BWW Stage Mag James and the Giant Peach - First Presbyterian Church of Matawan Stage Mag

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Cast

Myles Milicia
James
Brenden Kortenhaus
Ladahlord
Lizzy Stefanic
Sponge
Chelsea Leonard
Sponge
Dot Gallop
Spiker
Elise Leonard
Spiker
Michael Abramov
Grasshopper
Nick Koval
Earthworm
Natalie Dunn
Lady Bug
Emerson Granata
Spider
Kennedy Christensen
Spider
JT Stilo
Centipede
Brittany Ahr
Ensemble
Melissa Amaral
Ensemble
Emily Christensen
Ensemble
David Clarke
Ensemble
Noelle DeBiase
Ensemble
Mirna Drake
Ensemble
Jake Fredericks
Ensemble
Ava Greene
Ensemble
Juice (Aaron) Jackson
Ensemble
Gabrielle Kendrick
Ensemble
Masha Maister
Ensemble
Alexa Ruiz
Ensemble
Kimberly Vogel
Ensemble
Katie Watts
Ensemble

Creative Team

Chuck Cutaia Hamilton

Director

Eric Sayre

Musical Director

Jake Fredericks

Choreographer

Laura Almerini

Assistant Director

Dorothy Gallop

Producer

Mike Leonard

Producer

Carly Braff

Stage Manager

Melissa Amaral

Scenery Design

David Clarke

Costumes

Alex Fritsch

Lighting Design

Sabrina Maza

Sound Design

Benj Pasek

Music and Words

Justin Paul

Music and Words

Timothy Allen McDonald

Book

Meet the Company

Myles Milicia

James

Brenden Kortenhaus

Ladahlord

Lizzy Stefanic

Sponge

Chelsea Leonard

Sponge

Dot Gallop

Spiker

Elise Leonard

Spiker

Michael Abramov

Grasshopper

Nick Koval

Earthworm

Natalie Dunn

Lady Bug

Emerson Granata

Spider

Kennedy Christensen

Spider

JT Stilo

Centipede

Brittany Ahr

Ensemble

Melissa Amaral

Ensemble

Emily Christensen

Ensemble

David Clarke

Ensemble

Noelle DeBiase

Ensemble

Mirna Drake

Ensemble

Jake Fredericks

Ensemble

Ava Greene

Ensemble

Juice (Aaron) Jackson

Ensemble

Gabrielle Kendrick

Ensemble

Masha Maister

Ensemble

Alexa Ruiz

Ensemble

Kimberly Vogel

Ensemble

Katie Watts

Ensemble

Chuck Cutaia Hamilton

Director

Eric Sayre

Musical Director

Jake Fredericks

Choreographer

Laura Almerini

Assistant Director

Dorothy Gallop

Producer

Mike Leonard

Producer

Carly Braff

Stage Manager

Melissa Amaral

Scenery Design

David Clarke

Costumes

Alex Fritsch

Lighting Design

Sabrina Maza

Sound Design

Benj Pasek

Music and Words
Oscar, Grammy, Tony, and Golden Globe Award-winning songwriters Benj Pasek & Justin Paul are best known for their work on Dear Evan Hansen, La La Land, and The Greatest Showman. Their songs "City of Stars" and "Audition (The Fools Who Dream)" from La La Land (with collaborator Justin Hurwitz) were both nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and "City of Stars" garnered both the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture. Pasek & Paul won the 2018 Golden Globe for Best Original Song for "This Is Me" from The Greatest Showman, which was also nominated for the 2018 Academy Award for Best Original Song and most recently for the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media. Upcoming projects include the live-action movie musicals Aladdin and Snow White at Disney, and an original animated musical at Fox Animation/Blue Sky Studios. On Broadway they composed the score for the six-time Tony Award-winning Dear Evan Hansen, their highly acclaimed original musical for which they received an Obie Award, a Drama Desk Award, and the Tony Award for Best Score. Their albums for Dear Evan Hansen, La La Land, and The Greatest Showman appeared in the top 10 of the Billboard 200, the latter of which held the #1 spot for multiple weeks in a row. The Dear Evan Hansen Original Broadway Cast Recording won the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, and The Greatest Showman Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, which was recently nominated for the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media, is certified Platinum in over a dozen countries, including Double Platinum in the US, Australia, and Taiwan, Triple Platinum in Ireland and Singapore, and Quadruple Platinum in the UK and Korea. Pasek & Paul had their Broadway debut in 2012 with their Tony-nominated score for the Broadway musical A Christmas Story, an adaptation of the classic holiday film, further adapted into a live telecast for FOX in 2017. Their new song written for the telecast, "In the Market for a Miracle," was nominated for the 2018 Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics. In 2013, they contributed several songs to NBC's Smash, and received great acclaim for their musical Dogfight which was awarded Off-Broadway's highest honor, the Lucille Lortel Award for Best New Musical. Their earlier theater credits include the children's musical James and the Giant Peach and the popular song cycle Edges. Pasek and Paul went on to receive a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Special Class - Short Format Daytime Program for the song "Unlimited," featured in an Old Navy YouTube campaign. In 2017, the songwriting duo composed a song for the CW's musical episode of The Flash, and also wrote "Get Back Up Again" for the DreamWorks animated film Trolls. Among their numerous honors, in 2007 they became the youngest winners ever of the famed Jonathan Larson Award for most promising musical theater songwriters. Both are graduates of the University of Michigan Musical Theatre Program and currently serve on the Board of Directors for the Dramatists Guild Foundation.

Justin Paul

Music and Words
Oscar, Grammy, Tony, and Golden Globe Award-winning songwriters Benj Pasek & Justin Paul are best known for their work on Dear Evan Hansen, La La Land, and The Greatest Showman. Their songs "City of Stars" and "Audition (The Fools Who Dream)" from La La Land (with collaborator Justin Hurwitz) were both nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and "City of Stars" garnered both the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture. Pasek & Paul won the 2018 Golden Globe for Best Original Song for "This Is Me" from The Greatest Showman, which was also nominated for the 2018 Academy Award for Best Original Song and most recently for the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media. Upcoming projects include the live-action movie musicals Aladdin and Snow White at Disney, and an original animated musical at Fox Animation/Blue Sky Studios. On Broadway they composed the score for the six-time Tony Award-winning Dear Evan Hansen, their highly acclaimed original musical for which they received an Obie Award, a Drama Desk Award, and the Tony Award for Best Score. Their albums for Dear Evan Hansen, La La Land, and The Greatest Showman appeared in the top 10 of the Billboard 200, the latter of which held the #1 spot for multiple weeks in a row. The Dear Evan Hansen Original Broadway Cast Recording won the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, and The Greatest Showman Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, which was recently nominated for the 2019 Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media, is certified Platinum in over a dozen countries, including Double Platinum in the US, Australia, and Taiwan, Triple Platinum in Ireland and Singapore, and Quadruple Platinum in the UK and Korea. Pasek & Paul had their Broadway debut in 2012 with their Tony-nominated score for the Broadway musical A Christmas Story, an adaptation of the classic holiday film, further adapted into a live telecast for FOX in 2017. Their new song written for the telecast, "In the Market for a Miracle," was nominated for the 2018 Emmy for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics. In 2013, they contributed several songs to NBC's Smash, and received great acclaim for their musical Dogfight which was awarded Off-Broadway's highest honor, the Lucille Lortel Award for Best New Musical. Their earlier theater credits include the children's musical James and the Giant Peach and the popular song cycle Edges. Pasek and Paul went on to receive a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Special Class - Short Format Daytime Program for the song "Unlimited," featured in an Old Navy YouTube campaign. In 2017, the songwriting duo composed a song for the CW's musical episode of The Flash, and also wrote "Get Back Up Again" for the DreamWorks animated film Trolls. Among their numerous honors, in 2007 they became the youngest winners ever of the famed Jonathan Larson Award for most promising musical theater songwriters. Both are graduates of the University of Michigan Musical Theatre Program and currently serve on the Board of Directors for the Dramatists Guild Foundation.

Timothy Allen McDonald

Book
Timothy Allen McDonald is an award-winning playwright (Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka, The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley, Jim Henson's Emmet Otter, Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach) adaptor of over 65 musicals (highlights include Guys and Dolls JR., Getting to Know...The Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz YPE, and Les Miserables School Edition). McDonald is also an accomplished director (Dear Edwina produced by multi-Tony award winner Daryl Roth, and The Phantom Tollbooth at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts) and a leading authority on musical theater education. In 1996 McDonald was recruited by Freddie Gershon to develop Music Theatre International's Education Division, working side-by-side with theatrical greats including Cameron Mackintosh, Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Laurents, Stephen Flaherty, Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Schwartz and Sheldon Harnick to create age-appropriate adaptations of musicals. In 1997 McDonald founded iTheatrics to continue and expand the work he began at MTI by developing educational musical theatre adaptations and resources for Tams-Witmark, Rodgers and Hammerstein and Samuel French. McDonald is the founder of the Junior Theater Festival, the world's largest festival exclusively dedicated to young people performing musical theater which is held annually in Atlanta, GA over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. Believing that every child everywhere should have access to quality arts programs, Tim has developed several nationwide initiatives which build sustainable musical theater programs in underserved schools. These programs include NBC's Smash Make A Musical, Educational Theatre Association's JumpStart Theater, New York City's Department of Education's Shubert Foundation/MTI Broadway Junior Program and The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities' Turnaround Arts Initiative. Tim has had the unique honor of seeing Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka performed at the White House for President and Mrs. Bush and directing Sarah Jessica Parker and a troupe of the most wonderful girls at the first ever White House Talent Show for President and Mrs. Obama. For more information check out iTheatrics.com.
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