Behind the Curtain - Page 4

Two Tony Award nominations. Drama Desk Award Winner. Obie Award Winner. Recognition from the NAACP,  Dance Education of America, Outer Critics Circle Awards, and Mr. Blackwell's Best Dressed List. These are some of the many recognitions bestowed upon one of the world's most celebrated artists of cabaret: Vivian Reed.

She held one of Seventy-Six trombones, she heard about Hugo and Kim during The Telephone Hour, and she got to Sail Away with Elaine Stritch. She is Patti Mariano one of the Golden Age's busiest child actors having appeared in the original productions of The Music Man, Bye Bye Birdie, Sail Away, I Had A Ball, George M, Godspell, Rags, The Full Monty, and the 2001 production of 42nd Street. 

Sit down, John... because Michael McCormick, one of Broadway's busiest character actors, sits down with Rob and Kevin to look back on a career that has had him appear in such musicals as Oliver, La Bete, Kiss of the Spiderwoman, 1776, Kiss Me Kate, Marie Christine, Gypsy, Curtains, Hello, Dolly and many more!

Theatre historian Ethan Mordden pulls back the curtain on his career to discuss how he fell in love with musical theatre, what musicals are deserving of a second look, and why Bob Fosse is the most iconic choreographer in musical theatre history.

He has kept audiences in stitches for over forty years and today its Rob and Kevin's turn as Emmy Award winner Bruce Vilanch, the man behind the quips heard at the Tonys, Oscars, and Emmys swings by Shetler Studios to discuss his career as a writer, actor, and activist!

One of the industry's most beloved artists, Lucie Arnaz, swings by Shetler Studios to talk to Rob and Kevin about her fifty plus year stage career. From her roots on CBS' Here's Lucy, starring her mother Lucille Ball, to her celebrated concert career, Lucie has been entertaining audiences in such shows as Seesaw, My One and Only, Lost in Yonkers, Social Security, Once Upon a Mattress, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, I Do! I Do! and, the musical for which she received her Tony Award nomination, They're Playing Our Song!

While Robert Sher's career has been most significant for producing the Grammy nominated cast recordings of such Broadway musicals as Nice Work If You Can Get It, Sugar Babies, and the most recent revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, today we are celebrating Robert's passionate work to preserve many of the musical theatre's most obscure gems and for those scores to be elevated in the minds, and iTunes, of those who love musicals. 

He might have written 'Fifty Percent' but today we get one hundred percent of the Emmy Award winning composer, Billy Goldenberg, who has worked with everyone from Bea Arthur to Barbra Streisand, Elvis Presley to Mike Nichols, Diana Ross to Steven Spielberg.

The musical theatre goddess that is Debbie Gravitte swings by Shetler Studios to tell Rob and Kevin about her amazing career that got started doing Annie Get Your Gun with Gower Champion all the way up to her filling Eydie Gorme's shoes in the 50th Anniversary concert of Golden Rainbow! In between, there is Perfectly Frank, Zorba, Swing, Jerome Robbins Broadway (for which she won the Tony Award), They're Playing Our Song, and so much more!

Stop the presses.......literally! One of Broadway's most respected press agents, Joshua Ellis, has the spotlight shifted from his glittering clientele and focused firmly on him in this delightful interview. Today, we cover some of the 100 plus shows Joshua has worked on including Into the Woods, 42nd Street, Lena Horne: The Lady and her Music, The King and I, Morning's at Seven, and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.

Get out your tap shoes, Francis, because four-time Tony nominated choreographer, Randy Skinner, is here to waltz us all back in time for an intimate retrospective of his career. From working at the famed Kenley Players to being the keeper of the 42nd Street flame, Randy's career includes turns (both onstage and off) with 42nd Street, Babes in Arms, Ain't Broadway Grand, State Fair, Do Re Mi, George M, Lone Star Love, White Christmas, Of Thee I Sing, No No Nanette, On Your Toes, Dames at Sea, and many more!

One of Broadway's busiest and most respected set designers, Tony Award winner John Lee Beatty, swings by Shetler Studios to sit down with Rob and Kevin and review his portfolio which includes over 100 Broadway credits including the set designs for Ain't Misbehavin, Talley's Folly, Baby, The Most Happy Fella, Chicago, Once Upon a Mattress, Wonderful Town, and so many shows over at Encores!

It may not be Halloween but we got the one and only Eve Harrington, Penny Fuller, with us in today's episode! Penny has been an Emmy Award-winning familiar face on TV with such credits as The Bob Newhart Show, The Love Boat, One Day At A Time, Matlock, and Judging Amy but the theatre is her home with appearances in the original Barefoot in the Park, Cabaret, Applause, Rex, The Dinner Party, and the most recent revival of Sunday in the Park with George. 

David Shire's melodies have earned him an Oscar, a Grammy, countless Emmy and Tony nominations, as well a special place in the hearts of audiences spanning as far back as 1960. David drops by Shetler Studios to look back on his career and revisit not only such films as The Conversation, The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three, All The President's Men, Return to Oz, Zodiac, Norma Rae, and Saturday Night Fever, but to explore his collaboration with Richard Maltby Jr that produced such musicals as Starting Here, Starting Now, Baby, Take Flight, Big, Closer Than Ever, Love Match, How Do You Do, I Love You, and The Sap Of Life.

A dancer's life on Broadway can be limited, but, if you are Harvey Evans, your abilities have no boundaries. From his first Broadway credit in 1957's New Girls In Town, Harvey's incredible resume includes the original Broadway productions of West Side Story, Redhead, Gypsy, Hello Dolly, Anyone Can Whistle, George M, Our Town, The Boyfriend, Follies, Sextet, Barnum, Sunset Boulevard, and The Scarlet Pimpernel!

She might have once been a drowsy chaperone but the brilliant artist who created her, Beth Leavel, is an energetic life force whose passion for the art of musical theatre is infectious. Beth drops by Shetler Studios to sit down with Rob and Kevin and discuss her incredible career which not only boasts a Tony Award but featured her gracing the Broadway stages of such shows as 42nd Street, Crazy for You, The Civil War, Show Boat, Mamma Mia, The Drowsy Chaperone, Elf, Baby It's You, Bandstand, and the upcoming The Prom.

The sun won't come out tomorrow because it is here now and its name is Conrad John Schuck. One of the entertainment industry's most recognizable character actors, whose on-screen credits include MASH, McMillan & Wife, Star Trek, and The Golden Girls (Gil Kessler for Mayor), Conrad first got started on stage as a resident player at ACT which was then followed by countless theatre credits, most notably as Daddy Warbucks in Annie, for which he currently holds the record as the actor who has played that role the most!

You can dance with any girl at all but why would you when the lovely Helen Gallagher is right here and ready to look back on her amazing journey which includes the original productions of Billion Dollar Baby, Brigadoon, High Button Shoes, the 1952 Pal Joey (for which she won a Tony Award), Make a Wish, Hazel Flagg, The Pajama Game, Sweet Charity, and the 1971 No, No, Nanette for which she won her second Tony Award.

For over forty years, Jim Morgan has been one of the most recognizable names in the New York theatre. For twenty years, Jim has served as the artistic director of the acclaimed Off-Broadway theater company, The York Theatre.

Are you willing to ride? If so, then you will get to hear the enchanting Tony Award winner Karen Ziemba look back on her incredible career which includes show-stealing turns in And The World Goes Round, Crazy For You, Steel Pier, Contact, Curtains, The Prince of Broadway, and so many more!