Richard Rodgers Richard Rodgers (1902- 1979) was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs for 43 Broadway musicals. He is best known for his collaboration with Hammerstein which is responsible for such shows as Oklahoma, South Pacific, The Sound of Music, The King and I, Flower Drum Song and State Fair. He is one of two people to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony and Pulitzer Prize. He died on December 30, 1979. Oscar Hammerstein II Oscar Hammerstein II (18951960) was an American librettist, theatrical producer, and theatre director of musicals for almost 40 years. Hammerstein won 8 Tony Awards and two Academy Awards for Best Original Song. He cowrote 850 songs. His most famous collaborator was Richard Rodgers. His work strongly influenced Stephen Sondheim. He died of stomach cancer on August 23, 1960. Friday Review In three to four sentences answer the following question: Who was the most interesting person you learned about this week? Why? Hal Prince Hal Prince (1928- present) is an American theatrical producer and director associated with many of the best-known Broadway musical productions of the past half-century. He has garnered twenty-one Tony Awards, more than any other individual. He co-produced The Pajama Game with George Abbott, which won the 1955 Tony Award for Best Musical. He directed Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Evita and Phantom of the Opera. He has collaborated extensively with Stephen Sondheim. Stephen Sondheim Stephen Sondheim (1930- present) is an American musical theatre composer and lyricist. He is the winner of an Academy Award eight Tony Awards, eight Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award. His most famous works include Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George and Into the Woods. He also wrote the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy. He was mentored by Oscar Hammerstein II, who had a profound influence on Sondheim’s life and work. Marsha Norman Marsha Norman (1947- present) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. She received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play 'night, Mother. She wrote the book and lyrics for such Broadway musicals as The Secret Garden, for which she won a Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical, as well as the libretto for the musical The Color Purple. She was honored at the 2011 William Inge Festival for Distinguished Achievement in the American Theatre. Jason Robert Brown Jason Robert Brown (1970-present) is an American musical theater composer, lyricist, and playwright. Songs for a New World, directed by Daisy Prince, daughter of director/producer Hal Prince, marked the first major New York production of Brown's songs. He wrote the songs for Parade directed by Hal Prince, The Last Five Years, and 13. He is currently working on an adaptation of the movie, Honeymoon in Vegas. He is also working on an adaptation of The Bridges of Madison County with Marsha Norman. Samuel Beckett Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour. He is also sometimes considered one of the first postmodernists. He is one of the key writers in the "Theatre of the Absurd." His first play, Waiting for Godot, premiered in 1953 where it shocked some audiences because of its stark minimalism. He died on December 22, 1989. Eugene Ionesco Eugene Ionesco (1909-1994) was a Romanian and French playwright and dramatist, and one of the foremost playwrights of the “Theatre of the Absurd.” Beyond ridiculing the most banal situations, Ionesco's plays depict in a tangible way the solitude and insignificance of human existence. Works include The Bald Soprano, The Lesson, The Chairs and The Rhinoceros. Eugène Ionesco died at age 84 on 28 March 1994 and is buried in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris. Arthur Miller Arthur Miller (1915-2005) was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, The Crucible and A View from the Bridge. Miller died of heart failure after a battle against cancer, pneumonia and congestive heart disease on the evening of February 10, 2005 (the 56th anniversary of the Broadway debut of Death of a Salesman). Bernadette Peters Bernadette Peters (1948present) is an American actress, singer and children's book author. She is one of the most critically acclaimed Broadway performers. Regarded by many as the foremost interpreter of the works of Stephen Sondheim, Peters is particularly noted for her roles on the Broadway stage, including in the musicals Mack and Mabel, Sunday in the Park with George, Song and Dance, Into the Woods, Annie Get Your Gun and Gypsy. Patti LuPone Patti LuPone (1949- present) is an American singer and actress, known for her Tony Awardwinning performance as Eva Perón in Evita, Mama Rose in Gypsy: A Musical Fable and for her Olivier Award-winning performance as Fantine in Les Misérables. She began her career as a founding member of John Houseman's The Acting Company playing a variety of leading roles, both on and off-Broadway and on tour throughout the United States. Edward Albee Edward Albee (1928-present) is an American playwright. His early works reflect a mastery and Americanization of the Theatre of the Absurd that found its peak in works by European playwrights such as Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, and Jean Genet. Albee has received three Pulitzer Prizes, a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement and Kennedy Center Honors. Anton Chekhov Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was a major Russian playwright and master of the modern short story. Chekhov described the Russian life of his time using a deceptively simple technique devoid of obtrusive literary devices, and he is regarded as the outstanding representative of the late 19th-century Russian realist school. He died July 19, 1904 of tuberculosis. Agatha Christie Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. Her plays include The Mousetrap, which set a world record for the longest continuous run at one theatre, and Witness for the Prosecution, which, like many of her works, was adapted into a successful film. Other notable film adaptations include Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile. Her works were also adapted for television. She died on January 12, 1976 from natural causes. Bertolt Brecht Bertolt Brecht (1898- 1956) was German poet, playwright, and theatrical reformer whose epic theatre departed from the conventions of theatrical illusion and developed the drama as a social and ideological forum for leftist causes. His works signified the “Epic Theatre” which believes that the theatre is only a theatre and not the world itself. Brecht died on 14 August 1956 of a heart attack. Peter Brook Peter Brook (1925- present) is an English theatre and film director and innovator whose daring productions of other dramatists’ works contributed significantly to the development of the 20th century’s avant-garde stage. Attaining at an early age the status of one of the foremost British directors. Brook was influenced by the work of Antonin Artaud and his ideas for his Theatre of Cruelty. James Lapine James Lapine (1949- present) is an American stage director and librettist. He is a frequent collaborator with Stephen Sondheim. Together, they created Sunday in the Park with George, Passion and Into the Woods. He also directed William Finn’s The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and the 2012 revival of Annie. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for Into the Woods, Falsettos, and Passion. Laurence Olivier Laurence Olivier (1907-1989) was a British actor, director, and producer. He is considered to be the greatest English-speaking actor of the 20th century. His three Shakespeare films as actordirector, Henry V, Hamlet, and Richard III, are among the pinnacles of the bard at the cinema. Olivier was one of the founders, and the inaugural director, of the National Theatre Company. Olivier died from renal failure on July 11, 1989. Constantin Stanislavski Constantin Stanislavski (18631938) was a Russian actor and theatre director. His system of acting has developed an international reach. Stanislavski treated theatre-making as a serious endeavour, requiring dedication, discipline and integrity. His development of a theorized praxis – in which practice is used as a mode of inquiry and theory as a catalyst for creative development – identifies him as one of the great modern theatre practitioners. He died on August 7, 1938. Julie Taymor Julie Taymor (1952- present) is an American director of theatre, opera and film. She is widely known for directing the stage musical, The Lion King, for which she became the first woman to win the Tony Award for directing a musical, in addition to a Tony Award for Original Costume Design. She was also the director for Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark. Mary Zimmerman Mary Zimmerman (1960present) is an American theatre director and playwright. She is an ensemble member of the Lookingglass Theatre Company, the Manilow Resident Director at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, and also serves as the Jaharis Family Foundation Professor of Performance Studies at Northwestern University. She received the 2002 Tony Award for Best Direction for her adaptation of Ovid's Metamorphoses. Langston Hughes Langston Hughes (1902-1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. Hughes was a notable member of The Harlem Renaissance, a movement towards a higherstandard of living for AfricanAmericans. Hughes opened The Harlem Suitcase Theatre in 1938. Prior to opening Harlem Suitcase, Hughes had already made his name known through the opening of his Broadway play Mulatto. On May 22, 1967, Hughes died from complications after abdominal surgery. Antonin Artaud Antonin Artaud (1896-1948) was a French playwright, poet, actor, theatre director and theoretician of the Surrealist movement who attempted to replace the “bourgeois” classical theatre with his “theatre of cruelty,” a primitive ceremonial experience intended to liberate the human subconscious and reveal man to himself. His vision, however, was a major influence on the Absurd theatre of Jean Genet, Eugène Ionesco, Samuel Beckett, and others. He died on March 4, 1948. Noel Coward Noel Coward (1899-1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer. Coward achieved enduring success as a playwright, publishing more than 50 plays from his teens onwards. Many of his works, such as Hay Fever, Private Lives, Design for Living, Present Laughter and Blithe Spirit, have remained in the regular theatre repertoire. He died on March 26 1973 of heart failure. Lillian Hellman Lillian Hellman (1905- 1984) was an American author of plays, screenplays, and memoirs whose dramas forcefully attacked injustice, exploitation, and selfishness. Her works include: The Children’s Hour, The Little Foxes and Another Part of the Forest. In her writing, she created a realistic intensity matched by few of her playwriting contemporaries. Hellman died on June 30, 1984 from a heart attack. Moss Hart Moss Hart (1904-1961) was an American playwright and theatre director. He began by writing books for musicals for Irving Berlin and Cole Porter; he also collaborated with George S. Kaufman 1941, a collaboration that produced such popular comedies as You Can’t Take It with You and The Man Who Came to Dinner. He also directed the long-running My Fair Lady. Moss Hart died of a heart attack on December 20, 1961. Victor Hugo Victor Hugo (1802-1885) was a poet, novelist, and dramatist who was the most important of the French Romantic writers. Hugo's novels as well as his plays have been a great source of inspiration for musicians, stirring them to create not only opera and ballet but musical theatre such as Notre-Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame) and the ever-popular Les Misérables, London West End's longest running musical. He died from pneumonia on 22 May 1885. Henrik Ibsen Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) was a Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of realism" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre. He is the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare, and A Doll's House became the world's most performed play by the early 20th century. He died on May 23, 1906. George S. Kaufman George S. Kaufman (18891961) was an American playwright, theatre director and producer, humorist, and drama critic. In addition to comedies and political satire, he wrote several musicals, notably for the Marx Brothers. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for You Can't Take It With You and Of Thee I Sing. He also won the Tony Award as a Director, for the musical Guys and Dolls. Kaufman died on June 2, 1961. Ira Levin Ira Levin (1929-2007) was an American author, dramatist and songwriter. Levin's best-known play is Deathtrap, which holds the record as the longest-running comedy-thriller on Broadway. Other works include: No Time for Sergeants, Interlock, Critic's Choice, General Seegar , Dr. Cook's Garden, Veronica's Room and Break a Leg. His musical Drat! The Cat! (1965) featured the song "He Touched Me," popularized by Barbra Streisand. Levin died of a heart attack on November 12, 2007. Jerome Lawrence Jerome Lawrence (1915-2004) was an American playwright and author. He collaborated extensively with Robert E. Lee and together they wrote 39 plays. In 1955, they wrote Inherit the Wind, which remains among the most-produced plays in the American theatre. They also collaborated on the plays Auntie Mame, The Incomparable Max, and First Monday in October, and their wildly successful play, The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail. He died on February 29, 2004 from complications due to a stroke. David Mamet David Mamet (1947- present) is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and film director noted for his often desperate working-class characters and for his distinctive, colloquial, and frequently profane dialogue. Mamet is a founding member of the Atlantic Theater Company. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1984 and a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross. Other works include: Speed the Plow, Oleanna, American Buffalo, Boston Marriage and November. Moliere Moliere (1622-1673) was a French actor and playwright, the greatest of all writers of French comedy. Among Molière's best-known works are The Misanthrope, The School for Wives, Tartuffe or the Imposter, The Miser, The Imaginary Invalid, and The Bourgeois Gentleman. Molière is considered the creator of modern French comedy. He died on February 17, 1673 from pulmonary tuberculosis. Eugene O’Neill Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953) was an Irish American playwright. His plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism. His plays were among the first to include speeches in American vernacular and involve characters on the fringes of society, where they struggle to maintain their hopes and aspirations, but ultimately slide into disillusionment and despair. He died on November 27, 1953. Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (1930-2008) was a Nobel Prize-winning English playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. Dialogue is of central importance in Pinter’s plays and is perhaps the key to his originality. His characters’ colloquial speech consists of disjointed and oddly ambivalent conversation that is punctuated by resonant silences. He died on December 24, 2008 from liver cancer. George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) was an Irish playwright. He played an important role in revolutionizing British drama: making theatre a forum for considering moral, political and economic issues, possibly his most lasting and important contribution to dramatic art. In this, he considered himself indebted to Henrik Ibsen, who pioneered drama designed to heighten awareness of some important social issue. He died on November 2, 1950 of renal failure. Neil Simon Neil Simon (1927- present) is an American playwright, screenwriter, television writer, and librettist who is one of the most popular playwrights in the history of the American theatre. He has won Tony Awards for The Odd Couple, Biloxi Blues and a special Tony Award for his overall contribution to the American theater. He was awarded the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, for Brighton Beach Memoirs. He also won the Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award for Lost in Yonkers. Tom Stoppard Tom Stoppard (1937- present) is a Czech-born British playwright whose work is marked by verbal brilliance, ingenious action, and structural dexterity. Themes of human rights, censorship and political freedom pervade his work along with exploration of linguistics and philosophy. Stoppard has been a key playwright of the National Theatre and is one of the most internationally performed dramatists of his generation. August Wilson August Wilson (1945-2005) was an American playwright whose work included a series of ten plays, The Pittsburgh Cycle, for which he received two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama. Each is set in a different decade, depicting the comic and tragic aspects of the African-American experience in the twentieth century. In 1968, Wilson co-founded the Black Horizon Theater in the Hill District of Pittsburgh He died on October 5, 2005 from liver cancer. Jason Alexander Jason Alexander (1959present) is an American actor, director, producer, writer, singer, and comedian. He is the Artistic Director of "Reprise! Broadway's Best in Los Angeles," where he has directed several musicals. He won a Tony Award for his performance in Jerome Robbins' Broadway. He has also appeared in The Producers and A Christmas Carol. Jean-Louis Barrault Jean- Louis Barrault (19101994) was a French actor, director, and producer whose work with both avant-garde and classic plays helped revive French theatre after World War II. He was director of the Théâtre de France. He was also director of the Théâtre des Nations and founder-director of the Théâtre d’Orsay. He died of a heart attack on January 22, 1994. Mel Brooks Mel Brooks (1926- present) is American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor whose motion pictures elevated outrageousness and vulgarity to high comic art. Brooks is a member of the short list of entertainers with the distinction of having won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony award. He has adapted two of his films into successful Broadway musicals: The Producers and Young Frankenstein. Matthew Broderick Matthew Broderick (1962- present) is an American film, stage and voice actor who, famously portrayed Leo Bloom in the Hollywood and Broadway productions of The Producers. He has won two Tony Awards, one for his featured role in Brighton Beach Memoirs and one for his leading role in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. He was also nominated for the Tony Award, Best Actor in a Musical, for The Producers. To date, Matthew Broderick is the youngest winner of the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. George M. Cohan George M. Cohan (1878-1942) was American actor, popular songwriter, playwright, and producer especially of musical comedies, who became famous as the “Yankee Doodle Dandy.” Although Cohan is mostly remembered for his songs, he became an early pioneer in the development of the "book musical", bridging the gaps in his libretti between drama and music, operetta and extravaganza. He died on November 5, 1942. Ian McKellan Ian McKellen (1939- present) is considered one of the greatest British actors of all time. He is the recipient of six Laurence Olivier Awards, a Tony Award, a Golden Globe Award, two Academy Award nominations, four BAFTA nominations and five Emmy Award nominations. He is well-known for portraying Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber (1948present) is a British composer and impresario of musical theatre. Some of his best works include: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Cats, The Phantom of the Opera and Sunset Boulevard. He has won seven Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, fourteen Ivor Novello Awards, seven Olivier Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2006. Sanford Meisner Sanford Meisner (1905-1997) was an American actor and acting teacher who developed a form of Method acting that is known as the Meisner technique. The goal of the Meisner technique has often been described as getting actors to "live truthfully under imaginary circumstances." Throughout his career, Meisner worked with, and taught, students who became well known, such as Sandra Bullock, Dylan McDermott, Robert Duvall, Gregory Peck, Bob Fosse, Diane Keaton, Grace Kelly, and Sydney Pollack Bette Midler Bette Midler (1945- present) is an American singer-songwriter. In a career spanning almost half a century, Midler has been nominated for two Academy Awards, and won three Grammy Awards, four Golden Globes, three Emmy Awards, and a special Tony Award. From 1966 to 1969, she played the role of Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway. In 2013, Midler performed on Broadway for the first time in more than 30 years in, I'll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers, a play about the Hollywood superagent, Sue Mengers. Al Jolson Al Jolson (1886-1950) was popular U.S. singer and blackface comedian of the musical stage and motion pictures, from before World War I to 1940. His unique singing style and personal magnetism established an immediate rapport with audiences. In 1918, Jolson's acting career would be pushed even further after he starred in the hit musical Sinbad. By 1920, Jolson had become the biggest star on Broadway. Jolson collapsed and died of a massive heart attack on October 23, 1950. Wendy Wasserstein Wendy Wasserstein (1950-2006) was an American playwright. She received the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1989 for her play The Heidi Chronicles. Her plays, which explore topics ranging from feminism to family to ethnicity to pop culture, include The Sisters Rosensweig, Isn't It Romantic, An American Daughter, Old Money, and Third. She died unexpectedly on January 30, 2006 from lymphoma. Athol Fugard Athol Fugard (1932- present) is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director who writes in English. He is best known for his political plays opposing the South African system of apartheid and for the 2005 Academy Award-winning film of his novel, Tsotsi, directed by Gavin Hood. Notable works include “Master Harold”… and the Boys and Blood Knot. Peter Sellars Peter Sellars (1957-present) is an American theatre director, noted for his unique contemporary stagings of classical and contemporary operas and plays. In 1984, he was named director and manager of the American National Theater in Washington, D.C. at the age of 26, a post he held until 1986. In 2005 Sellars was awarded The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, one of the richest prizes in the arts, given annually to "a man or woman who has made an outstanding contribution to the beauty of the world and to mankind's enjoyment and understanding of life." Sam Shephard Sam Shephard (1943- present) is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is the author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child. In 1975, he was named playwright-inresidence at the Magic Theatre, where many of his notable works received their premier productions Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (1854 –1900) was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. He is most known for The Importance of Being Earnest, now considered Wilde's masterpiece, was rapidly written in Wilde's artistic maturity in late 1894. Wilde died of cerebral meningitis on November 30, 1900. Thornton Wilder Thornton Wilder (1897- 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes—for the novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey and for the two plays Our Town and The Skin of Our Teeth—and a U.S. National Book Award for the novel The Eighth Day. In 1955, Tyrone Guthrie encouraged Wilder to rework The Merchant of Yonkers into The Matchmaker. It later became the basis for the hit 1964 musical Hello, Dolly!, with a book by Michael Stewart and score by Jerry Herman. Wilder died on December 7, 1975 Cole Porter Cole Porter (1891 –1964) was an American composer and songwriter. After a slow start, he began to achieve success in the 1920s, and by the 1930s he was one of the major songwriters for the Broadway musical stage. His most successful musical, Kiss Me, Kate won the 1948 Tony Award for Best Musical and for which he also won best composer and lyricist. Porter died of kidney failure on October 15, 1964, in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 73. Richard Burbage Richard Burbage (1567–1619) was an English actor and theatre owner. He was the younger brother of Cuthbert Burbage. They were both actors in drama. Most famously he was the star of William Shakespeare's theatre company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men which became the King's Men on the ascension of James I in 1603. Burbage's power and scope as an actor is revealed in the sheer size of the roles he played. He continued acting until his death in 1619. August Strindberg August Strindberg (1849-1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. In his plays The Father, Miss Julie, and Creditors, he created naturalistic dramas that – building on the established accomplishments of Henrik Ibsen's prose problem plays while rejecting their use of the structure of the wellmade play. He died on 14 May 1912 at the age of 63. Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936) was an Italian dramatist, novelist, poet and short story writer. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage.” He wrote a large number of dramas which were published, between 1918 and 1935, under the collective title of Naked Masks. These works dealt with themes of problems of identity. He died on December 10, 1936. Wole Soyinka Wole Soyinka (1934- present) is a Nigerian writer, notable especially as a playwright and poet; he was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first person in Africa to be given that honor. During the six years spent in England, he was a dramaturgist at the Royal Court Theatre in London 1958-1959. Soyinka has published about 20 works: drama, novels and poetry. He writes in English and his literary language is marked by great scope and richness of words. Alan Jay Lerner Alan Jay Lerner (1918- 1986) was an American lyricist and librettist. In collaboration with Frederick Loewe, he created some of the world's most popular and enduring works of musical theatre for both the stage and on film including: the hit Broadway musicals Brigadoon (1947), Paint Your Wagon (1951), My Fair Lady (1956), and Camelot (1960) and the film Gigi (1958). He won three Tony Awards and three Academy Awards, among other honors. He died on June 14, 1986 from lung cancer. Frederick Loewe Frederick Loewe (1901-1988) was an Austrian-American composer. He collaborated with lyricist Alan Jay Lerner on the longrunning Broadway musicals My Fair Lady and Camelot, with book and lyrics by Lerner, both of which were made into films. Personal differences between Loewe and Lerner surfaced during the writing of Camelot, and they suspended their collaboration for more than a decade. He died in California on February 14, 1988. Agnes de Mille Agnes George de Mille (1905 –1993) was an American dancer and choreographer. She is most notable for her choreography for Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! De Mille revolutionized musical theatre by creating choreography which not only conveyed the emotional dimensions of the characters but enhanced the plot. Her choreography, as a reflection of her awareness of acting, reflected the angst and turmoil of the characters instead of simply focusing on a dancer's physical technique. She died of a stroke on October 7, 1993. Alvin Ailey Alvin Ailey (1931- 1989) was an African-American choreographer and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City. Ailey is credited with popularizing modern dance and revolutionizing African-American participation in 20th century concert dance. Ailey made use of any combination of dance techniques that best suited the theatrical moment. He died on December 1, 1989 of AIDS. Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (1899- 1987) was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer, musician and actor. His stage and subsequent film and television careers spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films, several award winning television specials, and issued numerous recordings. The American Film Institute named him the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time. He died on June 22, 1987 from pneumonia. Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) was an American composer, conductor, author, music lecturer, and pianist. According to The New York Times, he was "one of the most prodigiously talented and successful musicians in American history." Many of his works are regularly performed around the world, although none has matched the tremendous popular and commercial success of West Side Story. He died of a heart attack on October 14, 1990. Gene Kelly Gene Kelly (1912-1996) was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director, producer, and choreographer. Kelly was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks and the likeable characters that he played on screen. Although he is known today for his performances in An American in Paris (1951) and Singin' in the Rain (1952), he was a dominant force in Hollywood musical films from the mid-1940s the late 1950s. He died on February 2, 1996. George Abbott George Abbott (1887-1995) was an American theater producer and director, playwright, screenwriter, and film director and producer whose career spanned more than nine decades. Abbott acquired a reputation as an astute "show doctor". He frequently was called upon to supervise changes when a show was having difficulties in tryouts or previews prior to its Broadway opening. He died of a stroke January 31, 1995, in Miami Beach, Florida, at age 107. Elia Kazan Elia Kazan (1909-2003) was a GreekAmerican director, producer, writer and actor, described by The New York Times as "one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history." After studying acting at Yale, he acted professionally for eight years, later joining the Group Theater in 1932, and co-founded the Actors Studio in 1947. He helped to introduce Method acting to the American stage and cinema. Elia Kazan died from natural causes in his Manhattan apartment on September 28, 2003. Mary Martin Mary Martin (1913-1990) was an American actress, singer and Broadway star. A muse of Rodgers and Hammerstein, she originated many leading roles over her career including Nellie Forbush in South Pacific and Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music. She was named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1989. She also performed in such shows as Annie Get Your Gun, Hello, Dolly! and Peter Pan. She died from colorectal cancer at her home on November 3, 1990. Bob Fosse Bob Fosse (1927-1987) was an American actor, dancer, musical theatre choreographer, director, screenwriter, film editor and film director. He won an unprecedented eight Tony Awards for choreography, as well as one for direction. He was nominated for an Academy Award four times, winning for his direction of Cabaret. Other notable credits include: The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, Pippin and Chicago. He died of a heart attack on September 23, 1987. Julie Andrews Julie Andrews (1935- present) is an English film and stage actress, singer, author, theatre director, and dancer. In 2000, she was made a Dame for services to the performing arts by Queen Elizabeth II. Andrews made her feature film debut in Mary Poppins, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She received her second Academy Award nomination for The Sound of Music. She originated the role of Eliza Dolittle in My Fair Lady. In 2001, Andrews appeared in The Princess Diaries, her first Disney film since Mary Poppins. Fred Ebb Fred Ebb (1928-2004) was an American musical theatre lyricist who had many successful collaborations with composer John Kander. On his first theatrical writing job, he cowrote the lyrics for the musical revue Baker's Dozen in 1951. He also worked with composer Paul Klein from the early 1950s onward, contributing songs to the cabaret revue Isn't America Fun and the Broadway revue From A to Z. He died on September 11, 2004 from a heart attack. John Kander John Kander (1927-present) is the American composer of a number of musicals as part of the songwriting team of Kander and Ebb. Kander began his Broadway career as substitute rehearsal pianist for West Side Story. Kander and Ebb are responsible for music and lyrics for many shows including: Cabaret, Chicago and Kiss of the Spider Woman. The Landing is his newest musical and his first without Fred Ebb in many years. Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (1888-1989) was an American composer and lyricist widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history with hits like "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "What’ll I Do" and "White Christmas." Berlin's film and Broadway musical work included Puttin’ on the Ritz, Easter Parade and Annie Get Your Gun. He died in New York City on September 22, 1989, at age 101 of natural causes. Julie Harris Julie Harris (1925- 2013) was an American stage, screen, and television actress. She won five Tony Awards, three Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award, and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1994, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts. She is a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame and received the 2002 Special Lifetime Achievement Tony Award. She died on August 24, 2013 from congestive heart failure. Angela Lansbury Angela Lansbury (1925- present) is a British American actress and singer in theatre, television and films. Her career has spanned seven decades and earned an unsurpassed number of performance Tony Awards, with five wins. Notable roles include: Rose in Gypsy, Getrude in Hamlet, Anna in The King and I, Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, Mame Dennis in Mame, Leona Mullen in Deuce, Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit, and Madame Armfeldt in A Little Night Music. Audra McDonald Audra McDonald (1970- present) is an American actress and singer. She has appeared on the stage in both musicals and dramas, such as Ragtime, A Raisin in the Sun, and Porgy and Bess. She has won five Tony Awards, sharing the record for most Tonys won by an actor with Julie Harris and Angela Lansbury. Tony Award winning performances include: Carousel, Master Class, Ragtime, A Raisin in the Sun, and The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess. Harvey Fierstein Harvey Fierstein (1954present) is an American actor and playwright. He has written the books for musicals such as: La Cage Aux Folles, A Catered Affair, Newsies and Kinky Boots. He is best known for A Torch Song Trilogy, which he wrote and starred in OffBroadway and on Broadway winning him two Tony Awards for Best Play and Best Actor in a Play. Helen Hayes Helen Hayes (1900–1993) was an American actress whose career spanned almost 80 years. She eventually garnered the nickname "First Lady of the American Theatre" and was one of eleven people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award. Hayes also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor, from President Ronald Reagan in 1986. She died on March 17, 1993 from congestive heart failure. Rita Moreno Rita Moreno (1931- present) is a Puerto Rican singer, dancer and actress. She is the only Hispanic and one of the few performers to have won all four major annual American entertainment awards, which include an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy and a Tony. She starred as Anita in the 1961 film version of West Side Story. Moreno's Broadway credits include The Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Gantry, The Ritz, and the female version of The Odd Couple. John Gielgud John Gielgud (1904–2000) was an English actor, director, and producer. He first won stardom during a successful two seasons at the Old Vic Theatre from 1929 to 1931 where his performances as Richard II and Hamlet were particularly acclaimed, the latter being the first Old Vic production to be transferred to the West End for a run. He died on May 21, 2000 of a respiratory infection. Audrey Hepburn Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993) was a British actress. In a career that spanned more than forty years, she performed on screen, on television and on stage. 1951 saw her Broadway debut in Gigi with Hepburn starring in the title role. She would later return to Broadway in 1954 to play the title role in Ondine which would earn Hepburn her only competitive Tony Award of her career. She died on January 20, 1993 of appendiceal cancer. Marvin Hamlisch Marvin Hamlisch (1944- 2012) was an American composer and conductor. He is one of only eleven winners of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. He is one of only two people to have won those four prizes and a Pulitzer Prize. Hamlisch also won two Golden Globes. He composed the score for the 1975 Broadway musical A Chorus Line, for which he won both a Tony Award and a Pulitzer Prize; and They're Playing Our Song. Hamlisch died on August 6, 2012 due to respiratory arrest. Jonathan Tunick Jonathan Tunick (1938- present) is an American orchestral, musical director and composer. He is one of eleven people to have won all four major show business awards: the Tony Awards, Academy Awards, Emmy Awards and Grammy Awards. He is best known for his work with Stephen Sondheim, starting in 1970 with Company and continuing to the present day. Other credits include: Follies, A Little Night Music, A Chorus Line, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods and Titanic. Mike Nichols Mike Nichols (1931- present) is a German-born American television, stage and film director, writer, producer and comedian. Nichols is one of a small group of people who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award. Broadway credits include: Barefoot in the Park, Luv, The Odd Couple, The Apple Tree, The Little Foxes, Plaza Suite, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, Uncle Vanya, Streamers, Comedians, and Annie. Whoopi Goldberg Whoopi Goldberg (1955- present) is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host. She is one of the few entertainers who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award. She won a Tony Award as a producer of the Broadway musical Thoroughly Modern Millie. Stage performance credits include: Sister Act, Funny Girl, Xanadu, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Scott Rudin Scott Rudin (1958- present) is an American film producer and a theatrical producer. In 2012, Rudin became one of the few people who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award, and the first producer to do so. Credits include: Passion, Indiscretions, Hamlet, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The Goat or Who Is Sylvia?, Seven Guitars, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan, Copenhagen, Deuce Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The History Boys, Beckett/Albee, Closer, The Blue Room, Doubt and Fences. Oprah Winfrey Oprah Winfrey (1954- present) is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist. She produced the play From the Mississippi Delta and the hit musical The Color Purple, which was nominated for 10 Tony Awards. In 1985, Winfrey co-starred in Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple as distraught housewife, Sofia. She has been called “the world’s most powerful woman” and “one of the most influential people.” Frank Loesser Frank Loesser (1910-1969) was an American songwriter who wrote the lyrics and music to the Broadway hits Guys and Dolls and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, among others. He won separate Tony Awards for the music and lyrics in both shows, as well as sharing the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the latter. He died of lung cancer on July 28, 1969. Jerry Herman Jerry Herman (1931- present) is an American composer and lyricist. He composed the scores for the hit Broadway musicals Hello, Dolly!, Mame, and La Cage aux Folles. He has been nominated for the Tony Award five times, and won twice, for Hello, Dolly! and La Cage aux Folles. In 2009, Herman received the Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. He is a recipient of the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors. David Hyde Pierce David Hyde Pierce (1959present) is an American actor and comedian. He made his Broadway debut in 1982 in Beyond Theraphy. Other Credits include: The Heidi Chronicles, Children and Art, Spamalot, Accent on Youth, La Bête, Vonya and Sonia and Masha and Spike and The Landing. He won a Tony Award for his performance in Kander and Ebb’s Curtains. Barbra Streisand Barbra Streisand (1942present) is an American singersongwriter, author, actress, writer, film producer, and director. She is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award. In addition, she has also won an American Film Institute Award, a Kennedy Center Honors award and a Peabody Award. Jerome Kern Jerome Kern (1885-1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. He created dozen of Broadway musicals and Hollywood films in a career that lasted for more than four decades. His most notable work was Show Boat. While most Kern musicals have largely been forgotten, except for their songs, Show Boat remains wellremembered and frequently seen. He died on November 5, 1945 of a cerebral hemorrhage. Carol Channing Carol Channing (1921- present) is an American singer, actress, and comedian. She is the recipient of three Tony Awards (including one for lifetime achievement), a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination. Channing is best remembered for originating on Broadway the musical-comedy roles of widowed matchmaker Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly! and bombshell Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. John Houseman John Houseman (1902- 1988) was a Romanian-born British– American actor and film producer who became known for his highly publicized collaboration with director Orson Welles from their days in the Federal Theatre Project and it’s most controversial work, The Cradle Will Rock. He died on October 31, 1988 of spinal cancer. Arthur Laurents Arthur Laurents (1917- 2011) was an American playwright, stage director and screenwriter. His work on Broadway, includes West Side Story, Gypsy, Hallelujah, Baby!, and La Cage Aux Folles. He also directed some of his own shows and other Broadway productions. He died on May 5, 2011 of complications from pneumonia. Clifford Odets Clifford Odets (1906 – 1963) was an American playwright, screenw riter, and director. Odets has been looked on by many as an icon of the American theatre. Beginning with “Waiting for Lefty,” Odets quickly became the most famous young playwright in America. In the next four years he wrote five more plays, including “Awake and Sing!,” “Golden Boy” and “Rocket to the Moon.” He died on August 14, 1963 of stomach cancer. Nathan Lane Nathan Lane (1956- present) is a two-time Tony Awardwinning American actor of stage, screen, and television. In 1992, he starred in the hit revival of Guys and Dolls, receiving his first Tony nomination, as well as Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards. Lane won his second Tony Award for his portrayal of Max Bialystock in The Producers, as well as Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards. Ethel Merman Ethel Merman (1908– 1984) was an American actress and singer. Known primarily for her belting voice and roles in musical theatre, she has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage." Merman was known for her powerful, belting mezzosoprano voice, precise enunciation and pitch. She died on February 15, 1984 Henry Irving Sir Henry Irving (1838– 1905) was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility for season after season at the Lyceum Theatre, establishing himself and his company as representative of English classical theatre. He was the first actor to be awarded a knighthood. He died following a stroke on October 13, 1905. David Garrick David Garrick (1717- 1779) was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of theatrical practice throughout the 18th century. He made his debut as a professional actor at Ipswich in 1741. As an actor, Garrick promoted realistic acting that departed from the bombastic style that was entrenched when Garrick first came to prominence. In 1747, took over Drury Lane and led the declining theatre to success and accolades. He died on January 20, 1779 Zero Mostel Samuel Joel "Zero" Mostel (1915– 1977) was an American actor and comedian of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as Tevye on stage in Fiddler on the Roof, Pseudolus on stage and on screen in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Max Bialystock in the original film version of The Producers. He died on September 8, 1977. Hugh Jackman Hugh Jackman (1968- present) is an Australian actor and producer who is involved in film, musical theatre, and television. In 1998, when played the leading role of Curly in the Royal National Theatre's acclaimed stage production of Oklahoma!, in London's West End. In 2012, he starred as Jean Valjean in the film Les Misérables, an adaptation of the musical. Neil Patrick Harris Neil Patrick Harris (1973present) is an American actor, producer, and director. Harris was named as one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in 2010, and was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in September 2011. Harris has also hosted the Tony Awards on Broadway in 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2013. Kristen Chenoweth Kristen Chenoweth (1968present) is an American singer and actress, with credits in musical theatre, film and television. In 1999, she won a Tony Award for her performance as Sally Brown in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown on Broadway, and in 2003, she received wide notice for originating the role of Glinda in the musical Wicked. Jon Cryer Jon Cryer (1965- present) is an American actor, screenwriter, film director, and film producer. Cryer's first professional acting effort was as David in the Broadway play Torch Song Trilogy. Cryer was later an understudy and replacement for Broderick in Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs in 1989. In 2011, he appeared as David in the New York Philharmonic Concert’s performance of Stephen Sondheim’s Company. Edmund Kean Edmund Kean (1787- 1833) was an English actor, regarded in his time as the greatest ever. Kean quickly proved himself a master at portraying Shakespeare's classic villains, such as Iago, Macbeth, and Richard III. Kean's performance as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice was sensational and it prodded a London theatre world seemingly ready for change. He died on May 15, 1833. Jerzy Grotowski Jerzy Grotowski (1933- 1999) was a Polish theatre director and innovator of experimental theatre, the "theatre laboratory" and "poor theatre" concepts. Grotowski’s methods and pronouncements—which can be found in his highly influential work Towards a Poor Theatre (1968)—influenced such U.S. experimental theatre movements as The Living Theatre, the Open Theatre, and the Performance Group. He died on January 14, 1999. Oliver Smith Oliver Smith (1918-1994) was an American scenic designer. Smith designed dozens of Broadway musicals, films, and operas. Throughout his career, Smith was nominated for twenty-five Tony Awards, often multiple times in the same year, and won ten. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction for his work on Guys and Dolls. He died of emphysema on January 23, 1994.