WHO’S WHO in the CAST
Blankenbuehler received the 2018 Kennedy Center
Honors for his work on the musical Hamilton.
GINA RATTAN (Tour Director). Broadway credits
include Angels in America, Matilda The Musical,
Soul Doctor, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella,
Billy Elliot. Live TV musicals: “Peter Pan,” “The
Sound of Music” (Live on NBC). Regional credits
include ART, Old Globe, Guthrie Theater, Lone Tree
Arts Center, Theater Raleigh, Theater Workshop
of Nantucket. Currently director of Camp American
Girl and R&H’s Cinderella nat’l tour and new
musicals in development. Champion of the work,
thoughts and rights of women and girls.
MARC HEITZMAN (Restager Choreographer
and Additional Choreography) is honored to be
restaging Andy Blankenbuehler’s Tony Award-winning
choreography after being a collaborator and
dance captain for the Broadway production. Broadway:
Bandstand (Dance Captain), Cats (Plato/ Macavity).
Off-Broadway: Standard Time, NY City
Center Encores! High Button Shoes. Some other
favorite credits include the national tour of Movin’
Out (Eddie), international tour of Man in the Mirror
(Dance Captain), Wexford Ireland’s Opera Festival,
NY Fashion Week and Mark Stuart Dance Theatre’s
When Change Comes. Marc has also directed and
supervised for Norwegian Cruise Line as well as
collaborated on many shows and films. As always,
this show is dedicated to all the veterans, especially
my grandfathers. Instagram: @cramheitzman.
FRED LASSEN (Music Supervisor) is a seasoned
Broadway conductor, music director and arranger.
Broadway productions he has conducted or supervised
include Prince of Broadway, Bandstand,
Mean Girls, King Kong, Finding Neverland, Once,
Porgy and Bess, South Pacific, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,
Spamalot, Cabaret, 42nd Street, Once Upon
a Mattress. Off-Broadway/regional: The Sting (Paper
Mill Playhouse, w/Harry Connick, Jr.), The
Threepenny Opera (Atlantic Theatre, dir. Martha
Clarke), Zorro (Alliance Theatre), Dangerous
Beauty (Pasadena Playhouse. International: Prince
of Broadway (Tokyo/Osaka), 4Stars, (Tokyo/Osaka),
Maury Yeston’s Peony Pavilion (Beijing),
Cabaret (Folies Bergère, Paris). He was nominated
for a Helen Hayes Award in Washington, D.C., in
the category of Outstanding Music Direction, for
Ricky Ian Gordon’s musical Sycamore Trees. Fred
has arranged and recorded two albums with Laura
Osnes. He was the Associate Music Supervisor
for NBC’s live musical broadcasts of “Peter Pan”
and “The Sound of Music.” Fred graduated with a
degree in organ performance from Oberlin Conservatory,
and lives in Brooklyn with his wife Vaishali,
an independent documentary filmmaker, and his
ROBERT TAYLOR (Book and Lyrics) began writing
poetry and lyrics around the same time he picked
up the violin at age 8. His love of music, languages,
literature and nature has led him to a lifetime
of study and travel. A graduate of Holland’s Royal
Conservatory, Union College, the University of
Bonn and Princeton University, he has taught foreign
languages and ornithology in New York, English and
music in China; served as music critic to the Albany
Times Union; worked as a freelance musician and
writer in Manhattan, a translator in Europe and Asia;
and has lectured extensively on opera, literature and
art history. Mr. Taylor is the co-lyricist/librettist with
Richard Oberacker of several new musicals, including
Ace (National Alliance for Musical Theater New
Works Festival, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis,
Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, The Old Globe,
Signature Theatre), Journey to the West (New York
Musical Theater Festival), The Parenting Project
(Cincinnati Fringe Festival, Ensemble Theatre of
Cincinnati) and The Sandman (NAMT Festival of
New Works, Fredericia Theatre in Denmark), their
Tony Award-winning musical Bandstand, which
premiered on Broadway at the Bernard B. Jacobs
Theatre in April of 2017, and their newest project,
Bruce. A principal player with the New York Chamber
Soloists Ensemble and the Mozart Orchestra of
New York, Mr. Taylor is a member of the Dramatist’s
Guild, and leads birding and nature tours around the
world for the Audubon Society.
ANDY BLANKENBUEHLER (Original Director/
Choreographer) is a three-time Tony Award-winner
for his choreography in the Broadway productions
of Bandstand, In the Heights and Hamilton, for
which he also received London’s Olivier Award.
The recent production of Bandstand (director/choreographer)
also received the Drama Desk and Chita
Rivera Award for Best Choreography. Other Broadway
credits include Bring It On, 9 to 5, The People
in the Picture, The Apple Tree, Annie and the recent
revival of Cats. Upcoming theater projects include
the new musical Only Gold with British singer/
songwriter Kate Nash and the musical Five Points.
On television, Mr. Blankenbuehler’s work has been
seen most recently on the Emmy Award-winning FX
series “Fosse/Verdon” and his choreography will be
seen in the upcoming Universal Studios film of the
musical Cats. Andy is very proud to have made his
concert debut earlier this year with a piece entitled
“Remember Our Song” for the Tulsa Ballet Company.
As a performer, Mr. Blankenbuehler has danced
on Broadway in Fosse, Contact, Man of La Mancha,
Saturday Night Fever, Steel Pier, Big and Guys and
Dolls. Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, Mr. Blankenbuehler
resides in New York City, with his wife
Elly and two children, Luca and Sofia. Mr. Blankenbuehler
is a recipient of a special 2015 Drama
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