Behind the Curtain - Page 2

Slip into your birthday suit because we have the choreographer of Oh! Calcutta! with us today! Yes, the one and only Margo Sappington, sits down with Rob and Kevin to talk about her appearances in Promises, Promises and Oh! Calcutta! as well as choreographing the revivals of Where's Charley, Pal Joey and the original productions of Play Me A Country Song and Doonesbury. 

He has appeared in 250 movies and over 100 theatrical productions. His resume ranges from the original production of Fiddler on the Roof to the most recent Choir Boy, his scene partners have included E.G. Marshall, George C. Scott, Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and Barbra Streisand, and he is the author of the acclaimed Orson's Shadow. He is Austin Pendleton and he is one of the more respected artists working in the entertainment industry. 

One of Broadway's most beloved political scientists, three time Tony Award nominee Marc Kudisch, swings by Shetler Studios to look back on his career which took him for Florida Atlantic University to Broadway in such shows as Thoroughly Modern Millie, Beauty and the Beast, Assassins, The Apple Tree, 9 to 5, Hand to God, and such Off-Broadway musicals as The Thing About Men, See What I Wanna See, The Glorious Ones, and more!

Lonny Price is one of the industry's most respected directors of both stage and screen. As an actor, he appeared in such shows as Merrily We Roll Along, The Muppets Take Manhattan, Dirty Dancing, Burn This, and so many more.

The one and only Tony Walton, one of Broadway's most innovating and influential set designers, invites Rob and Kevin into his apartment to look back on his career which includes the Oscar, the Tony, the Emmy, and designing such musicals as the original A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, Golden Boy, The Apple Tree, Pippin, Chicago, Grand Hotel, Six Degrees of Separation, revivals of Anything Goes, Guys and Dolls, and such movies as Murder on the Orient Express, All That Jazz, and Mary Poppins!

Get ready to laugh your tuchas off because the creator of Forbidden Broadway, Tony Award winner Gerard Alessandrini, swings by Shetler Studios to talk to Rob and Kevin about the many incarnations of off-broadway's most hysterical musical series!

Rob and Kevin are having a wild, wild party with the brilliant composer/lyricist Michael John LaChiusa whose works include Hello, Again, The Wild Party, First Ladies Suite, First Daughters Suite, Giant, Little Fish, See What I Wanna See, Bernarda Alba, Queen of the Mist, and so many others! 

The one and only new girl in town, Tony Award winner Linda Lavin, joins Rob and Kevin for a phone chat that discusses not only her appearances in A Family Affair, It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's Superman, Broadway Bound, and Last of the Red Hot Lovers, but what inspires her as an artist, what it was like making the rounds during her formative years, and how she like to collaborate with directors and writers.

Richard Frankel is one of Broadway's most respected producers and is one of the co-owners of Feinstein's/54 Below, arguable the most influential cabaret space in the world. As a producer, his passion for theater led to audiences discovering such theatrical pieces as Penn & Teller, Driving Miss Daisy, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair De Lune, Stomp, Angels in America, The Producers, Hairspray, and revivals of The Sound of Music, A Little Night Music, Company, Sweeney Todd, and so many others.

She's Dee-lightful, she's Dee-licious, she's Dee Hoty! Three time tony nominee Dee Hoty swings by Shetler Studios to look back on her illustrious performing career which includes starring roles in Barnum, Me and My Girl, City of Angels, The Will Rogers Follies, The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public, Follies, Footloose, Mamma Mia, Gigi, and Bright Star!

Today's guests are Ethel Merman, Julie Andrews, Eartha Kitt, Angela Lansbury, and Carol Channing... well, not really, but you would think we had them all in one place at the same time because our guest this week is the fabulous impressionist, and host of Sirius XM's On Broadway, the sensational Christine Pedi!

This year we lost so many legends from Marin Mazzie to Gary Beach, Neil Simon to William Goldman, Rick McKay to Craig Zadan. We end our year celebrating their life and legacy with a legend who called many of these artists friends, colleagues, and companions: the incomparable Lee Roy Reams.

While he was known by many as The Butcher of Broadway, Frank Rich is still considered to be one of the greatest critics who ever covered The Great White Way. Despite that savage moniker, he was, and is, a proud theater geek whose desire to collect obscure anecdotes and musicals makes him a kindred spirit to all of us.

It would be hard pressed to find someone who, in the past thirty years, has influenced the development of the American Theatre more than Andre Bishop. For ten years, he was Artistic Director of Playwright's Horizons, which was followed by his current stint as the Artistic Director of Lincoln Center Theatre, which has given the American musical theatre such new works as A New Brain, Parade, Contact, and The Light in The Piazza, as well as revivals of South Pacific, The King & I, and My Fair Lady.

She is as passionate offstage as she is on and her philosophy on life, art, and everything in between, makes Tonya Pinkins one of Broadway's fiercest artists. From her Broadway debut in Merrily We Roll Along, to appearances in Jelly's Last Jam (for which she won the Tony), The Wild Party, Play On, Caroline, Or Change, Radio Golf, and Holler If You Hear Me, plus her controversial associations with Mother Courage and Rasheeda Speaking, Tonya is one of the industry's most, no pun intended, courageous artists. 

Actor. Writer. Lyricist. Director. Mark Waldrop has done it all. His acting career started on Broadway with appearances in Hello, Dolly, The Grand Tour, Evita, and La Cage Aux Folles. Then there were stints directing Bette Midler, collaborating on Howard Crabtree's When Pigs Fly and Whoop-Dee-Doo, and shepherding Bea Arthur's one woman show to Broadway!

Yes, we all know about her unfortunate run in with a hot dog cart, but there is so much more to incredible character actress, Mary Stout, who has appeared on Broadway in Copperfield, Me and My Girl, A Change In The Heir, Beauty and the Beast, My Favorite Year, and Jane Eyre! There was a Christmas with Sergio Franchi, a moment with Bill Cosby, and a dream with Tommy Tune!

Woody Allen. Stephen Sondheim. Mel Brooks. Alan Menken. Eric Idle. These are only a few of the artists whom the wonderful Glen Kelly has had to give music, and sometimes lyrics, to in his career as one of Broadway's most respected dance arrangers and musical supervisors.

In one of their most inspiring interviews to date, Behind the Curtain sits down with one of Broadway's most respected artists, Daphne Rubin-Vega, to discuss not only her career in such shows as Rent, Miss You Like Hell, A Streetcar Named Desire, Les Miserables, and more, but to spotlight the role of diversity and politics in the creation of art.

One of Broadway's most respected chroniclers, Steven Suskin, swings by Shetler Studios to talk to Rob and Kevin about his career as a General Manager AND as the author of some of Broadway's best history books.