Matters of the Heart - Broadway Creative Team

Lynn Ahrens' writing spans the Broadway stage, feature film and network television. She won the Tony Award, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards and received two Grammy nominations as lyricist of the Broadway musical Ragtime; in the same year, she received two Academy Award nominations, two Golden Globe nominations and a Gold Record for Twentieth Century Fox's animated feature film Anastasia. She wrote book and lyrics for Seussical (Grammy nomination, one of the most performed shows in America); Once On This Island (London Olivier Award, Best Musical, Tony nominations for Best Book and Score); Lincoln Center Theater's The Glorious Ones ... read more ... read more ... read more ... read more Collins is an American singer-songwriter and musician with a career spanning seven decades. An Academy Award-nominated documentary director and a Grammy Award-winning recording artist, she is known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records (which has included folk music, country, show tunes, pop music, rock and roll and standards), for her social activism, and for the clarity of her voice. Her discography consists of 36 studio albums, nine live albums, numerous compilation albums, four holiday albums, and 21 singles. Collins' debut studio album, A Maid of Constant Sorrow, was released in 1961 and consisted of traditional folk songs. She ... read more Stephen Flaherty writes music for theater, film, recordings and the concert stage. He is perhaps best known as the composer of the Broadway musicals Ragtime (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Awards, two Grammy nominations), Seussical (Grammy and Drama Desk nominations), Once on This Island (Tony nomination, Olivier Award for London's Best Musical), and also contributed music to Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life (original songs) and Neil Simon's Proposals (incidental music). He has also written four musicals produced at Lincoln Center Theatre: The Glorious Ones (Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk nominations), Dessa Rose (Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk ... read more ... read more Oscar Greeley Clendenning Hammerstein II was an American lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer, and (usually uncredited) director in musical theater for nearly 40 years. He won eight Tony Awards and two Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Many of his songs are standard repertoire for vocalists and jazz musicians. He co-wrote 850 songs. He is best known for his collaborations with composer Richard Rodgers, as the duo Rodgers and Hammerstein, whose musicals include Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music. Described by Stephen Sondheim as an "experimental playwright", Hammerstein helped bring the American musical to new ... read more ... read more ... read more ... read more ... read more ... read more A Grammy, Emmy and Tony award winning artist with 30 sterling years and global record sales in excess of 50 million, Cyndi Lauper has proven that she has the heart and soul to keep her legion of fans compelled by her every creative move. Lauper recently became a New York Times Best Selling author with her autobiography – Cyndi Lauper: A Memoir – published by Simon & Schuster and wrote the original score for the Tony award winning best musical Kinky Boots. Helping others has always been a guiding force for Cyndi and she focuses her efforts to make a difference ... read more ... read more ... read more Bob Merrill was one of the most successful songwriters during the 1950s, with a string of novelty hits such as "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?", “(If I Knew You Were Comin’ Id‘ve) Baked a Cake”, “Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania”, “Mambo Italiano”, “Honeycomb” and “Make Yourself Comfortable”. Longing to write more profound songs, Bob turned his efforts toward the musical theatre. By the late fifties, he had written music and lyrics for Broadway’s “New Girl In Town”, followed by “Take Me Along”, “Carnival”, “Henry, Sweet Henry” and eventually “Funny Girl” featuring the hit songs “People” and “Don’t Rain On My ... read more Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell CC is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter and painter. Drawing from folk, pop, rock, classical, and jazz, Mitchell's songs often reflect on social and philosophical ideals as well as her feelings about romance, womanhood, disillusionment and joy. ... read more ... read more ... read more Born an Aquarius in Venice, CA on January 23, 1932, James Alexander Radomski grew up in Rochester, New York and Washington, DC, along with his brother Ted and late beloved sister Charlotte. He resided in Hoboken, NJ until his death. His daydream, since he was a teenager, was to write a Broadway musical. He taught himself how to write lyrics from intense study of the works of Rodgers & Hammerstein, Rodgers & Hart, Cole Porter and others, as well as pop music from the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. In college, he wrote the music and lyrics for two shows: Interlude ... read more ... read more Richard Rodgers was an American composer of 43 Broadway musicals, leaving a legacy as one of the most significant composers of 20th century American music. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II. His compositions have had a significant impact on popular music. Rodgers was the first person to win an EGOT. In addition, he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize, making him one of only two people to receive all five awards ... read more Stephen Sondheim is widely acknowledged as the most innovative, most influential, and most important composer and lyricist in modern Broadway history. He is the winner of an Academy Award, numerous Tony Award, multiple Grammy Awards and a Pulitzer Prize. Some of his other accolades include a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center Honors (1993), the National Medal of Arts (1996), the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Gold Medal for Music (2006) and a special Tony Awards for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre (2008). Stephen Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics for Road Show (2008), Passion (1994), Assassins (1991), Into ... read more ... read more ... read more John Weidman is an American librettist and television writer for Sesame Street. He has worked on stage musicals with Stephen Sondheim and Susan Stroman. ... read more ... read more ... read more