Brent Crayon | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Born | New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S. |
Genres | Musical theatre |
Occupation(s) | pianist, musical director, orchestrator, copyist, educator |
Instruments | piano, keyboards |
Years active | 1997–present |
Brent Crayon is an American pianist, musical director, orchestrator and copyist.
Crayon was born and grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana. [1] He graduated from Loyola University New Orleans with a Bachelor of Music degree in music performance, in 1995. [2] He subsequently earned a Master of Fine Arts in piano performance from the California Institute of the Arts, in Valencia, California, in 1997. [3]
Crayon began his musical career as a trained classical pianist. After serving as the musical director for several productions at the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura, California and elsewhere, he made his Los Angeles theatrical debut at the Mark Taper Forum, with the pre-Broadway revival of Flower Drum Song, in 2001. [4] [5] Since then, he subsequently musical directed productions of Les Miserables in Alaska, [6] Dreamgirls in Tokyo, [7] Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, [8] Ecstasy, the Musical,, [9] A Class Act, [10] Triumph of Love, [11] The Spitfire Grill, [12] The Fantasticks, [13] West Side Story [14] and others. [15]
Crayon has worked and collaborated with several prominent composers and artists, including Stephen Schwartz, John Bucchino, Paul Gordon, Jason Robert Brown and directors Richard Maltby, Jr., Chen Shi-Zheng and John Caird among others. [16] He was the musical director for the world premieres of It’s Only Life, [17] Bubble Boy: The Musical, [18] Snapshots [19] When Garbo Talks [20] and The Devil and Daisy Jane; [21] [22] the associate musical director for the world premiere of Empire, the Musical; [23] and the musical director of the west coast premieres of First Date, [24] Songs for a New World [25] [26] and Tick, Tick... Boom! [27] and the Los Angeles premiere of A Catered Affair. [28]
Crayon also served as the musical director, performing with the Upright Cabaret band, for the west coast debut of composers Kait Kerrigan and Bree Lowdermilk songs, which featured performers Sarah Hyland, Melissa Benoist, Barrett Foa, Max Ehrich, Dezmond Meeks, Meghann Fahy, Laura Dickinson, Matt Sax, Morgan Karr, Arielle Jacobs, Colleen Ballinger and others. [29]
As a featured piano soloist, Crayon has performed with the Ventura Chamber Orchestra, the Long Beach Symphony and the Santa Monica Symphony. [30]
In 1998, he served as the composer for an original children's theatre production of Rapunzel, based on the German fairy tale, which was successfully performed in repertory. [31]
Crayon is also an accomplished accompanist and has been a summer program faculty member at the Idyllwild Arts Academy, in Idyllwild, California. [32] He has also been on the staff of El Camino College, in Torrance, California, serving as the musical director and conductor. [33]
He served as an orchestrator on the original cast recording of the musical, Bubble Boy, by the writing team of Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio. [34] He also played the synthesizer for the album Michael Byron: Music Of Nights Without Moon Or Pearl, featuring the music of composer Michael Byron. [35] [36]
In 2015, Crayon was nominated for an Ovation Award for Best Musical Direction for his work on The Last Five Years at the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura, California. [37] [38] He was previously nominated for an Ovation Award in 2005, in the same category for Songs For a New World, also at the Rubicon Theatre. A 2010 production of this musical at the International City Theatre in Long Beach, also garnered Crayon a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award nomination. [39]
In 2008, Crayon won a DayTony Award for Best Musical Direction for his work on Snapshots at the Human Race & Victoria Theatre, in Dayton, Ohio. [40] [41] In 2011, he was nominated for an NAACP Theatre Award, in the category of Best Music Director for Jacques Brel is Alive and Well And Living in Paris at the Colony Theatre in Burbank, California. [42]
Crayon is married to Haezeline Go, [43] a graphic designer. [44]
The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Following the 1964 renaming as the Drama Desk Awards, Broadway productions were included beginning with the 1968–69 award season. The awards are considered a significant American theater distinction.
Jo Anne Worley is an American actress, comedian, and singer. Her work covers television, films, theatre, game shows, talk shows, commercials, and cartoons. Worley is widely known for her work on the comedy-variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.
Marc Kudisch is an American stage actor, who is best known for his musical theatre roles on Broadway.
Edward “Ed” Kleban was an American musical theatre composer and lyricist. Kleban was born in the Bronx, New York City, in 1939 and graduated from New York's High School of Music & Art and Columbia University, where he attended with future playwright Terrence McNally.
Deaf West Theatre is a non-profit arts organization based in Los Angeles, California, USA. It is most well known for its Tony Award-nominated productions of Big River and Spring Awakening.
Daisy Eagan is an American actress, born in Brooklyn.
The Ovation Awards are a Southern California award for excellence in theatre, established in 1989. They are given out by the non-profit arts service organization LA Stage Alliance and are the only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles. Winners are selected by a voting committee of Los Angeles area theater professionals who are selected through an application process every year. The Ovation Awards ceremony has been held at different theatres throughout the Los Angeles area, including the Ahmanson Theatre and the Orpheum Theatre. Hosts for the ceremonies have included Nathan Lane, Lily Tomlin, and Neil Patrick Harris.
Wade McCollum is an American film actor, stage actor and composer/musician.
Jason Graae is an American musical theater actor, best known for his musical theater performances but with a varied career spanning Broadway, opera, television and film. He has won four Bistro Awards, two Ovation Awards, two New York Nightlife Awards, the Theatre Bay Area Award for Best Actor in a Musical and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Joel Hirschhorn Award for Outstanding Achievement in Musical Theatre.
Andy Umberger is an American actor who spent the early part of his career in New York City, where he was primarily a stage actor and appeared in three Broadway shows: City of Angels, Passion and Company. Since moving to Los Angeles in the late 90s, he has had supporting roles in over 15 films and has guest starred on over 60 television shows, with recurring roles on 10 different series, including: Mad Men, Weeds, Boston Legal, The West Wing, Desperate Housewives, ER, and as D'Hoffryn on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He is one of only five actors to appear in three series created by Joss Whedon.
Dan Fishbach is an American theater director and producer. He was the Executive Director of The Groundlings Theater in Los Angeles from 2006 to 2008.
Eric Kunze is an American stage actor and singer. He showed an early aptitude for singing and was involved in choir and theater at Rancho Buena Vista High School. He is best known for his roles on Broadway.
The Celebration Theatre is a 501(c)(3) non-profit theatre company in Los Angeles, founded in 1982. The company is located in West Hollywood, on the west end of Theatre Row, and specializes in works representing the LGBTQ+ experience.
Paul Howard Gordon is a composer of popular songs and music for the theatre.
Davis Gaines is an American stage actor.
Lesli Margherita is an American stage and screen actress. She received a Laurence Olivier Award for originating the role of Inez in the musical Zorro, and starred as Mrs. Wormwood in the original Broadway cast of Matilda the Musical.
Triassic Parq is a musical comedy with music by Marshall Pailet, and lyrics and book by Marshall Pailet, Bryce Norbitz and Steve Wargo.
Kate Morgan Chadwick is an American actress, singer and film producer best known for her roles in Hail, Caesar! (2016), Rated (2016) and Bed (2016).
Grumpy Old Men: The Musical is a stage musical with book by Dan Remmes songs composed by Neil Berg and lyrics by Nick Meglin. The music was orchestrated by Larry Hochman with additional orchestrations by Phil Reno. It is based on the 1993 Warner Bros. film Grumpy Old Men by Mark Steven Johnson which starred Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau and Ann-Margret. It tells the story of two childhood friends, John Gustafson and Max Goldman, now aging neighbors. An old grudge resurfaces when a mysterious woman moves in across the street.
Lauren Marie Patten is an American actress, singer, and writer best known for originating the role of Jo in the Broadway musical Jagged Little Pill, as well as playing Officer Rachel Witten in the crime series Blue Bloods. For her performance in Jagged Little Pill, Patten won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.