An Officer and a Gentleman at Capital One Hall

Tory Vagasy

Tory Vagasy was a semifinalist on NBC’s America’s Got Talent Season 16, where she dazzled the judges with her performances of “Into The Unknown” from Frozen 2, “Heart of Stone” from SIX and “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” from The Lion King. Prior to AGT Tory garnered over 1.5 million views and 342,000 followers on TikTok as a singer. Some of her recent theater credits include Julia in The Wedding Singer at The Henegar Center (Melbourne, Fla), Nicola in Kinky Boots at Slow Burn Theatre (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and Veronica Sawyer in The Music of Heathers The Musical at the Green Room 42 (New York, N.Y.). This April, Vagasy will make her Feinstein’s/54 Below Debut in Northshore vs. Westerberg.

Roger Griffin

Roger is the book writer and lyricist for THE PIPER, currently in development with a recent reading at the Rave Theater Festival, NYC. He wrote music, book and lyrics for LIGHTS OUT! produced at the Barn Dinner Theatre in Richmond, Virginia, and wrote book and lyrics for Vagabond Kings, Theatre Building Chicago. An experienced actor and director, Roger has appeared in both dinner theater and mainstage productions, directed over forty classic musicals and plays, and voiced numerous film narrations and training modules. Recently, JABERWOCKY, STUFF AND NONSENSE, his recording of Lewis Carroll’s nonsense poems, has been re-released as an Audiobook at www.jabberwockystuffandnonsense.com. While based in Chicago, he produced and directed a wide variety of films and videos, including PSAs, documentaries, television commercials and business-to-business advertising. Award winners include ALICE IN WONDERLAND (Weisman Award), HONORING THE GENERATIONS (Aurora, Telly), MAGGIE'S ATTIC (Intercom), and THE ARREST IS ONLY THE BEGINNING, winner of six international awards, seen on PBS and nightly on Cox Cable for an entire year. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild.

Susan DiLallo

Susan wrote book and lyrics for the original musical comedy, Once Upon a Time in New Jersey, produced worldwide and licensed by TRW; Barbie Live! In Fairytopia, a Mattel/Clear Channel production; Fancy Nancy The Musical, original cast CD released by Ghostlight Records; and two Angelina Ballerina musicals. Other credits include the libretto for Onanov Broadway (formerly Iron Curtain), developed during a residency at the Eugene O’Neill Music Theater Conference; the revised libretto for the classic Arthur Schwartz/ Dorothy Fields/George Abbott musical A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and co-libretto for Fancy, a country jukebox musical that recently premiered at the Meadow Brook Theater. Awards include the Kleban Award; a Richard Rodgers Development Award; a Jonathan Larson grant; and a New York Innovative Theater Award for Best Off-Off-Broadway Musical. She was the winner of The Global Search for New Musicals Competition, Cardiff; the KIDDSTUFF New Play Competition; and Creative Child Magazine CD of the Year. She has two Outer Critics Circle nominations and was a Fred Ebb Award finalist. When she’s not writing musicals, Susan co-authors thrillers with James Patterson. She is a member of New York Women in Film and Television, ASCAP, and the Dramatists Guild.

Stephen Weiner

Steve is an Obie, Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel nominated composer. He has won two Richard Rodgers Awards for Musical Theatre from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and is a recipient of the Jonathan Larson Grant for Musical Theatre. His many musicals have been seen Off-Broadway, regionally, and in the United Kingdom, and numerous songs have been performed in showcases and theatre cabarets across the country. His recent efforts in progress are the Count of Monte Cristo with Peter Kellogg, Rocket Science with Patricia Cotter and Jason Rhyne, and The Honeymooners with Peter Mills, Bill Nuss and Dusty Kay following its initial tryout at The Papermill Playhouse. After Happily Ever After“happily” reunites him with Susan DiLallo, with whom he collaborated on the award-winning Once Upon a Time in New Jersey and Onanov Broadway (formerly Iron Curtain). Steve is a member of ASCAP and The Dramatists Guild.

John Plumpis

John has directed or acted in 31 productions at The Actors Company Theatre in New York, directing their productions of Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Spinning Into Butter, The Magistrate, Come Blow Your Horn, I’ll Leave it to You, Toys in the Attic, The Dock Brief, and If Men Played Cards as Women Do. He also directed Charlotte’s Web for The Great American Children’s Theatre. John’s acting credits include National companies of The Lion King, Neil Simon’s Laughter on the 23rd Floor, and Barrymore, starring Christopher Plummer (both on stage and in the 2011 film). He has appeared in multiple Off-Broadway productions, and in a wide variety of comedies, dramas, musicals and Shakespeare at many of North America’s leading regional theatres including Denver Center, Yale Rep, Baltimore Center Stage, and Cincinnati Playhouse, among others. His recent television appearances include Apple TV’s Little America, Half Life, and HBO’s The Deuce. He is a frequent guest lecturer at colleges and universities, conducting master classes at over 50 institutions, and has taught multiple semesters at Montclair State University. Some of his thoughts on Theatre have been published in the Northwest Theatre Review.

Brian Russell Carey

Brian plays 12 instruments and is an actor, songwriter/composer, creative director, and videographer in addition to being an accomplished musician. He has worked at regional theaters across the country as well as Royal Caribbean International, is the music supervisor for In Pieces: A New Musical by Joey Contreras and was the music producer on the recent album. He is the resident music director at the Open Jar Institute andis faculty at Molloy College CAP 21, AMDA having taught previously at NYU, UVU & BYU. He loves to teach and works all over the city teaching master classes and privately as a vocal and audition coach. His New York acting credits include starring in Red Roses, Green Gold, the Grateful Dead musical Off-Broadway, A Christmas Carol (MOD), Johnny & The Devil’s Box, Club Gelbe Stern, and Beau. Regional credits include Back Home Again, Ring of Fire, The All Night Strut!, All Shook Up, and She Loves Me.

Nellesa Walthour

Nellesa is a choreographer, dancer, actress and dance educator. Her passion for communicating through movement began at a young age. Whether working in musical theater, jazz or contemporary dance styles, she is inspired by stories or ideas that encourage self-reflection and introspection. She encourages students and professionals alike to explore how these ideas and concepts inform how movement is executed. Musical theater works include productions of West Side Story and Merrily We Roll Along, and assisting for Trav’lin at the NYMF. She has choreographed dances for Dallas Black Dance Theater, Benjamin Briones Ballet, Festivals, Competition Teams, and her own solo works. She recently completed two personal dance films and created two for Benjamin Briones Ballet. Trained at the renowned Alvin Ailey Dance School, Nellesa has danced with contemporary companies like Dallas Black Dance Theater, Earl Mosely’s Diversity of Dance, Nathan Trice Rituals, Patricia Kenney Collection and others, performing works of many inspiring choreographers such as Alonzo King, David Parsons, Elisa Monte, Donald Byrd, and Donald McKayle (who called her his nightingale), to name a few. Theatrical credits include Disney’s The Lion King, Ragtime at the Kennedy Center, The Denver Center’s Frankenstein, Pippin and The Call. Her recent television appearances include High Fidelity, The Blacklist, Bull and The Good Wife.

Julie Saltman

Julie holds a degree from Carnegie Mellon and an MFA in costume design from Brandeis University. Her Broadway credits include Lestat, High Fidelity, Spring Awakening, 110 in the Shade, among others. Off-Broadway credits include Altar Boyz and Shakespeare in the Park’s Twelfth Night, starring Anne Hathaway. She worked for the producers of Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark, which led to creating and developing Taking Wing: Legends of Emimencia, an immersive techno-enhanced production using AR, video mapping, and avatars. On the set of Disney’s wildly popular Enchanted, Julie built costumes for Susan Sarandon. And for Julie Taymor’s Across the Universe, she created the “big blue meanie” masks. Other film work includes Reason, Delivery Man (starring Vince Vaughn), Miracle of Spanish Harlem, and Smart Shorties. For the small screen, Julie has had the great fortune to work on groundbreaking shows like Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and Zoom! Small Miracles, a web series for which she was nominated for a Crystal Award in costume design, marks her tenth TV pilot. But what sets Julie apart from other costume designers is her vast experience in producing as well, including extensive involvement in several backers’ auditions, fundraisers, charity events, TV pilots, and sizzle reels.