ERV RAIBLE / Executive Artistic Director / Master Teacher

Erv is the Executive Director of Erv Raible Cabaret & Concert Artists International, and is a NYC based director, coach, publicist, consultant and talent representative. Erv owned and booked The Duplex Cabaret & Piano Bar (1978-1985), Brandy's Piano Bar (1980-1985), Don't Tell Mama Cabaret & Piano Bar (1982-1989), the legendary Eighty Eight's (1988-1999), was the Entertainment Director/Public Relations Liason for the FireBird Cafe (1999-2001), was the Entertainment Director/Public Relations Liaison, and design consultant for Staten Island’s Lorenzo’s (2005-06), and through these venues presented over 4,000 performers to the public. Erv currently serves on the Back Stage Bistro Award Selection Committee. Erv co-founded the Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs, served as President for 11 years and producted the first 9 MAC Award ceremonies. Erv currently serves as the Advisory Board Chairman for the Washington, DC Cabaret Network and on the Advisory Boards of the Boston Association of Cabaret Artists, Chicago Cabaret Professionals and Cabaret West/ Los Angeles. Erv is the recipient of the 2004 Back Stage Bistro Award for Outstanding Director. Erv received a 2002, 2003 and 2004 MAC Award nomination for Director, received a 2000 Back Stage Bistro Award for the legendary Eighty Eight's, a 1992 MAC and Back Stage Bistro Award for conceiving, producing and directing the musical revue Here's To Our Friends ... The AIDS Music Revue, a 1992 MAC Award nomination for Special Musical Material for the song I Wish I Might with Emmy Award winning composer Brian Lasser, a 1991 Back Stage Bistro Award for promoting cabaret and founding the Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs, and the 1989 Piaf d'Honneur from the french government for promoting, producing and directing cabaret internationally. Erv was a Master Teacher for the O'Neill Theater Center's Cabaret Symposium for 12 years, and served as the Associate Producer for 7 years before becoming the Producer in 2000 at its untimely demise. Erv has taught cabaret classes for Talent Ventures, Inc. (TVI), Dreams Come True (DCT) Enterprises, and currently teaches a weekly adult cabaret class at BizKidsNYC/Pier Studios, and does Master Classes nationally. As benefits for the Twin Towers Fund, following the attack on the World Trade Center, Erv conceived, produced, directed and narrated September 11, 2002 ... The Musical Response and with long-time associate John Hoglund co-produced the Heart Song benefits in NYC, Detroit (with Marnie Baumer) and Washington, DC (with Wendy Lane Bailey). Erv has written the book and lyrics, and is currently developing Wallis & Edward: The Love Story of the Twentieth Century? for the musical stage. Erv is currently developing a holocaust music documentary, Silent Voices: Words & Music of the Holocaust, Hate, Hope and the Human Spirit for the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Prior to moving to New York City, Erv co-founded the internationally acclaimed Cincinnati, Ohio School for Creative & Performing Arts, the first public alternative arts school, where he served as the head of the Studio Art and Art History departments; and was the resident set, costume and graphic designer for the schools numerous drama, music theater and dance productions including Babes in Toyland, Cinderella, The Music Man, A Streetcar Named Desire, Carnival, Mame, La Boutique Fantasque, Little Mary Sunshine, and Ahmal and the Night Visitors. Erv's illustrious students include: Rocky Carroll (CBS televisions Chicago Hope / Tony Nominee for The Piano Lesson), Cy Voris (Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight / Bulletproof Monk), Rosa Curry (Broadway's Chicago and Steel Pier / George C. Wolfe's Harlem Song), and Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex and the City).

PAMELA TATE / Associate Director

Pamela Tate is an award-winning writer, actress, songwriter and recording artist. She has performed in venues ranging from small clubs to stadiums of 50,000, and has opened for such Grammy award winning talents as The Doobie Brothers, Hall & Oates, the Go-Go’s, Stray Cats, Joan Jett, Asleep At The Wheel and Ronnie Blakely. As a BMI songwriter Pam has produced two CDs of original music, the bluesy Die Happy and the pop-rock Dancing On The Pyramids - both to international rave reviews and radio play. Pam’s third CD Something Wonderful, based on her cabaret act of the same name, has also received airplay and critical acclaim. Pam’s music is available in stores and on the internet on itunes, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and CD Baby. Her NYC cabaret shows include: Love Lost and Found, Something Wonderful and September 11, 2001 - The Musical Response.

As a playwright, Pamela’s full-length play LENI, about German filmmaker Leni Riefensthal, was part of the 2010 TRU Reading Series in NYC. The play also won The Famous Door National Women’s Playwriting Award, was a finalist at The O’Neill Center’s National Playwright’s Conference and has also had readings at Chicago’s Famous Door, California’s Aurora Theatre, Woodstock Fringe and Pulse Ensemble Theatre in NYC.

Pamela is currently writing the book, lyrics (with Erv Raible) and music for Ship Of Fools The Musical, based on the Katherine Anne Porter novel. Pamela’s feature length screenplays include: Behind The Mask, an adaptation of the Louisa May Alcott novella (finalist at Houston’s WorldFest Film Festival), The Mill Girls (Semi-finalist at the Austin Film Festival and selected for the IFP Film Market in NYC), Faith, Hope and Rock & Roll (selected for the IFP Film Market in NYC) and dramatic monologues, Rogue Women: Pirates, Soldiers and Spies, for The National Museum of Women’s History.

Pamela was most recently seen as an actress in John Patrick Shanley’s Defiance, and has performed leading roles in New York City and regionally in Blood Brothers (as Mrs. Johnstone), Leader of the Pack (in which she played Ellie Greenwich), Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well And Living in Paris, John Patrick Shanley’s Women of Manhattan (which she also directed), Major Barbara, Sam Shepard’s A Lie of the Mind, The Last Flapper and The Immigrant, to name a few. Pamela has also directed numerous theatrical productions and is most fond of working with emerging playwrights. Pamela is a member of Actors Equity, Screen Actors Guild, BMI and The Dramatists Guild.

TEX ARNOLD / Master Teacher / Pianist

Tex is a pianist, arranger, conductor and composer, whose credits include music director, arranger and conductor for the legendary Margaret Whiting’s radio, television, recording and symphony orchestra performances, for over 25 years. Tex has also played and/or conducted for Larry Adler, Sally Mayes, Ruth Brown, Sally Ann Howes, Marilyn Michaels, Julius LaRosa, Rita Moreno, Four Girls Four (Rose Marie, Helen O’Connell, Margaret whiting and Rosemary Clooney), Carol Hall, Dick Shawn and most recently Melissa Erico. After leaving Michigan State, Hubert “Tex” Arnold began his professional career in the late 60s as a staff arranger for the US Military Band at West Point, while subbing on keyboard for the Broadway musical Company, joining the national tour following his leaving the military. Tex served as the musical supervisor, vocal arranger and orchestrator for the London production of The Betrayal of Nora Blake. Prior to this Tex was the 2001 musical director for the Off-Broadway show Pete ‘n’ Keely, the musical director for the 2000 O’Neill Theater Center’s concerts in St. Petersburg, Russia, featuring the songs of Johnny Mercer performed by a company of American artists including Sally Mayes and Julie Wilson. Tex has written orchestrations for the Lincoln Center American Songbook Series and the Carnegie Hall tributes to the songwriting teams of Comden & Green and Alan and Marilyn Bergman, and arranged and conducted the Johnny Mercer Tribute at the 92nd Street Y’s Lyrics & Lyricists series for Margaret Whiting, Julius LaRosa, Carol Woods and Marlene VerPlanck. Tex's concert music has been commissioned and recorded, including performances of his trumpet concerto by the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, and the CBC Enterprise release of a work commissioned by the New York Saxophone Quartet.

MARK BURNELL / Master Teacher / Pianist

Mark Burnell was a faculty member of Carnegie Mellon’s Drama department for a decade, serving as a vocal coach, accompanist, and music director, and also was the co-founding director of the CMU Jazz Choir. In Chicago, he taught vocal jazz at Roosevelt and Northwestern Universities. Music director credits include “Quality Time” with Dave Frishberg at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, the improv comedy “Boom Chicago” in Leidseplein Theatre in Amsterdam, and in Chicago, “Mr. Bojangles: the Ultimate Entertainer” with Ted Levy and Eric Jordan Young at Centre East Theatre, and ‘Musical the Musical’ at Royal George Theatre. A founding member of Chicago Cabaret Professionals, Mark has music directed CCP shows at Davenport’s, Drury Lane Water Tower, Park West, and Royal George. Mark and his wife Anne have appeared at Judy’s Supper Club, Don’t Tell Mama’s, and Rose’s Turn in New York, Les Trois Maillets in Paris, Media Café B&W in Amsterdam, Skokie Theater and Maxim’s in Chicago, and sung the National Anthem at Wrigley Field, Comiskey Park, Allstate Arena and Soldier Field. They released a duo CD ‘Little Things We Do Together’, and Mark played and conducted on Anne’s CD ‘Blues in the Night’, garnering airplay on over 200 NPR and jazz radio stations. Other recordings include ‘Aquacadence’, ‘Christmas Piano’, and ‘Cooler by the Lake’. He toured Switzerland 3 times, performing in Bern, Lausanne, Zurich, Geneva, the Solothurn Jazz Fest, and Freiburg, Germany. Mark has worked with Ward Swingle, Howie Mandel, Connie Francis, Mark Murphy, Richie Cole, Laura San Giacomo, Sharon McNight, and Laurel Massé. He is an avid unicyclist.

TOVAH FELDSHUH / Master Teacher

Tovah began her career when she won the McKnight Fellowship in acting to the Guthrie Theater where she created over 20 roles in two seasons. She made her Broadway debut in Cyrano starring opposite Christopher Plummer, went on the star in Yentl (Tony nomination), and two additional Tony nominations for Sarava! and Lend Me A Tenor. Tovah has also received 3 Drama Desk, 4 Outer Critics Circle, the OBIE and the Theater World Awards. Tovah’s lead roles in New York productions include: She Stoops To Conquer and Mistress of the Inn for the Roundabout Theater, BAM’s Three Sisters with Rosemary Harris and Denhem Elliot and Broadway’s Rodgers and Hart and Dreyfus In Rehearsal. Two seasons ago Tovah starred in her one-woman off-Braodway show Talullah Hallelujah! for 4 months at the Douglas Fairbanks Theater; and was chosen one of USA Today’s 10 Best Plays of the Year. For Hartford Theaterworks Tovah starred as Diana Vreeland in Full Gallop, for the Cornell University’s Center for Theater Arts Tovah starred in The Prime of Miss Jean Brody. Tovah has portrayed Sarah Bernhardt, Stella Adler, Sophie Tucker, Katharine Hepburn, 3 Queens of Henry VIII, and 9 Jews from birth to death off-Broadway in Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh. Tovah’s television credits include the NBC miniseries Holocaust (Emmy nomination), has starred opposite Tommy Lee Jones in The Amazing Howard Hughes, James Wood in Citizen Cohn and Bill Cosby in The Cosby Mysteries and The Bill Cosby Show, among others. Tovah has a recurring role as Danielle Melnick on Law and Order played Richard Dreyfus’ sister Sharon in The Education of Max Bickford, Robert loggia’s love interest Marie Badalamenti in Queens Supreme and appears as Dr. Bethany Rose on As The World Turns. Tovah’s film credits include A Walk On The Moon (Miramax) and the critically acclaimed Kissing Jessica Stein (Golden Satellite Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress), Happy Accidents with Marisa Tomei, Friends and Family, 3 Little Wolffs, Toll Booth and Old Love which was selected for this year’s Venice Film Festival. Tovah has also appeared in The Corruptor with Mark Wahlberg, Nunzio, Cheaper To Keep Her, Daniel, Brewster’s Millions, The Idolmaker, The Blue Iguana, A Day In October and The Believer. Tovah made her cabaret debut at the Algonquin’s Oak Room with Tovah! Crossovah! From Broadway To Cabaret, and the off-Broadway Tovah: Out Of Her Mind which has toured internationally, with Tovah making her London West End debut at the Duke of York’s Theater. Tovah was seen with Billy Crystal in Concert in Los Angeles this past March. Tovah’s charity work has been acknowledged with the 2002 Jewish Image Award from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, the Eleanor Roosevelt Humanities Award, Hadassah’s Myrtle Wreath and the Israel Peace Medal.

JASON GRAAE / Master Teacher

Jason Graae is probably best known for his recurring role as Dennis in HBO television’s 6 Feet Under. Jason has been seen in the “mockumentary” film, On Edge, about Amateur Women’s Figure Skating – with Jason Alexander, John Glover, and Wendy Mallik – which premiered at The Aspen Comedy Festival. This past year Jason received rave reviews as Njegus in Los Angeles Opera’s acclaimed production of The Merry Widow, as Marcellus in The Music Man at the Hollywood Bowl, and as Moonface in the acclaimed revival of Anything Goes! Also in LA, Jason was featured in Forbidden Broadway Y2KLA!, for which he received an LA Ovation Award and an Ovation nomination for Forbidden Hollywood. This past year, Jason toured the country with his award-winning, critically acclaimed one-man show, as well as touring with Hello, Jerry! with the magnificent Jerry Herman, featuring Karen Morrow, Paige O’Hara and Don Pippin. Jason has appeared as a guest artist with the Boston Pops on two broadcasts of Evening Pops on PBS. He has recorded over thirty original cast albums and studio CDs, including his two solo CDs You’re Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile – Jason Graae Sings Charles Strouse and Jason Graae LIVE at The Cinegrill. He hung upside down for a year as Harry Houdini in the US Premiere of Ragtime at the wonderful and soon to be demolished Shubert Theater in LA. For Reprise!, he starred as a twin opposite David Hyde Pierce and Lea DeLaria in The Boys From Syracuse and played The French Ambassador in Of Thee I Sing. On Broadway Jason starred in A Grand Night For Singing, Falsettos, Stardust, Snoopy, and Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? Jason’s Off-Broadway credits include the original cast of Forever Plaid and Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (Drama Desk nomination), Olympus On My Mind, All In The Timing, and many more. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in Twyla Tharp’s Everlast with American Ballet Theater and performed several shows at New York’s Rainbow & Stars. Jason’s television appearances include Chad on Showtime’s Rude Awakening with Lynn Redgrave and many guest-starring roles on Hidden Hills, Maybe It’s Me, Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Friends, Frasier, Providence, Caroline In The City, Living Single, Coach, and many more. Jason was featured in two Movies Of The Week: Disney’s Gepetto and The Dukes Of Hazzard Go To Hollywood. Jason will be heard in the up-coming Disney feature Sweating Bullets. For five years Jason was the voice-over for the Western Union Money-Grams and Lucky, the Leprechaun for Lucky Charms Cereal. Jason will be heard on the up-coming Disney animated feature Home On The Range.

GEORGE HALL / Master Teacher

George was trained from 1948-51 at the Old Vic Theater School under Michel St. Denis, George Devine and Glen Byam Shaw. During the 1950’s Mr. Hall appeared at the Old Vic Theater and in various repertory theaters, as well as in vaudeville and cabaret. He also composed incidental music for a number of plays in the theater and on television, directed musicals, and wrote and staged cabaret acts, as well as spending 3 years in BBC Light Entertainment. In 1961 he worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company, composing music for the Michael Elliott / Vanessa Redgrave As You Like It. In the 1962-63 season at the Old Vic he was resident composer and voice coach and during this time he composed two film scores. From 1963 until 1987, he worked full-time at the Central School of Speech and Drama as Director of the Acting Course. He worked with Litz Pisk and Vanessa Redgrave on the film Isadora, directed the Royal Exchange Company in Manchester, and was responsible for vocal coaching on a number of West End musicals, notably Andre Previn’s Good Companions and The Black Mikado. Mr. Hall composed scores for the film Private Potter, starring Tom Courtney, the BBC-TV production of She Stoops To Conquer, starring Sir Ralph Richardson, and a large number of productions at the Royal Exchange, Manchester including the Albert Finney / Leo McKern Uncle Vanya. Ha has worked as a voice coach/singing teacher with a great number of actors, notably Dame Edith Evans, Sir Laurence Olivier and, more recently, Leslie Caron. Since leaving Central in 1987, he has returned to acting and performing after a 30 year gap. In addition to running his cabaret group, The Swell Party Company, he has taught and lectured in America, Sweden and Holland, as well as working at the Royal Academy of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, RADA and the British American Drama Academy.

MICHAEL JOVIALA / Master Teacher / Pianist

Michael Joviala is an active pianist, clarinetist, composer and teacher in New York City. Training: BA in Jazz Performance, University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. Faculty: Lucy Moses School, Bloomingdale School of Music, American Musical and Dramatic Academy, HB Studios, and Pier Studios in New York City. Michael has earned Certification and License in the Julliard School of Music in New York and the Longy School of Music in Boston, in Dalcroze Eurhythmics, a method of studying music through movement and improvisation. Currently president of the New York chapter of the Dalcroze Society of America, Michael teaches ongoing classes in New York City and is a frequent presenter of workshops for musicians, actors and singers. Recent projects include “One Musician/One Magician”, an original, interactive show designed to educate children about music through magic. The show was performed at the Café Carlyle in New York. New York theater credits as music director include Most Happy Fella, Merrily We Roll Along, Jamaica, and Mississippi Night (composer and music director).

SHELLY MARKHAM / Master Teacher

Shelly Markham is well known as a arranger, musical director and pianist in both Los Angeles and New York City. He has produced four recordings for the noted cabaret singer, Andrea Marcovicci, including her latest CD release which features the songs of Fred Astaire from her 20th Anniversary show at the Algonquin Hotel's Oak Room in New York City. He arranged and conducted her popular Cole Porter evening, which toured for two years in concert halls nationally and most recently at the famed Liceu Opera House in Barcelona. He has worked with a most diverse roster of performers, including Lanie Kazan, Michael Feinstein, Margaret Whiting, Nell Carter, Ann Jillian, Gogi Grant, Julie Wilson, Chad Mitchell, Carol Lawrence and Bonnie Franklin. As a composer, Shelly has enjoyed a long and successful collaboration with the acclaimed poet and author Judith Viorst. Their musical revue, Love & Shrimp, a celebration of Viorst's poetry and insights, ran at the Pasadena Playhouse, the Canon Theater in Beverly Hills and The Ballroom in New York City and is published by Samuel French. Their musical Alexander & The Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day, based on her best-selling children's book, was commissioned by the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Now published by Dramatic Publishing, the show toured for two years and became one of the most performed children's musicals in the country. Their sequel Alexander Who's Not Not Not Not Not Not Going To Move has been touring for nine months and is also being published this fall by Dramatic Publishing. Shelly has also written songs for the long-running hit Off-Broadway show Naked Boys Singing and is currently working on a musical revue about the wonders and terrors of aging called Too Old For The Chorus which was first presented at the ASCAP-Disney Workshop, enjoyed a sold-out run at the Celebration Theater in Los Angeles and is currently being optioned for an Off-Broadway debut. He scored the PBS production of Charley's Aunt starring Charles Grodin and has written special musical material for many popular television series, including Friends, The Nanny, Golden Girls, Gimme A Break and Touched By An Angel.

LAUREL MASSÉ / Master Teacher

Laurel Massé, is a founding member of the Grammy Award-winning group Manhattan Transfer, and toured internationally for seven years with the group and recorded five albums. Laurel has toured her solo concerts in the US and Europe. She has released four solo CDs. The first two, Alone Together and Easy Living, both hit the Billboard Jazz charts; the third Again, was a People Magazine Pick. Feather and Bone, her 2000 release was picked by audiophile magazine The Absolute Sound as “a recording of extraordinary musical and sonic value.” In the course of her career Laurel has performed at such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, the London Palladium, Salle Pleyel de Paris, the Hollywood Bowl, the Smithsonian Institute; jazz festivals in Montreal, Chicago, Syracuse, Detroit and Saratoga Springs; Birdland and the Blue Note in New York City, the Roxy Nightclub and the Cinegrill in Los Angeles, Chicago’s Green Mill, and Harrah’s, Caesar’s Palace, MGM Grand and the Hilton in Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe. Laurel has taught Master Classes nationally in jazz and cabaret. Since 2002 Laurel has been host and resident artist of The Laurel Massé Jazz Show, a monthly live concert performance program broadcast by WAMC Northeast Public radio to a listening audience of 500,000; also available on line at www.WAMC.org In 2004, Laurel and the current line-up of Manhattan Transfer received the Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs (MAC) Lifetime Achievement Award.

SALLY MAYES / Master Teacher

Sally's most recent critical acclaim comes from Broadway's Urban Cowboy (Drama Desk Nomination). Sally has appeared on Broadway in She Loves Me (1993 Tony, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk nominations), Welcome To The Club (Theater World Award, Outer Critics Circle nomination), and the national tour of Dirty Blonde. Off-Broadway she has appeared in Pete 'N' Keely (2001 Drama Desk nomination), Closer Than Ever (Outer Critics Circle nomination), Das Barbecue, and most recently in the revival of David Zippel's It's Better With a Band in Philadelphia. Sally has received the prestigious Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs and Back Stage Bistro Awards as Outstanding Jazz Vocalist. Sally was a Master Teacher at the O'Neill Theater Center's Cabaret Symposium. Sally has four solo recordings: Boys and Girls Like You and Me, The Story Hour, The Dorothy Fields Songbook, and Our Private World: The Comden & Green Songbook; and an upcoming release of her original songs. Her film credits include: City Hall and Bye Bye Birdie. Her cast recordings include: Pete 'N' Keely, Closer Than Ever, Bye Bye Birdie, Lost in Boston, Unsung Musicals, and Unsung Sondheim.

SHARON McNIGHT / Master Teacher

Sharon made her Broadway debut in 1989 in Starmites creating the role of Diva, for which she received a Tony Award nomination for Best Leading Actress In A Musical, and was the recipient of the coveted Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway Debut, which was presented to her by Carol Channing. Sharon has since developed her one-woman musical Red Hot Mama, about Sophie Tucker, which was work shopped at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and Lucille Lortell’s White Barn Theatre, had a successful three-month run Off-Broadway at the York Theatre, and was seen as Baroness Greta von Keepsomfromfloppen in Murder At Rutherford House. Sharon’s regional credits include: Amanda McBroom’s Heartbeats at the Pasadena Playhouse, and an award-winning Dolly in Hello, Dolly! at the Peninsula Civic Light Opera, Sister Hubert in Nunsense in Los Angeles and San Francisco where she was presented with the Bay Area Critics Award for Best Performance In A Musical, and Audrey in Little shop of Horrors in Pittsburgh. She is the narrator of the documentary There That Night the story of the Provincetown, Massachusetts fire, the film Guinevere with Stephen Rey and Sarah Polly, and was featured in the recent A&E documentary It’s Burlesque for her research on Mae West and Sophie Tucker, as well as episodes of Seinfeld, Silk Stalkings and The Five Mrs. Buchanans. Sharon was recipient of the first Manhattan Association of Cabaret & Clubs Award (MAC), for Outstanding Female Vocalist of the Year, a Back Stage Bistro Award for Outstanding Vocalist, six San Francisco Cabaret Gold Awards, and has had six, critically acclaimed, three-month tours of Europe including performances in Germany, Switzerland, Belguim, France, England, and the Netherlands. Sharon’s recordings include: Offensive Too, Songs To Offend Almost Everyone, The Sophie Tucker Songbook, Now and Then, In The Meantime and The B&B Years. Miss McNight received her Masters of Arts degree in direction from San Francisco State College in nineteen … none of your business. Sharon has been in the forefront in the fight against AIDS since the early eighties, and was featured in Randy Shilt’s book And The Band Played On.

PAMELA MYERS / Master Teacher

Upon high school graduation Pamela entered The Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music as a voice major. Her voice teacher Helen Laird immediately saw the need for a Musical Theatre program and began planning the curriculum that, to this day, serves as the model for Musical Theatre programs throughout the country. Pamela was in that first Musical Theatre class. Upon graduation she went to New York and promptly was cast in Weigh In, Way Out, the last revue at the famed Upstairs At The Downstairs. Within the first month she was cast in the Stephen Sondheim and George Furth musical Company for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. She learned she was cast in the show when Mr. Sondheim told her he had written a song for her. A mere 36 years later she just premiered a new show Hats, the Red Hat Society Musical, about women over 50. She has starred in regional theaters around the country in such shows as Gypsy, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, I Do I Do, Annie Get Your Gun, Hello Dolly, The Full Monty and back to Broadway for the revival of Into The Woods. Along the way she sant at the White House on PBS and guest starred on numerous TV shows such as Happy Days, Alice, Starsky and Hutch plus a 4 year run on the 50's spoof series Sha Na Na. She toured with the Boston Pops and sang in many joyous concerts with the Cincinnati Pops. Pamela loves teaching Musical Theatre Vocal Technique and sharing her many hilarious adventures with her students. She is enormously proud of her son Max who has just graduated from Grinnel College.

FAITH PRINCE

Faith Prince has been dazzling Broadway audiences since she swept the theatre awards winning the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for her performance as Ms. Adelaide in the critically-acclaimed revival of Guys and Dolls. In 2008, she was nominated for Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for A Catered Affair.  Other Broadway credits include The Little Mermaid,  Bells Are Ringing (Tony, DD, OCC noms), Nick & Nora (OCC Award), Jerome Robbins’ Broadway (Tony, DD noms), Little Me, The Dead, Noises Off. She also starred in the world premiere of Terrence McNally’s Unusual Acts of Devotion.

Faith guest starred on Lifetime’s new hit series Drop Dead Diva, in the role of Brooke Elliott’s mother, Elaine. Other guest starring roles this year have included Ugly Betty, Medium and CSI. She was a series regular on Showtime's Huff starring as “Kelly Knippers", the lovable and quirky love interest of Oliver Platt. Prince recurred for five seasons on Spin City. Other television credits include the self-titled series Faith, Sweet Potato Queens, Grey’s Anatomy, House, Monk, Now and Again, Welcome To New York and Law and Order.  Film credits include: Our Very Own with Allison Janney and Cheryl Hines, Picture Perfect, Dave, and My Father the Hero.

Prince works often with The Boston Pops, the Utah Symphony, the Cincinnati Pops, The Philly Pops and more. She recently starred in the concert version of Sweeney Todd with the Orlando Philharmonic. Faith toured her one woman show Moving On in Australia to rave reviews.  She also toured in Over the Rainbow, a concert celebrating the centennial of Harold Arlen.  Faith’s new CD, Total Faith, was recently recorded at the Royal Room in the Colony Hotel in Palm Beach and is scheduled to be released soon. Her award winning CD entitled A Leap Of Faith was recorded at Joe's Pub in New York, and is available on DRG records.

ALEX RYBECK / Master Teacher / Pianist

Pianist, composer and arranger well-known for his work in theater, cabaret and recordings. Alex’s Broadway credits include: Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, Tommy Tune’s Grand Hotel and the hit revival of Damn Yankees. Highly praised by Burt Bacharach, Alex conducted the New York workshop and San Diego premiere of What The World Needs Now. Alex’s concert and cabaret credits include working with: Tommy Tune, Faith Prince, Liz and Ann Hampton Callaway, Lee Roy Reams, Debbie Gravitte, Tovah Feldshuh, Metropolitan Opera star Roberta Peters, Rita Gardner of Fantasticks fame, the legendary Kitty Carlisle Hart, Jeff Harnar, Anna Bergman and the “voice of Hollywood,” Marnie Nixon. Alex’s original songs include: What A Funny Boy He Is, recorded by Nancy LaMott and Sing Out, premiered by the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus at Carnegie Hall. Alex includes among his mentors: Leonard Bernstein, George Abbott, Comden & Green, Arthur Laurents and Stephen Schwartz.

JULIE WILSON / Master Teacher

Barely enrolled at Omaha University, Julie grabbed a chance to join Earl Carroll’s Vanities. This eventually led to the chorus line of New York’s Latin Quarter, and finally the Copacabana. It was war time, and after a Copa USO Tour in Europe, Julie was promoted to a singing spot in the lavish Copacabana production numbers. Miami and Hollywood club dates followed, including the famous Macambo. Lured back to New York Julie fine-tuned her stagecraft in Broadway musicals like Kiss Me Kate, ultimately replacing Lisa Kirk as Bianca. When the play moved to London in 1951, Julie went along. She remained in London for four years and appeared in South Pacific and Bells Are Ringing while studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, giving up the chance to open on Broadway as Babe in The Pajama Game. Two years later she went into the role as a replacement. In 1955 Julie returned to Broadway in Kismet and then toured in Show Boat, Panama Hattie, Silk Stockings and Hi Fidelity. In the 1950s Julie recorded and appeared in films: The Strange One and This Could Be The Night. With the nightclub crash of the 60s Julie began performing in the small clubs that opened in NYC, and had in stage roles in Follies, Company and A Little Night Music, falling in love with the music of Stephen Sondheim. In 1967 Julie appeared in Broadway’s Jimmy before returning to Omaha to raise her two teenage sons. In 1983 Julie triumphantly returned to NYC with a Cole Porter show at Michael’s Pub – her legendary shows of the 50s were remembered – nightspots in NY, Los Angeles and Chicago opened their doors to her; PBS ran special of her cabaret show in 1992; and Peter Allen wrote a part for her in his Broadway musical Legs Diamond for which Julie received a Tony nomination. In 1999 The Mabel Mercer Foundation spotlighted Julie’s 75th birthday with a special evening in her name. Julie is the recipient of numerous Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs, Back Stage Bistro, Board of Director and Life Time Achievement Awards, and was USO Woman of the Year.

Matt has just finished working on tour and on Broadway with Bea Arthur’s Just Between Friends which most recently played in Canada and Australia, after its run at the the Booth Theater on Broadway. Matt has designed concerts, shows and/or cabaret acts for Sam Harris, Polly Bergen, Faith Prince, Karen Mason, Cyndi Lauper, Liza Minnelli, Jane Olivor, Melba Moore, Ann Hampton Callaway, Billy Stritch, Cybill Shepherd, Kathie Lee Gifford and the late, great Nancy LaMott. Matt has designed internationally for Bea Arthur, La Gran Scena Opera Co., Miss Coco Peru, Cybill Shepherd and Anna Sokolow’s Players Project. Nationally, Matt has designed shows on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Regionally, and in all but 8 of the United States. Matt’s industrial and corporate credits include: Loreal, American Theater Wing, The Mayor’s Dinner (Guilliani), National College Board, ASCAP, Israel Cancer Foundation, National Alzheimers Foundation, The Chemotherapy Foundation and Town & Country Magazine. Matt has installed the technical facilities for The FireBird Café, rainbow & Stars, Eighty Eight’s, The Algonquin, Caroline’s Comedy Club, and Davenport’s in Chicago, to mention a few. Matt is the recipient of an unprecedented 8 Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs Awards for Outstanding Technical Achievement.

DAVID FINKLE

David Finkle is a freelance journalist who has written for numerous publications over 40 years--including The New York Times, The Village Voice, The New Yorker, The New York Post, The Daily News, Mirabella, Harper's Bazaar and Vogue. He is currently the cabaret critic for Back Stage and chief drama critic for Theatermania.com. He also worked for many years in cabaret and industrials as one-third of the award-winning team Weeden, Finkle and Fay.

MICHAEL A. KERKER / ASCAP Director of Musical Theater

Michael has been Director of Musical Theater and Cabaret for ASCAP (American Society for Composers, Authors and Publishers) since 1990. In addition to coordinating ASCAP’s Musical Theater Workshop in New York, Michael works with Walt Disney Feature Animation to produce the ASCAP/Disney Musical Theater Workshop in Los Angeles. Michael also co-produces with the Kennedy Center a development program for new musicals entitled In The Works. Together with Michael Feinstein, he produces a regular series of concerts featuring contemporary songwriters at Carnegie hall. Michael has produced showcases and concerts featuring contemporary Theater and Cabaret songwriters and singers at Town Hall, the 92nd Street Y, the FireBird Café and at UCLA. Michael serves as Vice President of both the Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs (MAC) and the Johnny Mercer Foundation. In addition, Michael is also a member of the Board of Directors of The Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Society of Singers and serves on the Boards of the Washington, DC Cabaret Network, Boston Association of Cabaret Artists, Chicago Cabaret Professionals, and Cabaret West/Los Angeles.

FRED VOELPEL / Image Consultant

Master Teacher in Design 1967-1992. Fred has been designing for the theater and television since 1953 at Camp Tamiment and Green Mansions. His first Broadway show in 1960 starred Hermione Gingold. Since then he has been nominated for two Tony's (No Strings, Seascape) and received an honorary Tony for the National Theater of the Deaf, won OBIE's, and major awards for his design work in New York and regional theater including Esquire Magazine's Dubious Achievement Award for Oh Calcutta! Fred has designed original Broadway productions of such artists as Edward Albee, Richard Rodgers, Tennessee Williams, John Guare, Michael Stewart, Israel Horowitz, Charles Strouse, Paul Zindell, Woody Allen and Lorraine Hansberry. For over 25 years Fred was associated with the O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT, and The National Theater of the Deaf in Chester, CT where he designed their most recent touring production of Peer Gynt. Fred was a Master Teacheer with the O'Neill Theater Center's Cabaret Symposium from 1989-2000. In 1992 Fred received the 25 years citation and the Great Teacher's Award from the NYU Alumni Association Prior to his retirement from the Tisch School of the Arts.