a day in the life . . .


MARK WALDROP

The Off-Broadway musical- revue When Pigs Fly (Obie, Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Awards) brought Mark Waldrop Drama Desk nominations as Best Director of a Musical and Best Lyricist. He directed and contributed lyrics to 3 of Hearts: The Songs of Mary Rodgers at Rainbow & Stars with Faith Prince (recorded on Varese-Sarabande as Hey, Love.) Whatnot, the first Crabtree/Waldrop/Gallagher show, won the 1990 Richard Rodgers Production Award for new musicals. Mark also collaborated with Dick Gallagher on several songs for Whoop-Dee-Doo! He has directed regional productions of Evita, La Cage aux Folles, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella and Gypsy (starring Betty Buckley and Deborah Gibson) at the Paper Mill Playhouse. He directed The Ziegfeld Follies of 1936 for City Center's Encores! Series and the Off-Broadway productions of Game Show (by CCM alum Bob Walton) and Pete 'n'  Keely with Sally Mayes and George Dvorsky. He was the recipient of the 1995 Edward Kleban Award for excellence in theatre lyrics. He has served as Production Supervisor for Bette Midler's Divine Miss Millennium Tour.

Musical Theatre
Class of 1976

 


This page offers a view of various aspects of life as a Musical Theatre major at CCM. It will be updated periodically.

Introducing the Graduating Class
in Musical Theatre, 2003

Each year the graduating class in Musical Theatre travels to New York to present a showcase for agents and casting directors. The work is created by the students themselves under the direction of Aubrey Berg. The class selects a theme for the showcase and then blends musical numbers, narration and monologues into a cohesive whole. They create the musical arrangements, supply the choreography and staging and are responsible for every aspect of the production.

This year the showcase was entitled Mars and Venus and provided a contemporary look at the changing relationships between men and women. It was performed in Cincinnati in the Robert Werner Recital Hall on April 3 - 5 and in New York at the West Side Theatre on April 10.

At the showcase, merit awards are presented to members of the class for excellence in class work, productions and contributions to the discipline. The winners this year were:

The Friends of CCM Award for Best Performance in a Mainstage Production

     Angel Reda (Luciana in The Boys from Syracuse; Queenie in The Wild Party)
     Kearran Giovanni (Kate in The Wild Party)

The Offenberger/Duckett Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre

     Melissa Bohon (Mother in Promenade; Mae in The Wild Party)

The Ross Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre

     Jackie Vanderbeck

The Earl Wrightson Award for Best Supporting Performance

     Sarah Jane Everman (Servant in Promenade; Nancy D in A New Brain)
     Josh Dazel (Sergeant in The Boys from Syracuse; Eddie in The Wild Party)

The Laurie Beechman Award for Vocal Achievement in Musical Theatre

     Will Ray


The graduating class is pictured below:

  Nathan Paul Allen
Nathan is a native of Lexington, Kentucky. He played Antipholus of Syracuse in A Comedy of Errors and Seyton in Macbeth for the Lexington Shakespeare Festival. He also served as assistant director for The Tempest and director of the Senior High Shakespeare Apprentice Program. At CCM he has been seen as Angelo in The Boys from Syracuse, Arpad in She Loves Me and in Candide, Dracula: The Game of Love, Grand Hotel, Man of La Mancha and The Secret Garden.

  Melissa Bohon
Melissa is from Columbia, Missouri. Her credits include Anne Shirley in Green Gables at ETC, Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker, Scout Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird and Zaneeta in The Music Man at Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre, Sandy in Grease at the Rynsburger Theatre, and Oklahoma!, Singin’ in the Rain and Damn Yankees at Galveston Island Outdoor Musicals. At CCM she performed in The Wild Party (Mae), Promenade (Mother), Nine (Mama Maddalena), Saturday Night (Mildred), Grand Hotel (Trude), Once Upon a Mattress (Winnifred) and Hello, Dolly! (Minnie Fay).She was featured with the "Pops"in Home for the Holidays, Halloween Extravaganza and On the Wings of a Dream.

  Josh Dazel
Josh is from San Francisco, California. In summer stock he has performed in Side Show, Follies, Once on this Island and Pulse: The Rhythm of Life. At CCM he has performed in Man of La Mancha, The Secret Garden, My One and Only, Grand Hotel, Candide (Maximillian), Dracula: The Game of Love (Van Helsing), The Boys from Syracuse (Sergeant)and The Wild Party (Eddie). For Hot Summer Nights, he played Dauntless in Once Upon a Mattress and Rudolph in Hello, Dolly! He has appeared with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra in Return of the Chiller and can be heard on Hands of Love with Grammy Award winner Terry Steele and the original cast recording of Pulse.

  Sarah Jane Everman
Sarah Jane was born in Marietta, Georgia. She has appeared at the Pittsburgh CLO in many productions including Brigadoon, South Pacific, Bells are Ringing, Guys and Dolls, Singin’ in the Rain, Fiddler on the Roof and George M. At CCM she has performed in A New Brain (Nancy D.), Promenade (The Servant), My One and Only, Saturday Night, Song and Dance and the premiere of Will It Ever Stop Raining? She was America’s Junior Miss in 1999, has been a presenter on the TNN Music Awards and has performed with the Cincinnati Pops in A Halloween Celebration. She has performed in Germany as part of the International Musical Theatre Festival in Munich.

  Blake Ginther
Blake is a native Ohioan. He has appeared at the St. Louis Muny in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and How to Succeed. For Hot Summer Nights he played Schroeder in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Barnaby in Hello, Dolly! At CCM he has been seen in Dracula: The Game of Love (Dr. Seward), Promenade (106), Myths and Hymns, Grand Hotel, Candide and Man of La Mancha. He has appeared in commercials for WB64-Cincinnati and appeared with the Cincinnati Pops in On the Wings of a Dream and Return of the Chiller recorded for Telarc. Other roles include Nicely-Nicely in Guys and Dolls at Quisisana and Eddie in Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up at the University of Akron.

  Kearran Giovanni
Kearran was raised in Houston, Texas. In summer stock she has appeared as Andrea in Once on this Island for Seaside Music Theatre. At CCM she has been seen as Kate in The Wild Party, Lilian Lafleur in Nine and in productions of Song and Dance, The Boys from Syracuse and Saturday Night. For Hot Summer Nights she appeared in Oliver and A Chorus Line (Kristine). She has performed with the Cincinnati Pops in Thrills and Chills, Home for the Holidays and Wings of a Dream. Her print work includes appearances for Teen Magazine, Sears, Dillards, Academy and Proctor and Gamble.

  Leo Nouhan
Leo was born in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. He has been seen in summer stock as Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls, the Father in Violet and in the world premiere of We Tell the Story: The Songs of Flaherty and Ahrens. At CCM he has been seen as Aegeon in The Boys from Syracuse, Georg in She Loves Me, Arty in Saturday Night and in The Secret Garden, Man of La Mancha, Myths and Hymns, Lucky Stiff, Candide and Dracula: The Game of Love. He has appeared in commercials for WB64-Cincinnati, appeared with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra in On the Wings of a Dream and Return of the Chiller and with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in Holiday Yuletide Celebration.

  Will Ray
Will is from Kenosha, Wisconsin. At CCM he has appeared as Antipholus of Syracuse in The Boys from Syracuse, Quincy Morris in Dracula: The Game of Love, Ray in Saturday Night and in Candide, Grand Hotel, Myths and Hymns, Man of La Mancha and The Secret Garden. For Hot Summer Nights he was seen as Snoopy in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Cornelius in Hello, Dolly!, King Sextimus in Once Upon a Mattress, A Chorus Line and Oliver. He has appeared in commercials for WB64-Cincinnati and on the Cincinnati Pops Patriotic Specials aired on PBS in 2000 and 2003. He can be heard on Return of the Chiller recorded by Telarc.

  Angel Reda
Angel, born in Overland Park, Kansas, has appeared at the Kansas City Starlight Theatre in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Little Shop of Horrors, Annie, The Music Man, The Wizard of Oz and Brigadoon. At CCM she appeared in The Wild Party (Queenie), The Boys from Syracuse (Luciana), Nine (Carla), Saturday Night, Song and Dance, Grand Hotel and My One and Only. For Hot Summer Nights she played Mrs. Molloy in Hello, Dolly!, Lady Larkin in Once Upon a Mattress, Judy Turner in A Chorus Line and appeared in Oliver, Violet and We Tell the Story. She can be seen in the films Safe at Home and Red Riding Hood’s Adventure and heard on the recordings of Will It Ever Stop Raining?, Green Gables and Scary Music with the Cincinnati Pops.

  Neal Shrader
Neal, a native of Virginia Beach, has appeared as John in Peter Pan for the Virginia Stage Company, Mark in A Chorus Line for Virginia Musical Theatre and Hugo in Bye-Bye Birdie for the Dominion Theatre. In summer stock he has was seen as Linus in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Ambrose Kemper in Hello, Dolly! and in Once Upon a Mattress, Oliver and A Chorus Line. At CCM he has appeared in Promenade, Dracula: The Game of Love, Candide, Lucky Stiff, My One and Only, Coppelia and The Secret Garden. He appeared in the Cincinnati Pops Fourth of July Celebration (aired on PBS) and in the film Araby. He has performed in Japan with the Governor’s School of the Arts and in Germany at the International Musical Theatre Festival in Munich.

  Jackie Vanderbeck
Jackie is from Sacramento, California. Her stock credits include A Christmas Carol for the Sacramento Theatre Company and Annie and The King and I for California Musical Theatre. At CCM she has been seen in The Wild Party (Rose Himmelsteen), Promenade (Miss O), Nine (Stephanie Necrophorus), She Loves Me (Ilona Ritter) and Candide. For Hot Summer Nights she played Sally Brown in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Bebe in A Chorus Line and in Oliver and Hello, Dolly! She was a featured performer with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra in A Halloween Extravaganza and On the Wings of a Dream. She has filmed commercials for the California Transit System, Manteca Water Slides and Marian World as well as doing print work for Mervyns and modeling for Nordstrom.

  Kristi Villani
Kristi was born and raised in Hamden, Connecticut. At the Long Wharf Theatre she appeared in Macbeth and in Guys and Dolls at Quisisana. At CCM she has played Miss Cake in Promenade, Sarraghina in Nine and was seen in Candide and Saturday Night. She was a featured performer with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra in Patriotic Broadway, Return of the Chiller and On the Wings of a Dream. She has appeared in promotional spots for WB64-Cincinnati and is a featured soloist on Return of the Chiller for Telarc Records. Patriotic Broadway will air on PBS this summer.