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Director's Note

In the summer of 2020, I came across the pro-shot of a forgotten west-end musical from the early 2000’s called “The Beautiful and Damned” on YouTube. It was a biographical musical that took you through the tragic story of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. The video had under 100 views, but at the time, I had set a goal for myself to discover as many musicals I was unfamiliar with as I possibly could, so I clicked on it. By the end of the night, I had found a new favorite musical. The next day I contacted one of the show’s producers and asked why no one had done the show since this initial production. To my surprise he emailed me back and told me that though the audience response was very enthusiastic, London critics disliked the show so it closed after only 3 months. After a few email exchanges, I nervously emailed him and asked him if I could single-handedly bring the show to America through a staged concert. After checking with the writers, he agreed. After that I spent a year assembling 14 of Baltimore’s most talented actors and a wonderful creative team full of my frequent collaborators and put together the show you are about to see tonight. Our goal is to get the material out there into the world and hope for a full blown production somewhere down the line. So please sit back, relax and enjoy the show.

Sammy Jungwirth
Director

Song List

I'm Dancing | Zelda, Young Zelda

No Can Figure | Zelda, Ensemble

Beautiful Magnolia | Scott

Refuse To Be A Girl | Zelda, Minnie, Rosalind

Little Miz Alabama | 

The Letters | Scott, Zelda

Golden Days | Zelda

The Queen of Babylon | Lois

Tender Is The Night | Scott

Save Me The Waltz | Zelda, Scott

Being a Woman | Minnie, Rosalind, Lois

Even Now | Zelda, Scott

Cast

Orchestra

Piano/Conductor | Charlotte Evans Crowley
Keyboard 2 | Jarrett Rettman
Reed 1 | Helen Schlaich
Reed 2 | Darwin Ray
Trumpet | Casey Novak
Percussion | Lisa Wood

Creative Team

Meet the Company

Hannah Elliott

Zelda Sayre

Based in the DC area, Hannah is ecstatic to be part of the Zelda cast. She graduated from Tulane University in 2019 with a degree in theatre performance. Some of her past favorite shows include - BTCT: Into the Woods (Cinderella), 42nd Street (Peggy Sawyer), Pippin (Fastrada); Silhouette Stages: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Gabrielle); Wildwood Summer Theater: Little Women (Meg March). When Hannah is not on stage, she spends her days as a marketing manager in the education technology field. Huge thank you to Sammy, the production team and cast, as well as her friends and family!

Rob Tucker

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Rob is making his debut on this stage, but has been a regular performer in the area for 15 years. Regional: Che in Evita, The Courier in 1776, Jonas Fogg in Sweeney Todd, and Leonardo in Lauren Gunderson's Eye of the Beheld (premiere) Player 2 in Shipwrecked... (WATCH Award), Barrett and Andrews in Titanic, Mungojerrie in Cats, and Hunter in Title of Show. Buffalo Opera Unlimited, Wilmington Concert Opera, and St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Buffalo, NY (featured vocalist) BFA Music Theatre, ed.M (Arts ed), University at Buffalo and a Med. (Early childhood),Towson University. Robert teaches theatre and is the director of Edgewood Theater Group at Edgewood High School. He also assists his wife Amy organizing the Thirsty Thursday reading series in Havre de Grace.

Ava Correlli

Rosalind

Ava has been performing for over 10 years now!! Ava just graduated from Goucher College with a BA in dance. Ava currently teaches dance at Beth Tfiloh Dahan school and EMpowered dance studio and also choreographs for local productions. She currently works for a princess entertainment company and plays Disney princess for children’s birthday parties and events, and in the past has worked as a Pirate Performer at Urban Pirates! Ava is excited to be in a show that is not highly produced and be able to take a character and make it her own! Ava has been missing the theater these last few years and is excited to hit the stage again! Ava grew up in rehearsal and can’t imagine a better place to be than the theater. Enjoy the show!

Bella Comotto

Scottie/Young Zelda

Bella is incredibly grateful to be a part of the American premiere of Zelda! She has been performing since she was 4 & is a sophomore at Mercy High School, where she is a part of the choir & drama club. No stranger to musical theatre, Bella has worked with Children’s Playhouse of MD, Cockpit in Court, Dundalk Community Theatre, Charm City Players, Beth Tifloh Community Theatre, & more. Some of her favorite past roles include: Mal (Descendants), Sharpay (High School Musical), Paulette (Legally Blonde), The Witch (Into The Woods), Sandy (SpongeBob SquarePants), Fiona (Shrek), Olaf (Frozen), Lavender (Matilda), Violet (Willy Wonka), JoJo (Seussical). Bella was awarded with the “Outstanding Performer Award” from Young Performers of America. She hopes to pursue theatre in college & beyond. Bella is very excited for her upcoming projects, Jane Banks in Mary Poppins at Suburban Players & Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family at Calvert Hall College. Gratitude to Sammy, Charlotte, Diane, Margie, & the remarkable cast! XOXO For Nana.

Tatiana Dalton

Minnie Sayre

Tatiana is thrilled to be a part of Zelda with all these talented people! Previous favorite roles include Ms. Shields (A Christmas Story), Truvy (Steel Magnolias), Ruth (Calendar Girls), Donna (Mamma Mia), Morticia (Addams Family), The Witch (Into the Woods), Judy (Ruthless), Regina (Rock of Ages), Judy (9 to 5), Viviane (Legally Blonde), Kira (Xanadu), Holly (Wedding Singer), Mrs. Walker (Tommy), Mary Magdalene (Jesus Christ Superstar), and Belle (Beauty and the Beast). She would like to thank her amazing family and friends - especially to Ryan, Lily, Sofia and Addi who are her whole world.

Darren McDonnell

Ernest/Father

Darren has toured the country in the National Tour of Anything Goes, performed in regional theatres on the East coast and the Mid-west. Darren received a 2015 Helen Hayes Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor as Sir Robin in Spamalot at Toby’s. Darren’s theatre credits include: Squidward in SpongeBob the Musical (Toby’s), Harry Bright in Mamma Mia (Toby’s), Tony in Disaster the Musical (Cockpit in Court), Mortimer in Arsenic and Old Lace (Cockpit in Court), Dan in Next to Normal (Vagabonds), Victor Prynne in Private Lives (Vagabonds), John Dickinson in 1776 (Toby’s), Mal Beineke in The Addams Family (Toby’s), Bellomy in The Fantasticks (Rep Stage), Freddy in Breast of Show (Gaithersburg Art Barn), Gordon Schwinn in A New Brain (Spotlighters), Brian in The Shadow Box (Teatro 101) and Bob Wallace in White Christmas (LaComedia in Ohio).

Brenna Patzer

Sammy Jungwirth

Director/Set Designer

Sammy is an 18 year old theatre artist who has worked on over 150 theatrical productions in the Baltimore area. Though mostly a Scenic Designer, he also works in Lighting design, Sound design, props design and stage management for various companies and schools including Cockpit in Court, Vagabond Players, Silhouette Stages, Beth Tfiloh, Bowie Playhouse, John Carroll and more. He currently studies Design & Production at G.W. Carver Center in Towson and serves as the Assistant Technical Director at the Children’s Playhouse of Maryland, where he performed for 10 years. He has been nominated for three BroadwayWorld Regional awards for Best Set Design and has won two. Some of his other interests include screenwriting, painting, drumming, and graphic design. He would like to thank the entire cast and crew of this production for being wonderful people to work with.

Charlotte Evans Crowley

Musical Director

Charlotte has been part of the Baltimore theatre scene since 2006. She has musical directed at Cockpit in Court (Singing in the Rain), Dundalk Community Theatre (Always, Patsy Cline), Stillpointe Theatre (Spring Awakening), Beth Tfiloh Community Theatre (Newsies), and Vagabonds (Something’s Afoot). Regional credits include Millbrook Playhouse (PA), Crown Uptown (KS), Stagedoor Manor (NY) and Festival 56 (Chicago). Charlotte has found her home at Children’s Playhouse of Maryland and is currently in her 6th season as resident musical director. Charlotte also runs her own cake business, confectionsbycharlotte.com. Check it out!

Margie Lake

Stage Manager

Margie is delighted to return to CCBC with the incredibly talented cast and creative team of Zelda the Musical. Prior stage management credits include Always...Patsy Cline at Dundalk Community Theatre, The Man of La Mancha, Sweeney Todd, Godspell, Company and Something’s Afoot at The Vagabond Players and The Wizard of Oz, Curtains, Sunset Boulevard, Peter Pan and Nice Work If You Can Get It at Cockpit in Court. During the day Margie works as Treasurer and Business Manager for the Children’s Playhouse of Maryland. Enjoy the show!

Robyn Alvarez

Costume Coordinator

Robyn's involvement in Baltimore theater grew slowly after volunteering to help with costumes for Children's Playhouse of Maryland and Cockpit in Court productions. She costumed her first show, Moana for Cockpit in August 2021. Since then, she's costumed three more shows, most recently Descendants (CPM). She has been sewing since high school, and those skills have been especially critical for repairing all of the dreaded zippers that inevitably break. When not helping with costumes, Robyn is usually working from home as a freelance textbook editor. She is grateful to Sharon Byrd for teaching her so much about costuming, to her kids for getting involved in theater, to her husband for his patience and support, and to Sammy for trusting her with the costumes for Zelda.

Charles Dobson

Producer/ Graphic Designer

Eli Golding

Projection/Media Design

Eli is an artist from Baltimore, Maryland. He has been making films and working in theatre for over 15 years. He had the incredible opportunity to receive intensive fine arts and film education while in high school at George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology. Eli is now in his junior year at Syracuse University pursuing a BFA in Theater Design and Technology. Since focusing on his career in theatre, Eli has been dedicated to developing his design skills and making opportunities to experience design from all levels. Over the past four years, he has been the lead designer on eight productions in scenic, lighting, and projections, for both school and community companies. Eli also assisted on five productions and directed an original play written by his friends and colleagues.

Helen Schlaich

Reeds

Helen loves all things Broadway. She has been in pit orchestras all over Maryland since 1982. A classically trained flutist, she learned saxophone and clarinet to make herself more marketable for playing broadway musicals. Her favorite musicals are performed with her longtime friends and younger friends that share the same love of musical theater as she does. Community theater benefits the community. Local theater productions bring culture to underserved communities. The theatre community brings like minded people together. When she is not playing her instruments, Helen is busy owning and operating her hair salon , Angles Hair Team, Bel Air, MD. Enjoy the show!

Jarrett Rettman

Keyboard 2

Jarrett is serving on Keyboard 2 after some time away from community theatre through the pandemic. He has served on a variety of instruments at a variety of theatres all across the state for the past ten years. Jarrett is a graduate of Towson University in Music Education, and CCBC Essex, with concentrations in classical and jazz piano. He serves as director of music ministries at Holy Communion Lutheran Church in Fallston, and can be found as "Mr. Rettman" at Dundalk Elementary School, teaching Vocal/General Music during the week.

Darwin Ray

Reeds

Darwin has performed within the orchestras for several Childrens' Playhouse of Maryland productions, including Matilda the Musical Gala and the 2019 Baltimore Theater Music Awards. Darwin has also served as Music Director for Artistic Synergy of Baltimore's productions of Ain’t Misbehavin’, Emma! and The Wedding Singer. When not arranging, composing, or playing clarinet and baritone sax for the Howard Burns Jazz Ensemble in Frederick, MD, Darwin works as an Emergency Planner for the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

Lisa Woods

Percussion

Casey Novak

Trumpet

Casey has performed with many of the mainstage musicals at The John Carroll School, including Elf, Legally Blonde, Peter Pan, and many more. She also plays trumpet in Baltimore’s Marching Ravens and the Susquehanna Symphony Orchestra. Casey is currently the instrumental music director at The John Carroll School. When not teaching or performing, Casey enjoys spending time with her husband Ricky and their two dogs, Maddie and Omar.

Sammy Jungwirth's ZELDA Musical To Be Presented At 54 Below

18-year-old director and producer Sammy Jungwirth's critically acclaimed production of Zelda the Musical, will transfer to New York City for one night only, in the form of a concert/cabaret at 54 Below, a popular Off-Broadway supper club, featuring a few members of the company singing musical numbers from the show.

Zelda the Musical (formerly Beautiful and Damned) had its American premiere production earlier this year at CCBC Essex. The show focuses on the turbulent relationship F. Scott Fitzgerald shared with his wife Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald during the Jazz Age. Young, stylish, and successful, they are the envy of high society friends who are unaware that behind their glamorous façade are two individuals doomed to tragedy.

Amanda N. Gunther of TheatreBloom described the show as "a once-in-a-lifetime experience not to be missed". Tickets can be found at https://54below.com/events/zelda-the-musical-in-concert/.

Sammy Jungwirth's ZELDA Announces New Dates and Location for American Premiere Production

The American premiere musical Zelda, produced and directed by 17-year-old Baltimore based theatre artist Sammy Jungwirth has announced its finalized dates and location. The staged concert production will take place on January 20 and 21 at 8pm in the 220 seat Lecture Hall on the CCBC Essex campus under the sponsorship of the Performing Arts at CCBC. Tickets will be available in November and will be general admission.

Zelda focuses on the turbulent relationship F. Scott Fitzgerald shared with his wife Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald during the Jazz Age. Young, stylish, and successful, they are the envy of high society friends who are unaware that behind their glamorous façade are two individuals doomed to tragedy. In 2004, the show opened in London's West End under the name "The Beautiful and Damned" and closed shortly after. This will be the first production since that initial run.

The musical has a score by Les Reed and Roger Cook, a book by Kit Hesketh Harvey, and is produced by West End producer Charles Dobson. The production will feature music direction by Charlotte Evans Crowley, lighting design by Tyrell Stanley, projection/media design by Eli Golding, technical direction by Diane Smith and stage management by Margie Lake.

The cast includes Hannah Elliott as Zelda Sayre and Robert Tucker as F. Scott Fitzgerald, as well as Baltimore community theatre favorites Tatiana Dalton as Minnie Sayre, Bella Comotto as Young Zelda/Scottie, Darren McDonnell as Ernest Hemingway, Amy Luchey as Lois Moran, Ava Correlli as Rosalind Sayre, and Anthony Case as Maxwell Perkins. Rounding out the cast is Beverly Edwards, Ryan Holmes, Fiona Crowley, Rachel Verhaaren, Lizzy Fleischmann, and J. Purnell Hangrove.

To keep updated on news about the show, you can follow @zeldamusical on Instagram or Facebook.

Full Cast Announced For ZELDA Presented by Sammy Jungwirth

17-year-old Baltimore-based theatre artist Sammy Jungwirth has acquired the rights to the 2004 West End musical Zelda through special arrangement with its original producer Charles Dobson and will be directing a new scaled down version of the show in the fall of 2022.

The cast includes Hannah Elliott as Zelda Sayre and Robert Tucker as F. Scott Fitzgerald, as well as Baltimore community theatre favorites Tatiana Dolton as Minnie Sayre, Bella Comotto as Young Zelda, Darren McDonnell as Ernest Hemingway, Amy Luchey as Lois Moran, Ava Corelli as Rosalind Sayre, Joey Hellman as Maxwell Perkins, and Brian Jacobs as Dexter Winthrop. Rounding out the cast is Beverly Edwards, Ryan Holmes, Fiona Crowley, Rachel Verhaaren, Lizzy Fleischmann, and J. Purnell Hangrove.

Zelda focuses on the turbulent relationship F. Scott Fitzgerald shared with his wife Zelda during the Jazz Age. Young, stylish, and successful, they are the envy of high society friends who are unaware that behind their glamorous façade are two individuals doomed to tragedy.

The musical has a score by Les Reed and Roger Cook, a book by Kit Hesketh Harvey, and will feature choreography by Rachel Miller and music direction by R. Christopher Rose. Along with directing, Jungwirth will also design the set and props. Other members of the creative team include lighting design by Tyrell Stanley, projection design by Eli Golding, costume design by Sharon Byrd, and stage management by Margie Lake.

Zelda Fitzgerald Musical ZELDA To Be Produced In Maryland

17-year-old Baltimore-based actor and designer Sammy Jungwirth has acquired the rights to stage the 2004 West End musical Zelda through special arrangement with its original producer Charles Dobson and will be directing a new concert version of the show in the fall of 2022 in Maryland.

Zelda focuses on the turbulent relationship F. Scott Fitzgerald shared with his wife Zelda during the Jazz Age. Young, stylish, and successful, they are the envy of high society friends who are unaware that behind their glamorous façade are two individuals doomed to tragedy.

The musical has a score by Les Reed and Roger Cook, a book by Kit Hesketh Harvey, and will feature choreography by Rachel Miller and music direction by R. Christopher Rose. More information will be coming soon.