CREATORS

Douglas J. Cohen (Music, Lyrics and Book) received two Richard Rodgers Awards and the Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla Theatre Foundation Award for writing book, music, and lyrics to No Way to Treat a Lady (produced twice Off-Broadway – Outer Critics Circle nomination Best Revival, York Theatre Co. – with numerous productions regionally and abroad) and The Gig (MTC Stage II, Goodspeed, Sacramento Music Circus) based on Frank D. Gilroy’s movie. Current musical projects include Children’s Letters to God (lyricist), based on the international bestseller, which recently opened Off-Broadway at the Lamb’s Theatre; The Big Time (composer/lyricist), an original musical with playwright Douglas Carter Beane and director Mark Brokaw; Glimmerglass (composer) produced by Goodspeed Opera House; The Reel Valentino (lyricist/librettist) with Howard Marren and Chet Walker; and Barnstormer (composer), which was awarded a NAMT Producer-Writer Initiative Grant and is being developed at The Lark Theatre Co. with playwright Cheryl L. Davis and director Jerry Dixon. Douglas is a graduate of Amherst College and a member of ASCAP and the Dramatists Guild.

Robert Jess Roth (Book, Director) received a Tony nomination for his Broadway production Beauty and the Beast. Mr. Roth has directed productions of the show the world over, garnering many awards including the Olivier Award for Best Musical in London. He directed the world premiere of Elton John and Tim Rice's Elaborate Lives and is continuing his collaboration with Sir Elton on Lestat, a musical based on the works of Anne Rice, with lyrics by Bernie Taupin. Outside New York, Rob has been developing a Las Vegas spectacular, Buzz!!, the story of famed film director Busby Berkeley, with Alan Menken, David Zippel and Larry Gelbart. He has had a long collaboration with rock star Alice Cooper and has directed two of his world tours: “Dragontown” and “Brutal Planet.” Rob lives in NYC, where he collects rock posters of the '70s and longs for a black lab puppy.

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CAST

John Bolton* Broadway: Contact (Michael Wiley), Titanic (Charles Lightoller), How to Succeed...(several roles including many performances starring as Finch), Damn Yankees (Ozzie), concerts of Chess, Funny Girl, and Dreamgirls. Off-Broadway: Roundabout, Drama Department, Irish Rep, Playwrights Horizons, Lincoln Center, Manhattan Theatre Club, Riverside Shakespeare Company. Regional: Paper Mill, The Old Globe, The Muny, Westport Playhouse, many others. TV: roles on Ed, As the World Turns, All My Children, Guiding Light, Raven's World. Most recently: originated leading roles in the world premieres of Frank Loesser's Senor Discretion Himself (Arena Stage), Gregg Coffin's Five Course Love (Geva) and John Bucchino’s It's Only Life (Off-Broadway).
   

David Burtka* Broadway: Gypsy (Fred Astaire nomination), Edward Albee’s The Goat or Who Is Sylvia. Off-Broadway: Edward Albee’s The Play About Baby (The Clarence Derwent Award), Beautiful Thing, Bad Boy Johnny. National Tour: Beauty & the Beast. Regional: The Alley Theatre, NorthShore Music Theatre, The Muny, The Weston Playhouse, The Papermill Playhouse. TV: The West Wing. Film: 24 Nights.
   

Kerry Butler* recently received an outer critic circle nomination for her work as Audrey in the Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors. She was nominated for Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards and won the Clarence Derwent award for playing Penny Pingleton in Hairspray. Other Broadway credits include Belle in Beauty and the Beast (Dora Nomination), Eponine in Les Miserables, and Blood Brothers. Off-Broadway, she performed in the I Word at EST, Prodigal, and originated the role of Shelley in Bat Boy. Last year she starred in a pilot for Fox entitled Twins. Film credits include leading roles in Borough of Kings and Campfire Stories. On television she appeared in the CBS movie Second Honeymoon, One Life to Live, Another World, and Hometown.

   

Joe Mandragona is elated to be working with such an incredibly talented group of people. Regional credits include California Shakespeare Theatre: Julius Caesar, Arms and the Man, Measure for Measure, Much Ado About Nothing ; Magic Theatre: The 13 Hallucinations of Julio Rivera; The Center for Theatre Arts: Caucasian Chalk Circle, Orestes, Escape From Happiness; Napa Valley Repertory Theatre: Peter and the Wolf. BA: UC Berkeley. Thanks and love to my family and to the DMV.

   

Jeff McCarthy* Broadway: Urinetown, Side Show, Beauty and the Beast, Smile, Zorba, Pirates of Penzance . Los Angeles : Les Miserables, The Three Sisters, A Little Night Music, City of Angels . Off Broadway: Dream True (Vineyard), Sympathetic Magic (Second Stage) Regional: Noises Off ( Cape Playhouse ), Arms and the Man (Huntington), The Misanthrope (Guthrie), Henry IV ( Indiana Rep), Sunday in the Park with George ( Seattle Rep), Bedroom Farce (Center Stage), A Lie of the Mind ( Denver Center ), Buried Child, Pantegleize (ACT, San Francisco ). Recordings: Urinetown, Side Show, Brimstone, Dream True, Z. TV: Ed, Law and Order, Voyager, Star Trek TNG, Designing Women, Cheers, L.A. Law, In the Heat of the Night and many more. Several TV movies and Michigan J. Frog for the WB. Film: RoboCop 2, Eve of Destruction, Rapid Fire, Cliffhanger. For the beautiful Marla.

   

Ian Scott McGregor is thrilled to be joining the cast of The Opposite of Sex. He was last seen here at Magic Theatre in The 13 Hallucinations of Julio Rivera as an ego-driven musical theatre actor. His other credits include: The New Americans (ACT), The Trestle At Pope Lick Creek ( Aurora Theatre ), See Saw (Berkeley Repertory Theatre), The Dreamstealers (FoolsFury), and Playground Theatre’s The Best of Playground. He’s participated in countless workshops and readings at the Magic. He also appears briefly, and fatally, in the upcoming feature film In Control of All Things, due in theaters late 2004. He would like to thank his mom and dad and little sister.

   
Donna Vivino* is thrilled to be working in the Magic's premiere of The Opposite of Sex. She comes directly from the first national tour of Hairspray, where she performed the roles of Tracy Turnblad, Shelley, and understudied Velma von Tussle. Other credits include Saturday Night Fever (original Broadway cast), Les Miserables (Young Cosette - original Broadway cast), Everyday People (HBO), Married To It (FLIX), All My Children (Young Erica Kane), Hometown (CBS). She also sang back-up for Gloria Estefan and Michael Jackson. A New Jersey native, Donna graduated from Barnard College at Columbia University with a BA in English Literature. Special thanks to Rebecca Martinez, Greg Hubbard and Chris Smith. Love to family and friends, especially Joe.
   

Karen Ziemba* Broadway: Contact (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics' Circle Awards) Never Gonna Dance (Tony Nomination), Steel Pier (Tony Nomination), 42nd Street , A Chorus Line, Crazy for You. Off Broadway: And the World Goes ‘Round (Drama Desk, Outer Critics' Circle Awards), I Do! I Do! (Drama Desk Nomination). NYC Opera: The Most Happy Fella, Candide, 110 in the Shade. City Center Encores!: Allegro, The Pajama Game, Bye Bye Birdie. Regional: House and Garden ( Geva Theatre , NY ), Much Ado About Nothing ( Shakespeare Theatre , DC /The Hartford Stage), The Three Penny Opera (Williamstown Theatre Festival). TV/Film: Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, The Devil and Daniel Webster, The Rub, Pedalfoot.

   

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creative team

Dick Daley* (Production Stage Manager / Production Manager) Credits include Dr. Faustus, written and directed by David Mamet (Magic Theatre), Waiting For Godot (ACT), Communicating Doors, The Last Schwartz, and Visions of Kerouac (Marin Theatre Company), Macbeth & Henry V (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company), Golda's Balcony, Twelfth Night (LA Women's Shakespeare Company), Santaland Diaries, Dance Umbrella's Boston Moves, Pure PolyEsther (The Theatre Offensive), Tongues Of Fire, a multi- media production on the life and works of Jaime Gil De Biedma, King Lear and Henry V (The Company of Women), The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui, Ain't Misbehavin', The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me, A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline, and Nunsense. With Shakespeare & Company: Romeo and Juliet, Duet for One, and Julius Caesar. He recently ended a 7-year run as the Production Manager at Emerson College in Boston prior to moving to the Bay Area.

Rebecca Muench* (Stage Manager) is in her fifth season as a resident stage manager at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto. During that time she has stage managed 18 productions, including the world premieres of A Little Princess, My Antonia, Memphis, The Legacy Codes, and Kept. Ms. Muench graduated from the University of Evansville in Indiana with a BS in technical theatre.

Brad Haak (Musical Direction) Broadway: The Full Monty (piano). National Tours: The Lion King (Asst. Conductor). As Music Director: World Premieres of Michael John LaChiusa's R Shomon (starring Audra MacDonald); Stephen Flaherty's A Long Gay Book (dir. Frank Galati); Honk! in Chicago (Jeff Award nomination for Music Direction), Singapore, and Manilla, The Phillipines; Children of Eden (Ford's Theatre). Over a dozen credits at the Marriott, Drury Lane, Appletree and Goodman Theatres in Chicago. Graduate of Northwestern University.

Michael Starobin (Orchestration) Previous credits include Assassins (Tony, Drama Desk), Tom Sawyer, A New Brain, A Christmas Carol (MSG), Hello Again, Guys & Dolls, My Favorite Year, Falsettoland, March of the Falsettos, In Trousers, Sunday in the Park with George (Drama Desk), Once on This Island, Closer Than Ever, Legs Diamond, Romance Romance, Carrie, Birds of Paradise, Rags, Three Guys Naked, Von Richtofen, and the Disney films Home on the Range, Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Life with Mikey.

Derek McLane+ (Scenic Consultant) Broadway: I Am My Own Wife (currently running), The Women, Present Laughter, London Assurance, Holiday, Honour, Summer and Smoke, The Three Sisters. Off-Broadway: Aunt Dan and Lemon, The Creadeux Canvas, What the Butler Saw, Servicemen, East is East, subUrbia, The Waverly Gallery, Troilus and Cressida (Shakespeare in the Park), The Musicals Hello Again, Saturday Night, Captains Courageous, Time and Again and Violet. In Chicago: A Touch of the Poet, Griller (Goodman), Glengarry Glen Ross (Jeff Nomination), The Libertine (Steppenwolf) and the world premiere of the musical The Visit (Goodman). Mr. McLane designed the entire Sondheim Celebration at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Elsewhere in the United States: productions at most of the major resident theatres and operas. 1997 and 2004 OBIE Awards for Sustained Excellence in Scenic Design. Drama Logue Award, 1997 for Harmony at La Jolla Playhouse. Michael Merritt Award in Chicago, 2003. 5 Drama Desk Nominations. 2004 Lucille Lortel Award.

Norm Schwab (Light Design) a founding partner of the Lighting Design consortium Lightswitch, which has offices in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Orlando. Lightswitch has designed lighting for such diverse projects as The Experience Music Project (architecture by Frank Gehry), all exhibit and keynote work for Apple Computer, attractions for many California and Orlando based theme parks, and rock groups such as The B-52’s. Norm’s theatrical projects have included Little Shop of Horrors, in Buenos Aires, the Havana Night Club Show at the Stardust in Las Vegas, and numerous theatrical shows at the Disney Resorts.

Patricia Fields (Costume Consultant) is a film and television costume designer and a boutique owner with her own clothing label, who has been active in the fashion world since 1966. TV credits include Sex and the City, Crime Story, Wiseguy, and SpinCity. Film credits are Miami Rhapsody, The Substitute, and Dear Diary. She received her first Emmy in 1989 for Outstanding Costumes for Miniseries, Movie or a Special for the Disney TV special Mother Goose Rock and Rhyme. Since then she has received another Emmy for Sex and the City and has been nominated four times. She is currently working on ABC’s Faith and Hope, and creating and directing the DKNY short film The Cocktail Party.

Leslie Bernstein+ (Costume Coordinator) Selected Off-Broadway costume design credits include Brothers Booth (Samuel Beckett Theatre); The Marathon (Ensemble Studio Theatre); Bad Girls, Love In The Age Of Narcissism (The Directors Company); Hard Feelings (Women's Project); Beach Plays, First Course (HB Playwrights); and The White Whore And The Bit Player (Theatre Row Theatre). As resident designer for the Brevard Music Festival in North Carolina: Carmen, West Side Story, Guys & Dolls, A Little Night Music, Abduction From The Seraglio, La Cenerentola, Romeo et Juliet, and A Midsummer Nights Dream. Film credits: The Opponent (Lions Gate Films). Leslie is currently the costume design assistant on Law & Order, and is a graduate of Purchase College.

Jonathan Deans (Sound Consultant) has been involved in over 140 productions. His recent credits include Cirque du Soleil’s Las Vegas productions Zumanity, ‘O’, Mystere, and the new show at the MGM, and also in Orlando, La Nouba. Past Broadway credits include Taboo, Fosse, Follies, Seussical, Parade, Candide, Music Man, Ragtime, Disney’s King David and Beauty and the Beast.

Daryl Frame (Sound Design) This is Daryl’s first time working at the Magic and he is happy to be here. He has done sound design for theatre, movies, and commercials. Previous San Francisco theatre credits include: King Lear, The Merry Wives of Windsor, and Love’s Labour Lost for the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Storytime with the Dead Mrs. Treat, and The Magnificent (Ass) Show.

Sarah Ellen Joynt (Properties) has been at the Magic for the past season, working as props artisan and set dresser for The Hot House, David Mamet’s Dr. Faustus, Triptych, and The Sex Habits of American Women. She is also an Equity stage manager and has worked for many theatres around the Bay Area.

Rick Sordelet (Fight Coordinator) Twenty-seven Broadway credits including Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Aida; Urinetown and Titanic, all national and international productions. Also, Frozen, True West; The Scarlet Pimpernel and Reefer Madness in NYC and LA (soon to be a major motion picture); stunt coordinator for Guiding Light on CBS and the CD-ROM Jedi Knight for George Lucas. Rick is author of the play Buried Treasure and is a company member of the Drama Dept. He currently teaches at Yale School of Drama and the Neighborhood Playhouse. Rick is married to actress Kathleen Kelly, and they have three beautiful children, Kaelan, Christian and Collin.

Greg Hubbard (Casting) has over 20 years of professional theatre experience as an actor, director, teacher and casting director. Bay Area directing credits include productions of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, The House of Blue Leaves, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Country Wife. Formerly the Casting Director for Calaveras Repertory Theatre in Milpitas, Greg is the Casting Associate at the American Conservatory Theater where he casts the annual production of A Christmas Carol, in addition to assisting with the casting on mainstage productions, workshops and readings. Greg has a BFA in Acting from the University of California at Santa Barbara and an MFA in Directing from the Professional Director Training Program at Ohio University.

Michael Baron (Assistant Director) has directed over 25 productions in NYC, Boston, Providence, and Chicago including The School for Scandal and A Christmas Carol for the Trinity Repertory Company, world-premieres of Lamarck for Perishable Theatre, and the rock-musical Hot Star, Nebraska for SpeakEasy Stage. As a 2003-05 NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Directors recipient he has worked at Arena Stage, Hartford Stage, and City Center Encores! He received his MFA in directing from the Trinity Rep Conservatory.

* Member of Actors' Equity Association AEA, founded in 1913, represents more than 45,000 actors and stage managers in the United States . Equity seeks to advance, promote and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions, providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. AEA is a member of the AFL-CIO, and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions. The Equity emblem is our mark of excellence. www.actorsequity.org.

+ Member of United Scenic Artists Local 829. United Scenic Artists represents the designers and scenic painters for the American Theatre.

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