Frank Vlastnik (born May 30, 1969) [1] is an American author and actor known for his roles in several Broadway productions.
Vlastnik was born in Peru, Illinois. He graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University in 1987. [2]
Vlastnik is best known as an original cast member in the short-lived musicals Big , Sweet Smell of Success , and A Year with Frog and Toad on Broadway, and Off-Broadway in Stephen Sondheim's musical Saturday Night . [3] His big break came when he was cast as the original understudy for the leading role in Big. He later starred on and off-Broadway in A Year with Frog and Toad in which he played the 'Snail with the Mail', and was featured on the cast album. He also guest-starred on episodes of Law & Order , The Good Wife , Boardwalk Empire , Person of Interest , and Elementary . He is the co-author of the books Broadway Musicals and Sitcoms, both published by Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers. [4] [5]
In 2021, Vlastnik co-authored The Art of Bob Mackie, about the life and career of Bob Mackie. [6]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2010 | Random Unrelated Projects | Val / Ralph |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1990 | The Image | Production Assistant | Television film |
1993 | The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. | Telegraph Clerk | Episode: "Pilot" |
1999 | Law & Order | Dr. Phil Sugarman | Episode: "Disciple" |
2012 | Person of Interest | House Manager | Episode: "Til Death" |
2012 | Boardwalk Empire | — | Episode: "Margate Sands" |
2013 | The Good Wife | Egert Hines | Episode: "Boom De Yah Da" |
2014 | In Fear Of | Kendall | Episode: "Agoraphobia: Fear of Leaving the House" |
2015 | Elementary | Handwriting Expert | Episode: "Absconded" |
2015 | Happyish | Audience Member #1 | Episode: "Starring Christopher Hitchens, Philip Larkin and Josef Stalin" |
Brigadoon is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, and music by Frederick Loewe. The song "Almost Like Being in Love", from the musical, has become a standard. It features two American tourists who stumble upon Brigadoon, a mysterious Scottish village that appears for only one day every 100 years. Tommy, one of the tourists, falls in love with Fiona, a young woman from Brigadoon.
Annie Get Your Gun is a musical with lyrics and music by Irving Berlin and a book by Dorothy Fields and her brother Herbert Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley (1860–1926), a sharpshooter who starred in Buffalo Bill's Wild West, and her romance with sharpshooter Frank E. Butler (1847–1926).
Guys and Dolls is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also borrows characters and plot elements from other Runyon stories, such as "Pick the Winner".
Li'l Abner is a 1956 musical with a book by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank, music by Gene De Paul, and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. Based on the comic strip Li'l Abner by Al Capp, the show is, on the surface, a broad spoof of hillbillies, but it is also a pointed satire on other topics, ranging from American politics and incompetence in the United States federal government to propriety and gender roles.
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is a 1961 musical by Frank Loesser and book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, and Willie Gilbert, based on Shepherd Mead's 1952 book of the same name. The story concerns young, ambitious J. Pierrepont Finch, who, with the help of the book How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, rises from window washer to chairman of the board of the World Wide Wicket Company.
Clive Selsby Revill is a New Zealand actor, best known for his performances in musical theatre and the London stage. A veteran of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he has also starred in numerous films and television programmes, often in character parts. He is a two-time Tony Award nominee; Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Irma La Douce and Best Actor in a Musical for Oliver! He was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Billy Wilder's Avanti! (1972).
La Cage aux Folles is a musical with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman and a book by Harvey Fierstein.
Mark Linn-Baker is an American actor and director who played Benjy Stone in the film My Favorite Year and Larry Appleton in the television sitcom Perfect Strangers.
Marc Kudisch is an American stage actor, who is best known for his musical theatre roles on Broadway.
Sweet Smell of Success is a musical created by Marvin Hamlisch (music), Craig Carnelia (lyrics), and John Guare (book). The show is based on the 1957 movie of the same name, which in turn was based on the 1955 novelette of the same name by Ernest Lehman. The show tells the story of a powerful newspaper columnist named J. J. Hunsecker who uses his connections to ruin his sister's relationship with a man he deems inappropriate.
Gavin Lee is an English actor who has appeared on the stage in musical theatre, notably as Bert in the musical Mary Poppins, in both the West End and on Broadway, and as Squidward Tentacles in the original Broadway cast of SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical.
Andrew Scott Rannells is an American actor. He is best known for originating the role of Elder Kevin Price in the 2011 Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, for which he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical and won the 2012 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. He received his second Tony nomination in 2017 for his performance as Whizzer in the 2016 Broadway revival of Falsettos. Other Broadway credits include Hairspray (2005), Jersey Boys (2009), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2014), Hamilton (2015), The Boys in the Band (2018), and Gutenberg! The Musical! (2023). For his performance in the Off West End production of Tammy Faye, he was nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award.
Pal Joey is a 1940 musical with a book by John O'Hara and music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. The musical is based on a character and situations O'Hara created in a series of short stories published in The New Yorker, which he later published in novel form. The title character, Joey Evans, is a manipulative small-time nightclub performer whose ambitions lead him into an affair with the wealthy, middle-aged and married Vera Simpson. It includes two songs that have become standards: "I Could Write a Book" and "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered".
Robert Martin is a television and musical theatre actor and writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
A Year With Frog and Toad is a musical written by brothers Robert (music) and Willie Reale, based on the Frog and Toad children's stories written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel. The musical follows the woodland adventures of two amphibious friends, a worrywart toad and a perky frog, with their assorted colorful hopping, crawling and flying companions, over the course of a year. The show broke new ground by bringing professional children's theatre to Broadway, sparking the interest of the age 3-to-10 set.
Danielle Ferland is an American actress and singer, best known for originating the role of Little Red Ridinghood in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods on Broadway.
Michael John Rupert is an American actor, singer, director and composer. In 1968, he made his Broadway debut in The Happy Time as Bibi Bonnard for which he received a Tony Award nomination and the Theater World Award. Later, he starred as the title role in Pippin for three years on Broadway starting in 1974. He originated the role of Marvin in the William Finn musicals March of the Falsettos, Falsettoland and Falsettos. In 2007, he originated the role of Professor Callahan in the Broadway cast of Legally Blonde. Rupert has been the nominee and recipient of several Tony and Drama Desk awards. He won a Tony for his performance in Sweet Charity in 1986.
John F. Brascia was an American actor and dancer, best known for his dancing partnerships on film with Vera-Ellen in White Christmas (1954) and with Cyd Charisse and Liliane Montevecchi in Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956).
Leslie Lloyd Odom Jr. is an American actor, singer and songwriter. He made his acting debut on Broadway in 1998 and first gained recognition for his portrayal of Aaron Burr in the musical Hamilton, which earned him a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album in the same year. His performance was captured in the Disney+ live stage recording of Hamilton which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Actor in a Leading Role in a Limited Series or Movie nomination.
The Cher Show is a jukebox musical with a book by Rick Elice that tells the story of the life and career of Cher, using songs that she performed throughout her career. The part of Cher is played by three actresses: one portraying her in the 1950s and 60s, one for the 1970s, and one for the 1980s and 90s. The three interact with each other and help each other out at various points.
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