Faculty for 2005

TEX ARNOLD / Master Teacher / Pianist

Tex is a pianist, arranger, conductor and composer, whose credits include music director, arranger and conductor for the legendary Margaret Whiting’s radio, television, recording and symphony orchestra performances, for over 25 years. Tex has also played and/or conducted for Larry Adler, Sally Mayes, Ruth Brown, Sally Ann Howes, Marilyn Michaels, Julius LaRosa, Rita Moreno, Four Girls Four (Rose Marie, Helen O’Connell, Margaret whiting and Rosemary Clooney), Carol Hall, Dick Shawn and most recently Melissa Erico. After leaving Michigan State, Hubert “Tex” Arnold began his professional career in the late 60s as a staff arranger for the US Military Band at West Point, while subbing on keyboard for the Broadway musical Company, joining the national tour following his leaving the military. Tex served as the musical supervisor, vocal arranger and orchestrator for the London production of The Betrayal of Nora Blake. Prior to this Tex was the 2001 musical director for the Off-Broadway show Pete ‘n’ Keely, the musical director for the 2000 O’Neill Theater Center’s concerts in St. Petersburg, Russia, featuring the songs of Johnny Mercer performed by a company of American artists including Sally Mayes and Julie Wilson. Tex has written orchestrations for the Lincoln Center American Songbook Series and the Carnegie Hall tributes to the songwriting teams of Comden & Green and Alan and Marilyn Bergman, and arranged and conducted the Johnny Mercer Tribute at the 92nd Street Y’s Lyrics & Lyricists series for Margaret Whiting, Julius LaRosa, Carol Woods and Marlene VerPlanck. Tex's concert music has been commissioned and recorded, including performances of his trumpet concerto by the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, and the CBC Enterprise release of a work commissioned by the New York Saxophone Quartet.

CAROL HALL / Master Teacher

One of the few people to write both music and lyrics, Carol received two drama desk Awards for score and lyrics to The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, delighting audiences for over five years on Broadway, received a Grammy nomination for its cast album, and became a film starring Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton. Parton’s recording of Carol’s Hard Candy Christmas won an ASCAP Award as one of its Most Performed Country Songs. The wildly successful revival and national tour played across the country for a year and a half starring Ann-Margret. Carol’s other stage works include: Good Sports (Goodspeed Theater), Paper Moon (Paper Mill Theater), Are We There Yet? (Williamstown Theater Festival), the off-Broadway musical To Whom It May Concern and contributions to A … My Name Is Alice, and A … My Name Is Still Alice. Carol was a major composer/lyricist to Marlo Thomas’ Peabody and Emmy award winning TV special, Free To Be … You And Me, and acted a contributing editor/songwriter to its sequel, Free To Be … A Family. In 2002, Free To Be … opened Off-Broadway and garnered rave reviews. Carol has just completed a new musical, Technicolor: Ten Love Stories, and has recently created songs for Disney’s Dumbo II. Carol’s non-musical writings include the one-act play The Fisher Wedding (Ensemble Studio Theater Festival of One Act Plays), The River Jordan Lamp (1st Place, The Players, Inc. Play Competition), as well as a play currently in development (2002 SFA Festival of One Act Plays, Nacogdoches, TX). For 10 years Carol was a mainstay contributor to Sesame Street, writing, among other things, the popular title song True Blue Miracle: Christmas Eve On Sesame Street (Emmy Award), and Big Bird’s Birthday Bash. The Songs Of Carol Hall, her series of cabaret shows garnered a Special Back Stage Bistro Award and a Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs Award for Musical Production of the Year. Hard Candy, a theatrical compilation of her songs earned another Bistro Award. In addition, Carol has been the recipient of the prestigious Johnny Mercer Award given for contributions to American popular song. Carol has been a Master Teacher at the O’Neill Theater Center Cabaret Symposium, and at the Sundance Theater Institute, serves on the Dramatist Guild Council, is a member of the Tony Nominating Committee and the League of Professional Women in Theater, and serves on the Board of Directors of Young Playwrights Festival, Inc. Her songs have been performed by, among others, Barbra Streisand, Olivia Newton John, Tony Bennett, Harry Belafonte, Lena Horne, Barbara cook, Michael Feinstein, Mabel Mercer, Maureen McGovern, Margaret Whiting, RuPaul, Frederica von Stade and Big Bird. In addition to writing alone, Carol has contributed either music or lyrics to songs written with Tex Arnold, Robert Burke, Lesley Gore, Bill Evans, Jeff Harris, Phyllis Newman and Steven Lutvak.

GEORGE HALL / Master Teacher

George was trained from 1948-51 at the Old Vic Theater School under Michel St. Denis, George Devine and Glen Byam Shaw. During the 1950’s Mr. Hall appeared at the Old Vic Theater and in various repertory theaters, as well as in vaudeville and cabaret. He also composed incidental music for a number of plays in the theater and on television, directed musicals, and wrote and staged cabaret acts, as well as spending 3 years in BBC Light Entertainment. In 1961 he worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company, composing music for the Michael Elliott / Vanessa Redgrave As You Like It. In the 1962-63 season at the Old Vic he was resident composer and voice coach and during this time he composed two film scores. From 1963 until 1987, he worked full-time at the Central School of Speech and Drama as Director of the Acting Course. He worked with Litz Pisk and Vanessa Redgrave on the film Isadora, directed the Royal Exchange Company in Manchester, and was responsible for vocal coaching on a number of West End musicals, notably Andre Previn’s Good Companions and The Black Mikado. Mr. Hall composed scores for the film Private Potter, starring Tom Courtney, the BBC-TV production of She Stoops To Conquer, starring Sir Ralph Richardson, and a large number of productions at the Royal Exchange, Manchester including the Albert Finney / Leo McKern Uncle Vanya. Ha has worked as a voice coach/singing teacher with a great number of actors, notably Dame Edith Evans, Sir Laurence Olivier and, more recently, Leslie Caron. Since leaving Central in 1987, he has returned to acting and performing after a 30 year gap. In addition to running his cabaret group, The Swell Party Company, he has taught and lectured in America, Sweden and Holland, as well as working at the Royal Academy of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, RADA and the British American Drama Academy.

STEVE HAYES / Master Teacher

Steve is a three-time winner (nine-time nominee … damn that Mario Cantone!) of the Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs Award for Outstanding Comedian and Characterization and a Back Stage Bistro Award for Outstanding Comedy. Steve starred in the Off-Broadway comedy Queen’s Boulevard by Paul Corrigan. Steve wrote the book and lyrics for Kiss Me Quick Before The Lava Reaches The Village, which was produced by Seattle’s Village Theatre; wrote the lyrics for the musical Girl Of My Dreams which ran recently at Virginia’s Barter Theatre. Off-off-Broadway Steve has been seen as Ira in It’s Only A Play, as Osric in Hamlet for New Shakespeare, and in We Only Have Brains On Tuesday for Cap 21 Theatre Project. Steve appeared in TWEED productions as Dr. Saperstein in Rosemary’s Baby and as numerous characters in Clean Sweep. Regionally Steve has starred in The Last Sunday In June at Boca Raton’s Caldwell Theatre, as Ed in Girl Of My Dreams (Barter Theatre), Ben in The Little Foxes at Salt Lake City Playhouse and in his own one-man shows: Would’a, Should’a, Could’a at Ithaca’s Kitchen Theatre, and An Evening with Hayes & Reiman at the Berkshire Theatre Festival. Steve’s film and television credits include: co-starring as Perry in the motion picture Trick (Sundance Film Festival / Best Picture Nominee) and is on the soundtrack CD, guest co-hosted PSNBC’s America After Hours and appeared as Karma on the ABC pilot The Maintenance Men’s Lounge. Commercials include: World Gym / What’s Your Motivation, America’s Best Contacts and Eyeglasses, and as Savin’ Dave / Time To Save for Merrill Lynch. For the past several years Steve has been half of the comedy team of Hayes & Cayler – Art Forum Magazine chose them as "One Of The 10 Best Things To See In New York." They have performed their original comedy Parental Indiscretions at the Kitchen Theatre in Ithaca (New York State Council for the Arts Grant) and at Portsmouth, New Hampshire’s Pontine Theatre. Steve has taught comedy and writing at The Actor’s Conservatory.

RICK JENSEN / Master Teacher / Pianist

Rick has been a 4 time recipient of the prestigious Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs Award (MAC), has received 2 Back Stage Bistro Awards, and a Gay and Lesbian Music Award (GLAMA). Rick has performed his original songs at NYC's Town Hall as part of ASCAP's Musical Directors in the Spotlight at the annual Mabel Mercer Foundation's Cabaret Convention, in concert at the Roslyn Spectrum Theater in Washington, DC, at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall with Michael Feinstein, and with the Garden State Philharmonic. He received a MAC nomination for Song of the Year for his song Amanda Sang, and a MAC nomination for Outstanding Recording for his CD Spring Harvest. Rick has co-producted CDs for a number of cabaret artists including Jeanne MacDonald's Company (2000 MAC Award nomination), Barbara Fasano's The Girls of Summer (1999 Back Stage Bistro for Outstanding Recording), and Lina Koutrakos' Leave A Little Something (Billboard feature June 1999). Rick's earlier career was distinguished by playing many years for the late, great cabaret legend Nancy LaMott.

LINA KOUTRAKOS / Master Teacher

Singer/songwriter, Lina is a frequent headliner at the world-renowned Bottom Line, and has played most of the top rock venues in Manhattan. Lina has been featured in Billboard, Mode and Soap Opera Digest magazines, and counts among her fans Kathleen Turner, Meryl Streep and Gregory Hines. Lina’s original songs from her debut CD Leave A Little Something are being played on national TV and radio; and she is featured in the America Undercover HBO Documentary Telling Nicholas, singing the closing theme of this heartrending 9/11 film. Lina is part of the ASCAP Advanced Songwriting Workshop and continues to receive amazing reviews for her pop/rock songs. Lina received the Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs Award as Outstanding Vocalist and a 2002 nomination for Outstanding Director, the Village Voice Award for Best Rock Newcomer and France’s Petit Piaf award as Female Vocalist. Lina was a Master Teacher at the O’Neill Theater Center’s Cabaret Symposium for two years and has taught cabaret workshops and directed acts for over ten years.

HEATHER MACRAE / Master Teacher

Heather’s first theatrical appearance was appearing with the entire MacRae family, parents Gordon and Sheila, sister Meredith and brothers Gar and Bruce in Kansas City’s Starlight Theater production of Annie Get Your Gun. Heather made her Broadway debut as Abra in the musical version of John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, Here’s Where I Belong; she then joined the Broadway cast of Hair in the role of Sheila, a role she repeated at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami. Other Broadway appearances: Faith in Tina Howe’s Coastal Disturbances and Dr. Charlotte in the Tony Award winning musical Falsettos, a role she created in the Off-Broadway production of Falsettoland; she reprised this role on the National Tour and at the Doolittle Playhouse in Los Angeles. She played Cookie in the National Tour of Neil Simon’s Rumors, and appeared as Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles and for the San Jose Civic Light Opera Company. Off-Broadway: Heather was seen as The Girl in Circle Repertory’s production of Hot L Baltimore, Hallie in Emily at the Manhattan Theatre Club, Madeleine in Abie’s Island Rose, and as Helen in Stars In Your Eyes. Other theatrical credits include: Mary in Merrily We Roll Along (La Jolla Playhouse), Heather in I’m Getting My Act Together And Taking It On The Road (Rochester and Kansas City). Heather has played leading roles in: AR Gurney’s Children and The Dining Room, Oliver Hailey’s Tryptych, and Sabrina Fair, Oliver, They’re Playing Our Song, Oklahoma, Quilters and A My Name Will Always Be Alice. Heather’s television appearances include: Aunt Mafalda on Clarissa Explains All, Frasier, Law & Order SVU, Soul Man, America Tonight with Martin Mull, Starsky & Hutch, Muggsy; and starring roles in TV movies: Secrets of Three Hungry Wives, The Connection, Nightlife and Visit From A Dead Man. Talk show appearances include: The Tonight Show, Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, Dick Cavett and David Frost. Feature films include: Life With Mikey, Woody Allen’s Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask, Bang The Drum Slowly and A Perfect Couple. Heather has performed her highly acclaimed club act throughout the US, and with Keeping ‘Em Off The Streets in Los Angeles, produced by Robert Altman, and in the revue I Love New York at Rainbow & Stars. Awards include: Miami’s Carbonell Award for Best Pop Act, and 1999 Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs Award for Outstanding Female Vocalist, and the 1999 Back Stage Bistro Award for Outstanding Album for Songs For My Father, a tribute to her father Gordon MacRae. Heather’s recordings include: Songs For My Father (Harbinger Records), I Choose Love (Jerome Records), Falsettoland (DRG), I Love New York (Ligetti Label) and Over The Rainbow: The Music of Harold Arlen (DRG).

LAUREL MASSÉ / Master Teacher

Laurel Massé, is a founding member of the Grammy Award-winning group Manhattan Transfer, and toured internationally for seven years with the group and recorded five albums. Laurel has toured her solo concerts in the US and Europe. She has released four solo CDs. The first two, Alone Together and Easy Living, both hit the Billboard Jazz charts; the third Again, was a People Magazine Pick. Feather and Bone, her 2000 release was picked by audiophile magazine The Absolute Sound as “a recording of extraordinary musical and sonic value.” In the course of her career Laurel has performed at such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, the London Palladium, Salle Pleyel de Paris, the Hollywood Bowl, the Smithsonian Institute; jazz festivals in Montreal, Chicago, Syracuse, Detroit and Saratoga Springs; Birdland and the Blue Note in New York City, the Roxy Nightclub and the Cinegrill in Los Angeles, Chicago’s Green Mill, and Harrah’s, Caesar’s Palace, MGM Grand and the Hilton in Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe. Laurel has taught Master Classes nationally in jazz and cabaret. Since 2002 Laurel has been host and resident artist of The Laurel Massé Jazz Show, a monthly live concert performance program broadcast by WAMC Northeast Public radio to a listening audience of 500,000; also available on line at www.WAMC.org In 2004, Laurel and the current line-up of Manhattan Transfer received the Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs (MAC) Lifetime Achievement Award.

SALLY MAYES / Master Teacher

Sally's most recent critical acclaim comes from Broadway's Urban Cowboy (Drama Desk Nomination). Sally has appeared on Broadway in She Loves Me (1993 Tony, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk nominations), Welcome To The Club (Theater World Award, Outer Critics Circle nomination), and the national tour of Dirty Blonde. Off-Broadway she has appeared in Pete 'N' Keely (2001 Drama Desk nomination), Closer Than Ever (Outer Critics Circle nomination), Das Barbecue, and most recently in the revival of David Zippel's It's Better With a Band in Philadelphia. Sally has received the prestigious Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs and Back Stage Bistro Awards as Outstanding Jazz Vocalist. Sally was a Master Teacher at the O'Neill Theater Center's Cabaret Symposium. Sally has four solo recordings: Boys and Girls Like You and Me, The Story Hour, The Dorothy Fields Songbook, and Our Private World: The Comden & Green Songbook; and an upcoming release of her original songs. Her film credits include: City Hall and Bye Bye Birdie. Her cast recordings include: Pete 'N' Keely, Closer Than Ever, Bye Bye Birdie, Lost in Boston, Unsung Musicals, and Unsung Sondheim.

SHARON McNIGHT / Master Teacher

Sharon made her Broadway debut in 1989 in Starmites creating the role of Diva, for which she received a Tony Award nomination for Best Leading Actress In A Musical, and was the recipient of the coveted Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut, which was presented to her by Carol Channing. Sharon has since developed her one-woman musical Red Hot Mama, about Sophie Tucker, which was work shopped at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and Lucille Lortell’s White Barn Theatre, had a successful three-month run Off-Broadway at the York Theatre, and was seen as Baroness Greta von Keepsomfromfloppen in Murder At Rutherford House. Sharon’s regional credits include: Amanda McBroom’s Heartbeats at the Pasadena Playhouse, and an award-winning Dolly in Hello, Dolly! at the Peninsula Civic Light Opera, Sister Hubert in Nunsense in Los Angeles and San Francisco where she was presented with the Bay Area Critics Award for Best Performance In A Musical, and Audrey in Little shop of Horrors in Pittsburgh. She is the narrator of the documentary There That Night the story of the Provincetown, Massachusetts fire, the film Guinevere with Stephen Rey and Sarah Polly, and was featured in the recent A&E documentary It’s Burlesque for her research on Mae West and Sophie Tucker, as well as episodes of Seinfeld, Silk Stalkings and The Five Mrs. Buchanans. Sharon was recipient of the first Manhattan Association of Cabaret & Clubs Award (MAC), for Outstanding Female Vocalist of the Year, a Back Stage Bistro Award for Outstanding Vocalist, six San Francisco Cabaret Gold Awards, and has had six, critically acclaimed, three-month tours of Europe including performances in Germany, Switzerland, Belguim, France, England, and the Netherlands. Sharon’s recordings include: Offensive Too, Songs To Offend Almost Everyone, The Sophie Tucker Songbook, Now and Then, In The Meantime and The B&B Years. Miss McNight received her Masters of Arts degree in direction from San Francisco State College in nineteen … none of your business. Sharon has been in the forefront in the fight against AIDS since the early eighties, and was featured in Randy Shilt’s book And The Band Played On.

Michael Orland / Master Teacher / Pianist

Michael is currently the pianist, arranger and associate musical director for American Idol, the hit FOX-TV series. Through this amazing opportunity, Michael has appeared on Oprah, Entertainment Tonight, and The Wayne Brady Show, and has collaborated with music industry giants such as Burt Bacharach, Neil Sedaka and Diane Warren, to mention a few. Michael also served in the same capacity for the successful summer series American Juniors and has Associate Produced two hit singles God Bless The USA and What The World Needs Now for American Idol as well as the hit compilation CD from American Juniors. In addition to playing and conducting for Lucie Arnaz, Kaye Ballard, Deborah Gibson, Shecky Greene, Jennifer Holliday, Lainie Kazan, Sally Kellerman, Gladys knight, Barry Manilow, Chita Rivera, and the late Nell carter and Wayland Flowers & Madame, Michael played for the hit shows Forbidden Broadway, Ruthless!, and When Pigs Fly in Los Angeles. He made his Hollywood Bowl debut playing for the legendary MGM star Ann Miller. Television appearances have included The Rosie O’Donnell Show, Leeza, The Maury Povich Show, and Geraldo. He also appeared on the hit sitcom The Nanny performing an original song. Look for an upcoming appearance in the UPN sitcom Half & Half. An accomplished songwriter, his songs have been featured on several daytime soaps and primetime shows. On recordings, he can be heard on Debbie Gravitte’s Alan Menken Album and MGM Album; Rita McKenzie’s Ethel Merman’s Broadway, Ruthless! The Musical, and produced and arranged Roslyn Kind’s Come What May album. Michael is currently working on a solo piano album due out soon!

Alex Rybeck / Master Teacher / Pianist

Pianist, composer and arranger well-known for his work in theater, cabaret and recordings. Alex’s Broadway credits include: Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, Tommy Tune’s Grand Hotel and the hit revival of Damn Yankees. Highly praised by Burt Bacharach, Alex conducted the New York workshop and San Diego premiere of What The World Needs Now. Alex’s concert and cabaret credits include working with: Tommy Tune, Faith Prince, Liz and Ann Hampton Callaway, Lee Roy Reams, Debbie Gravitte, Tovah Feldshuh, Metropolitan Opera star Roberta Peters, Rita Gardner of Fantasticks fame, the legendary Kitty Carlisle Hart, Jeff Harnar, Anna Bergman and the “voice of Hollywood,” Marnie Nixon. Alex’s original songs include: What A Funny Boy He Is, recorded by Nancy LaMott and Sing Out, premiered by the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus at Carnegie Hall. Alex includes among his mentors: Leonard Bernstein, George Abbott, Comden & Green, Arthur Laurents and Stephen Schwartz.

PAUL TRUEBLOOD / Master Teacher / Pianist

Paul appeared with Michael Feinstein on two programs at Carnegie Recital Hall last season. He also arranged and conducted two new CDs with Metropolitan Opera star Youngok Shin (Samsung Classics) and with Broadway legend Sally Anne Howes. Paul accompanied Betty Comden and Adolph Green in their highly successful run at Joe’s Pub (New York Shakespeare Festival) and played the Florida condo circuit with Dody Goodman. In 1996-97 Paul toured the world with Marianne Faithful in a Kurt Weill program and their CD together 20th Century Blues, recorded live at the New Morning Jazz Café in Paris is available on RCA Victor. Paul has been musical director for Anne Francine, Karen Akers, Nancy Dussault, Matthew Broderick, Judy Kaye, and Jose Ferrer, among others. During their lifetimes, Paul was the personal pianist for legendary director Joshua Logan and lyricist Alan Jay Lerner. He has written special material for Radio City Music Hall, Martin Charnin’s Upstairs At O’Neal’s, numerous cabaret performers, and two scores for the American Methodist Bicentennial – A Church Is Born (Carnegie Hall, 1985) and Aldersgate’88 (Avery Fisher Hall, 1988). Paul conducted the New York Company of the Drama Critics Award Musical Your Own Thing, the 1986 Brodaway revival of Oh’ Coward, as well as The Chosen, Dancing In The Dark, Red, White and Maddox, and Joshua Logan’s re-mounting of Annie Get Your Gun. Paul provided vocal arrangements and direction for the Elektra/Nonesuch restoration recordings of Girl Crazy and Strike Up The Band.

FRED VOELPEL / Image Consultant

Master Teacher in Design 1967-1992. Fred has been designing for the theater and television since 1953 at Camp Tamiment and Green Mansions. His first Broadway show in 1960 starred Hermione Gingold. Since then he has been nominated for two Tony's (No Strings, Seascape) and received an honorary Tony for the National Theater of the Deaf, won OBIE's, and major awards for his design work in New York and regional theater including Esquire Magazine's Dubious Achievement Award for Oh Calcutta! Fred has designed original Broadway productions of such artists as Edward Albee, Richard Rodgers, Tennessee Williams, John Guare, Michael Stewart, Israel Horowitz, Charles Strouse, Paul Zindell, Woody Allen and Lorraine Hansberry. For over 25 years Fred was associated with the O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT, and The National Theater of the Deaf in Chester, CT where he designed their most recent touring production of Peer Gynt. Fred was a Master Teacheer with the O'Neill Theater Center's Cabaret Symposium from 1989-2000. In 1992 Fred received the 25 years citation and the Great Teacher's Award from the NYU Alumni Association Prior to his retirement from the Tisch School of the Arts.

JULIE WILSON / Master Teacher

Barely enrolled at Omaha University, Julie grabbed a chance to join Earl Carroll’s Vanities. This eventually led to the chorus line of New York’s Latin Quarter, and finally the Copacabana. It was war time, and after a Copa USO Tour in Europe, Julie was promoted to a singing spot in the lavish Copacabana production numbers. Miami and Hollywood club dates followed, including the famous Macambo. Lured back to New York Julie fine-tuned her stagecraft in Broadway musicals like Kiss Me Kate, ultimately replacing Lisa Kirk as Bianca. When the play moved to London in 1951, Julie went along. She remained in London for four years and appeared in South Pacific and Bells Are Ringing while studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, giving up the chance to open on Broadway as Babe in The Pajama Game. Two years later she went into the role as a replacement. In 1955 Julie returned to Broadway in Kismet and then toured in Show Boat, Panama Hattie, Silk Stockings and Hi Fidelity. In the 1950s Julie recorded and appeared in films: The Strange One and This Could Be The Night. With the nightclub crash of the 60s Julie began performing in the small clubs that opened in NYC, and had in stage roles in Follies, Company and A Little Night Music, falling in love with the music of Stephen Sondheim. In 1967 Julie appeared in Broadway’s Jimmy before returning to Omaha to raise her two teenage sons. In 1983 Julie triumphantly returned to NYC with a Cole Porter show at Michael’s Pub – her legendary shows of the 50s were remembered – nightspots in NY, Los Angeles and Chicago opened their doors to her; PBS ran special of her cabaret show in 1992; and Peter Allen wrote a part for her in his Broadway musical Legs Diamond for which Julie received a Tony nomination. In 1999 The Mabel Mercer Foundation spotlighted Julie’s 75th birthday with a special evening in her name. Julie is the recipient of numerous Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs, Back Stage Bistro, Board of Director and Life Time Achievement Awards, and was USO Woman of the Year.

Matt has just finished working on tour and on Broadway with Bea Arthur’s Just Between Friends which most recently played in Canada and Australia, after its run at the the Booth Theater on Broadway. Matt has designed concerts, shows and/or cabaret acts for Sam Harris, Polly Bergen, Faith Prince, Karen Mason, Cyndi Lauper, Liza Minnelli, Jane Olivor, Melba Moore, Ann Hampton Callaway, Billy Stritch, Cybill Shepherd, Kathie Lee Gifford and the late, great Nancy LaMott. Matt has designed internationally for Bea Arthur, La Gran Scena Opera Co., Miss Coco Peru, Cybill Shepherd and Anna Sokolow’s Players Project. Nationally, Matt has designed shows on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Regionally, and in all but 8 of the United States. Matt’s industrial and corporate credits include: Loreal, American Theater Wing, The Mayor’s Dinner (Guilliani), National College Board, ASCAP, Israel Cancer Foundation, National Alzheimers Foundation, The Chemotherapy Foundation and Town & Country Magazine. Matt has installed the technical facilities for The FireBird Café, rainbow & Stars, Eighty Eight’s, The Algonquin, Caroline’s Comedy Club, and Davenport’s in Chicago, to mention a few. Matt is the recipient of an unprecedented 8 Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs Awards for Outstanding Technical Achievement.

JOHN HOGLUND / Media Consultant

John has been a reviewer/entertainment writer for many publications for the past 20 years in New York City. Currently, John is a co-writer of the well-known Bistro Bits column in Back Stage. He began writing feature articles for Back Stage in 1994 and joined the Bistro team officially in 1996 where he remains today alternating the column with his colleague David Finkle (a Yale alumnus). John’s cabaret writings and reviews have appeared in such publications as Theater Week, The Bergen Record, The New York Native, Private Lives, The Greenwich Village Press, Cabaret Scenes, Cabaret Hotline, Night and Day, InTheater and Nightlife Magazine. John has been consistently in print since 1984. John’s cabaret articles also appear in the Back Stage Handbook for Performing Artists (1995) and the Cabaret Artist’s Handbook. Previously John worked as a “script doctor” for several sitcoms in the 70s including Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He also worked for Paramount Pictures on several scripts during the same period. John has his own production company, Inner Circle Productions, and has produced numerous special events and high-profile benefits in and around New York City including five Reach Out series for the Village Center for Care and the start-studded and highly publicized Miracle on 35th Street that saved the Manhattan Center for Living from eviction in 1998, hosted by Susan Sarandon and including: Betty Buckley, Judy Kaye, Lilaine Montevecchi, Vivian Reed , Stiller & Meara, and Liza Minnelli. John conceived and co-produced, with Erv Raible, one of the first benefits after 9/11, HeartSong: the Heroes Concert at the Bottom Line to benefit The Twin Towers Fund. The event starred artists from Broadway and cabaret including Karen Akers, Tom Andersen, Christine Andreas, Bea Arthur, Charles Busch, BJ Crosby, Lea DeLaria, Baby Jane Dexter, Linda Eder, Harvey Feirstein, Carol Hall, Julie Halston, Judy Kuhn, Michele Lee, Karen Mason, Sally Mayes, Lee Roy Reams, Alice Ripley, Stephen Schwartz, Lillias White, Tom Wopat and Carol Woods. John is also proud of his fund raising work and producing work for God’s Love, We Deliver, Brodway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, and The Achilles, The Robin Hood and the Make-A-Wish Foundations. John is currently working on several fundraising projects TBA.

THOMAS HONECK / Technical Consultant

Thomas is a graduate of SUNY Brockport where he was awarded The President’s Scholarship and Friar’s Club Scholarship. Thomas has performed in all aspects of theatre, and currently serves as the technical Director of The Duplex Cabaret Theatre in New York City’s Greenwich Village. As such he was honored in 2004 with the Back Stage Bistro Award, and the 2004 and 2005 Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs Awards for Outstanding Technical Direction. In 2005 he received a MAC Award nomination for Outstanding Male Debut for his show Going On Faith. Prior to this Thomas was the production manager of Infinite Music at La Belle Epoque in NYC; served as technical director for the HB Studio’s Playwright’s Foundation productions of Dead: A Love Story and Second Shepherd’s Play. Thomas has worked in various technical capacities: scenic design for the SUNY College production of Gemini; technical direction for the Brockport Community Players; has served as a master carpenter for HBO Specials, and the Kent, Ohio, Blossom Music Theatre Festival’s productions of Babes In Arms and Robin Hood; and as an electrician for Soho Repertory Company’s production of The Grub Street Opera. Thomas is listed in Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities. The highlight of his performing career is a toss-up between performing at The Cleveland Playhouse, and touring with The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as the Evil Shredder.

MICHAEL A. KERKER / ASCAP Director of Musical Theater

Michael has been Director of Musical Theater and Cabaret for ASCAP (American Society for Composers, Authors and Publishers) since 1990. In addition to coordinating ASCAP’s Musical Theater Workshop in New York, Michael works with Walt Disney Feature Animation to produce the ASCAP/Disney Musical Theater Workshop in Los Angeles. Michael also co-produces with the Kennedy Center a development program for new musicals entitled In The Works. Together with Michael Feinstein, he produces a regular series of concerts featuring contemporary songwriters at Carnegie hall. Michael has produced showcases and concerts featuring contemporary Theater and Cabaret songwriters and singers at Town Hall, the 92nd Street Y, the FireBird Café and at UCLA. Michael serves as Vice President of both the Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs (MAC) and the Johnny Mercer Foundation. In addition, Michael is also a member of the Board of Directors of The Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Society of Singers and serves on the Boards of the Washington, DC Cabaret Network, Boston Association of Cabaret Artists, Chicago Cabaret Professionals, and Cabaret West/Los Angeles.

Tony Montano / Web Consultant

Tony began his web career in 1996 with AT&T as Assistant Webmaster, working on several of their various intranet sites. The focus was on functionality and usability as opposed to "showing off" the design of the site. Especially since they were sites for employees only. In 1998 Tony joined AT&T's internet group as Site Producer for their corporate website. Although there was more attention paid to the "look and feel" of the site, usability was still a major factor. After all, what good is a site that looks good if no one can use it? For the last few years Tony has been the Senior Site Producer for AT&T. In 2003 he is retiring from AT&T and will be working with Wells Fargo Mortgage on their corporate website. Tony also designs and creates websites, postcards and CD covers for individuals and small organizations where he specializes in work for the cabaret performer.