Creative Team
ROGER O. HIRSON (Book)
Mr. Hirson has written extensively for the theater, movies and television. His Broadway credits include Pippin, Walking Happy, which starred Norman Wisdom, and Darling of the Day, featuring Patricia Routledge. He won the Emmy for his six-hour television mini-series A Woman Named Jackie. Mr. Hirson’s adaptation of A Christmas Carol, which starred George C. Scott, was honored by a Royal Command performance. He wrote the film Demon Seed, starring Julie Christie and the story for The Bridge at Remagen.
STEPHEN SCHWARTZ (Music and Lyrics)
Stephen Schwartz has contributed music and/or lyrics to Godspell, The Magic Show, The Baker’s Wife, Working (which he also adapted and directed), Rags, Children of Eden, My Fairytale, and the current Broadway hit, Wicked. He collaborated with Leonard Bernstein on the English texts for Bernstein’s Mass and wrote the title song for the play and movie Butterflies are Free. For children, he has written songs for two musicals, Captain Louie and My Son Pinocchio. For films, he collaborated with Alan Menken on the songs for Disney’s Enchanted, as well as the animated features Pocahantas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and wrote the songs for the DreamWorks animated feature The Prince of Egypt. He has released two CDs of new songs entitled “Reluctant Pilgrim” and “Uncharted Territory.” His first opera, Séance on a Wet Afternoon, premiered with Opera Santa Barbara in the fall of 2009 and was recently produced by New York City Opera. A book about his career, “Defying Gravity,” has recently been released by Applause Books. Under the auspices of the ASCAP Foundation, he runs musical theatre workshops in New York and Los Angeles, and is currently the President of the Dramatists’ Guild. Mr. Schwartz has recently been given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Other awards include three Academy Awards, four Grammy Awards, four Drama Desk Awards, and a tiny handful of tennis trophies.
DIANE PAULUS (Director)
Diane Paulus serves as the Artistic Director of the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University. Broadway: A.R.T.’s 2012 Tony winning revival of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess and The Public Theater’s 2009 Tony winning revival of HAIR. A.R.T.: The Donkey Show, a disco adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Prometheus Bound, a new musical inspired by Aeschylus’s ancient Greek tragedy, written by Tony Award-winner Steven Sater (Spring Awakening) with music composed by Grammy Award-winner Serj Tankian; Tod Machover’s Death and the Powers: The Robots’ Opera, finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Music; Best of Both Worlds; Johnny Baseball. Her other recent work includes Amaluna, Cirque du Soleil’s newest creation which had its world premiere in Montreal in April 2012. As an opera director, her credits include The Magic Flute, Il mondo della luna, Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, and the Monteverdi trilogy L'incoronazione di Poppea, Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria and Orfeo. Other work includes Kiss Me, Kate (Glimmerglass Opera) and Lost Highway (ENO co-production with the Young Vic). Diane is a Professor of the Practice in Theater in Harvard University’s English Department and was one of Boston Magazine’s 50 Most Powerful Bostonians in 2012. She was awarded the 2012 Founders Award for Excellence in Directing from the Drama League. Read more about the A.R.T. at www.americanrepertorytheater.org.
GYPSY SNIDER (Circus Creation)
Gypsy Snider co-founded Les 7 doigts de la main (7 fingers) in Montreal in 2002. Daughter of the founders of the Pickle Family Circus, she has performed internationally. Director of Amuse, co-director of Traces and co-director and original cast member of Loft, by Les 7 doigts de la main.
CHET WALKER (Choreography)
40 years in 50 words or less: Broadway: Fosse (Co-Conceiver/Co-Choreographer), Tony, Best Musical. As Broadway performer:On the Town, Lorelei, Ambassadors, Pajama Game, Dancin', Sweet Charity, PIPPIN. Other Director/Choreographer: Cole (Queens Theatre), Sweet Charity (West End); Upcoming: A Funny Thing…Forum (Tel Aviv); Awards: Joseph Jefferson Award, co-choreography, Pal Joey (Goodman).