Joshua Rosenblum • Music and Lyrics
A native Appalachian, Joshua grew up in one of a small number of Jewish families in Marietta, Ohio and attended temple in nearby Parkersburg, West Virginia. He is the composer/lyricist of the off-Broadway musicals Einstein’s Dreams (four Drama Desk nominations, including Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics), Fermat’s Last Tango, and BUSH IS BAD (described as “a sensation” by Variety). He has also conducted twelve Broadway and off-Broadway shows, with a specialty in flying vehicles (Miss Saigon, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, How the Grinch Stole Christmas). As a pianist, he has appeared with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, the American Symphony Orchestra, and the City Center Encores! Orchestra. A faculty member at both Yale (composition) and NYU (conducting), he holds a B.A. in music, summa cum laude, and an M.M. in piano from Yale. Two recordings of his instrumental music, Impetuosities and Sundry Notes, are available from Albany Records. A longtime contributing writer for Opera News, Joshua is the author of the forthcoming book Closer Than Ever: The Unique Six-Decade Songwriting Partnership of Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire, which will be published by Oxford University Press later this year.
Joanne Sydney Lessner • Book and Lyrics
Appalachian Hanukkah is the seventh musical Joanne has written with her husband, Joshua Rosenblum. Their collaborations include Einstein’s Dreams, based on the novel by Alan Lightman (Prospect Theater Company, 59E59 Theaters), which received four Drama Desk nominations. Their first musical, Fermat’s Last Tango, became a cult hit after its off-Broadway premiere at the York Theatre Company, and the production video has been screened at festivals from New Jersey to New Zealand. London’s Royal Central School of Speech and Drama premiered Garbo and Me, Stage Door (based on the play by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman) and the revue Love is Not a Science. The pair’s adaptation of Wilkie Collins’s The Haunted Hotel was commissioned and workshopped by the Signature Theatre Company’s New American Voices Project. Joanne’s play Critical Mass, inspired by her experiences as music journalist for Opera News, was produced by Heiress Productions at the Theatre Row’s Lion Theatre. Joanne is the author of the novel Pandora’s Bottle and four mysteries featuring aspiring actress and amateur sleuth Isobel Spice. As a performer, Joanne has appeared on Broadway (Cyrano: The Musical) and elsewhere in roles as varied as Charlotte in A Little Night Music, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Rosie in Mamma Mia!. She holds a B.A. in music, summa cum laude, from Yale University.
Cara Reichel • Director
Cara Reichel directed Joanne Lessner and Joshua Rosenblum’s Drama Desk Award nominated NYC premiere of Einstein’s Dreams for Prospect Theater Company at 59E59 Theaters, and is pleased to renew a collaboration with them on the development of Appalachian Hanukkah. In addition to her work at Prospect, she has directed for the O’Neill Theatre Center, Phoenix Theatre Company, Surflight Theatre, Goodwill Theatre, NAMT's Festival of New Musicals, the Village Theatre’s Festival of New Musicals, and others. With Peter Mills, she has co-created over a dozen new musicals, including The Hello Girls, Illyria, and another Appalachian-inspired show, Golden Boy of the Blue Ridge. She is the Producing Artistic Director of Prospect Theater Company, which she co-founded, and is a leader in the field of new musicals. Education: Princeton University & the M.F.A. Program for Directing at C.U.N.Y./Brooklyn College. Member: SDC and the League of Professional Theatre Women. www.CaraReichel.com