About the Show
Cast:
Derek Baxter
Lauren Gemilli
Heather Krueger
Justin Lore
Understudy:
Lisa Watson
Ralph Daniel
Created and written by: Gerard Alessandrini
Director: Ed Staudenmayer
Set Designer: Michael Chamoun
Musical Director: Michael Sebastian
Lighting Designer: Mike Wood
Stage Manager: Scott Belowsky
Who's Who:
LAUREN GEMELLI Straz Center debut! Originally from southeastern Massachusetts, Gemelli is tickled pink to be spending the winter here in Tampa. Credits include National/ International Tours: The Drowsy Chaperone (u/s Janet & Kitty,) The Phantom of the Opera; Casinos: 42nd Street (Maggie Jones); Selected Regional: The Wedding Singer (Linda,) Sweet Charity (Nickie, Charity u/s,) Anything Goes (Bonnie,) Gypsy (Louise u/s,) Swing!, and Grease (Marty.) She is suma cum laude graduate from Manhattanville College with a BA in Theatre and Criminal Justice (2007). Love and deepest thanks to her wonderfully supportive “framily.” www.laurengemelli.com
HEATHER KRUEGER first appeared at the Straz Center back in 1997 with The Fabulous ’50s and has continued with the company through many successful productions including Swing Swing Swing, TeleVisions, Little Shop of Horrors, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Holiday Cabaret, Cut The Ribbons, The Rocky Horror Show, Listen To My Heart—The Songs of David Friedman, WAISTWATCHERS, The Calorie-Free Musical, Godspell and Respect: A Musical Journey of Women. Lately, Krueger has been busy playing out the best role of her life, motherhood. She would like to thank her husband, Tim, for his continuous love and support in the pursuit of her dream, and constant inspiration from her children.
DEREK BAXTER is tickled pink to be making his debut at the Straz Center with Forbidden Broadway: Greatest Hits Vol. 1. No stranger to comedy, Baxter takes the task of making people laugh very seriously. Trained at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, favorite past experiences include Nickelodeon’s All That, his work both in the parks and on tour for Walt Disney Entertainment, and his clowning with the Aerial Angels Circus. Thanks to the ’rents, Beth, Liz, the cast and crew of this zany show, and my miniature pet rock, Pebbles.
JUSTIN MICHAEL LORE is extremely happy to be returning to the Tampa Bay area after graduating from the University of Tampa in 2005. Regional credits include: Godspell (Jesus), Urinetown (Bobby), Disney Cruise Line (Aladdin, Simba, Young Hercules) and Broadway’s Jersey Boys Frankie Valli Camp. He gives many thanks to family and friends for traveling just about everywhere to support him. Special thanks to JVD and DI for making this job possible!
LISA WATSON is very excited to make her debut with the Straz Center. Her versatility in both musical theater and classical concerts is well-known in the greater Tampa Bay area. Musical credits include “Antonia” in Man of La Mancha, “Nellie” in South Pacific, “Mrs. Strakosh” in Funny Girl, “Rosalie” in Carnival, “Sally Cato” in Mame, “Ms. Pennywise” in Urinetown, and many musical revues. Classical concerts include Bach’s Passion according to St. John as well as the Messiah, Schubert’s Mass in G and both the Rutter and Fauré Requiems with various churches and The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay. Watson holds a MM in Voice from USF and a BME from Stetson University. She teaches voice lessons in her home and sings at Grace Lutheran Church in Carrollwood, Fla. Watson lives in Land O’Lakes with her husband, Joe, and their children Lilia and Elias.
RALPH PRENTICE DANIEL is thrilled to be making his Straz Center debut! Originally from Charleston, S.C., Daniel recently moved to Lakeland, Fla., and currently sings at Busch Gardens and serves as the vocal captain for various production shows. Favorite roles include Dr. Frankenfurter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Little City Musical Theatre); Man 1 in Songs For A New World (LCMT); Russian Tenor in Fiddler on the Roof (Charleston Stage Co.); and Lumiere in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (Charleston Stage Co.). Other credits include Gershwin at Folly, Ragtime (Charleston Stage Company), Rock N Roll Heaven (Roy Orbison) with Sheri Grance Productions, Funny Girl (Ziegfeld Tenor) with Theatre Factory, My One and Only (Dancing Gentleman) with Point Park College, Grand Hotel (Bellboy) PPC, Sweeney Todd (Ensemble) PPC, My Favorite Year (Ensemble) PPC and Turandot (Chorus) with the Pittsburgh Opera Company. In 2006, Daniel spent eight months at sea onboard the Sun Princess as a lead male vocalist. Prior to earning a BA in Musical Theatre from Point Park College in Pittsburgh, Penn., Daniel performed for the Walt Disney World Company at the Magic Kingdom for three years. He would like to thank his family and friends for their support. “To Gabe, without I would be lost, and to the late June Bonner; your guidance and wisdom has made me the vocalist I am today!”
Edward Staudenmayer (Director) has just entered his 17th year association with the Tony Award-winning, Forbidden Broadway taking him Off-Broadway, around the world and onto three cast recordings. Last year Tampa audiences saw him as The White Rabbit in the World Premiere of Wonderland, which he will be reprising this winter in Tampa, then on Broadway! He recently starred in Monty Python’s Spamalot (Sir Galahad, et. al.) in Las Vegas, and played opposite Martin Short for many performances in Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me on Broadway. He has toured with Beauty and the Beast (Gaston, National Theater Award Nomination), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Pharaoh), The Radio City Christmas Spectacular (Santa), and The Scarlet Pimpernel (Farleigh, Percy/Chauvelin us.). He later played the title role at the Starlight Theater and Performance Riverside in Southern California (ITL Award, LA Robbie Nominee.) He starred in the World Premieres of Cy Coleman’s Exactly Like You (Goodspeed and York Theaters), and The Great Ostrovsky (Prince Music Theater, Barrymore Nomination), Maury Yeston’s In The Beginning (Maine State), I’ll Be Seeing You (Kimmel Center), as the Villain in Disney’s Hercules (New Amsterdam Theater), and Neil Sedaka’s Breaking Up Is Hard To Do (Capitol Repertory Theater, The Actor’s Playhouse, Miami, and The Ogunquit Playhouse). Other credits include: Newsical (Studio 54), On The Twentieth Century (American Musical Theater, of San Jose), Noises Off (Papermill and Cape Playhouse’s), Bye Bye Birdie and 1776 (Sacramento CLO), Jane Eyre and Gigi (Papermill Playhouse), Children of Eden (Performance Riverside), The Cabaret Girl (42nd St. Moon). Cast Recording, The Producer’s (Seven Angeles), and many roles with the Music Theater of Wichita. Concerts with Town Hall’s, Broadway By the Year, the Musicals of 1953, Live Cast Recording, Musicals of the 70’s and has had the pleasure of singing with the Baltimore, Syracuse, Bartlesville, and Adelaide, Australia Symphonies. He also performed as Rum Tum Tugger/ Munkustrap in CatsHamburg, and provided voices for MTV’s Celebrity Deathmatch. He is a graduate of UCLA and a recipient of the Carol Burnett Award. AEA, SAG, AFTRA, AGVA member.
GERARD ALESSANDRINI (Creator and Writer) is the recipient of the 2001 Drama Desk Award for Best Musical Revue for Forbidden Broadway. He is best known for writing and directing all the editions of Forbidden Broadway and Forbidden Hollywood, in New York, Los Angeles, London and around the world. Alessandrini was also a member of the original cast of Forbidden Broadway. He is from Needham, Mass., and the Boston area, where he graduated from the Boston Conservatory of Music. In 1982, he created and wrote Forbidden Broadway, which has spawned 15 editions, seven cast albums and a 25-year-and-counting run in New York. Television credits include writing comedy specials for Bob Hope and Angela Lansbury on NBC, Carol Burnett on CBS, and Masterpiece Tonight on PBS, a satirical revue saluting Masterpiece Theater’s 20th Anniversary. As a performer, he can be heard on four of the seven Forbidden Broadway cast albums and on the soundtracks of Disney’s animated classics Aladdin and Pocahantas. Directing credits include many industrials for Canada Dry, Mobil and Miramax, etc. In 1998 he directed a production of Maury Yeston’s musical In The Beginning. In the summer of 2001, he co-directed a revival of Irving Berlin’s last musical Mr. President, which Alessandrini also updated and “politically corrected.” He is the recipient of an Obie Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, two Lucille Lortel Awards and four Drama Desk Awards for Forbidden Broadway, and a lifetime achievement award from the Drama League.
JUDITH LlSI (Straz Center President) is the President of the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts, which she joined on Oct. 1, 1992. With a background in theater that includes performing as both a singer and an actress, Lisi has also directed more than 40 productions and written and produced several plays and musicals, including Stage Door Canteen, Speakeasy, Busby, WAlSTWATCHERS, The Calorie-Free Musical, Wonderland: Alice’s New Musical Adventure, Godspell, Miss Abigail’s Guide to Dating, Mating and Marriage, Respect: A Musical Journey of Women and Forbidden Broadway Greatest Hits: Vol. I. Before joining the Straz Center, she served as Executive Director of the prestigious Shubert Performing Arts Center in New Haven, Conn. Prior to her work at the Shubert, Lisi served from 1979-1984 as Artistic Director of the Downtown Cabaret Theatre in Connecticut. As the Executive Producer of all Straz Center productions, she has produced many highly successful shows, including Florida’s longest-running musical, Forever Plaid, which has toured the state. Other successes include the grand opera that Lisi brought to the Straz Center, from the first production, Madama Butterfly in 1996 to the world premiere of Anton Coppola’s highly dramatic Sacco & Vanzetti in 2001 to the most recent production of The Merry Widow in 2010. She holds a master’s degree in Theatre from St. Louis University and has done doctoral studies at the University of Minnesota. She also studied opera at the Juilliard School of Music. Lisi has been the recipient of many national and international awards, including the Broadway League Award for Best Presenter and the International Society for the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award.
ERIC DILLNER (Artistic Producing Director) is the past artistic and general director of Shreveport Opera, managing director of Skylight Opera Theatre and artistic director of Longview Opera. Dillner has produced several commissions of new works including Corps of Discovery, a Musical Journey (currently in opera houses throughout the nation), What is Freedom, Why Dinosaurs Don’t Smoke, Why Dinosaurs Don’t Litter and Herman the Horse, a Healthy Tail (two troupes are currently touring in Iowa). He has stage directed extensively as well as performed the lyric tenor repertoire with New York City Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Swedish Radio Orchestra at Berwald Hall in Stockholm, Sweden, Brussels Festival Orchestra, at Cathédrale St-Michel, Bruxelles, Belgium, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Holland and numerous other halls throughout Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Belgium. As Pete Peterson, he appeared in the PBS Live from Lincoln Center broadcast in New York City Opera’s production of Paul Bunyan and is recording artist for the Music Masters Classics for BMG. Dillner currently holds positions as vocal instructor for V.O.I.C.Experience, Intermezzo Young Artist Program, RESONANZ Albany Singer Intensive Festival and has a private voice studio in New York City and was vocalogist with the otolaryngology clinic at University of Missouri Hospitals and Clinics. Dillner is a frequently sought after master class presenter in New York City and a judge of competitions such as the Metropolitan Opera Competition and the New York International Opera Project in the United States and in Beijing, China.
MICHAEL SEBASTIAN (Musical Director) Originally from Lancaster, Penn., Sebastian became, at 12 years, the youngest person to join the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra. He attended University of Michigan, where he was principal cellist of the University Symphony Orchestra and The Toledo Symphony. Graduating college at 20, he became the youngest principal cellist of The Florida West Coast Symphony and member of The Florida String Quartet. He played under conductors Eugene Ormandy, Zubin Mehta, Arthur Fiedler, Mitch Miller and Yehudi Menhuin. He has played Carnegie Hall, The Academy of Music and Ford Theatre in concert tours with artists such as Bernadette Peters, George Benson, Red Skelton, Johnny Mathis, Paige O’Hara and Smokey Robinson. Sebastian has devoted 18 years to theatrical music directing and has more than 150 regional credits to his name. He is a regular at the two-time Tony Award®-winning Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and in Peterborough Players. Sebastian has also been chosen to work extensively on new show development with the pre-Broadway run of A Tale of Two Cities at the Asolo Theater, Kathy Lee Gifford’s Party Animals and Wonderland as part of the Genesis Project at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts. Visit www.MichaelSebastian.info.
MIKE WOOD (Lighting Designer) is a Tampa based theatrical lighting designer whose work has been seen throughout the country. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Theatre Design from the University of South Florida and is also currently the theater design and technology instructor at Howard W. Blake School of the Arts in Tampa, Fla. Recent major design projects include Fiddler On The Roof, The Wizard of Oz, Forbidden Broadway, Chicago, West Side Story, Bat Boy: The Musical, Seussical!, HAIR, Pippin, Oliver, Grease, The Rocky Horror Show, Gilgamesh (National Tour) and others. Wood is excited to be making his debut at the Straz Center and has enjoyed working with such a talented team. http://www.mikewoodld.com
SCOTT BELOWSKY (Stage Manager) is resident stage manager for the Jaeb Theater. He has been associated with every Jaeb production since Swing! Swing! Swing! in 2000. He has worked backstage as a dresser and assistant stage manager. Belowsky became the resident stage manager at the beginning of Cigar City Chronicles: A Musical History of Tampa. He has also worked with the Shimberg Playhouse and the Patel Conservatory. He is most recently associated with Respect: A Musical Journey of Women.