Vineyard Theatre, Bay Street, Dallas Theater Center, Playwrights Horizons, The Public Theater, and Lincoln Center Theater. Film: This Is Where I Leave you, The Place Beyond the Pines, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Winter’s Tale, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Blue Valentine, Another Happy Day, It’s Kind of a Funny Story, Letters to Juliet, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Starting Out in the Evening, Death of a President, The Darjeeling Limited. Upcoming films: Katie Says Goodbye, Breakable You. Television: Odd Mom Out, Deadbeat, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Flight of the Conchords, Fringe, The Return of Jezebel James, and multiple HBO pilots. Member of CSA.

Libby Unsworth Two River: Absurd Person Singular. Broadway: The Visit; Scandalous; Promises, Promises; 33 Variations; The Country Girl. Off-Broadway: Murder for Two (New World Stages), Anthem (Baryshnikov Arts Center), Bunnicula (DR2), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (CSC), Next Fall (Naked Angels), Jailbait (Cherry Lane), Unconditional (LAByrinth), Speech & Debate, The Overwhelming (Roundabout), Our Leading Lady (MTC). Regional: 5th Avenue, Geffen, Williamstown (eight seasons), Goodspeed, Goodman, Hangar, Huntington. Touring: Prince of Broadway (Japan), The Old Man and the Old Moon (Boston), Radio City Christmas Spectacular (Arena Tour), White Christmas (Boston & Toronto). BFA, Boston University.

Kristin M. Herrick Two River: Much Ado About Nothing, Honk!, Jitney, In This House, My Wonderful Day (Production Assistant). Off-Broadway: Hamlet, The Heir Apparent, Ivanov (Classic Stage Company), Honky (Urban Stages), All in the Timing (Primary Stages), Cymbeline, Macbeth (Theater for a New Audience). National Tour: Smokey Joe’s Cafe. Regional: Pal Joey (Arkansas Rep), Much Ado About Nothing (McCarter Theatre Center). New York/Other: Benny and Joon (Transport Group), Lincoln Center Directors Lab 2015, TEDI 2013-2015, Thoroughly Modern Millie (Walnut Hill), Next Edition Festival, INK’D (Playwrights Realm), One-Minute Play Festival, Fool for Love (Anthill Productions), Anti-Holiday Spectacular (Etchasketch). B.F.A Rutgers University. Proud AEA Member.