The Will Rogers Follies - Broadway Creative Team

Cy Coleman was a prolific composer, songwriter, and jazz pianist who made a significant impact on American music and Broadway. Born Seymour Kaufman in 1929 in New York City, Coleman began playing piano at an early age and was soon performing in clubs and bars around the city. He studied at the Juilliard School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music, but his true education came from playing with jazz greats like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Coleman's first foray into Broadway was with the musical "Wildcat" in 1960, which starred Lucille Ball. The show was not a critical success, ... read more Betty Comden, born in Brooklyn in 1917, was an American lyricist, screenwriter, and actress. She is best known for her work with Adolph Green, with whom she collaborated on numerous musicals and films. Comden and Green met in 1938 while both were studying at New York University, and began writing together shortly thereafter. Their first Broadway credit was for On the Town, a musical about three sailors on a 24-hour leave in New York City. The show premiered in 1944 and was a huge success, cementing Comden and Green's place in the world of musical theater. Comden and Green went on to ... read more Adolph Green was an American lyricist and playwright who was born on December 2, 1914, in the Bronx, New York. He was the son of Hungarian Jewish immigrants. Green's father was a successful businessman, and his mother was a homemaker. Green attended New York University, where he studied English and drama. Green began his career in show business as a performer in the late 1930s. He appeared in several Broadway productions, including "The New Yorkers" and "Two for the Show." However, it was his work as a lyricist that would make him famous. Green's first major success as a lyricist came in ... read more Broadway: Newsies, Bonnie & Clyde, Grey Gardens, Deaf West's Big River (2004 Tony Honor, Excellence in Theatre), Brooklyn, Bells Are Ringing (2001 Revival), Annie Get Your Gun (1999 Tony Award, Best Revival), Grease (1994 Tony nomination, Best Choreography), Tommy Tune Tonite!, The Will Rogers Follies. West End/International: Disney's High School Musical 1 & 2: On Stage!. Regional/National tour: Jekyll & Hyde, Upcoming National Tour; Disney's Newsies, Paper Mill Playhouse; Jane Austen's Emma: A Musical Romantic Comedy (2011 Craig Noel Award, Outstanding Resident Musical), The Old Globe; Bonnie & Clyde (2009 San Diego Critics Circle Award, Outstanding New Musical and Outstanding Director of ... read more Cy Coleman was a prolific composer, songwriter, and jazz pianist who made a significant impact on American music and Broadway. Born Seymour Kaufman in 1929 in New York City, Coleman began playing piano at an early age and was soon performing in clubs and bars around the city. He studied at the Juilliard School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music, but his true education came from playing with jazz greats like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Coleman's first foray into Broadway was with the musical "Wildcat" in 1960, which starred Lucille Ball. The show was not a critical success, ... read more Ms. Eisenhauer and collaborator Jules Fisherhave collectively been awarded Broadway’s Tony Award for Best Lighting Design of a Musical seven times, including Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins (2004, Revival), Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk (1996), Jelly’s Last Jam (1992), The Will Rogers Follies (1991), Grand Hotel (1990), Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ (1978), and Pippin (1973), and once for Best Lighting Design of a Play for Ulysses in Nighttown (1974). For motion pictures, Fisher and Eisenhauer designed theatrical lighting for Rob Marshall's Chicago, Mel Brooks' The Producers, Richard Linklater's School of Rock and Bill Condon's Dreamgirls, and Disney's live-action remake of ... read more In a celebrated career spanning almost 40 years, Jules Fisher has lit over 200 Broadway and off-Broadway shows, as well as film, ballet, opera, television, and rock-and-roll concert tours. He has received 18 Tony nominations and won 8 Tony awards for Lighting Design, a record in this category. His most recent project, "Assassins", (2004 Tony award) also won him the Drama Desk and Outer Critic's Circle awards. His previous Tony awards were for "Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk," 1996; "Jelly's Last Jam," 1992; "The Will Rogers Follies," 1991; "Grand Hotel," 1990; "Dancin'," 1978; "Ulysses in Nighttown," 1973; ... read more Credits: Your Welcome America, Movin' Out, Ring of Fire, Evil Dead the Musical, La Cage Aux Folles, Victor/Victoria, City of Angels, Gypsy, Falsettos, The Capeman, The Will Rogers Follies, M. Butterfly, Swing, Minnelli on Minnelli with Liza, Dream, Threepenny Opera with Sting, and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, The Odd Couple, M. Butterfly, Stones in His Pockets, The Beauty Queen of Leenane and A Thousand Clowns. Fitzgerald is president of Sound Associates, Inc. a premier provider of sound and video systems to the theater. Broadway: All The Way, Driving Miss Daisy, Grey Gardens, They’re Playing Our Song, The Elephant Man, My One and Only, The Heidi Chronicles, The Will Rogers Follies, Having Our Say, Company, Racing Demon, Ragtime, John Leguizamo’s Freak, The Capeman, Putting It Together and The Who’s Tommy. Off Broadway: Sunday in the Park with George, Angels in America, Hapgood, Merrily We Roll Along (four times!) and Whistle Down the Wind. Opera: Werther at the MET, Julie Taymor’s The Magic Flute in Florence, Italy, A View from the Bridge at Chicago Lyric, Die Gezeichhneten at LA Opera, The Photographer at BAM, Transatlatic, ... read more Stewart F. Lane is a Tony Award-winning Broadway producer, director, and author. He was born on March 16, 1947, in New York City, and grew up in Great Neck, Long Island. Lane attended the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration. He later earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in theater from Columbia University. Lane began his career in the entertainment industry as an actor, appearing in off-Broadway productions and regional theater. 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. Broadway: Evita, How To Succeed..., Promises..., A Steady Rain, Impressionism, White Christmas, Phantom, Les Misérables, History Boys, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Chicago, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Cabaret, Frog and Toad, Dance of the Vampires, Sweet Smell of Success, Carousel, Angels in America, Will Rogers Follies. MFA, NYU. Faculty, Yale University. Tommy Tune is an American actor, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer, choreographer and a celebrated song & dance man. Over the course of his career, he has won ten Tony Awards, the National Medal of Arts and has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1965, Tune made his Broadway debut as a performer in the musical Baker Street. His first Broadway directing and choreography credits were for the original production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas in 1978. His direction of Nine The Musical in 1982, which also won the Tony for Best Musical, garnered him ... read more Tony Walton is a director and designer, honored with 16 Tony Award nominations for his Broadway sets and/or costumes. Pippin, House of Blue Leaves and Guys and Dolls won him Tonys. Among his 20 films, Mary Poppins, The Boy Friend, The Wiz and Murder on the Orient Express earned him five Academy Award nominations. All That Jazz won him the Oscar and "Death of a Salesman" the Emmy. Previous designs for the world of Dickens include those for ten years of annual presentations of A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden. In 1991 he was elected to the Theatre Hall ... read more