David Grindrod (he/him)

SECOND SEASON

David is excited to be back at Weathervane after directing and choreographing A Chorus Line last season. David is the associate to Tony Award Recipient, Baayork Lee working alongside her on multiple national and international productions of A Chorus Line as well as Cats and South Pacific. David choreographed The Light in the Piazza directed by Tony Award Winner, Victoria Clark. Other directing/choreographing credits include: Quisisana Resort, White Plains Performing Arts, and Music Theatre Kansas City. David has a BFA in Musical Theatre from Pace University. @david.grin

Andrew Morrissey (he/him)

FOURTH SEASON

Andrew Morrissey is a NYC based pianist, music director, vocal coach and composer. Experience includes educational, community and semi-professional theatre in NH, NYC and the DMV area. A NH native, regional credits include Interlakes, Jean’s Playhouse, Winnipesaukee Playhouse and Plymouth State University, where he received a BA in Music. He has a MM in stage music composition from CUA, and his thesis project grew into a fully fledged staging of Lost In Wonderland with DC’s Pallas Theatre Collective. Current projects include a new musical based on Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray and another on the life of Rasputin. IG: @Andrewmorrisseymusic

Frank Loesser

One of America’s great composer/lyricists, Frank Loesser began his songwriting career during the Depression as a lyricist, contributing songs to Broadway revues and nightclub acts.His work with composer Irving Actman in the 1936 revue The Illustrator’s Show led to a songwriting contract in Hollywood, where he spent the next eleven years working with such composers as Burton Lane, Jule Styne, Arthur Schwartz, and Hoagy Carmichael. Some of his film songs include “Two Sleepy People,” “Jingle Jangle Jingle” and “I Don’t Want To Walk Without You.” The first song for which Loesser wrote both words and music was “Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition,” written during his World War II service. His Hollywood work after the war included the hit songs “Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year,” “A Slow Boat To China,” and the 1949 Oscar-winning song “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.” In 1948 Loesser was approached by fledgling Broadway producers Cy Feuer and Ernest Martin to write music and lyrics to George Abbott’s libretto for an adaptation of the classic Brandon Thomas play Charley’s Aunt.The new musical, which starred Ray Bolger, was called Where’s Charley? and was a hit. This led to Loesser’s next show,the hugely influential and successful Guys and Dolls in 1950, also produced by Feuer and Martin,with a script by Abe Burrows and Jo Swerling. In 1956 Loesser wrote the libretto, music, and lyrics for his next show,The Most Happy Fella, adapted from Sidney Howard’s play,They Knew What They Wanted. This impressive score contains over 30 musical numbers and makes extensive use of operatic techniques and forms, including recitative, arias, duets, trios, and choral numbers. In 1960 he provided the score and was co-librettist for Greenwillow.In 1961, Loesser Wrote the score for the Pulitzer Prize-winning How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. His last show, Pleasures and Palaces, closed in 1965 during out-of-town try-outs.

ABE BURROWS

After studying to be a doctor and an accountant, Abe Burrows had a career in sales before becoming a successful radio script writer and writer/performer of musical parody numbers.His first Broadway libretto was Guys and Dolls, co-written with Jo Swerling, with a score by Frank Loesser. Among the musicals for which he provided librettos are Make A Wish, Can–Can, and Silk Stockings (both with scores by Cole Porter), Say, Darling, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (which he also directed; score by Frank Loesser). His non-musical plays include Cactus Flower (wrote and directed) and Forty Carats (directed).

JO SWERLING

Born in Russia in 1897, Jo Swerling was a playwright, screenwriter ,and vaudeville sketch writer. Mr.Swerling’s long career began as a reporter and feature writer in New York and Chicago.

Music Theatre International

MUSIC THEATRE INTERNATIONAL (MTIShows.com) 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 scripts, musical materials and dynamic theatrical resources to over 60,000 theatrical organizations in the U.S. and in over 60 countries worldwide.