From Camelot to California: The Worlds of Lerner and Loewe

Meet the Artists

(Click the names below to expand info.)

Rob Berman, artistic director

Award-winning conductor and music director, Rob Berman, makes his Lyrics & Lyricists debut as guest artistic director this season. Mr. Berman is music director of Encores!, New York City Center’s acclaimed series of great American musicals in concert. In his ten seasons with Encores!, he has conducted over 25 productions, including the celebrated revivals of Lerner and Loewe’s Paint Your Wagon, Cole Porter’s The New Yorkers, Burton Lane and Yip Harburg’s Finian’s Rainbow, Frank Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella, Stephen Sondheim’s Anyone Can Whistle and Merrily We Roll Along, Kurt Weill’s Lost in the Stars, and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Pipe Dream.

Mr. Berman’s most recent Broadway credits include music director and vocal arranger of last season’s Bright Star. The Steve Martin-Edie Brickell musical earned five Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical and Best Score. Mr. Berman was music supervisor for last season’s Broadway productions of Tuck Everlasting and Dames at Sea, for which he also provided dance and vocal arrangements.

For nine years, Mr. Berman served as music director of the Kennedy Center Honors, conducting for such singers as Kelli O’Hara, Patti LuPone and Kristin Chenoweth, and winning the 2012 Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction.

Mr. Berman’s association with Sondheim musicals extends to his work on the Off Broadway revivals of Pacific Overtures (as music supervisor) and Passion (as music director), both productions directed by John Doyle at Classic Stage Company. Mr. Berman won a Helen Hayes Award for music direction of the Kennedy Center’s production of Sunday in the Park with George. He also served as music director of Opening Doors, an original revue of Sondheim songs at Carnegie Hall.

Additional Broadway credits as a conductor include the revival of Leonard Bernstein’s Wonderful Town, the Tony Award-winning production of The Pajama Game starring Harry Connick, Jr., the stage adaptation of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, and revivals of Finian’s Rainbow, The Apple Tree and Promises, Promises.

Mr. Berman was music director of A Broadway Celebration: In Performance at the White House, broadcast nationwide on PBS. His orchestral engagements include conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic for Barbara Cook, and the Omaha Symphony for Audra McDonald. He has also conducted twelve original cast recordings, including the first complete recording of Jerome Kern’s Roberta.

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Chase Brock, stage director

Chase Brock is Artistic Director of The Chase Brock Experience, the Brooklyn-based dance company for which he has created 30 works and commissioned six scores by composers including Michael John LaChiusa and Joshua Rosenblum.

Directing includes The Night They Invented Champagne (Westport Country Playhouse), The Music Man and The Nutcracker (Flat Rock Playhouse), Welcome to My 15 Minutes (Ars Nova), Finding Home (National Concert Hall, Taipei), Trick or Treat! (New England Philharmonic) and Asian Excellence Awards (Jazz at Lincoln Center).

Choreography includes Broadway’s Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark and Picnic, Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, currently running in Berlin and Tokyo, Off Broadway’s The Blue Flower (Second Stage, Lucille Lortel Award nomination), Tamar of the River (Prospect Theater, Callaway Award finalist), Gigantic (Vineyard Theatre), First Daughter Suite and Venice (The Public Theater), Lost in the Stars, The Cradle Will Rock, Irma La Douce and Do I Hear a Waltz? (New York City Center’s Encores!), Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette (The Metropolitan Opera), Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO), Late Show with David Letterman and the bestselling video game, Dance on Broadway.

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Chuck Cooper

Chuck Cooper earned a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his performance as Memphis in Cy Coleman’s The Life. Additional honors include the Lucille Lortel Award for his portrayal of Wining Boy in the revival of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, the San Diego Critics Circle Award for Wilson’s Two Trains Running (Memphis Lee), the Audelco Award for Tony Kushner & Jeanine Tesori’s Caroline, or Change (the dryer), and consecutive Drama Desk Award nominations for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play for his roles in The Piano Lesson and Choir Boy.

Mr. Cooper is a veteran of fourteen Broadway shows, and will next appear in the upcoming production of Prince of Broadway, a new musical celebrating the career of legendary director and producer, Harold Prince. Mr. Cooper’s television appearances include guest starring roles on House of Cards, Madam Secretary, Gossip Girl, Nurse Jackie and “Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight.” He is proud to share the stage for this Lyrics & Lyricists event with his daughter, singer and actress, Lilli Cooper.

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Lilli Cooper

Lilli Cooper made her Broadway debut in the original cast of Spring Awakening while till in her teens. In her role as Martha, she played opposite Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff. She last appeared on Broadway in Wicked, as the standby for Elphaba, after stints in the Australian and U.S. touring companies. Other productions have included the Off Broadway revival of Tick, Tick…BOOM!, The Wildness (Ars Nova), Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 (American Repertory Theater), Noir (NAMT), The Threepenny Opera (Atlantic Theater Company), LMNOP (Goodspeed Musicals) and Independents (Theater 80/Soho Playhouse) — a New York Times Critics Pick. Ms. Cooper has performed with her father, Chuck Cooper, and brothers as part of Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series and at Joe’s Pub. Ms. Cooper has appeared on television in the dramas Bull and Elementary.

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Bryce Pinkham

An American stage and screen actor, Bryce Pinkham is most widely known for originating the role of Monty Navarro in the Tony Award Winning production of A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, for which he was nominated for a Tony, Grammy and Drama Desk Award. He also notably appeared in the Broadway revival of The Heidi Chronicles as Peter Patrone, for which he was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award and a Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance in 2015. His other Broadway credits include original roles in Holiday Inn, Ghost and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.

Bryce's television appearances include as a series regular on the second season of PBS’ Civil War Drama Mercy Street, guest appearances in Baz Lurman's Netflix series The Get Down and Robert DeNiro's feature film The Comedian as well as The Good Wife (CBS), and Person of Interest (CBS).

As a singer Bryce has performed in concert venues across the country, most notably Carnegie Hall, Chicago Lyric Opera, Lincoln Center and The Library of Congress.

As a writer, Bryce has published articles on acting, performing and education in American Theater Magazine, Yale Alumni Magazine and others.

In 2012 Bryce helped found Zara Aina, an NGO that uses the power of theatrical storytelling to empower at-risk youth. In May 2013, Bryce led a team of American artists on Zara Aina’s pilot program to Madagascar. Bryce is also a frequent collaborator with Outside the Wire, a social impact theater company that serves many communities but particularly focuses on military audiences. His most notable international tours include Guantanamo Bay, Japan, Kuwait, and Qatar.

A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, Bryce was awarded the Leonore Annenberg Foundation Early Career Fellowship in 2012.

Bryce holds a BA from Boston College and an MA from the Yale School of Drama.

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Ryan Silverman

Ryan Silverman recently starred as Terry in the Broadway revival of Side Show, for which he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. His Broadway roles include Billy Flynn in Chicago, and Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera. His performance as Giorgio in the Classic Stage Company’s revival of Passion earned him nominations for Drama Desk and Drama League Awards. He has appeared at the Kennedy Center in Camelot in Concert, playing Sir Lancelot alongside Brian Stokes Mitchell’s King Arthur, and in the Center’s production of Side Show.

Mr. Silverman has been featured in the New York City Center’s Encores! productions of The Golden Apple and Music in the Air, and in the New York City Opera production of The Most Happy Fella. He recently starred opposite soprano, Natalie Dessay, in the acclaimed Theatre du Chatelet production of Passion. On the West End, he played the role of Tony in the Olivier Award nominated 2008 revival of West Side Story. Mr. Silverman’s cabaret engagements have included a month-long residency at Café Carlyle and a performance at Feinstein’s at The Regency. He has performed in concert with orchestras including The New York Pops, Philadelphia Orchestra, Philly Pops, Cincinnati Pops, Detroit Symphony, Houston Symphony, Seattle Symphony and others.

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Lauren Worsham

Lauren Worsham is a Tony-nominated actress and singer. She was nominated for a Tony and won Drama Desk and Theatre World awards for the role of ‘Phoebe' in A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder (2014 Tony winner for Best Musical). Most recently, she was seen in New York City Center’s gala production of Sunday in the Park with George. Other favorite roles include ‘Lisa' in Dog Days at Montclair Peak Performances, Fort Worth Opera and LA Opera for director Robert Woodruff; ‘Flora' in Turn of the Screw at New York City Opera for Sam Buntrock; ‘Amy’ in Where’s Charley? at Encores! for John Doyle; ‘Cunegonde' in New York City Opera's Candide, and ‘Olive' in the first national tour of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Lauren performs frequently in concert at Carnegie Hall, 54 Below, Joe's Pub, Caramoor, Merkin Hall, Oregon Bach Festival, Galapagos Art Space and New York City Opera's VOX. Lauren placed second in the Kurt Weill Foundation's Lotte Lenya competition. She’s co-founder and executive director of the downtown opera company, The Coterie, and is a founding member of the band, Sky-Pony. More at laurenworsham.com.

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Mark Mitchell

Conductor/pianist Mark C. Mitchell has been music director, conductor and/or pianist for over 50 Broadway, Off Broadway, national tour and regional productions. Notable among his many Broadway shows are Sunday in the Park with George, She Loves Me, Les Miserables, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, 110 in the Shade, The Light in the Piazza, Elf, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Pacific Overtures, The Producers, Kiss Me, Kate, A Christmas Carol (The Theater at MSG, ten seasons), 1776, Into the Woods, Miss Saigon and Cats. Highlights of tours, Off Broadway and regional productions include The Will Rogers Follies, Saturday Night, Giant, Queen of the Mist, 42nd Street, Forbidden Broadway, Lady, Be Good!, Here’s Love and The Cocoanuts. Prior to making his Lyrics & Lyricists debut with this show, Mr. Mitchell assisted Rob Berman on The Golden Apple, one of more than 20 productions for New York City Center’s Encores! in which he has been involved.

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Andrew Sterman

Reeds player and composer Andrew Sterman has performed in more than a dozen Broadway shows, including Amélie, Sister Act, The Scottsboro Boys, Curtains, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and the recent revivals of Fiddler on the Roof and Sunset Boulevard. He has appeared with such artists as Frank Sinatra, Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan and Aretha Franklin. Andrew also leads his own ensembles, and has made three recordings of his original music: Wet Paint, The Path to Peace and Blue Canvas with Spiral. He has been a member of the Philip Glass Ensemble since 1992, and has performed with orchestras including the New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic. His website is andrewsterman.com.

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Peter Sachon

Cellist Peter Sachon regularly performs throughout the world in a wide range of genres: classical, jazz, rock and country, as well as in Broadway shows. His work in the Broadway pit includes the musicals Fiddler on the Roof, The Light in the Piazza, South Pacific, Pippin and The King and I. He has worked with singers Audra McDonald, Victoria Clarke, Kelli O’Hara and Josh Groban, among others. Ensembles he has performed with range from Absolute Ensemble to the Spoleto Festival (U.S. and Italy) and Hollywood Bowl orchestras. Mr. Sachon has premiered more than 30 new works for cello, all written for him by Broadway composers. Stephen Flaherty, Stephen Schwartz and Maury Yeston are among the creators.

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Bill Ellison

Bassist Bill Ellison has played in the orchestra of more than 60 Broadway shows, including original productions and revivals of Showboat, Gypsy, The King and I, The Sound of Music, Annie Get Your Gun, Porgy and Bess, On the Town, Shrek, Patti LuPone on Broadway and Sondheim on Sondheim. Bill has been a member of The New York Pops for 30 years, and has also performed with the Detroit Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, American Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic and others. He toured with Barbra Streisand and with Bernadette Peters, and has also performed at the White House. Three of the Broadway cast albums on which he played won Grammy Awards. Bill holds an MA from the Juilliard School of Music.

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Eric Poland

Drummer and percussionist Eric Poland has performed with the Radio City Rockettes, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Opera, and the Martha Graham and Mark Morris Dance Companies. He is also an active Broadway musician and has worked in over 25 Broadway shows. Eric can be heard on the Deutsche Grammophon recording of Luciano Berio’s Folk Songs with soprano Dawn Upshaw, as well as on the Grammy Award-winning cast album of the Broadway revival of West Side Story. He earned his BA and MA from the Juilliard School.

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