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(IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE)

BIOGRAPHIES

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MARNI NIXON

(Madame Ernestine) The American soprano Marni Nixon is known in the popular world as the singing voice behind the stars of West Side Story, The King and I and My Fair Lady. An accomplished singer in her own right, she has sung opera, classical song and appeared on Broadway. Ms. Nixon worked with Lehmann in a production of Ariadne auf Naxos at the Music Academy of the West and considered her a friend. Besides her singing career, Marni Nixon is also an actress, recently nominated for an Ovation award. She gives master clases throughout the country in musical theater and classical song.

She was the singing voice of Audrey Hepburn, Deborah Kerr, Natalie Wood, Jeanne Crain and Marilyn Monroe, to name only a few. They, on the other hand, were her face. But Marni Nixon has a face -- and voice -- all her own, as she has been demonstrating to audiences for five decades.

The soprano bears an eerie resemblance to one performer she's never dubbed -- Julie Andrews. The two, however, are forever linked by My Fair Lady, Andrews for originating the role of Eliza on Broadway in 1956 and then losing it in the 1964 film to Audrey Hepburn, and Nixon for dubbing Hepburn's singing. She and Andrews, however, did appear together in 1965's Sound of Music (Nixon played Sister Sophia, who helped ponder how to solve a problem in the song "Maria").

Ms. Nixon lives in New York where she also teaches voice.

Certainly she's a very gifted musical actress, a talent which for years overshadowed her other considerable abilities. A California native, Nixon (no relation to the late, disgraced President) got into the "dubbing" game early. Her first job was singing for Margaret O'Brien in 1949's Secret Garden.

Nixon recalls, "I also dubbed Janet Leigh -- I can't remember for what -- and Jeanne Crain in some of the smaller features. [Jeanne] had a regular person who dubbed for her in the bigger films. My hardest one was Ethel Waters for a TV show. She was supposed to sing an old song of hers, 'I'm Coming, Virginia,' and she couldn't sing it anymore. She stood over me and told me what to do!" Little known is her dubbing of the phrase "These rocks don't lose their shape" for Marilyn Monroe when the blonde bombshell sang "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" in 1953's "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes."

Nixon's chameleon-like singing was soon in great demand. Her first big musical was 1956's The King and I, in which she sang for Deborah Kerr. A year later she did Kerr's crooning in "An Affair to Remember." --in five different languages."

But the early '60s was the major time for Nixon as the Singing Voice of the Stars - for Natalie Wood in 1961's West Side Story and for Audrey Hepburn, in My Fair Lady.

After the musical boon of the 1960's, Nixon was not silent. She performed on Broadway, starred in her own TV show (Boomerang) in Seattle, did concerts, theater, night clubs and classical recordings, and toured extensively with both Liberace and Victor Borge.

Nixon completed a tour as Fraulein Schneider in "Cabaret" and has dubbed Grandma Fa for Disney's, "The Legend of Mulan." Her son Andrew Gold, is a Songwiter, Record Producer, instumentalist and singer. Daughter Martha Carr, is a Los Angeles psychologist and Melani Gold, is a Hellerworker, (Body-movement Integrationist), Massage Theapist (and singer-songwriter). For the past 16 years, Nixon has been married to musician Al Block.

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ALISON FRASER

(Naughty Nancy) has received two Tony nominations for playing Josefine/Monica in ROMANCE/ROMANCE, and Martha in THE SECRET GARDEN (for which she also received a Drama Desk nomination). She received the first ever Barrymore Award for Best Actress for GUNMETAL BLUES at The Wilma Theatre in Philadelphia. She was Helena Landless in THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD and Doreen in TARTUFFE: BORN AGAIN ON BROADWAY; roles she has originated Off-Broadway include Uta in THE GREEN HEART (Manhattan Theatre Club), Trina in MARCH OF THE FALSETTOS and its prequel IN TROUSERS (Playwrights Horizons), Marion Ames in "SWINGTIME CANTEEN", Miss Drumgoole in Todd Rundgren’s UP AGAINST IT (The Public Theatre), and Connie/Petula/Brenda in BEEHIVE (Village Gate). She was Lizzie Borden in the world premiere of "LIZZIE BORDEN" at American Stage, and she was Ida in the American premiere of "HONK!" at the Helen HayesPAC. Her recordings include THE SECRET GARDEN, ROMANCE/ROMANCE, MARCH OF THE FALSETTOS, IN TROUSERS, BEEHIVE, LIZZIE BORDEN, STAND UP SHAKESPEARE, ALISON FRASER—A NEW YORK ROMANCE, and MEN IN MY LIFE. Miss Fraser plays Babs Caplan on the PBS series "BETWEEN THE LIONS" and her voice has also been heard on innumerable radio and television commercials, and books on tape.

She appeared in concert at the Beechman Theater of the West Bank Cafe on January 14, 2002. Click here for information and to see flyer.

She has a solo CD titled MEN IN MY LIFE. Click here to hear a sample.

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HAL ROBINSON

(Uncle Oscar) just completed the National Tour of CABARET, playing Herr Schultz.

Broadway: GRAND HOTEL, The Musical; NICK & NORA; George Abbott's BROADWAY, AND A NIGHTINGALE SANG and ON YOUR TOES.

Off Broadway: OLD WICKED SONGS, PERSONALS, LIFE IS A DREAM, PROMENADE and THE FANTASTICKS.

Regional Theater: The Mark Taper Forum, Great Lakes Theater Festival, Goodspeed Opera House, Papermill Playhouse, The Old Globe, and Coconut Grove Playhouse.

Films: PAULIE AND THE GRAIL.

TV: LAW AND ORDER, BUFFY, THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, and is recurring as Judge Callahan in THE PRACTICE.

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SARAH RICE

(Little Mary) arrived in NYC with $100, two cats and a piano. Shortly after, she originated the role of Marianne in a musical adaptation of THE MISER called HANG ON TO YOUR RIBBONS, off-off Broadway. This led to being cast as The Girl in the long-running original off-Broadway production of THE FANTASTICKS (it closed recently). She continued in the role off and on for over two years. During that time she also played Anne in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, Cunegonde in CANDIDE, at the Guthrie, Miranda in THE TEMPEST, Zan in REGINA, Gretel in HANSEL AND GRETEL and Liesl in THE SOUND OF MUSIC.

LLThen Stephen Sondheim and Harold Prince chose her to become part of musical theatre history. She was cast as the original Johanna in SWEENEY TODD, THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET on Broadway for which she won a Theatre World Award and recorded on RCA. This recording won a Grammy for best show album and SWEENEY swept the Tony awards, including best show. Leading soprano roles since then include; Marie in DAUGHTER OF THE REGIMENT, Gilda in RIGOLETTO, Cunegonde in CANDIDE, Mabel in PIRATES OF PENZANCE, Kathie in THE STUDENT PRINCE, Lady Catherine in THE VAGABOND KING, Monica in THE MEDIUM, Madame Goldentrill in THE IMPRESARIO, Maria in WEST SIDE STORY, Marietta in NAUGHTY MARIETTA, Magnolia in SHOWBOAT, Christine Daae in PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, Sarah in BITTERSWEET, Margot in THE DESERT SONG, Susanna in THE SECRET OF SUSANNA, Gretel in CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, THE MERRY WIDOW (with Dame Joan Sutherland in her last US operatic stage appearance), Tirese/Tiresias in LES MAMELLES DE TIRESIAS, Eolo in L’ORIONE, Marian Paroo in THE MUSIC MAN, Jenny Lind in BARNUM, and Sarah Brown in GUYS AND DOLLS to name a few, with theatre and opera companies throughout the world, including the famed Gran Teatro la Fenice in Venice, Italy (before it burned down), Santa Fe Opera, Central City Opera, Dallas Opera and others.

LLShe originated the roles of Susan in the Virginia Woolf musical, THE WAVES at the New York Theatre Workshop, Eloise in that Abelard and Eloise musical, ETERNAL LOVE, off-off Broadway, Belle in A CHRISTMAS CAROL for Eastern Opera Theatre, and Elizabeth in SWAN SONG at the York Theatre Company.

LLDramatic roles include Ophelia in HAMLET, Woman #1 in MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL, Elisabeth in AURELIE'S WALTZ, film versions of THE KNIGHT FROM OLMEDO, as Inez, Isobel in THE PHANTOM LADY, Anne Bullen in HENRY VIII, and Adriana in THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. She filmed an original docu-drama for HBO called P. T. BARNUM AND HIS HUMAN ODDITIES where she sang and acted the role of Jenny Lind. She appeared as Maude Arthur in the PBS series THE BEST OF FAMILIIES. Recordings include; SWEENEY TODD, WINTERS ARE WARMER, THE WAVES, JEROME KERN REVISITED, for Ben Bagly, and YOUR ARM'S TOO SHORT TO BOX WITH GOD (she sang the high notes). She currently studies voice with Laura Thomas.
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LLMs. Rice resides in NYC with her husband, John Hiller, five cats and the piano.

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RICHARD WHITE

(Captain Jim) is familiar to audiences the world over as the voice of the villain, "Gaston", in the critically acclaimed animated feature film BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture, the first ever for an animated film, and also won the prestigious Best Picture Golden Globe Award. In addition to earning him a legion of fans both young and old, the unprecedented success of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (still setting records on video) also earned him a Platinum record for over 1,000,000 copies of the soundtrack album sold, a Grammy Award, and the opportunity to sing on the 64th Annual Academy Awards telecast.

LLRichard made his Broadway debut as Joey in the revival of THE MOST HAPPY FELLA and has appeared in the New York revivals of BRIGADOON as Tommy and SOUTH PACIFIC as Lieutenant Cable. He starred opposite Estelle Parsons in the Off-Broadway production of ELIZABETH AND ESSEX and as, George Kirby in Jerry Sterner’s TOPPER. He has toured nationally with Robert Goulet in CAMELOT. Richard created the title role in the Maury Yeston/Arthur Kopit, PHANTOM at Theater Under the Stars in Houston and can be heard in that role on the Premier Cast Recording which is available on RCA Victor. At the Papermill Playhouse he originated the role of Ace Gruber in the premier of the musical, SAYONARA. Last year alone he starred in three new musicals, DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, as Dr. Jekyll, Larry Gatlin’s country/western musical TEXAS FLYER as Curly, and he swashbuckling new musical, ZORRO, as the masked man himself.

LLSince his Barrymore Nominated performance in the role of "Starbuck" in Bristol Riverside Theater’s production of 110 IN THE SHADE, Richard White has been seen in regional theaters across the country in such roles as Billy Bigelow in CAROUSEL, Jefferson, Dickinson, and Rutledge In 1776, Fred Graham in KISS ME, KATE, Paul in CARNIVAL, Carl Magnus in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, Curley in OKLAHOMA! and Count Danilo in THE MERRY WIDOW. Most recently Richard starred in the world premier of the swashbuckling new play, BEHIND THE MASK, in New York.

LLRichard White has also been seen as a guest soloist in concerts from coast to coast with the Boston Pops, Florida Philharmonic, and Chicago, Cincinnati, Kalamazoo, Long Beach, Chattanooga, Indianapolis, Honolulu, and Huntsville Symphonies in addition to his three appearances at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

LLAfter seeing his performance of Billy Bigelow in CAROUSEL, Beverly Sills asked Mr. White to join her at the New York City Opera where he has been a favorite leading man in productions of THE NEW MOON, THE DESERT SONG, BRIGADOON and SOUTH PACIFIC. Mr. White played the role of Gaylord Ravenal in the Houston Grand Opera production of SHOWBOAT, which later opened the Cairo Opera House in Egypt. Television audiences saw his performance in SHOWBOAT telecast on PBS' Great Performances, in addition to the New York City Opera's THE NEW MOON the year before. And Soap Opera fans may remember Richard as Calvin on ONE LIFE TO LIVE and most recently as Albert on GUIDING LIGHT.