MEET THE PROS
Rob Berman
Rob is a New York based conductor and music director. Rob’s many Broadway credits as conductor include the revival of Leonard Bernstein’s Wonderful Town; the Tony® Award winning production of The Pajama Game starring Harry Connick Jr.; the new stage adaptation of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas; and revivals of Finian’s Rainbow, The Apple Tree, and Promises, Promises. For six years, Rob has been music director of the Kennedy Center Honors, receiving four Emmy nominations. He was the music director of A Broadway Celebration: In Performance at the White House. He is the music director of Encores!, New York City Center’s acclaimed series. In five seasons, he has conducted celebrated revivals of Lane and Harburg’s Finian’s Rainbow, Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along and Anyone Can Whistle and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Pipe Dream. Rob won a Helen Hayes Award for his music direction of the Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration’s production of Sunday in the Park With George and for Carnegie Hall, he was music director of Opening Doors, an original revue of Sondheim songs. Rob has conducted seven original cast recordings, including the recent Encores! productions of Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along and Jule Styne’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. He has had the privilege of working with legendary theater writers such as Sondheim, Kander and Ebb, Cy Coleman, Bock and Harnick, Charles Strouse and Richard Adler.
Marc Bruni
Marc directed the Tony, Grammy, and Olivier Award winning Beautiful: The Carole King Musical on Broadway, in the West End, US and UK Tours, and in Australia where he won the 2018 Helpmann Award and Green Room Award for Best Direction of a Musical. Bruni’s other directing credits include Hey, Look Me Over!, Paint Your Wagon, Pipe Dream and Fanny for City Center Encores!, Roman Holiday (Golden Gate), The Explorers Club (Manhattan Theater Club), The Sound of Music (Chicago Lyric Opera), The Music Manand How to Succeed in Business... (Kennedy Center Broadway Center Stage), Old Jews Telling Jokes (Westside Theatre and Royal George in Chicago- Jeff Award nom for Direction), Trevor (Writers Theatre- Jeff nomination for Direction), Other People’s Money (Long Wharf- Connecticut Critics Circle nomination), I Hate Hamlet (Bucks County Playhouse), Presto Change-o (Barrington Stage), Ordinary Days (Roundabout Underground), Irving Berlin’s White Christmas (Paper Mill Playhouse), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Paper Mill Playhouse and Philadelphia Theatre Company), and and 8 shows for the St. Louis MUNY including Singin’ in the Rain, My Fair Lady, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Music Man and The Sound of Music (Two Kevin Kline Nominations for direction). He won the NYMF Award for Best Direction for his production of Such Good Friends. Additionally, he has been associated with Walter Bobbie, Kathleen Marshall, Jerry Mitchell, Casey Nicholaw, and Jerry Zaks on thirteen Broadway productions and tours including The Book of Mormon, Nice Work If You Can Get It, Anything Goes, The Pajama Game, La Cage Aux Folles, Legally Blonde, Sweet Charity, Wonderful Town, Little Shop of Horrors and multiple others. He is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Dartmouth College and proud member of SDC.
Jeff Lee
Jeff is the Staff Associate Director for Disney Theatrical Productions, having served as Associate to Julie Taymor on The Lion King and Bob Crowley on Tarzan. He also directed several domestic and international productions of each show on their behalf. Jeff is working in Creative Development on several new projects for Disney. Prior to joining them, Jeff had an active freelance career as the Associate Director on Cats, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Shirley Valentine, directing several productions of each show both domestically and internationally. He has directed new works and established touring and regional productions, such as Love, Julie, Bleacher Bums, Getting To Know You, The Grapes of Wrath, Mountain Language, A Chorus Line, Song of Singapore, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Man of La Mancha, Oklahoma!, Sweet Charity, and Mortal Kombat. For several years, Jeff was Artistic Director of The North Carolina Theatre, and he continues to sit on the Advisory Board of The National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in Washington, D.C. He also teaches as an Adjunct Professor in the Graduate Schools of the Yale School of Drama and the Columbia University School of Arts Theatre Division.
Gabriela Garcia
Born in Mexico, Gabriela brought her passion for dance to New York. She is an accomplished choreographer and teacher. She is a former cast member and dance captain for CHICAGO the Musical on Broadway and National Tours. She has worked with celebrities such as George Hamilton, Marilou Henner, Hal Linden, Taye Digs, Usher, Melanie Griffith, Patrick Swayze, Brooke Shields and more. She is currently Co-Founder/Director of R.Evolución Latina (RL), a nonprofit organization making a difference through the arts. Gabriela danced with various groups in Mexico, Pacific Northwest Ballet and Tanzforum der Oper Koeln in Cologne. She has assisted choreographers such as Ann Reinking and Baayork Lee. Her musical theater credits include Roman Holiday (Guthrie), West Side Story, Joseph and the Amazing…, Caroussel and the Vienna, and Mexico City companies of CHICAGO where she played the role of Velma Kelly in their original language. She also staged the Dusseldorf Company of CHICAGO. As a voice over actor her voice can be heard in numerous TV commercials and radio spots for the Hispanic market. Her film credits include WHAT EVER LOLA WANTS (Tribeca film festival) and ENCHANTED. She’s a passionate teacher, inspiring, mentoring and instilling her values and work ethic into the new generation of dancers. She is a recipient of El Diario’s 2010 Mujeres Destacadas award and an advisory board member for the Broadway League’s VIVA BROADWAY initiative.
David Zippel
David’s lyrics have won him a Tony® Award, two Academy Award nominations, two Grammy nominations, and three Golden Globe nominations. He is one of few contemporary lyricists to have achieved success on Broadway, in Hollywood, and in the world of pop music. On Broadway, he won the Tony Award for City of Angels (with composer Cy Coleman), and was nominated for The Woman in White (with composer Andrew Lloyd Webber). Other Broadway credits include The Goodbye Girl, Liza’s at the Palace…, and Barbara Cook’s Broadway!. He worked with Alan Menken to write the songs for Disney’s Hercules, and Matthew Wilder to write songs for Disney’s Mulan. His music has been performed by a variety of popular artists including: Stevie Wonder, Mel Torme, Barbara Streisand, Ricky Martin, 98 Degrees, David Pomeranz, Cleo Laine, Linda Eder, Nancy La Mott, Sarah Brightman, Barbara Cook, Jeffery Osborne, Elaine Paige, and Liza Minnelli.