Pardon My English - Off-Broadway Creative Team

... read more ... read more Ira Gershwin, the first songwriter to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize, was born in New York City on December 6, 1896. In 1917 The Evening Sun published his first song ("You May Throw All The Rice You Desire But Please Friends, Throw No Shoes"). Four years later Ira enjoyed his first major stage success, Two Little Girls in Blue, written with another Broadway newcomer, Vincent Youmans. In 1924 Ira and his brother, George, created the smash hit Lady Be Good and went on to continue their remarkable collaboration through a dozen major stage scores, producing such standards as "Fascinating Rhythm," ... read more George Gershwin was born in Brooklyn on September 26, 1898, and began his musical training when he was 13. At 16 he quit high school to work as a "song plugger" for a music publisher, and soon he was writing songs himself. "Swanee," as introduced by Al Jolson, brought George his first real fame and led to his writing a succession of 22 musical comedies, most with his older brother, Ira. The Gershwins' shows include Lady Be Good, Oh, Kay!, Strike Up the Band, Girl Crazy, and the Pulitzer Prize winning Of Thee I Sing. From his early career George ... read more Ira Gershwin, the first songwriter to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize, was born in New York City on December 6, 1896. In 1917 The Evening Sun published his first song ("You May Throw All The Rice You Desire But Please Friends, Throw No Shoes"). Four years later Ira enjoyed his first major stage success, Two Little Girls in Blue, written with another Broadway newcomer, Vincent Youmans. In 1924 Ira and his brother, George, created the smash hit Lady Be Good and went on to continue their remarkable collaboration through a dozen major stage scores, producing such standards as "Fascinating Rhythm," ... read more Broadway credits as Director/Choreographer: Evita (Tony nomination), How to Succeed (Tony nominations Direction/Choreography), Promises, Promises (Tony nomination Choreography); as Choreographer: Thoroughly Modern Millie (Tony Award Best Choreography), Wedding Singer (Tony nom.), Cry Baby (Tony nom.), Curtains (Tony nom.). London - as Director: Anna Christie (Donmar), A Streetcar Named Desire (Donmar - Olivier nomination, Best Revival), Shrek The Musical; as Director/Choreographer: Parade (Donmar - Olivier nominations, Direction/Choreography); as Choreographer: Evita (Olivier nom.), Guys and Dolls (Olivier nom.), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Olivier nom.), Forum at The National Theatre. Other: 81st Annual Academy Awards (Emmy Award Choreography). Rob is a member of The ... read more Broadway: Venus in Fur, Time Stands Still, A View from the Bridge, The Royal Family, The Color Purple, Doubt, Chicago, Dinner at Eight, Proof, Rabbit Hole, Last Night of Ballyhoo, A Delicate Balance, The Heiress, The Most Happy Fella, The Sisters Rosensweig, Burn This, Penn & Teller, Ain't Misbehavin', Talley's Folly, Crimes of the Heart, Morning's at Seven, among others. Off-Broadway: Other Desert Cities, The Substance of Fire, A Life in the Theatre. Thirty-six seasons with MTC, Lincoln Center, Circle Rep, City Center Encores! Tony, Obie, DD, OCC awards; Theatre Hall of Fame. Graduate of Brown and Yale School of ... read more Robert Russell Bennett orchestrated more than 300 Broadway musical scores including Show Boat; No, No, Nanette; Of Thee I Sing; Face the Music; Oklahoma!; Carmen Jones; Finian's Rainbow; Kiss Me, Kate; South Pacific; The King and I; My Fair Lady; and Camelot. His arrangements for the 1955 film version of Oklahoma! earned him an Academy Award. He also orchestrated and arranged Richard Rodgers' TV documentary score for "Victory at Sea." A classically trained composer, Bennett's prolific output of original compositions includes symphonies, sonatas, a ballet, a concerto and an opera. ... read more Ken Billington is a highly acclaimed lighting designer with over 50 years of experience in the theatre industry. Born in 1944 in Long Island, New York, Billington attended Hofstra University where he studied theatre and lighting design. After graduating, he began his career as a lighting designer in the Off-Broadway scene in the 1960s, eventually making his way to Broadway. Billington has designed the lighting for over 100 Broadway productions, including the original productions of Sweeney Todd, Chicago, and The Drowsy Chaperone. He has been nominated for the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design 21 times, winning three times for his ... read more David Ives is probably best known for his evenings of one-act comedies called All in the Timing and Time Flies. All in the Timing won the Outer Critics Circle Playwriting Award, ran for two years Off-Broadway, and in the 1995-96 season was the most performed play in the country after Shakespeare productions. His full-length plays include The School For Lies (adapted from Moliere's The Misanthrope and a major hit at New York's Classic Stage Company last spring); The Heir Apparent (an adaptation of J-F Regnard's comedy that was an audience and critical hit at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, ... read more Lehrer's recent credits New York include Carousel; Hello, Dolly!; Illyria; The Front Page; The Gabriels; Shuffle Along…; Fiddler on the Roof; Dames at Sea; The King and I (also London); Living on Love; Honeymoon in Vegas; Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance; Love Letters; A Raisin in the Sun; Betrayal; Lucky Guy; South Pacific (first Tony Award for Sound Design); Death of a Salesman; The Apple Family Plays: Scenes from Life in the Country; and over 60 City Center Encores! productions including Chicago. Recordings include An American in Paris (Grammy Award nomination), Loudon Wainwright’s High Wide and Handsome (Grammy Award), and ... read more NY Theater includes: The Normal Heart, Anything Goes (Tony® nomination), Glass Menagerie (Lortel nomination), Lend Me a Tenor (Hewes Award, Tony® & Outer Critics nominations), Thoroughly Modern Millie, Blithe Spirit (Tony® nomination), Kiss Me, Kate (Tony Award® winner), Pajama Game (Tony® nomination), Wild Party, Golden Child, Kimberly Akimbo, The Life. Opera: Iphigénie en Tauride (Metropolitan Opera), The Bartered Bride (Juilliard), Tristan & Isolde, Adriana Mater (Paris Opera/Bastille), L'amour de Loin (Salzburg, Paris/Chatelet, Santa Fe, Helsinki), Iolanta, Perséphone (Teatro Madrid); works throughout U.S., Canada, Europe and Japan. Dance: Mark Morris Dance Group, SF Ballet, Boston Ballet, Arizona Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet. ... read more