Morton can be heard on various cast recordings and has released his debut solo CD, NewClear. He has appeared in concert in New York City at the Oak Room at the Algonquin, Town Hall, the Metropolitan Room, the Zipper, Joe's Pub and Birdland, as well as at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and many other venues all over the country.
Morton performed in Signature's popular cabaret series in the summer and fall of 2009.
Jill Paice is Freddie Trumper's second, Florence Vassy, the woman that both Freddie and Anatoly Sergievsky love. On Broadway Paice has starred in The 39 Steps (Annabella et al), Curtains (Niki Harris), The Woman in White (Laura Fairlie), and A Little Night Music (Anne, Roundabout Gala with Vanessa Redgrave and Natasha Richardson). In London's West End she originated the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind as well as Laurie Fairlie in The Woman in White and Night of 1000 Voices at Royal Albert Hall. Other credits include Irving Berlin's White Christmas (Betty Haynes, Fox Theatre Detroit), Curtains (Niki Harris, Ahmanson Theater), Mamma Mia! in Las Vegas (Sophie), the national tour of Les Misèrables, The Gig (Lucy, York Theater), Weird Romance (Delphi/Susan, York Theater) and Gypsy (Great Lakes Theater Festival). Paice's television credits include Beautiful Life and The Wonderful Maladys. Paice has performed in the original cast recordings of Curtains, The Woman in White, The Gig, and Andrew Lloyd Webber on Broadway. She is a graduate of Baldwin-Wallace College.
Paice performed the role of the mother Elizabeth in Ace at Signature Theatre directed by Eric Schaeffer in the fall of 2008.
Eric Schaeffer (Director) is the artistic director/co-founder of Signature Theatre, recipient of the 2009 Regional Theatre Tony Award and home to the American Musical Voices Project, the largest musical theatre commissioning program in the country. Schaeffer has just directed the Broadway hit Million Dollar Quartet and has also directed Putting It Together and Glory Days on Broadway. On London's West End he directed The Witches of Eastwick. Schaeffer has directed over 40 productions for Signature including the world premieres of The Hollow, First You Dream, Saving Aimee, and Nevermore; the American premieres of The Fix and The Witches of Eastwick, as well as Les Misérables, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods, among others. Known for his direction of the works of Stephen Sondheim, he has staged nine of the composer's musicals at Signature Theatre and was artistic director for the Kennedy Center's Sondheim Celebration where he directed Sunday in the Park with George and Passion. Regionally, he has directed at the Mark Taper Forum, the Goodman Theatre, Ford's Theatre, and Arena Stage. His awards include six Helen Hayes Awards for Direction. Next season at Signature, in addition at Chess, Schaeffer will direct Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard and the world premiere of Joseph Thalken's Wheatley's Folly.
Recipient of the 2009 Regional Theatre Tony Award®, Signature Theatre is a non-profit professional theater company dedicated to producing contemporary musicals and plays, reinventing classic musicals, and developing new work. Under the leadership of co-founder and Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer and Managing Director Maggie Boland, Signature has presented 26 world premiere productions and is renowned for combining Broadway-quality productions with intimate playing spaces. In addition to the finest talent from the DC metropolitan area and New York, Signature has been a home to such theater luminaries as John Kander and Fred Ebb, Cameron Mackintosh, Terrence McNally, and the company's signature composer, Stephen Sondheim. Since its founding in 1989, Signature has been nominated for 276 Helen Hayes Awards for excellence in the professional theater and has been honored with 70 Helen Hayes Awards, including Outstanding Musical in 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2009, and Outstanding Play in 1999.
For more information, visit www.signature-theatre.org.
Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.
