Frank Wildhorn
Music

Frank Wildhorn‘s works span the worlds of popular, theatrical and classical music. In 1999, Frank became the fi rst American composer in twenty-two years to have three shows running simultaneously on Broadway: “Jekyll & Hyde“ - two Tony nominations; “The Scarlet Pimpernel“ - four Tony nominations; and “The Civil War“ - two Tony nominations. These shows continue to be seen in productions around the country and throughout the world.

Frank also wrote additional songs for Broadway‘s “Victor/Victoria“ and was recently represented on Broadway by “Dracula: The Musical“. Unforgetable songs from “Jekyll & Hyde“ have been performed worldwide and have been featured at the Olympics, the Super Bowl, the World Series, 1996 Democratic National Convention, and the Inauguration of President Clinton (sung by Jennifer Holliday).

Artists who have recorded and performed Frank‘s music include Whitney Houston, Natalie Cole, Kenny Rogers, Sammy Davis Jr., Liza Minnelli, Julie Andrews, Freddie Jackson, Patti LaBelle, The Moody Blues, Jeffrey Osborne, Johnny Mathis, and Colm Wilkinson, to name a few. Frank Wildhorn loved Prague´s “Jekyll & Hyde“ at the Karlin Musical Theatre so much that he came up with an idea to write a brand new musical which would have its world premiere in this very theatre.

Jack Murphy
Lyrics

Jack Murphy has worked on a wide variety of projects as both lyricist and composer. Collaborating with Frank Wildhorn, he wrote lyrics for Linda Eder‘s EMI CD And So Much More, as well as many more songs for her. In collaboration with Mary Bracken Phillips, he composed the score for the musical “Silver Dollar“, which debuted at the Goodspeed Opera House. He has written and performed albums for many record labels including A&M, Verve, MGM, Elektra, Columbia, ABC Dunhill and United Artists Music.

In collaboration with Frank Wildhorn and Gregory Boyd he wrote the lyrics for “The Civil War“. Once again in collaboration with composer Frank Wildhorn, Jack has written the Book and Lyrics for “Waiting For The Moon“, “Rudolf - The Last Kiss“ (opened 2006) and a musical version of “The Count of Monte Cristo“, which will have its premier in 2009 in Switzerland.

Norman Allen
Libretto

Norman Allen received the prestigious Helen Hayes Award for his work as a playwright, and two Emmy Awards for his work on PBS-TV. Allen is the author of “Nijinsky’s Last Dance“ (Helen Hayes Award, Outstanding Play) and “In The Garden“ (Charles Mac-Arthur Award, Outstanding New Play). Both works premiered at Signature Theatre in Washington, DC. “Nijinsky’s Last Dance“ has been produced in Budapest, Johannesburg, across the United States, and at the Edinburgh Festival.

Other works include: “The Light of Excalibur“, “Coffee With Richelieu“ and “Journey Home“. Allen also writes for television and has written on the arts and current affairs for numerous publications, including The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, and Smithsonian Magazine.

Gabriel Barre
Direction

Gabriel Barre recently opened the season at the Westport Country Playhouse in Connecticut directing the production of the new Kander and Ebb musical, All About Us starring Cady Huffman, Shuler Hensley and Eartha Kitt. He also directed the national tour of “Pippin“, which started at the Goodspeed Opera House.
His off-Broadway credits include the Manhattan Theatre Club’s production of “The Wild Party“ by Andrew Lippa, which was nominated for 13 Drama Desk Awards and 5 Outer Critics Circle Awards, both including Best Director and for which he won the Calloway Award. He also directed the original off-Broadway productions of Summer of ’42, Stars in Your Eyes, Honky-Tonk Highway, John & Jen and Almost, Maine.

He directed the national tour of Rodger and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella“ and has directed many regional productions at numerous theatres including “Sweeney Todd“, and “Finian’s Rainbow“ as well as “Houdini“ and many other new musicals including the world premiere of Frank Wildhorn and Nan Knighton’s, Camille Claudel starring Linda Eder. Other titles: “Stand By Your Man“, “Hay Fever“, “Private Lives“ and “Pericles“ at the Shakespeare Theatre.

Egon Kulhánek
Producer and director of the Karlin Musical Theatre

1990 - 1995 – Private entrepreneur and director of music videos and commercials; manager of dance group UNO founded by Richard Hes. Together they produced dance shows “Checkmate“ - “Carmen“, “Nikita & Billiard“ and several music shows in Western Europe with Gustav Brom Orchestra, Helena Vondráčková, Jiří Korn, Lucie Bílá, Pavel Vítek - just to name a few. Mr. Kulhánek also co-produced Swiss-Czech musical “Keep Cool“.

1993 – Economic Manager of the Karlin Musical Theatre and a Producer of a successful run of “West side Story“ in this very theatre. 1995 -1998 – Producer of Czech musical “Dracula“; two Gold, two Platinum and one Double Platinum for the sale of the original cast recording and two Grammy Awards; audience of 1.300.000 in Prague alone and subsequent runs in Bratislava and Soul, South Korea. January 27, 2003 the Prague´s Town Council appointed Mr. Kulhánek a Chief Executive Offi cer of the Karlin Musical Theatre. Under his leadership the following shows were produced: “West Side Story“, “Noc na Karlštejně“, “Jekyll&Hyde“ and operettas “Fledermaus“ and “Gipsy Princess“. Last but not least, Mr. Kulhánek was the leading force behind the reconstruction of the Karlin Musical Theatre which was completed in October 2006 and reopened with the successful musical “The Producers“.

Lucie Bílá
Coproducer

Singer, actress, producer and co-owner of Ta Fantastika Theatre. One of the most popular pop singer and musical theatre star in the Czech Republic. She started her career as a rock singer and later she became a star in such productions like Les Misérables”, “The Garden of Blissful Delights”, “Dracula”, The Pied Piper”, “Joan of Arc”, “Excalibur”, “Love Is Love”, “Elixir of Life”. She has also participated in prestigious classical music festivals like Prague Spring 1998. She recorded seven albums and took part in another ten albums of other artists.

She stared in 9 feature fi lms, she has 3 Grammy Awards as the Female Singer of the Year, 3 Music Academy Awards, 8 Tý Tý Awards as The Most Popular Czech Artist and 10 Czech Nightingale Awards as the Most Popular Female Singer of the Year including “The Absolute Nightingale” for 2007. In 2000 she was awarded with Thálie Award for her role lead in “Joan of Arc” The Musical. Since 2003 she became a co-owner of Ta Fantastika Theatre in Prague and she co-produced more than 800 shows of such titles as “Excalibur”, “Elixir of Life”, “Love is Love”, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, “The Lady of the Camellias”, “Eight Wives” and “The Product”.

Petr Kratochvíl
Coproducer

Co-owner, artistic director and producer of Ta Fantastika Theatre. His professional career started in regional theatres in Most and Opava. Later he was a member of Prague´s Ypsilon Theatre and Black Theatre under Artistic Director Jiří Srnec. After his emigration to the U.S. he became Artistic Director of Caldwell Theatre in Florida. At the same time he founded his own theatre Ta Fantastika specializing in multimedia shows. In 1986 Petr was awarded The Best Children Play, Young Audiences Program, Florida, USA.

In 1989 he returned back to the Czech Republic. Since 1993 his Ta Fantastika Theatre has been located in the Unitaria Palace in Prague´s Karlova ulice. Petr directed Ta Fantastika´ fi rst musical production inspired by the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch “The Garden of Blissful Delights” (The Best Foreign Production Award, Lisbon). Since then Ta Fantastika Theatre produced seven original Czech musicals and two straight plays and became a repertory theatre. The multimedia and black theatre shows are integral part of itsrepertory.

Koen Schoots

Arranger, orchestrator and conductor Koen Schoots was born and educated in the Netherlands. His work spans the worlds of opera and musical theater. Originally trained as an opera conductor he worked at various opera houses in Austria and Germany and conducted more than 50 operas. In 1992 he was appointed musical director for the German production of CATS in Hamburg, which marked the beginning of his musical theater career. His collaboration with Frank Wildhorn started in 1995, in preparations for the European Premiere of JEKYLL & HYDE in Bremen, Germany. Since then, he has served as Frank’s European Musical Supervisor and conducted the European Openings of THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL, DRACULA and the World Premiere of RUDOLF in Budapest, Hungary.

Since his work on RUDOLF, he also serves as Arranger/Orchestrator for Frank’s new shows. He provided arrangements for RUDOLF as well as new arrangements and orchestrations for DRACULA. Current projects are arrangements for CARMEN, VIVA AMOR! in Prague as well as THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO in Switzerland. He will also serve as musical supervisor for the Viennese opening of RUDOLF in February 2009. Future projects with Frank include CYRANO as well arrangements and orchestrations for LAI (work title) to be opened in Seoul, South Korea. Koen is married and lives in Berlin, Germany and in Cape Coral, Florida. More information can be found at www.koenschoots.com

Kim Scharnberg

Kim orchestrated the Broadway shows Little Women (2005 Drama Desk nomination), Jekyll & Hyde, the Scarlet Pimperneland the Civil War and the London production of Doctor Dolittle as well as the national and international productions of those shows. He composed and music directed the score for Houston's Alley Theatre production of the Brecht play In The Jungle Of Cities for their 50th anniversary. Other theater projects include Rudolf (Budapest, Tokyo, Vienna), Carmen (Prague), In Nomine Patris (Munich), Monte Cristo (Switzerland), Waiting for the Moon (Lenape Performing Arts Center- Marton, NJ), Inherit the Wind (Alley Theatre- Houston, TX), Silver Dollar (Goodspeed Theatre- Chester, CT) and Romeo and Juliet the Musical (Ordway Center for the Performing Arts- St. Paul, MN).

Kim has arranged for a wide variety of artists and his arrangements are regularly performed by many orchestras including the Boston Pops and the Atlanta Symphony. He has done orchestrations and conducted for several feature films including A River Runs Through It, Quiz Show, Made In America, Fly Away Home, Miami Rhapsody, Alaska, The Net, The Getaway, Fire In The Sky and Nowhere To Run. He was co-producer of the Grammy nominated Jekyll & Hyde cast recording, Jekyll & Hyde- The Complete Work, the Little Women and Scarlet Pimpernel cast recordings, Scarlet Pimpernel Encore!, The Civil War concept album and Linda Eder's Gold and Christmas Stays the Same. Much more at: www.KimScharnberg.com