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teleplays, directing and producing many of his
own scripts. His writing for television garnered
him an Emmy nomination. He further received
the Christopher Award in honor of his television
directing. Richard Morris was an avid art and
history buff and a world traveler. A native of
Burlingame, California, Mr. Morris attended
the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles.
He enlisted in the Army and wrote shows while
in the Special Services Division. Thereafter he
moved to New York and studied acting at The
Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre.
His work at the Playhouse also included writing,
which as fate would have it, landed him a screen
writing position at Universal Studios, returning
him to Los Angeles. And as the saying goes, the
rest is history. Richard Henry Morris enjoyed an
enormously successful career in three different
entertainment arenas - the theater, motion
pictures, and television. Though he has passed on,
his life was full and his talents have left a legacy
for audiences to be charmed by and to forever
appreciate.
DICK SCANLAN
(
Author)
wrote the book
and lyrics for the 2002 Tony Award-Winning
Best Musical
Thoroughly Modern Millie
with
composer Jeanine Tesori. Additionally, he was
commissioned by Sony to write the song “The
Girl In 14G” for Kristin Chenoweth’s debut CD.
Mr. Scanlan also co-wrote the Broadway Musical
Everyday Rapture
with and for Sherie Rene Scott.
A former actor, stage manager, critic and agent,
the only thing Mr. Scanlan hasn’t done in the
theatre is sell concessions. He is also the author
of the novel
Does Freddy Dance
, in hardcover in
1995 and in paperback in 1997.
JEANINE TESORI
(
Composer
), hailed as the
one of the leading voices in American musical
theatre, is an award-winning composer, record
producer and conductor. Tesori’s most recent
stage project is
Shrek The Musical
, earning both
Tony® and Drama Desk Award nominations
for her music. She won the honor of being the
only female composer to have two musicals
running on Broadway concurrently-
Caroline,
or Change
at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre and
Thoroughly Modern Millie
at the Marquis Theatre.
As a composer, Ms. Tesori created the Tony®-
nominated musical score for
Caroline, or Change
(with Pulitzer Prize winner, Tony Kushner (
Angels
in America
), as librettist) which ran on Broadway
to great critical acclaim after its sold-out run at
The Public Theatre. Ms. Tesori won the 2004
Drama Desk Award for Best Score for
Caroline,
or Change
. Ms. Tesori also created the musical
score for the 2002 Tony® Award winner for Best
Musical,
Thoroughly Modern Millie
, which ran
on Broadway for over two years and toured for
almost three years. Prior to
Millie
, she wrote an
exotic score for Nicholas Hytner’s production of
Twelfth Night
at Lincoln Center for which she was
honored with a 1999 Tony® Award nomination
and Drama Desk Award. With lyricist and
librettist Brian Crawley, Ms. Tesori wrote the
score to the off-Broadway musical
Violet
. Among
its many honors were the 1997 Drama Critics
Circle Award, the Lortel Award for Best off-
Broadway Musical, an Obie, a Richard Rodgers
Production Award, an AT&T Production Award
and seven Drama Desk nominations. Audra
McDonald included a song from
Violet
on her
latest album “Lay Down Your Head” and Kristin
Chenoweth included Ms. Tesori’s song “The Girl
in 14G” for Ms. Chenoweth’s solo album for Sony.
Ms. Tesori wrote the score for Disney’s
Mulan II
with lyricist Alexa Junge, and several pieces for
Disney’s
Lilo and Stitch II
and
Emperor’s New
Groove II
. Ms. Tesori produced the cast album
recording of
Caroline, or Change
for Hollywood
Records, the cast recordings of
Violet
and
Twelfth
Night
for Resmiranda Records and co-produced
the cast album of
Thoroughly Modern Millie
for
RCA Records. She is also one of the main record
producers for Holt Reinhardt, Silver Burdett
Ginn. Through SBG, she produces an educational
music series used nationwide in schools comprised
of 90 CD’s of all music genres such as world
music, classical, rock and ethnic. Ms. Tesori also
produced and directed
The Scribner Spoken Arts
Recordings
comprised of poetry, stories, dramatic
text and underscoring. Ms. Tesori has worked
extensively as a Broadway arranger and conductor
on:
Tommy
,
The Sound of Music
,
How to Succeed
in Business Without Really Trying
, (including an
arrangement of “Brotherhood of Man”
for Lilias
White),
Dream
,
Gypsy
,
Big River
,
The Secret
Garden
and
Swing
. Ms. Tesori lives in Manhattan
with her husband, conductor Michael Rafter, and
their daughter Siena.
MUSIC THEATRE INTERNATIONAL
(MTI) is one of the world’s leading theatrical
licensing agencies, granting schools as well as
amateur and professional theatres from around the
world the rights to perform the largest selection of
great musicals from Broadway and beyond. MTI
works directly with the composers, lyricists and
book writers of these shows to provide official
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SUMMER PROGRAM 2012
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