Don Black (lyricist, Bonnie & Clyde) received two Tony awards for best book and lyrics of a musical for his work (with Christopher Hampton) on Sunset Boulevard. This marked his third collaboration with Andrew Lloyd Webber. They first joined forces to write the song cycle Tell Me on a Sunday which developed to form the basis of the stage show Song and Dance. They were reunited with Aspects of Love. He also wrote the lyrics for the Andrew Lloyd Webber produced Bombay Dreams. Awards include an Oscar for his song "Born Free," five Academy Award nominations, two Tony Awards and three Tony nominations, five Ivor Novello awards, a Golden Globe and many platinum, gold and silver discs. He has worked with some of the world's leading composers, including Jule Styne, Henry Mancini, Quincy Jones, John Barry, Elmer Bernstein, among others. Black has written a quintet of James Bond theme songs: "Thunderball," "Diamonds Are Forever," "The Man with the Golden Gun," "Surrender" and "The World Is Not Enough." He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008.
Ivan Menchell (book, Bonnie & Clyde) wrote the screenplay for the popular film The Cemetery Club, starring Ellen Burstyn, Olympia Dukakis and Diane Ladd, which was based on his Broadway play of the same name. He also contributed material to hit Broadway musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Jeff Calhoun (director, Bonnie & Clyde) directed and choreographed the award-winning Deaf West Theatre production of Big River (Tony and Drama Desk nominations, Best Revival; Drama Desk nomination for Best Director of a Musical; Ovation and L.A. Drama Critics Circle awards for Direction and Choreography). Last season, he directed and choreographed the Deaf West Theatre production of Pippin at the Mark Taper Forum. He provided the musical staging for the hit Broadway musical Grey Gardens and developed the first original ASL musical, Sleeping Beauty Wakes, at the Kirk Douglas Theater. Tony Award-winner Joe Hardy and Jeff co-directed Himself & Nora at The Old Globe. He directed and choreographed the 1994 Broadway revival of Grease! (Tony nomination, Best Choreography) and co-choreographed the Broadway revival of Annie Get Your Gun (Tony Award, Best Revival). His Broadway directing debut was Tommy Tune Tonight, and his collaboration with Mr. Tune led to the 1991 Tony for Best Choreography for the Will Rogers Follies. Audiences both in the United States and throughout the world have seen Jeff's world premiere production of Disney's High School Musical: On Tour. He is an Associate Artist at Ford's Theatre.
Memphis, which played to sold-out houses at La Jolla Playhouse last fall and won the San Diego Critics' Circle "Outstanding New Musical" Award, features music and lyrics by Bon Jovi keyboardist and founding member David Bryan, and book and additional lyrics by Joe DiPietro (I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, All Shook Up). This acclaimed new musical follows the life of the first white deejay who dared to play black music at the center of the radio dial. Taking place on legendary Beale Street in the early 1950s, this dynamic show explores the passion and roots of rock 'n' roll music, featuring an original gospel, rhythm & blues and early rock score fused with a contemporary sensibility.
The nationally acclaimed, Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse is known for its tradition of creating the most exciting and adventurous new work in regional theatre. The Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, and is considered one of the most well-respected not-for-profit theatres in the country. Numerous Playhouse productions have moved to Broadway, including Big River, The Who's Tommy, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, A Walk in the Woods, Dracula, Billy Crystal's 700 Sundays, the Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Jersey Boys, The Farnsworth Invention and 33 Variations. Located on the UC San Diego campus, La Jolla Playhouse is made up of three primary performance spaces: the Mandell Weiss Theatre, the Mandell Weiss Forum Theatre, and the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for La Jolla Playhouse, a state-of-the-Art Theatre complex which features the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre.
