Cast of Characters
THE VOICES
ANDRÉA BURNS
An Evening of (mostly) True Songs soloist
Broadway & Off-Broadway: The Full Monty, Beauty and the Beast, Saturday Night, Songs For A New World, In The Heights. Tours, etc: Parade, Sunday In The Park With George, West Side Story. Dance single: "100 Stories."
LISA BRESCIA
Composers' Stage Project soloist
Currently the standby for Elphaba in Broadway's Wicked. She recently starred on Broadway as Cleo in The Times They Are A-Changin' and last season was seen as Marion Halcombe in The Woman In White, when she stepped in for British star Maria Friedman. She played the role of Amneris in Aida on Broadway for the last year of its run and was seen in the Broadway revival of Jesus Christ Superstar. Regional credits include Eva Peron in Evita, Cathy in The Last 5 Years, Petra in A Little Night Music and Meg in Brigadoon. For 5 years, she toured worldwide with The Mamas and The Papas. Love to my partner, Craig Carnelia.
JUSTIN BOHON
An Evening of (mostly) True Songs soloist
Broadway: Oklahoma! (Directed by Trevor Nunn and choreographed by Susan Stroman), Les Miserables, All Shook Up, The Producers, Miss Saigon. Tours: South Pacific, Parade. Film: The Good Shepherd. He has received the Fred Astaire Award and the Theater World Award as well as Drama Desk and Outer Critic Circle Award Nominations.
KATE PAZAKIS
Broadway: Best Little Whorehouse in Texas concert with Jennifer Hudson; Off-Broadway: A Broadway Diva Christmas, Newsical. Her one woman show, The Sexless Years, was nominated for Best Musical Comedy and debuted at Ars Nova after a sold out three-month run. Other credits include The Rosie O'Donnell Family Crusie and many readings, recordings and workshops of new musicals. Currently, Kate co-hosts "Mostly Sondheim," a weekly musical theater night with Marty Thomas and Brian Nash. For more information visit www.katepazakis.com.
BRYCE RYNESS
Roger in the 2006 National Tour of Rent, Camelot (Hollywood Bowl), Floyd in Floyd Collins (West Coast Ensemble, Ovation Award for Best Actor), back-up singer for Roger Daltrey, Sarah Brightman, Rodney Gilfrey, Marin Mazzie, and Josh Groban. Bryce's voice can be heard on Mosaic's "ANCIENT GOD" album, "The Sweet Potato Queens" demo cast album (Melissa Manchester), "A Tale of Two Princes" soundtrack, the SoCal VoCals' "Red Album" & "V3:Previously Unreleased", and on a plethora of bootleg YouTube videos. Also, Bryce provided background and lead vocals for the last five "Disney On Ice" shows.
KATIE KLAUS
Don't Look Down Original Cast, An Evening of (mostly) True Songs soloist
Broadway: Twyla Tharp and Bob Dylan's Times They Are A' Changin', Inherit The Wind, and Encore! City Center production of Follies. She is a 2006 graduate of CCM's Musical Theater program.
BENJAMIN MAGNUSON
An Evening of (mostly) True Songs soloist
BFA in Musical Theatre from the University of Cincinnati's College Conservatory of Music. Most recently, Benjamin played his cello and the role of Anthony in the Tony Award winning Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd. That run clocked in at 349 performances, and will tour the country in 2007-08 with Magnuson reviving his role. Regionally, he has performed with the Long Wharf Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, Cherry County Playhouse and The Human Race Theater Company. As a playwright, he has written Four Minutes, which was originally directed by Richard E. Hess. As a composer, his collaborations with songwriter Adam Wagner have been a part of the Cincinnati Fringe Festival and have recently begun to find their way around New York City. Benjamin is a proud member of both Actors' Equity and Musicians' Local 802. Please visit BenjaminMagnuson.com.
CHRISTY FABER
Performed "Traci's Song" at the MAC/ASCAP SONGWRITERS' SHOWCASE in NYC
Broadway: Les Miserables revival
JOSEPH MEDEIROS
Don't Look Down Original Cast
Credits include Big, the Musical (Broadway and national tour), Irving Berlin's White Christmas (Detroit Fox Theatre), Gideon in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (St Louis Muny) and numerous other productions at the St Louis Muny, Sacramento Music Circus, and San Jose Repertory Theatre. He is a graduate of the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) in Cincinnati (BFA Musical Theatre) where favorite credits include Crazy for You (Bobby), Brigadoon (Harry Beaton), and the original production of Adam Wagner's song cycle Don't Look Down. He is currently appearing in Wicked in Chicago.
BRANDON CUTRELL
Brandon Cutrell is a Bistro Award and two-time MAC Award winner. New York credits: Broadway By The Year at Town Hall, The 2nd Annual Broadway Unplugged at Town Hall, Pippin (with Ben Vereen and Rosie O'Donnell), La Gioconda at TheatreSource, David Friedman's King Island Christmas, and Liz Swados' Waiting For Lefty. National: Theatre of the Stars, Goodspeed Musicals, the Human Race Theatre and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. For nearly two years, Brandon was the original host of the MAC Award nominated show, Mostly Sondheim. In December of 2005, Brandon made his debut in the world-famous Oak Room at The Algonquin Hotel. In June of 2006, Brandon made his solo debut at Feinstein's, New York's legendary nightclub on Park Avenue. Currently, Brandon can be seen every Friday night at The Laurie Beechman Theatre on 42nd Street as the host of The After Party, a weekly open-mic, musical theatre soiree. Every Monday from June to August, Brandon is the host of Brandon & Ray's Broadway at the Beach, a musical theatre party at the Ice Palace in Fire Island's Cherry Grove. Brandon's self-titled debut cd was released on June 4th, 2007 at Feinstein's. Please visit www.BrandonCutrell.com.
CAESAR SAMAYOA
Composers' Stage Project soloist
Theatre credits include leading roles on Broadway, Off-Broadway and in Regional Theatre Companies around the country including The Hilton Theatre on Broadway, Yale Rep., La Jolla Playhouse, Le Freres Corbusier, Primary Stages, Urban Stages, The Play Company, Portland Center Stage, Paper Mill Playhouse, Prince Music Theatre, Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Sundance Theatre Lab, Big Art Group, York Theatre and HB Playwrights Foundation.
AARON KABURICK
An Evening of (mostly) True Songs soloist
Major Credits: National tours of Annie and The Full Monty. Off-Broadway — The Talk of the Town. Numerous shows at the St. Louis Muny.
CHRIS FULLER
Composers' Stage Project, An Evening of (mostly) True Songs soloist
Off-Broadway: Pursuit of Persephone, Summer of the Swans, The Good War.
JOSH BRECKENRIDGE
Don't Look Down Original Cast
Josh is a 2007 graduate of CCM's Musical Theater program and has appeared at the Majestic Theatre and the Moonlight Amphitheatre.
PRESTON BOYD
Don't Look Down Original Cast
Preston is currently studying musical theater at CCM (Class of 2008).
THE CREW
ADAM WAGNER
Composer/Lyricist/Producer of Don't Look Down and An Evening of (mostly) True Songs
Read Adam's Bio >>
ZACHARY DIETZ
Arranger, Accompanist and Musical Director for Don't Look Down and An Evening of (mostly) True Songs
Zach is currently the substitute conducter for In The Heights. He has music directed for the Mufti Series at the York Theater and several productions at CCM.
BENJAMIN MAGNUSON
Composer of "Kindred Spirits" and "Doesn't Take Much"
Benjamin and Adam first collaborated when there was trouble finding a good closing number to their Freshman Showcase at CCM. They joined forces and created what is now "Doesn't Take Much." Six years later, they are now again inspired and hope to create a book musical that will knock your boots, socks and epidermis right off.
RICHARD E. HESS
Director/Producer of Don't Look Down and An Evening of (mostly) True Songs
Associate Member: Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. Chair of CCM Drama for the past 13 years. Recent directing credits at CCM include Big Love, Noises Off, Brigadoon (Cincinnati Entertainment Award (CEA) for Outstanding Musical), and Tony Kushner's Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches (CEA for Ensemble Acting Performance). Favorite directing credits at the Human Race Theatre Co., where he has been a resident artist since 1996, include A Delicate Balance (10 Daytony Awards including Best Direction and Production), The Drawer Boy (8 Daytony Awards including Best Direction and Production), and I Am My Own Wife. He made his New York debut at the Laurie Beechman Theatre on 42nd Street directing An Evening of (Mostly) True Songs, a new incarnation of Don't Look Down, the music and lyrics of Adam Wagner, last seen in the 2005 Cincinnati Fringe Festival. Other credits include the Los Angeles staging of the one-woman show Besame Mucho, O.K. That's Enough, written by and starring Diana Maria Riva, and the smash hit The Pages of My Diary I'd Rather Not Read, which enjoyed sold out runs at the Hudson Theatre in Los Angeles and the Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati. His most recent Los Angeles production, The Catholic Girl's Guide to Losing Your Virginity, after playing a 10 week sold out run at the Hudson Theatre, which was the hit of the Cincinnati Fringe Festival 2006, enjoyed a sold out week at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. He is proud of fostering the new work of playwright's, and has directed first productions of Tom Korbee's Will It Ever Stop Raining?, Ben Magnuson's Four Minutes. He made his debut as a playwright/creator in the Cincinnati Fringe Festival 2006 with (UN) Natural Disaster, created with 13 actors, performed in an abandoned building in Over-the-Rhine, and named the Producer's Pick of the Fringe.
AN ACQUIRED TASTE PRODUCTIONS
An Acquired Taste Productions was created in 2004 while applying for the Cincinnati Fringe Festival. Richard Hess and I didn't have a completed show or a cast, and we were producing it ourselves. We needed to appear legitimate, so we called the show Don't Look Down, and we called our two-man production company An Acquired Taste.
I chose DLD because it sounded cool and "an acquired taste" was something the head of the musical theater department at CCM called me (which was really his way of calling me weird). The name stuck and Don't Look Down ended up selling out and winning 2 awards and several nominations.