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.
James Elliot Lapine is an American stage director, playwright, screenwriter, and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for Into the Woods, Falsettos, and Passion. He has frequently collaborated with Stephen Sondheim and William Finn.
Michael John LaChiusa is an American musical theatre and opera composer, lyricist, and librettist. He is best known for musically esoteric shows such as Hello Again, Marie Christine, The Wild Party, and See What I Wanna See. He was nominated for four Tony Awards in 2000 for his score and book for both Marie Christine and The Wild Party and received another nomination in 1996 for his work on the libretto for Chronicle of a Death Foretold.
Marie Christine is a musical with music, lyrics, and book by Michael John LaChiusa. It opened on Broadway in 1999. Set in 1890s New Orleans and then 5 years later in Chicago; the story is loosely based on the Greek play Medea, and uses elements of voodoo rituals and practices. The title character was based in part on the historical figure of Marie Laveau – specifically, her daughter, who took the same name – and the myths surrounding them.
Juno is a musical with music and lyrics by Marc Blitzstein and book by Joseph Stein, based closely on the 1924 play Juno and the Paycock by Seán O'Casey. The story centers on the disintegration of an Irish family in Dublin in the early 1920s, during the Irish War of Independence. Juno is a hardworking matriarch who strives to hold her family together in the face of war, betrayal, and her worthless husband's drinking.
Anna Edson Taylor was an American schoolteacher who, on her 63rd birthday, October 24, 1901, became the first person to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Her motives were financial but she never made much money from her adventure. She died penniless and her funeral was paid for by public donations.
Little Fish is a musical with music, lyrics, and book by Michael John LaChiusa. The musical is suggested by two short stories by Deborah Eisenberg, Days and Flotsam. It concerns a group of friends living in New York City, one of whom, Charlotte, decides to stop smoking and then swims to compensate for the lack of nicotine. LaChiusa has said that he sees Little Fish as a "parable of sorts" for New York after the September 11 attacks.
Hello Again is a musical with music, lyrics and book by Michael John LaChiusa. It is based on the 1897 play La Ronde by Arthur Schnitzler. It focuses on a series of love affairs among ten characters during the ten different decades of the 20th century.
Mary Testa is an American stage and film actress. She is a three-time Tony Award nominee, for performances in revivals of Leonard Bernstein's On the Town (1998), 42nd Street (2001) and Oklahoma (2019).
See What I Wanna See is a musical by Michael John LaChiusa based on three short stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa: "Kesa and Morito", "In a Grove" and Dragon: the Old Potter's Tale (1919). The story is told in two parts with two prologues. Each prologue involves the medieval lovers/killers Kesa and Morito. The first act follows a murder in Central Park in 1951 from the various perspectives of several different characters. Act two centers on a priest, wavering in his faith, who creates a hoax about a miracle.
First Lady Suite is a chamber musical by Michael John LaChiusa. The musical contains four separate segments about four of the First Ladies of the United States of America and the people surrounding them. They are: Eleanor Roosevelt, Mamie Eisenhower, Bess Truman, and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. It premiered Off-Broadway in 1993.
Barbara Walsh is an American musical theatre actress who has appeared in several prominent Broadway productions. Walsh is known for her Drama Desk Award and Tony Award nominated role as Trina in the original Broadway production of Falsettos, as well as her turn as Joanne in the 2006 Broadway Revival of Stephen Sondheim's musical Company.
The Wild Party is a musical with book, lyrics, and music by Andrew Lippa.
Bernarda Alba is a one-act musical with music, lyrics and book by Michael John LaChiusa, based on Federico García Lorca's 1936 play The House of Bernarda Alba. Bernarda Alba tells the story of a controlling, newly widowed mother who is challenged by her five rebellious daughters. The musical opened Off Broadway at Lincoln Center's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater in 2006, to mixed reviews.
Giant is a musical based on the 1952 Edna Ferber novel of the same name, with music and lyrics by Michael John LaChiusa and the book by Sybille Pearson. The musical premiered at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia in 2009. The story follows a ranch family in Texas over 30 years, and the effect of the oil boom. The musical premiered off-Broadway in 2012.
Nikki Snelson is an American actress, who works mainly in stage musicals.
Michael Starobin is an orchestrator, conductor, composer, arranger, and musical director, primarily for the stage, film and television. He won Tony Awards for the orchestrations of Assassins (2004) and Next to Normal.
The Scottsboro Boys is a musical with a book by David Thompson, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. Based on the Scottsboro Boys trial, the musical is one of the last collaborations between Kander and Ebb prior to the latter's death. The musical has the framework of a minstrel show, altered to "create a musical social critique" with a company that, except for one, consists "entirely of African-American performers".
Transport Group Theatre Company is a non-profit, off-Broadway theatre company in New York City that stages new works and revivals of plays and musicals, with a focus on American stories told in visually progressive way.
Fun Home is a musical theatre adaptation of Alison Bechdel's 2006 graphic memoir of the same name, with music by Jeanine Tesori, and book and lyrics by Lisa Kron. The story concerns Bechdel's discovery of her own sexuality, her relationship with her closeted gay father, and her attempts to unlock the mysteries surrounding his life. It is the first Broadway musical with a lesbian protagonist. It is told in a series of non-linear vignettes connected by narration provided by the adult Alison character.
