COLE PORTER (Music & Lyrics) was born in Peru, Indiana, in 1891. He graduated from Yale, where his football songs are still popular. After the failure of his first Broadway show, he lived in Europe, where he married legendary beauty Linda Lee Thomas. Returning to New York in the late 1920s he gained renown for many great songs, including "Night and Day," "Begin the Beguine," "You're the Top" and "I Get a Kick Out of You." His 1930s were highlighted by such Broadway offerings as Anything Goes, Gay Divorce and Jubilee. A crippling riding accident in 1937 left him in constant pain, yet he continued to write memorable scores, among them Can-Can, Silk Stockings and his masterpiece, Kiss Me, Kate. He died in 1964.

ABE BURROWS (Original book) Born in NYC, Burrows graduated New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn and attended City College and NYU. His career in radio and television writing began with “This Is New York,” followed by “The Rudy Vallee Program,” “Duffy's Tavern” and “The Abe Burrows Show.” Burrows also wrote, doctored or directed such shows as Guys and Dolls; Make a Wish; Two on the Aisle; Three Wishes for Jamie; Can-Can; Silk Stockings; Say, Darling; How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying; Cactus Flower; Breakfast at Tiffany's; Forty Carats; Good News; Four on a Garden and many others. With Frank Loesser, Burrows won a Pulitzer Prize for How to Succeed.... In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, he won four Tony® Awards.

DAVID LEE (Director, Co-author) has directed productions of Light Up the Sky, Do I Hear A Waltz?, 110 in the Shade, Diva, Can-Can, Camelot and Art (Pasadena Playhouse), the world premiere of How I Fell In Love (Williamstown Theater Festival), On The 20th Century, Assassins, Company, A New Brain, Applause, Working, Forum, Zorba, (Ovation nominee-best director), Elegies, Two By Two and Gigi (Reprise). In 2007 he directed the acclaimed production of South Pacific at the Hollywood Bowl with Reba McEntire and Brian Stokes Mitchell. His writing for the theater includes a concert adaptation of Can-Can (Encores! with Patti LuPone), and an entirely new book for Can-Can which he directed at the Pasadena Playhouse (Ovation Award-Best Director). David is also a 9-time Emmy Award winning director, writer, and producer for television. He is the co-creator of “Wings” and “Frasier,” for which he also wrote, produced, and directed. He served as writer/producer for Cheers and directed multiple episodes of “Everybody Loves Raymond.” In addition to 19 Emmy nominations, he is the recipient of the Directors Guild Award, Golden Globe, Producers Guild Award, GLAAD Media Award, British Comedy Award, Television Critics Association Award (three times), the Humanitas Prize (twice), and the Peabody.

JOEL FIELDS (Co-author) Joel Fields currently writes and produces on FX’s The Americans (2013: TCA Award, Outstanding New Program, AFI Award, Outstanding Drama Series, 2014: nominated for 2 TCA and 4 Critics Choice Awards, including Best Drama Series). His play, How I Fell In Love, ran in New York at The Abingdon Theater Company and originally premiered at the Williamstown Theater Festival, directed by David Lee.

PATTI COLOMBO (Choreographer) received an Emmy nomination and American Choreographer's Award for Peter Pan starring Cathy Rigby that aired on A&E; she also choreographed the Tony nominated Broadway production. She choreographed the National Tours of Doctor Dolittle with Tommy Tune and Seussical, the Musical with Cathy Rigby. Her choreography for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers at the Goodspeed Opera House received a Connecticut Critics Circle Award for Best Choreography and The Elliot Norton Award for the National Tour in 2007. She received an Ovation Award for Radio Gals at the Pasadena Playhouse and was Ovation nominated for the revival of Can-Can there; Critic's Circle Award for White Christmas at Denver Center; L.A. Drama-Logue Awards for Drood (West Coast premiere), On the Town, Most Happy Fella, and West Side Story. Patti also choreographed over 100 episodes of the Emmy Award winning "Adventures in Wonderland" for The Disney Channel. For TV, Patti has been pleased to work with David Hyde Pierce, Martin Short, Drew Carey, Christine Baranski, and Malcolm Getz.

STEVE ORICH (Musical Director/Arranger/Orchestrator) received a Tony nomination for his Orchestrations for Jersey Boys. Off-Broadway: Snoopy, Personals, A Good Swift Kick, Potholes, NYC Street Show. National Tours: Annie, Godspell, A Class Act. Regional Theatre: Musical Director and/or Orchestrator at Pasadena Playhouse (Do I Hear a Waltz?, A Class Act, 110 in the Shade, Plaid Tidings, Can-Can), Geffen Playhouse (Paint Your Wagon) Mark Taper Forum (The Great American Songbook), Hollywood Bowl (Bernstein's Mass), La Jolla Playhouse (Jersey Boys), Theatreworks (Snapshots, A Christmas Memory), Asolo Rep (Pulse), The Goodman Theatre (Turn of the Century), Goodspeed Opera House (You Never Know, Both Barrels, Snapshots), Dorset Theatre Festival (You Never Know), Northlight Theatre (Snapshots) and Pioneer Theatre (Paint Your Wagon). As a composer, he has written music for numerous television series, specials, and documentaries including the ACE award-winning Mo' Funny for HBO, All About Bette Davis for TNT, Bob Hope...Laughing with the Presidents for NBC, and the award-winning PBS/Lifetime documentary Jackie Onassis: An Intimate Portrait. He has also orchestrated and/or conducted albums for singers like Helen Reddy, Petula Clark, Debbie Gravitte, Judy Kaye and Deborah Gibson, as well as the Grammy-winning cast album for Jersey Boys. His orchestrations have been performed by the National Symphony, the Boston Pops, the BBC Orchestra, at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the White House and around the world.

ROB BISSINGER (Set Designer) has been designing for the theatre for over 15 years. His work as been seen all over the United States regionally in such productions as: Damn Yankees, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Full Monty (Paper Mill Playhouse), Half A’ Sixpence, Pirates! (Goodspeed), Hunter/ Gatherers (the Wellfleet Harbor Actor’s Theatre) and Everything’s Ducky at the St. Louis Rep, for which he received a Garland Award. Rob’s Off Broadway credits include: Lucky Guy (The Little Schubert Theatre), City Club (The Minetta Lane), and the wildly popular Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris (The Zipper Theatre). Rob has been an Art Director for large scale projects like the Venetian Phantom Theatre in Las Vegas, and the Opening Ceremony for the 2014 Winter Olympics. He has also been a long time Associate Designer for several Broadway productions including Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark. Audiences nationally and internationally have seen his designs for countless touring productions including 3 Mo’ Tenors, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Scooby Doo in Stagefright, Disney’s Believe and most recently, Mythbusters: Behind the Myths. Emmy nomination - Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremony

ANN HOULD-WARD (Costume Designer) has won, or been nominated for, virtually every major theatre award in existence, including the Tony, Drama Desk, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, American Theatre Wing, Outer Critics Circle and Olivier awards for her costume design. A Tony winner for Beauty and the Beast and Tony nominee for Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George, Ms. Hould-Ward’s stage credits also include countless Off-Broadway productions and designs for the most highly regarded regional theatres and the theatre-world’s finest producers and directors. International audiences applaud her work as well, as do audiences for film, television, concerts, dance and opera. Ms. Hould-Ward is the recipient of the inaugural Patricia Zipprodt Award for Innovative Costume Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology, and she is a seasoned lecturer on costume design.

JONATHAN BURROWS (Producer) began his professional career as an assistant stage director at the New York City Opera in 1966 with Placido Domingo in Carmen and Madama Butterfly, Beverly Sills in The Tales Of Hoffman and many more. Two years later he was producing theatre in New York including Athol Fugard’s Hello & Goodbye directed by George C. Scott, starring Martin Sheen & Coleen Dewhurst; Contributions starring Claudia McNeil; the national tour of The Mad Show; and Fire on Broadway in1969. When he turned his attention to film, he started as an assistant director for David Lean on Ryan’s Daughter (MGM, 1970). After joining the executive training program at Columbia Pictures, he worked as a production executive and in other capacities on 17 major films including A Delicate Balance with Katharine Hepburn, The Iceman Cometh with Lee Marvin and Jeff Bridges, Rhinoceros with Zero Mostel, The Homecoming with Ian Holm, and The Man In the Glass Booth with Maximilian Schell. Burrows served as a producer for Texasville (Columbia, 1990) and Fletch (Universal, 1984).