On the Town - Off-Broadway Creative Team

Leonard Bernstein was born on August 25, 1918, in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He took piano lessons as a boy and attended the Garrison and Boston Latin Schools. At Harvard University, he studied with Walter Piston, Edward Burlingame-Hill, and A. Tillman Merritt, among others. Before graduating in 1939, he made an unofficial conducting debut with his own incidental music to "The Birds," and directed and performed in Marc Blitzstein's "The Cradle Will Rock." Then at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, he studied piano with Isabella Vengerova, conducting with Fritz Reiner, and orchestration with Randall Thompson. In 1940, he studied at the ... 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 Bruce has orchestrated nearly 100 musicals and operas the world over including War Paint, The Light in the Piazza (co-orchestrator; Tony Award), 9 to 5, Grey Gardens, Urinetown, The Wild Party (Broadway), Assassins (London), Floyd Collins and Giant. Awards: Tony Award (plus two nominations), Obie, Drama Desk (plus eight nominations). ... read more Kevin Stites is currently serving as Principal Conductor at Radio City Music Hall for their new show Heart And Lights. Most recently he was Music Director/Conductor for The 25th Anniversary Concert Performance of Crazy For You, with members of the original Broadway cast, and a 250 voice choir with the New York City Chamber Orchestra at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall. Last fall he served as Music Director/Pianist for Deborah Voigt’s Voigt Lessons, presented by the Celebrity Series in Boston. He also conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra in concert with Kristin Chenoweth, as well ... read more Tazewell has designed Broadway shows, theatre, film and television, dance, and opera for over 25 years. Starting his Broadway career with Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk directed by George C. Wolfe, he has since designed the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning Hamilton; Escape to Margaritaville; Summer; In the Heights; The Color Purple (2005); Dr. Zhivago; Memphis; Caroline, or Change; Elaine Stritch at Liberty; Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam; Lombardi; Magic/Bird; Side Show; A Streetcar Named Desire; Jesus Christ Superstar; Guys and Dolls; A Raisin in the Sun; and On the Town. In 2016, he received both a ... read more THE PUBLIC is theater of, by, and for all people. Artist-driven, radically inclusive, and fundamentally democratic, The Public continues the work of its visionary founder Joe Papp as a civic institution engaging, both on-stage and off, with some of the most important ideas and social issues of today. Conceived over 60 years ago as one of the nation's first nonprofit theaters, The Public has long operated on the principles that theater is an essential cultural force and that art and culture belong to everyone. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public's wide ... read more Paris and West End: An American in Paris. West End: Thoroughly Modern Millie; Rent; The Who’s Tommy. Broadway design credits include: Prince of Broadway; She Loves Me; Amazing Grace; An American in Paris; On the 20th Century; You Can’t Take It With You; The Bridges of Madison County; How to Succeed in Business…; The Color Purple; Caroline, or Change; Nine; The Green Bird; Thoroughly Modern Millie. Off-Broadway and Regional: Paradise Square (Berkeley Rep); Unmasked: The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber (Papermill Playhouse); Footloose (Kennedy Center); Scotland, PA (Roundabout); Evita (Bay Street); Grey Gardens (Bay Street); The Last Five Years (Second ... read more Theatre directing credits include The Iceman Cometh, Shuffle Along, or the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed (NY Drama Critics' Circle Award and Drama Desk Award for Best Musical); Lucky Guy; The Normal Heart (Drama Desk); Jelly's Last Jam (Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award); Angels in America: Millennium Approaches (Tony Award and Drama Desk) and Perestroika (Drama Desk); Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk (Tony and Drama League Award); Topdog/Underdog (Obie Award); Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 (Drama Desk); Elaine Stritch at Liberty (Tony for Special Theatrical Event); The Tempest; Caroline, or ... read more