State Fair - Broadway Creative Team

Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II was an American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer, and (usually uncredited) director in musical theater for nearly 40 years. He won eight Tony Awards and two Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Many of his songs are standard repertoire for vocalists and jazz musicians. He co-wrote 850 songs. He is best known for his collaborations with composer Richard Rodgers, as the duo Rodgers and Hammerstein, whose musicals include Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music. Described by Stephen Sondheim as an "experimental playwright", Hammerstein helped bring the American musical to new ... read more Richard Rodgers was an American composer of 43 Broadway musicals, leaving a legacy as one of the most significant composers of 20th century American music. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II. His compositions have had a significant impact on popular music. Rodgers was the first person to win an EGOT. In addition, he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize, making him one of only two people to receive all five awards James Leonard Joy was born and raised in Michigan, where he graduated Salutatorian in a class of more than 900 at Bentley High School before earning Phi Beta Kappa honors at the University of Michigan. He then completed an MFA in Set Design at Carnegie Mellen University and taught briefly at Skidmore College before launching his very successful career in set design in New York City. Irving Berlin's incredible songbook remains deeply engrained in the current musical landscape of the US, UK and beyond. Contemporary pop artists who have given their own stamp to his work include Lady Gaga, Bob Dylan, Gregory Porter, Rufus Wainwright, Billie Martin, Herb Alpert, Leonard Cohen, Paul McCartney, Michael Buble, Lily Frost, Sarah McLachlan and most recently Gwen Stefani on her 2017 Christmas album. His music continues to be widely featured in films, commercials and television shows. Lady Gaga sang "God Bless America" at 2017's Super Bowl Halftime Show, whilst Seth MacFarlane covered "Let's Face the Music and Dance" for animated ... read more Rob Berman is an Emmy and Grammy Award-winning, New York-based conductor and music director. For fifteen years he was the music director of Encores!, New York City Center’s acclaimed series of great American musicals in concert, where he conducted over thirty productions, including the recent revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods, which transferred to a Broadway run and for which he received a Grammy Award as co-producer of the original cast recording. For nine years, Rob was music director of the Kennedy Center Honors, for which he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction. Other Broadway ... read more Meredith Blair is a producer, who worked on the US Tour of Waitress, as well as State Fair on Broadway. Natasha Katz is a New York-based lighting designer. She is a six-time Tony Award winner who has designed extensively for theatre, opera, dance, concerts, and permanent lighting installations around the world. Her recent Broadway credits include: Diana, The Music Man, All My Sons, Burn This, The Prom, Frozen, Long Day's Journey Into Night, Cats, School of Rock, An American in Paris, Aladdin, Skylight, The Glass Menagerie, Once, Follies, The Coast of Utopia: Salvage, and Aida. McCorkle Casting, Ltd. has handled hundreds of projects in film, television and theater. Founded in 1979 by Pat McCorkle, the company has earned a reputation for energy, creativity, and the keen ability to translate a director's vision into reality. Having cast everything from Hollywood mega-productions to small regional theaters, McCorkle and her staff have developed a vast talent network extending from working stage actors to superstars. The company has also developed a name for bold and unexpected ideas and for the discovery of new talent. Several of McCorkle cast members have garnered SAG, ACE, Tony, and Emmy awards/nominations. A ... read more Recent Broadway: Lennon, Sweeney Todd, The Producers, Beauty & the Beast, Hairspray, Movin’ Out, Sweet Charity, Good Vibrations, Dracula, Caroline or Change, Little Shop…, Thoroughly Modern Millie, 42nd St, Urinetown, Nine, La Boheme, Big River, Boys From Syracuse, Look of Love, Urban Cowboy, Never Gonna Dance, Thou Shalt Not, By Jeeves, Follies, Oklahoma!, Jekyll and Hyde, Rocky Horror Show, Seussical, The Music Man, Fosse, Swing!, Parade, Footloose, Kat and the Kings, Civil War, Triumph of Love. Studio Musician (bass): Michael Jackson, Madonna, Portishead, Eric Clapton, BB King, Sinatra, Carly Simon, Celine Dion, Smashing Pumpkins, Pete Seeger, NY Philharmonic. Over 40 Broadway designs including The Prom, Tootsie, Mean Girls, Margaritaville, Springsteen on Broadway, War Paint, The Last Ship, Beautiful, If/Then, Anything Goes, American Idiot, Next to Normal, Spring Awakening, Grey Gardens. On the West End: Spring Awakening, Book of Mormon and Beautiful. Off Broadway designs include Bowie’s Lazarus, Giant, Rent, Everyday Rapture, Saved, 10 Million Miles, and Bug. He is the recipient of Obie, Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, Olivier and Tony awards.