Best of Both Worlds

Ezekiel in Best of Both Worlds, A.R.T. debut. BROADWAY: Raisin, Timbuktu (with Eartha Kitt), The Wiz (with Stephanie Mills). OTHER THEATER: Godspell, US tour; Porgy and Bess (Crown), Radio City Music Hall; Carmen Jones (Husk, Miller) West End, London; NBC’s New Performers (principal). OPERA: 20-year career includes Porgy and Bess (Crown, Porgy); Aida (Amonasro), Carmen (Escamillo), Samson and Delila (High Priest), Das Rheingold (Donner), I pagliacci (Silvio), and L’elisir d’amore (Belcore), Metropolitan Opera; Carmen (Escamillo), Royal Opera Covent Garden (also Rome & Japan); numerous leading European and American opera houses. CONCERT: with the Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Danish Symphony, Radio Stuttgart Symphony, among others. Grammy Award nomination, Lawrence Olivier Award nomination.

Serena/Daughter of Joy in Best of Both Worlds, A.R.T. debut. BROADWAY: The Color Purple (Celie). NATIONAL/ INTERNATIONAL TOURS: The Color Purple (Celie), Big River, Rent, Sister Act. OFF-BROADWAY: Best of Both Worlds. FILM: Disney’s The Little Mermaid 3: Ariel’s Beginning. AWARDS: NAACP Theater Award (best lead Actress in a Musical) for the Role of Celie in The Color Purple. CD Projects: Praise Report (2005), Transferable (New Release 2009).

Violetta/Daughter of Joy in Best of Both Worlds, A.R.T. debut. BROADWAY: Hairspray (Motormouth Maybelle, original cast); The Women; Jelly’s Last Jam (Miss Mamie, original cast); Marie Christine (Prisoner #3, original cast); Bring In ‘Da Noise, Bring In ‘Da Funk; Show Boat; Mail; Grease. OFFBROADWAY: Scapin (with Bill Irwin), Hysterical Blindness... . REGIONAL: Heartbeats (Best Friend, original cast), Shout Up a Morning (Leah, original cast). FILM: Romance and Cigarettes; New York Minute; Coming To America; The Preacher’s Wife; Hook; Jeffrey; The Art of Dying; Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling. TELEVISION: Twin Peaks, Bing Crosby Christmas Show (with Fred Astaire), Gimme a Break! PILOTS: Piece of Cake, The City. RECORDINGS: Hairspray, Marie Christine, Jelly’s Last Jam, Songs from Ragtime, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (with Ann-Margret), Broadway by the Year: 1929, Broadway by the Year: 1933, Broadway Unplugged II.

Mamillius in Best of Both Worlds, A.R.T. debut. Credits: Children’s Folktale, Summer Revels 2006; Boston Children’s Museum; Annual piano recital (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008), Duxbury Performing Center; National Piano Guild auditions (May 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008; Gold medal award winner); Youth and Family Empowerment piano recital, Berklee College of Music; Piano performance and Michael Jackson impersonation, Boston Neighborhood Network (BNN TV-23). Performed classical piano and guitar at numerous cultural events and private functions in Boston, Washington, New York, Portland. As a young guitar player, he frequently accompanies his father, a folklore storyteller, during his performances. Recipent of the National Piano Guild awards during two consecutive years as a gold medal finalist. He has been a student of the South Shore Conservatory, learning guitar and piano, and received theater training at Derby Summer Arts program in Hingham.

Rain in Best of Both Worlds, A.R.T. debut. Recent Wagner College graduate with a B.A. in music theater. REGIONAL: All Shook Up, Ogunquit Playhouse; Once On This Island, Hangar Theatre; AIDA, TRI Arts Sharon Playhouse; In Sun and Snow, Walnut Street Theatre; St. Louis Woman, West Side Story, Prince Music Theatre. My Broadway Debut (Winner), CBS; Tangy’s Song, BET.

Camillo/The Bear in Best of Both Worlds, A.R.T. debut. BROADWAY (National and International): RENT (Collins), Miss Saigon (John), Jesus Christ Superstar (Judas), Ragtime (Coalhouse Walker Jr.), Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Ken), Once on This Island (Agwe). REGIONAL: Drowning Crow (Yak); Crowns (Preacher); Twelfth Night (Viola); The Amen Corner (David); A Christmas Carol, Goodman Theatre; Side Show (Jake; Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical), Northlight Theatre; Miss Saigon (John; Joseph Jefferson Award nomination Best Supporting Actor in a Musical), Marriott Theatre; Crowns (Preacher), Arena Stage and Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre; The Full Monty (Horse), Barksdale Theatre; The Amen Corner (David), Huntington Theatre. FILM/TV: California Dreams, NBC; Magic Door, Bad Street (Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor), CBS; Take2! (Artistic Director), Urban Theatre
Company.

Tariq/8-Ball in Best of Both Worlds, A.R.T. debut. BROADWAY: Passing Strange (“Youth” standby). OFF-BROADWAY: Passing Strange; Shafrika; The White Girl. REGIONAL: Sizwe Bansi is Dead (Sizwe); Songs For A New World (Man 1); Sam Cooke: Forever Mr. Soul (One Man Show), Milwaukee Rep and Delaware Theatre Company; From My Hometown (Detroit); Death and the King’s Horseman (Olunde); Life Is A Dream (Segismundo); Sparkle, The Musical. TV/FILM: The Rebound; TLC’s Diagnosis X (recurring); 1000 Ways To Die; A Royal Birthday (mini-series). MFA-Acting, Temple University.

Sweet Daddy/Narrator in Best of Both Worlds, A.R.T. debut. BROADWAY: Dreamgirls (James Thunder Early; Tony Award, Drama Desk Award and LA Drama Circle Award winner for vocal arrangements); Bob Fosse’s Big Deal (Tony & Drama Desk Awards nominee for Best Actor); Revival of Hair; Vinette Carroll’s Your Arms Too Short to Box with God; But Never Jam Today; Brooklyn the Musical. TOURING: The Full Monty (Horse; NAACP Theatre Award for Best Male). REGIONAL: Cy Coleman’s Like Jazz, Mark Taper Forum. FILM: Moscow on the Hudson; The Slugger’s Wife; Offbeat; Carnival of Souls; Bluffing It; World Traveler. TV: When Hell Freezes Over I’ll Skate, PBS Company Company (composer, musical director, and featured actor); Sliders; Thea; Drexell’s Class; Good Sports; Whoops!. Guest appearances on Touched by an Angel; Charmed; The Practice; The Bernie Mac Show; Cold Case; David E. Kelly’s Wedding Bells. Other awards include the “Heroes and Legends Award” for Outstanding Achievement in Theatre.

Maurice in Best of Both Worlds, A.R.T. debut. BROADWAY: Rent, Carousel, Kiss of the Spiderwoman, Marie Christine, The Gershwins’ Fascinating Rhythm; Dreamgirls, Hair. OFF-BROADWAY: Running Man (directed by Diane Paulus, OBIE Award), Music-Theatre Group; Saturn Returns, NYSF; The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin (premiere), Playwrights Horizons. REGIONAL/ TOURS: Children Of Eden (US premiere), Papermill Playhouse; Cry, The Beloved Country, Goodman; Once on This Island, 1st National Tour; I Was Looking At The Ceiling and Then I Saw The Sky (premiere); Jesus Christ Superstar GOSPEL, Alliance Theatre. TV/FILM: Chicago, Larry Flynt: The Right To Be Left Alone, My Favorite Broadway: The Love Songs, The View. CONCERTS: Venues include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Disney Concert Hall, and London’s Royal Festival Hall. RECORDINGS: Darius de Haas, Day Dream: Variations on Strayhorn (PS Classics), several Original Cast recordings.

Michael has performed with Bob Mintzer and Marcus Baylor, Corey Glover, Jim Widner, Leonard Hokinson, Randy Salman, Marc Fields, The American Musical Ambassador Concert Band (European tour), the John Philip Sousa Concert Band, and many others. He recently performed at China’s national Music and Arts Festival. TOURS: Jesus Christ Superstar starring Ted Neeley (Conductor/Music Director). REGIONAL: Jesus Christ Superstar Gospel (Music Director; Suzi Bass Award Nominee for Best Musical Director), Alliance Theater; Crowns (Pianist; directed by Regina Taylor). CONCERTS: 3 Mo’ Divas (Assistant Music Director); Composed/Arranged/Produced both Hot, Live & More with David A. Tobin’s Ministry of Song and Melodies of the Heart with Arlene Frink. RECORDINGS: Evolution with Yewende (Lotus Records) and Smashing Musical Barriers with 3 Mo’ Divas. Michael has a Music Business degree from DePaul University, and has received many regional and national awards in both piano and percussions, including honorable mention from the Stravinsky International Piano Competition.

Recent projects: Burnt Part Boys, New York Shakespeare Festival; The Glass Menagerie, Guild Hall; The Slug Bearers of Kayroll Island, Vineyard Theatre; Speech and Debate, Roundabout Theatre Company; Revolution, Joyce Theatre; Kiki and Herb—Alive on Broadway!; Two Trains Running (2007 Audelco Award Nomination), Landscape of the Body, The Trip to Bountiful, Signature Theatre; and Best of Both Worlds, Women’s Project Theatre. Other: People Be Heard, Playwrights Horizons; Bill Irwin’s Mr. Fox: A Rumination, The Regard Evening, and Harlequin Studies, Signature Theatre; Avenue Q (Lucille Lortel Award 2003), The Karaoke Show, Lypsinka! As I Lay Lip-Synching; Eli’s Comin’, Vineyard Theatre; Swimming with Watermelons and Brutal Imagination (Lucille Lortel Nomination 2002, co-design); Running Man, Music-Theatre Group; Mark Dendy’s Dream Analysis; and the long running hit The Donkey Show.

Michael has performed with Bob Mintzer and Marcus Baylor, Corey Glover, Jim Widner, Leonard Hokinson, Randy Salman, Marc Fields, The American Musical Ambassador Concert Band (European tour), the John Philip Sousa Concert Band, and many others. He recently performed at China’s national Music and Arts Festival. TOURS: Jesus Christ Superstar starring Ted Neeley (Conductor/Music Director). REGIONAL: Jesus Christ Superstar Gospel (Music Director; Suzi Bass Award Nominee for Best Musical Director), Alliance Theater; Crowns (Pianist; directed by Regina Taylor). CONCERTS: 3 Mo’ Divas (Assistant Music Director); Composed/Arranged/Produced both Hot, Live & More with David A. Tobin’s Ministry of Song and Melodies of the Heart with Arlene Frink. RECORDINGS: Evolution with Yewende (Lotus Records) and Smashing Musical Barriers with 3 Mo’ Divas. Michael has a Music Business degree from DePaul University, and has received many regional and national awards in both piano and percussions, including honorable mention from the Stravinsky International Piano Competition.

(he/him) A.R.T.: WILD: A Musical Becoming, We Live in Cairo, Miss You Like Hell, Wig Out!, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, Best of Both Worlds. Music direction for SpeakEasy, Wheelock Family Theatre, Lyric Stage, Reagle, and The Huntington Theatre. Four Elliot Norton Award nominations and one win for Outstanding Music Direction. Performances with the Boston Pops, BSO, Mariah Carey, Ryan Gosling, Patti Labelle, Bobby McFerrin, Phish. Performances at The White House, Carnegie Hall, Vatican.

Actor, dancer, director and choreographer currently residing in NYC;. a company member and the resident choreographer for the Classical Theatre of Harlem; founding director of Triple Threat Performing Arts Academy, an intensive training program designed for teenagers who have a strong desire to work in the entertainment industry. Choreography Credits: Archbishop Supreme Tartuffe, Classical Theatre of Harlem; The Black Nativity (Mary), Duke Theatre; Hip Hop Monologues: Inside The Life and Mind of Jim Jones, J Kyles Korner Entertainment; Sweet Sweetbacks Baad Aaaasssss Song The Musical (principal dancer/Assistant Director), Melvin Van Peebles; Romeo and Juliet (Benvolio); Aint Supposed to Die A Natural Death (The Dyke/Assistant Director), Classical Theatre of Harlem National Tour; Macbeth (First Witch), Bonn Biennale (Germany).

Ari Barbanell is the Director of Special Projects, and the Associate Producer for the A.R.T.'s second stage and club theater, OBERON. Ari serves as the A.R.T.'s Producer for The Emerging America Festival, a collaboration with the Huntington Theatre Company and ICA/Boston that presents groundbreaking American performance. In 2000, she co-founded the New York City-based theater company One Year Lease, and now serves on its Board of Directors. Ari worked in New York with many theatre artists including The Wooster Group, Fovea Floods, and lighting designer Jennifer Tipton, and in Boston as a grant writer for The Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She holds a Masters in Arts Administration from Boston University and received her BA from Vassar College with a degree in Drama.

A.R.T: thirty productions in fifteen years at A.R.T. as Artistic Coordinator/​​Resident Stage Manager. Broadway: Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Misery, It’s Only a Play, The Glass Menagerie. Off-Broadway: Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven; The Hard Problem, Pride’s Crossing, Lincoln Center; Much Ado About Nothing, NYSF/​Delacorte; The Total Bent, Public Theater; Parable of the Sower, Public Theater Under the Radar Festival; Oliver Twist, TFNA. For Esch, Tommy, Jeremy, and Jan.

Ryan McKittrick is the Director of Artistic Programs & Dramaturg at the American Repertory Theater. He received a Master of Theater Arts in Dramaturgy from the A.R.T./Moscow Art Theatre School Institute for Advanced Theater Training and a B.A. in History and Literature from Harvard College. He is Lecturer and Head of Dramaturgy in the Theater, Dance & Media concentration at Harvard and Assistant Professor of Theater Arts at Brandeis University. At the A.R.T., he has served as dramaturg on numerous plays, operas, and musicals, over half of which were world premieres.

A.R.T.: Stage Manager: Prometheus Bound; The Blue Flower; Cabaret; Johnny Baseball; Paradise Lost; Best of Both Worlds; Romance; Endgame; The Communist Dracula Pageant; When It’s Hot, It’s Cole; Donnie Darko. Assistant Stage Manager: The Seagull; Oliver Twist; The Onion Cellar. Production Associate: Island of Slaves; Desire Under the Elms. A.R.T. Institute: Stage Manager: The Front Page; Arabian Night; Zoya; Mayhem; A Bright Room Called Day; The Island of Anyplace; The Bacchae; Spring Awakening; Donnie Darko. Gloucester Stage Company: Production Stage Manager: The Woman in Black. Lyric Stage Company: Production Stage Manager: Kiss Me, Kate; Three Tall Women; Adrift in Macao. Actors’ Shakespeare Project: Stage Manager: King John.

A.R.T: Assistant Stage Manager: Romance, Endgame, Production Associate: The Communist Dracula Pageant, No Man’s Land, Wings of Desire. ART Institute: Stage Manager: Pinter One Acts (The Room & Celebration), Lacy Project, The Discreet Charm of Monsieur Jourdain, Expats, Gray City, Betty’s Summer Vacation, Phoenician Women, Kate Crackernuts, The Island of Anyplace, Melancholy Play. B.A. from St. Olaf College, Northfield MN.

A.R.T.: Charlotte’s Web (Costume Design); Trans Scripts, Part I: The Women; Fingersmith; In the Body of the World; Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812; Waitress; Crossing; The Heart of Robin Hood; All the Way; The Glass Menagerie; Pippin; Marie Antoinette; The Blue Flower; Cabaret; Death and the Powers; Best of Both Worlds; Donnie Darko; Julius Caesar; Copenhagen; The Communist Dracula Pageant. Broadway: Waitress, The Glass Menagerie. Regional: The Colored Museum, Huntington Theatre Company.