Cast & Creative

JENNIFER ASHLEY TEPPER (Conceiver) is an acclaimed theatre historian, author, and producer. She has been the Creative and Programming Director at 54 Below for the past decade. She has curated or produced over 7000 shows in this position. Her leadership at the beloved venue has gained praise from publications including The Huffington Post, The New York Times, BuzzFeed, Playbill, Newsday, The New York Post, and more. Tepper’s four volumes of The Untold Stories of Broadway book series have been called an “inspiring Must- Read” by NBC New York and occupied the #1 spot on Amazon.com’s Best Sellers List in Broadway & Musicals. Her new book, Women Writing Musicals: The Legacy that the History Books Left Out was published in November 2024. Women Writing Musicals is the first-ever book about female musical theatre writers. Tepper is the producer of the musicals Be More Chill, Broadway Bounty Hunter, and Love In Hate Nation, projects that are part of a decade-long collaboration with the group known as Joe Iconis & Family. On Broadway, Tepper has also worked on [title of show], The Performers, Godspell, Macbeth, and The Parisian Woman. She is the conceiver of The Jonathan Larson Project, historian consultant on the tick, tick… BOOM! movie (directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda for Netflix) and co-creator of the Bistro Award- winning concert series, If It Only Even Runs A Minute. Her work as a theatre historian also encompasses celebrated live talks and events, including at TEDxBroadway, BroadwayCon, The Museum of Broadway, Thespian Festivals, and more. Tepper received a 2020 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award. She was named one of the 10 professionals on Backstage Magazine‘s “1st Annual Broadway Future Power List”, which stated: “Proving herself both a zeitgeist predictor and theatrical historian with her eclectic programming, Tepper is leading the conversation on contemporary musical theatre.”

JOHN SIMPKINS (Director) has directed New York productions of the three-time Drama Desk nominated Bloodsong of Love (Joe Iconis) at Ars Nova; Things to Ruin (which he co-conceived and directed) at Second Stage, Zipper Factory, Ars Nova; The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks at the Lortel Theatre; The Black Suits at SPF/ Public Theatre; The Bus (James Lantz) at 59E59; and ReWrite at Urban Stages. Additional world premieres include Joe Iconis’ Love in Hate Nation (Two River Theater) and The Black Suits (Center Theatre Group/ Kirk Douglas Theatre), Jacques Lamarre’s Raging Skillet (Theaterworks Hartford), and Andrea Daly/ Jeff Bienstock’s Legendale (Fredericia Teater in Denmark). John’s regional directing includes Weston Playhouse, Goodspeed Opera House, Barrington Stage, Lyric Theatre Oklahoma, Sacramento Music Circus, Engeman Theatre, and North Carolina Theatre. He also directed the new musical Tyrants (Alexander Sage Oyen/ Nora Brigid Monahan) at the National Archives in Washington, DC. In addition to his directing, John is Head of Musical Theatre at Penn State University, where he created and curates a New Musicals Initiative and has commissioned musicals from writers that include Mike Reid/ Sarah Schlesinger, Kirsten Childs, Sam Salmond, Matthew McCollum/ Sofya Levitsky-Weitz, Alexander Sage Oyen/ Lauren Marcus/ James Presson, Joshua Salzman/ Ryan Cunningham, and Deborah Abramson/ David Kirshenbaum.

CHARLIE ROSEN (Music Supervision, Orchestrations,  Co-Arranger) is a 2x Grammy Award and 2x Tony Award winning composer and orchestrator whose music has been heard worldwide across many stages and screens around the world. Some recent credits include: Broadway: Some Like it Hot (Orchestrations), A Strange Loop (Orchestrations), Be More Chill (Music Sup/Orchestrations), Moulin Rouge (Orchestrations), Prince of Broadway (Orchestrations), American Psycho (Assoc MD/Keys), The Visit (Guitar/Zither), Honeymoon in Vegas (Orchestrations), Cyrano de Bergerac (Composer), One Man, Two Guv’nors (Music Director, Bass), 13 The Musical (Guitars, Bass, Keys), Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (Assoc. MD, Bass, addl. Orch). Off Broadway/Regional: Guys and Dolls (Orchestrations) – The Bridge Theater London, Love in Hate Nation (Orchestrator) – Two River Theater, Broadway Bounty Hunter (Orchestrations) – Greenwich House Theater, A Legendary Romance (MD/Orch.) – Williamstown Theater Festival, Miss You Like Hell (Orchestrations), The Public Theater. In addition to his theater credits, Charlie is the bandleader for the Grammy award winning Video Game Music Jazz orchestra “The 8-Bit Big Band.”

NATALIE TENENBAUM (Co-Arranger) is a critically acclaimed composer, producer, and pianist. A graduate of The Juilliard School, Tenenbaum has appeared as a soloist and with orchestras in Europe, Asia, and the US, performing in venues including the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Shanghai’s Majestic Theater, Jerusalem Music Center, Konzerthaus Berlin, Madison Square Garden and Apollo Theater. Tenenbaum premiered her original compositions at Carnegie Hall, Harvard University, Merkin Hall, The National Arts Club in New York, Lincoln Center, Blue Note, Thelonious Monk Jazz Club in Seoul, and more. Notably, she created original arrangements and orchestrations for Lang Lang’s recent album release with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Universal Music Group / Deutsche Grammophon / Disney) and created an original arrangement for the Pentatonix. On Broadway, Tenenbaum worked on David Byrne’s American Utopia (2021–2022). Her latest album, Standard Repertoire, Vol. 1 (Platoon), which features reimaginings of standard classical piano repertoire interlaced with original compositions, was released in June.

BYRON EASLEY (Choreographer). Choreography credits include Broadway productions of Camelot (Lincoln Center Theater) and  Slave Play [ Antonyo Award  nomination]. Other New York projects include – Dorothy Dandridge The Musical for the 2023 New York Theater Festival – Fall/Winter season [Best Choreography Award]; the Public Theater’s Richard III; the Atlantic Theater’s production of Bed Wetter; New York Theater Workshop’s Slave Play;  X: Or Betty Shabazz V. The Nation [Lucille Lortel Award nomination]; Harlem Classical Theater’s production of Twelfth Night, [Audelco nomination]; The Bubbly Black Girl for City Center Encores; Langston in Harlem [SDC’s Joe A. Callaway Award and an Audelco Award]. Regionally he has choreographed at the La Jolla Playhouse: Ballad of Johnny & June; Steppenwolf: Choir Boy; Olney Theatre: Matilda [Helen Hayes nomination]; Signature Theatre: Gun & Powder; Yale Repertory Theatre: Twelfth Night; TUTS: The Wiz; Oregon Shakespeare Festival: The Three Musketeers, Unison, The Wiz and A Comedy of Errors; Arena Stage: Five Guys Named Moe [Helen Hayes Nomination]; Alliance Theatre: Jelly’s Last Jam [Suzi Bass Award], Sophisticated Ladies [Suzi Bass Award].

CYNTHIA MENG (Music Direction). Cynthia is a New York-based music director and pianist. Film/TV: Associate Vocal Supervisor on Only Murders in the Building (Hulu) and Spirited (Apple TV+). Broadway: The Outsiders, Lempicka, Back to the Future, Company (2020 revival), Hadestown, Funny Girl, Kimberly Akimbo. Other recent favorites: Ragtime (NY City Center, 2024), Safety Not Guaranteed (BAM), Only Gold (MCC World Premiere), Suffs (Public Theater), The Last Five Years(Out of the Box Theatrics), Radio City Christmas Spectacular, In The Green (Lincoln Center Theatre), Witness Uganda (Wallis Annenberg Center).

JONATHAN LARSON was awarded the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his groundbreaking musical RENT.  He also won the Tony Award for Best Musical, received The Gilman & Gonzales-Falla Theatre Foundation’s Commendation Award twice, and additionally, in 1994 won the Richard Rodgers Award for RENT. RENT has been produced worldwide in numerous languages and was adapted into a feature film in 2005, directed by Chris Columbus. In 2019, Marc Platt produced a live television adaptation of RENT for FOX. In 1989, Larson was honored with the Stephen Sondheim Award by the American Music Theatre Festival, where he contributed to the musical Sitting on the Edge of the Future. The following year, he received the Richard Rodgers Development Grant for his rock musical Superbia, which was staged at Playwrights Horizons. Larson also composed the score for the 1995 musical J.P. Morgan Saves the Nation, presented by En Garde Arts. Larson’s rock monologue tick, tick… BOOM! was performed at Second Stage Theatre, The Village Gate, and New York Theatre Workshop. The piece went on to be produced off-Broadway in a three-person adaptation by David Auburn, in London, Los Angeles, and other cities globally. tick, tick… BOOM! was later adapted into a feature film for Netflix, produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Julie Oh through Imagine Entertainment, and was directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda in his feature film debut. In addition to his work for the stage and screen, Larson composed music for Sesame Street and contributed to various children’s book-cassettes, including scores for Steven Spielberg’s An American Tail and The Land Before Time. He also worked on film scores for Rolling Stone magazine publisher Jann Wenner and conceived, directed, and wrote original songs for the children’s musical video Away We Go!. RENT, Larson’s iconic rock opera based on La Bohème, premiered on February 13, 1996, at New York Theatre Workshop and subsequently ran on Broadway for 12 years. Tragically, Jonathan Larson passed away unexpectedly from an aortic aneurysm on January 25, 1996, just ten days before his 36th birthday. Despite his untimely death, Larson’s legacy endures through his influential works, and  the work of the Jonathan Larson Grant Program (administered by the American Theatre Wing). The Grant Program supports the work of emerging musical theatre artists and has helped foster the careers of many of todays established Broadway creators.

RICHARD FRANKEL, TOM VIERTEL, STEVEN BARUCH, MARC ROUTH (Producers) have produced and general managed a wide range of productions for the past 39 years including, among others, the original Broadway productions of The Producers; Hairspray; Young Frankenstein; Smokey Joe’s Café; Angels in America; Penn & Teller; Swing!; The Weir; The Encounter; and The Parisian Woman. Most recently they produced Back to the Future and The Roommate on Broadway. Their notable revivals on Broadway include Gypsy with Patti LuPone and Laura Benanti, the Old Vic production of The Norman Conquests, A Little Night Music directed by Trevor Nunn with Catherine Zeta Jones and Angela Lansbury and later Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch, John Doyle’s groundbreaking productions of Sweeney Todd with Patti LuPone and Michael Cerveris and Company with Raul Esparza, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum with Nathan Lane and later Whoopi Goldberg, Damn Yankees and the first-ever Broadway revivals of The Sound of Music and Little Shop of Horrors. Notable Off-Broadway premieres include Driving Miss Daisy; Frankie & Johnny in the Clair de Lune; The Cocktail Hour; Love Letters; Oleanna; Jeffrey; Marvin’s Room; and Stomp. They’ve mounted many national tours and productions in London, Australia, Canada, Europe and throughout Asia. Their productions have received dozens of awards including two Pulitzer Prizes, four Grammy Awards and two Olivier Awards for Best Musical. Their nine Tony Awards include all four Best categories: Play, Musical, Revival of a Play and Revival of a Musical. They created and continue to operate the acclaimed not for profit cabaret 54 Below, which presents over 700 performances each year and is the recipient of a 2022 Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre.