A sneak peak into my nyc rehearsal day with the cast & creatives of National Pastime - preparing to get on stage in New Hope & they're clearly loving every minute of it! Show starts April 2nd & runs through the 19th! CLICK ON the photo below to see the series from the day!
“National Pastime” – cast and creative include:
MATTHEW BAUMAN (Ensemble) BCP debut! New York: Saturday Night (York Theatre); A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Peccadillo Theater); Pipe Dream (City Center Encores); I’d Rather Be Right (Musicals Tonight). REGIONAL: Kiss Me, Kate (Barrington Stage); A Chorus Line (Berkshire Theatre Festival); A Funny Thing… Forum (Shakespeare Theatre); Hello! My Baby (Goodspeed); The Great American Mousical (Goodspeed, dir. Julie Andrews); Tarzan (NSMT); Beauty and the Beast, Damn Yankees, Footloose (St. Louis MUNY); Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (Edinburgh Fringe). Brown University c/o 2010. www.matthew-bauman.com
MEREDITH BECK (Jingle Girl/Ensemble) is happy to be back at the BCP! She previously appeared in THANKS as a part of the Oscar Hammerstein series, & as a member of the Galway Girls Irish Concert. Some favorite roles include: Nellie- South Pacific/BTOP, Alice Russell- LIZZIE/11th Hour, The Irish & How They Got That Way/Philly & Boston cast, & Suzy-The Marvelous Wonderettes/MGR. Thank you to my family for their support. Thank you to Hunter, Lorin, Alex & Robyn for this opportunity. www.meredithbeck.com. Proud member of AEA. BFA Ithaca College.
WILL BLUM (Marty) is thrilled to be making his Bucks County Playhouse debut! Broadway: The Book of Mormon (Elder Cunningham), Grease (Roger) National Tour: Elf: The Musical (Buddy the Elf) Hair (Margaret Mead/Dad/Tribe), and Seussical (Horton). Regional: Harmony (Ari “Lesh” Leshnikoff) at the Ahmanson and Alliance Theatre. Little Shop of Horrors (Seymour) at Geva Theatre. The 25th Annual... Spelling Bee (Barfée) at Paper Mill Playhouse and Philadelphia Theatre Company, Jesus Christ Superstar (King Herod) at Pittsburgh CLO, Sweet Charity (Oscar), A Funny Thing ... Forum (Hysterium), Big River (Huck) and Floyd Collins (Floyd). BFA from The Boston Conservatory. Instagram: @willblum
DANIELLA MIA DINIZ (Jingle Girl/Ensemble) is thrilled to be a part of National Pastime! Past credits: The Addams Family (Gateway and Ogunquit Playhouses), Young Frankenstein (Saint Michael's Playhouse), The Music Man (John W. Engeman Theater), One Life to Live and commercials. She graduated from Cornell University with a B.A. in English and Theater, minor in Dance. Huge thanks to everyone from National Pastime and her family!
JANINE DIVITA (Karen) is happy to return to BCP after appearing as Woman #3 in The World Goes Round! Broadway: Grease (Rizzo), Anything Goes (Reno u/s), The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Isabel Yearsley, Drood/Rosa u/s). 1st National: Young Frankenstein (Elizabeth). Select regional: Grey Gardens (Young Little Edie, PCS), Evita (Eva Peron, John Engeman Theatre), Oliver! (Nancy, WST, Barrymore Award Nom), Spamalot (Lady of the Lake, TUTS), Sunday in the Park with George (Dot/Marie, HRT). Select concerts: Edmonton Symphony, International Tour of Broadway Rox. TV/Film: This is the Moment (PBS), Boychoir (Feature Film). Education: University of Michigan BFA Musical Theatre. www.janinedivita.com
STEPHANIE GIBSON (Betty Lou) was most recently seen on Broadway playing step-sister Gabrielle in Cinderella. Other Broadway: Addams Family and Spamalot. National tours: A Chorus Line (Judy) and Happy Days (Lori Beth). Other: Anyone Can Whistle (City Center Encores) and Fingers and Toes (NYMF). Film and Television: "Person of Interest","Up All Night", "The Union", "You Must Be Joking", “All My Children,” “As the World Turns,” and “Guiding Light,”. She co-stars in her original webseries Dates, Mates and Clean Slates. www.datesmatesandcleanslates.com. BFA from Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Love and thanks to Stewart Talent, Insight, and my family in Texas!
ABE GOLDFARB (Vinny/Rogers/Ensemble) studied drama at the Bristol Old Vic, and has worked with such companies as the Jean Cocteau Rep, Theatreworks USA and The Pumpkin Pie Show. His voice can be heard in several computer games by Wadjet Eye Games, Play First and Owl Cave Games. He also emcees burlesque under the pseudonym Bastard Keith. You can catch him at the Slipper Room, The Bridges and innumerable other venues around NYC and beyond. www.bastardkeith.com. Thank you for everything, Rosebud
ANDREW KOBER (Joe/Jackson/JP Sloan) is currently on Broadway in Les Misérables. Broadway/West End: Hair (Original 2009 Revival Cast). National Tour: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Regional: Shakespeare in the Park, Roundabout Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Yale Rep, Barrington Stage, Denver Center, Gateway Playhouse. TV: "House of Cards" (Nelflix), "Boardwalk Empire" (HBO), "Blue Bloods" (CBS), "Pan Am" (ABC). Film: Chin Up, Keeping Them Blind. Andrew's solo show, Koberet, has been seen at Joe's Pub, (le) Poisson Rouge, 54 Below, and at NYMF. BFA in Acting from Carnegie Mellon University. For more, visit www.andrewkoberonline.com
KELLI MAGUIRE (Mary) is thrilled to be playing one of her favorite roles here at Bucks County. Among performing Mary in National Pastime in New York some a Kelli's other credits include Sessions (sunshine), Oklahoma (ado Annie, violet (violet) and Unsinkable Molly Brown (Molly). Kelli has traveled all over with world with her own show and has been in numerous commercials. Much love to husband Tony and my amazing daughter, AJ.
MICHAEL DEAN MORGAN (Lawrence) Upcoming: Amazing Grace, coming to Broadway in 2015; Mary Poppins at Kansas City Starlight this summer. Tour: Three years and 50 cities as Mr. Banks in Mary Poppins; Zazu in The Lion King; Originated Marlin in Finding Nemo -The Musical by Bobby Lopez and Kristin Anderson-Lopez . New York: The Goldstein Variations; Scrambled Eggs; reading of Cheer Wars with Sally Struthers. Regional: Amazing Grace (Chicago), Kiss Me Kate at Barrington Stage Co; Rep. Theater of St Louis; Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; Utah Shakespeare. Teaching: Princeton Theological Seminary and founder of the Dialect Lab of Princeton. www.DialectLab.com
SPENCER PLACHY (Barry) Broadway: Romeo & Juliet (Apothecary/US Mercutio), The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Jasper US). Off-Broadway: The Common Pursuit (dir Moises Kaufman). Tours: Oklahoma! (Curly), Fiddler on the Roof (Perchik US). Regional: Theatre Aspen - The Cottage (Beau), The Alley Theatre - Cyrano de Bergerac, A Christmas Carol, The Man who Came to Dinner (dir John Rando), and Rock N' Roll. Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival - 1776 (Jefferson), South Pacific (Cable), The Two Noble Kinsmen, Antony and Cleopatra, Amadeus, My Fair Lady (Freddy). Very excited to be invited to Bucks County Playhouse this season, in New Hope, where I proposed and Laura said YES!
ALEXANDRIA VAN PARIS (Jingle Girl/Ensemble) is absolutely thrilled to be making her debut at Bucks County Playhouse in National Pastime! Past credits include; Chicago (The Legacy Theater), CATS and Chicago (Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre), Funny Girl (Skyline Theater Company), Chicago (Arts Center of Coastal Carolina), and Singin’ in the Rain (Drury Lane Oakbrook.) Alexandria would like to thank Hunter, Lorin, David and the entire cast and creative team for this wonderful experience! Love to Taylor, her family, and her puppy Penny. “To God be the glory!” Galations 1:5
HUNTER FOSTER (Director) is an artistic associate at the Bucks County Playhouse where he has directed Summer of '42, The Rocky Horror Show, National Pastime, Ain't Misbehavin' and later this spring, Company. He also wrote the books to the Off-Broadway musicals, Jasper in Deadland and Summer of '42 (outer critic nomination for best musical). Other book writing credits include The Circus in Winter which premiered at Goodspeed Musicals last fall, Clyde and Bonnie: A Folktale, which premiered at the New York Musical Theatre Festival and then at Aurora Theatre in Atlanta and The Hollow which premiered at Signature Theatre in Virginia. He wrote comedy sketches for the "Rosie Live" show on NBC starring Rosie O'Donnell. As an actor, he has appeared on Broadway in The Bridges of Madison County, Hands on a Hardbody, Million Dollar Quartet, The Producers, Little Shop of Horrors (Tony nomination), Urinetown, Les Miserables, Footloose, Grease, King David. Hunter is a graduate of the University of Michigan (BFA in theatre, 1992).
LORIN LATARRO (Choreographer) choreographed Broadway’s Waiting For Godot with Sir Patrick Stuart and Sir Ian McKellen, Ira Glass’s This American Life: 21 Chump Street at BAM for Michael Mayer and Lin-Manuel Miranda, Peter and The Wolf at BAM, Queen Of The Night- with Christine Jones, Shana Carroll, Jen Rubell, Encore’s Fanny with Marc Bruni, Kiss Me Kate at Barrington Stage and LMNOP with Joe Calarco, Broadway’s Curious Incident, American Idiot and The Met Opera’s Rigoletto (Associate to Michael Mayer and Steven Hoggett), Songs For A New World with Danny Goldstein, Pretty Dead Girl for Sheryl Kaller, Band Geeks-Below 54, Scandalous, Cy Coleman’s The Best Is Yet To Come (Drama Desk Award) and The Goodbye Girl with David Zippel, Sendak’s Hansel and Gretel for PBS Live From Lincoln Center, Ingmar Bergman’s Nora at Westport Playhouse, Hands On A Hard Body and Broadway 4-D (Assoc to Sergio Trujillo), Jasper In Deadland –The 5th Avenue, City Club-Minetta Lane, Forever Plaid: Plaid Tidings, The Rocky Horror Show, Ain’t Misbehavin’, The World Goes ‘Round, Grand Night For Singing, Summer of ’42, It’s a Wonderful Life: a Live Radio Play, Meet Me in St. Louis: a Live Radio Play - Bucks County Playhouse, Lysistrata-Avery Fisher, Die Zauberflote, Wozzeck, Love For Three Oranges, Winter’s Tale- Juilliard Opera Co, Holland Cruise Line international shows, Westport Galas for Bernadette Peters and A.R.Gurney, Jersey Shore and Heroes-Broadway Bares, pieces for MOMIX. ‘Rewrite’ music video for Sia. Greenday’s Grammy performance, NBC’s Grease TV, dance commercials for Savion Glover and Coco Rocha. As a performer Lorin was in 14 Broadway shows including lead roles in Fosse, Swing, Chorus Line, Movin’ Out, Spamalot, and toured internationally with Martha Graham, Twyla Tharp and MOMIX. She is a Dancebreak recipient. Lorin works with the Gates Foundation in Africa and India and is the founder of artammo.org seen on CNN, BBC, PBS, and Rachel Maddow. Lorin holds a BFA, and is an adjunct professor, at The Juilliard School. She lives in Williamsburg with her fiancé, Dr. Brian Kopell, a neurosurgeon at Mt Sinai, and their twenty pound cat, The Notorious Phatty. Lorin is an Artistic Associate of the Bucks County Playhouse. Latarro.com
DAVID WOLFSON (Musical Director / Arrangements & Orchestrations) has worked as music director, composer, orchestrator, arranger, pianist, copyist or synthesizer programmer for performances in venues ranging from Broadway theatres to elementary school cafetoriums. He has served as music director and/or arranger for numerous regional and Off-Broadway productions, including Al Tapper’s An Evening at the Carlyle and National Pastime, and has played in the pits of over twenty-five Broadway shows, including all three productions of Les Miserables. He is working towards his PhD in music composition at Rutgers University. To hear David’s original music, please visit www.davidwolfsonmusic.net.
JASON SHERWOOD (Scenic Designer) Recent designs include THE CIRCUS IN WINTER (world premiere) at Goodspeed Musicals; THE MYSTERIES (world premiere) at the Flea Theatre; CA LYONS PROJECTS (world premiere) at the Alliance Theatre; NDEBELE FUNERAL (world premiere) at 59E59; CHOIR BOY at Studio Theatre. Upcoming: COMPANY at Bucks County Playhouse, JASPER IN DEADLAND at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre, SILENCE! THE MUSICAL at Studio Theatre, and associate design for LIVING ON LOVE on Broadway. Jason is the 2013 LiveDesign Magazine "Young Designer to Watch" and a 2013 USITT Rising Designer Award Finalist. NYU grad. www.jasonsherwooddesign.com
JENNIFER CAPRIO (Costume Designer) Broadway: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. West End: The Lion (St. James) Current National Tour: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Selected NYC: Little Children Dream of God (Roundabout), Tail! Spin! (Culture Project), The Lion (MTC, Culture Project and Tour), Little Miss Sunshine (Second Stage), In Transit (Primary Stages), Fugitive Songs (Dreamlight), and Striking 12 (Daryl Roth). Opera: Florida Grand, Minnesota Opera, Opera Colorado, Mill City Summer Opera. Costume Designs at over 60 US Regional Theaters.
JAKE DEGROOT (Lighting Designer) Off-Broadway: Abrons Art Center (Les Freres Corbusier); The Griffin, The Linney (NYMF); The New Ohio; The Peter J. Sharp (Theatre C); The New School for Drama; The Beckett; The Lion. Regional: The Huntington, Cincinnati Playhouse, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, New York Stage and Film, Williamstown, The Hayworth, W.H.A.T., ReVision. Associate: B’way: Skylight, The Performers, Born Yesterday, Time Stands Still; Mary Stuart; Old Acquaintance. Off-B’way: Here Lies Love; Roundabout; MTC; Second Stage; The Vineyard. International: National Theatre of Norway, TheatreWorks Singapore, Norwegian Cruise Line (Dir. Patricia Wilcox, John Carrafa), Holland America Line, Regent Seven Seas, Shanghai Centre Theatre. Co-Lighting Supervisor: Williamstown 08-09. www.jakedegroot.com
DAVID A. THOMAS (Sound Designer) previously at BCP: Chapter Two and The Tale of the Allergists Wife. In NYC, Mr. Thomas has designed for HERE Arts Center, Peccadillo Theatre Company, Storm Theatre, Urban Stages, Astoria Performing Arts Center, TerraNOVA Collective, Summer Play Festival, and Redshift Productions. As an assistant sound designer on Broadway, he has worked on Cinderella and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (each nominated for Tony Awards in sound design), as well as several others. His regional designs include productions for Yale Repertory Theatre, Capital Repertory Theatre, The Arvada Center, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and Theatre Aspen.
GREG SANTOS (Associate Director) Greg Santos (Associate Director) is happy to be back at BCP where he’s been the Associate Director for the last 2 seasons on the The Rocky Horror Show. NYC: Charles Busch’s The Tribute Artist (Primary Stages), Judith of Bethulia, Times Square Angel (TNC) and The Divine Sister (Daryl Roth/Soho Playhouse). The Visit, starring Chita Rivera and Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol (Actors Fund), Carried Away: Being Comden & Green and Here’s To The Girls: Hollywood’s Leading Ladies(92nd St Y), Hello Again (Transport Group). Also, Tenderloin, The Mad Show, Harold & Maude and I Love My Wife (York Theater). Numerous NYC Readings, Galas, Benefits and Concerts.
ABBEY O’BRIEN (Associate Choreographer) credits include: NBC’s Jimmy Fallon Show, CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman, Spamalot (Atl.Lyric Theatre), Grow (Vegas Industrial)), Performa Gala (NYC), Wondrously Strange (Perry-Mansfield), TD Bank (NYC Industrial). Associate credits include: Double Portrait (indie film), Elf (Paper Mill Playhouse), Ragtime (Lincoln Center), Plaid Tidings (Bucks Co.Playhouse), Legs (Tory Birch Commercial), Microsoft (Industrial), Chicago (Ogunquit Playhouse). As a performer some of her favorite Broadway and TV credits include: NBC's Smash, TonyAward winning cast of Spamalot, Tony nominated cast of Pal Joey, The Rockettes (Radio City Music Hall)), NBC's Celebrity Apprentice, Longshot (film), Martha Plimpton Sings? (Lincoln Center), Sinatra (Radio City Music Hall), No Strings (City Center), Sugar Boy (web series), Ghostlight (Signature Theater), A Chorus Line (Helen Hayes). Regional credits include: Chicago (Mona/The Muny), A Funny Thing Happened… (Geminae/Goodspeed), Anything Goes (Virtue/Kansas City Starlight), Joseph and the… (Mrs. Potiphar/Casa Manana), Will Rogers Follies (Sacramento Music Circus). As well as numerous commercials and award shows.
REBECCA MCBEE (Production Stage Manager) is happy to be returning to Bucks County Playhouse! Past BCP credits include: The Rocky Horror Show (BCP, dir. Hunter Foster), Ain’t Misbehavin’ (BCP, dir. Hunter Foster), and Summer of ’42 (BCP, dir. Hunter Foster). A stage manager & audio engineer, select credits include Off-Broadway: Murder For Two, Fast Company, Silence! The Musical, F#%king Up Everything, Working A Musical, Cougar the Musical, Skippyjon Jones, Out of Iceland, The Yellow Brick Road; National Tour: The Yellow Brick Road, Junie B. Jones, A Christmas Carol, The Color of Justice; Other NY: NY4OK, Naked Angels, Broadway Bares. www.rebeccamcbee.com
CHRIS FLORES (Assistant Stage Manager) is happy to return to Bucks County. Recent credits include: Cheer Wars (NYC Reading). Bucks County Playhouse: Forever Plaid: Plaid Tidings, Ain’t Misbehavin’, The Rocky Horror Show and Summer of ’42. Off-Broadway/NYC: Value Ville (NYMF), 3 Kinds of Exile (Atlantic), Romeo and Juliet (Titan Theater Co. ), Venus and Mona (Chain Theater) and The Collective. Regional: Merry Go Round Playhouse: Hank Williams: Lost Highway, The Guthrie Theater: After A Hundred Years, 9 Parts of Desire, Pen, Third, Peer Gynt, and Jane Eyre. National Tours: Mamma Mia! (Worklight Productions) and Encore! (Chamber Theater).
ALBERT M. TAPPER (Music & Lyrics) Al Tapper is composer/lyricist of the Off Broadway shows Sessions, An Evening at the Carlyle and National Pastime. He won a Peabody Award for his documentary Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy. The documentary explores the phenomenal relationship that Broadway has had with Jewish Americans. From George Gershwin to Irving Berlin to Kander and Ebb to Stephen Sondheim, Tapper also produced the critically acclaimed documentary Broadway: The Golden Age which won a Telly Award. His own musicals have been produced in New York and around the country. Sessions, for which he wrote the book, music and lyrics, played for more than 300 performances Off Broadway and was translated into Spanish and played in Mexico where it won the best musical of 2013. National Pastime recently finished productions in Phoenix, Scranton and Austin and thanks to The Bucks County Playhouse hopes to return in 2015 as a Broadway show. He is currently working on a new musical " On The a Rails." and a new documentary film that focuses on the career of the immortal baseball player Ted Williams.
TONY SPORTIELLO (Book) has written more than two dozen stage plays, and has been produced all over the world, including London, Russia, Finland and China. He has two scripts in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, Contract Time and National Pastime. He is published in Samuel French. He has produced the Off Broadway shows Sessions, The Devil and Billy Markham, An Evening at the Carlyle and National Pastime. He was the Artistic Director of Madison Avenue Theater, The WorkShop and Algonquin Theater Productions. He is married to actress Kelli Maguire and is the devoted (and exhausted) father of Antonia Jacqueline Sportiello.