Douglas Carter Beane

Douglas Carter Beane’s play “The Nance” opened on Broadway starring Nathan Lane, where it received five Tony nominations and won three. It was filmed for PBS “Live from Lincoln Center” and was shown in movie theaters and then broadcast on PBS.

Beane’s previous play “The Little Dog Laughed” opened on Broadway where it was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play and won a Tony award for Julie White. It then opened in the West End at the Garrick Theater where it starred Tamsin Grieg and Rupert Friend and Gemma Arterton and was nominated for the Olivier for Best New Play.

His other plays include “Fairycakes” starring Mo Rocca, Jackie Hoffman, Ann Harada, and Julie Halston, “Shows for Days” featuring Patti Lupone and Michael Urie, “The Country Club” starring Cynthia Nixon and Amy Sedaris, “Mr. & Mrs. Fitch” which starred John Lithgow and Jennifer Ehle , “Music From a Sparkling Planet” and “As Bees in Honey Drown” which won the Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award and an Obie award for its star, J. Smith Cameron. His first play “Advice From A Caterpillar” was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle award and was made into a film starring Cynthia Nixon and Timothy Oliphant. It received the Aspen Comedy Festival Best Feature award.

He wrote the film, “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar” which starred Patrick Swayze, John Leguizamo, Wesley Snipes, Robin Williams and Stockard Channing.

A respected practitioner of musical theater his adaptation of “Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella” ran on Broadway for two years and was also nominated for Tonys for both Best Book of a Musical and Best Musical Revival. His musical stage version of the film “Xanadu” also ran on Broadway for two years and was nominated for a Tony for Best Book of a Musical and Best Musical. It received the Drama Desk Award for best book of a musical and the Outer Critics Circle Best Musical award. Beane’s new book for the musical “Sister Act” ran on Broadway for two years and was nominated for the Tony for Best Book of a Musical and Best Musical. It opened in London this summer with Jennifer Saunders as Mother Superior. He wrote the book for the Broadway musical, “Lysistrata Jones” and received both the Drama Desk and Tony nomination for Best Book of a musical.

He wrote the book to the stage adaptation of MGM’s “The Bandwagon” which was produced at the Old Globe and Encores and he’s written the summer show for the Rockettes and Radio City Music Hall. His libretto for “Die Fledermaus” debuted at the Metropolitan Opera and is in their repertoire.

He is married to composer Lewis Flinn and they have two children Cooper and Gabrielle who like theater but don’t want to do it.

Jeff Lynne

Jeff Lynne formed the Electric Light Orchestra, or E.L.O., in the 1970 s. The group gradually developed from cult favorites into one of the 70s’ leading recording acts, scoring international success with several platinum-selling albums, including A New World Record and Out Of The Blue . Lynne’s dual talents as a composer and producer ensured the group’s status but, sensing an artistic sterility, he abandoned his creation in 1986. The artist then assumed an increasingly backroom role, but won praise for his production work with George Harrison (Cloud Nine), Randy Newman (Land Of Dreams) and Roy Orbison (Mystery Girl) and he has also contributed his distinctive production qualities to much of Tom Petty s recent output. Lynne’s work with Orbison coincided with his position as ‘Otis Wilbury’ in the Traveling Wilburys, an informal ‘supergroup’ completed by Orbison, Harrison, Tom Petty and Bob Dylan. This particularly prolific period was also marked by his work with Brian Wilson on the ex-Beach Boys’ first long-awaited solo album.  In recent years, Lynne has produced the Beatles lost tapes, notably Free as a Bird and Real Love . He co-produced Paul McCartney’s Flaming Pie in 1997.

John Farrar

John Farrar left Australia in 1970 at the invitation of the legendary English group The Shadows; they recorded six albums together. During a break he began working with Olivia Newton-John. He went on to produce 14 albums for her. After winning a Grammy (Record of the Year) for “I Honestly Love You,” he moved to L.A. where he wrote and produced many of her hits: “Have You Never Been Mellow?,” “Hopelessly Devoted to You” (Academy Award nom.), “You’re the One That I Want” (Golden Globe nom.), “Don’t Stop Delieving” “A Little More Love,” “Magic,” “Suddenly,” “Sam,” “Make a Move on Me.” He also produced the mega-hit “Physical.” In 1995 he co-wrote with Tim Rice the songs for the Cliff Richard musical Heathcliff. He co-wrote with Francis Ford Coppola the songs for a new musical, Gidget. 

Music Theatre International

Music Theatre International (MTI) is one of the world’s leading theatrical licensing agencies, granting theatres from around the world the rights to perform the greatest selection of musicals from Broadway and beyond. Founded in 1952 by composer Frank Loesser and orchestrator Don Walker, MTI is a driving force in advancing musical theatre as a vibrant and engaging art form.

MTI works directly with the composers, lyricists and book writers of these musicals to provide official scripts, musical materials and dynamic theatrical resources to over 100,000 professional, community and school theatres in the US and in over 150 countries worldwide.

MTI is particularly dedicated to educational theatre, and has created special collections to meet the needs of various types of performers and audiences. MTI’s Broadway Junior® shows are 30- and 60-minute musicals for performance by elementary and middle school-aged performers, while MTI’s School Editions are musicals annotated for performance by high school students.