Curtains

Mr. Lemay is a celebrated Producer, Director, Choreographer, Fight Director and Educator. An award-winning director/choreographer, he has created works spanning the full gamut of theatrical and television productions, including operas, ballets, symphony concerts, musicals, multicultural productions, royal galas, variety shows, and special events, both nationally and internationally. His work was last seen at the Phoenix as director/choreographer for the 2024 production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. As a performing arts educator, he has founded training programs for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the Confederation Centre of the Arts. He is the Co-Founder/Managing Artistic Director of the Canadian College of Performing Arts. Mr. Lemay has served as Adjudicator and Advisor to the Canada Council for the Arts as well as several provincial and territorial arts councils. He is currently Vice-President of the board of Pacific Opera Victoria and a member of the Order of Canada.

Read more about Jacques Lemay

Rupert Holmes is a Tony Award®–winning composer, lyricist, playwright, novelist, and screenwriter whose singular career spans music, theatre, television, and literature. Widely regarded as one of the most versatile creative voices of his generation, Holmes is the only artist in Broadway history to receive Tony Awards® as sole author, composer, and lyricist of a musical.

Born in Cheshire, England and raised in New York, Holmes trained as a clarinetist and music theorist before turning his talents to songwriting and orchestration. He achieved early fame in the world of pop music with his Billboard #1 hit “Escape (The Piña Colada Song),” followed by numerous collaborations with leading artists of the 1970s and ’80s. His transition to musical theatre solidified his status as a master storyteller, blending wit, suspense, and melodic sophistication.

Holmes made Broadway history with THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD, for which he wrote the book, music, lyrics, and orchestrations. The innovative, audience-interactive show won the Tony Awards® for Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Original Score, and continues to be celebrated as a landmark achievement in musical theatre.

His subsequent stage works further showcased his range and inventiveness. He penned the book for the hit backstage whodunit CURTAINS, featuring music and lyrics by Kander and Ebb. The show—a loving spoof of both murder mysteries and classic musical comedies—earned Holmes the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical and a Tony® nomination for Best Book. Most recently, he adapted Gilbert and Sullivan’s beloved operetta into PIRATES! THE PENZANCE MUSICAL, an exuberant reimagining set in 19th-century New Orleans. With new dialogue, lyrics, and musical arrangements, Holmes’ PIRATES! reinvigorates the classic tale with his signature blend of humor, intelligence, and theatrical verve.

Whether writing for Broadway, television, or the page, Rupert Holmes continues to captivate audiences with his sophisticated craftsmanship and endlessly inventive storytelling. His work on CURTAINS and PIRATES! THE PENZANCE MUSICAL—both licensed by Theatrical Rights Worldwide—cements his reputation as a master of theatrical wit and musical ingenuity.

Bio from Theatrical Rights Worldwide.
Learn more about Rupert Holmes and view his catalogue of work.

John Kander, the composer half of the legendary songwriting team, Kander and Ebb that has produced Cabaret, Woman of the Year, The Act and the incomparable Chicago, was born in Kansas City, Missouri on March 18, 1927.

Kander began studying music as a child and in his early career worked as a conductor and accompanying pianist for many productions. From 1955 through 1958, Kander was choral director and conductor for the Warwick Musical Theatre in Rhode Island. He was also the pianist for The Amazing Adele and An Evening with Bea Lillie. He was the conductor for the 1957 New York revival of Conversation Piece and arranged the dance music for the productions of Gypsy (1959) and Irma la Douce (1960). Kander made his Broadway composing debut in a 1962 collaboration with James Goldman. The production, A Family Affair, was short lived but included hit songs such as “Anything For You”, “There’s a Room in My House” and “Harmony”.

In 1964, Kander was introduced to Fred Ebb, a lyricist who had experienced some minor success with novelty tunes.

The first successful Kander & Ebb collaboration was on the song “My Coloring Book,” recorded by Kitty Kallen, Sandy Stewart, and Barbra Streisand. The duo’s first stage musical, Golden Gate, went unrealized, but it did convince producer Harold Prince to hire them for his new Broadway show Flora, The Red Menace, a satire of Greenwich Village bohemian culture and radical politics that starred Liza Minnelli in her Tony Award-winning Broadway debut. Though not a hit, the show solidified Kander and Ebb as a team and Liza Minnelli as a star.

The next year, Prince commissioned Kander & Ebb to create the score for a musical version of I Am A Camera, which was to be produced under the name of Cabaret. In 1966, Cabaret opened, winning seven Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Score of the Season Award. The original production ran for 1,166 performances, has been revived three times and produced a 1972 film version starring Liza Minnelli (a role which earned her a Best Actress Oscar Award).

1968 produced two other musicals, The Happy Time and Zorba and three years later the team produced 70, Girls, 70. In 1972, Kander & Ebb wrote a number of songs for Minnelli’s television special, Liza With a Z, which received an Emmy for Outstanding Single Program – Variety or Popular Music.

After contributing five songs, including “How Lucky Can You Get” and “Let’s Hear It For Me,” to the 1975 movie Funny Lady, they launched the Broadway musical Chicago, which was largely overlooked during its original run but was revived to massive success two decades later. Chicago had another incarnation in 2002, when the film version received an Oscar for Best Picture and revived the movie musical.

In 1977, Kander & Ebb collaborated with Martin Scorsese on the movie New York, New York; the title song was introduced by Minnelli, and later recorded by Frank Sinatra, and became the unofficial theme song of New York City. The Minnelli Broadway vehicle The Act also opened that year.

After a four-year absence from Broadway, Kander and Ebb returned with 1981’s Woman of the Year, which starred Lauren Bacall and was based on the 1942 Katharine Hepburn movie. The Rink, which opened in 1984, starred Chita Rivera and Minnelli, with the songs “Colored Lights”, “Chief Cook and Bottle Washer,” and “Mrs. A.” In 1985, Kander & Ebb opened Kiss of the Spider Woman and Steel Pier in 1997.

For nearly five decades, Kander and Ebb have been one of Broadway’s preeminent songwriting teams, the longest-running music-and-lyrics partnership in Broadway musical history. Minnelli once said, “The greatest thing about Kander and Ebb is you sing their songs and you feel good.”

Bio from Theatrical Rights Worldwide.
View John Kander’s catalogue of work.

Fred Ebb, the lyricist half of the legendary songwriting team, Kander & Ebb that has produced Cabaret, Woman of the Year, The Act and, of course the incomparable Chicago was born in New York City, NY on April 8, 1935.

His lifelong love of the theater began while Ebb was still a child, and independently from the rest of his family, as there was no music ever performed or listened to in his childhood home. He graduated from New York University and following received his Masters Degree in English Literature from Columbia University. In the early 1950’s, Ebb worked at a hosiery company, in a department store credit office, as a trucker’s helper, and bronzed baby shoes.

His first songwriting opportunity came when a friend introduced him to songwriter Phil Springer, a composer whom Ebb credits for teaching prosody, form, AABA as opposed to Verse-Chorus, and technique in general. The Ebb-Springer team worked with eight hours every day writing songs in New York’s famed Brill Building. The first professional songwriting assignment came in 1953 when he and Springer were hired by Columbia Records to write a song for Judy Garland called “Heartbroken.” Highlights from the Springer-Ebb catalog include “How Little We Know”, “Santa Baby”, “Moonlight Gambler” and “Nevertheless I Never Lost the Blues”.

Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, Ebb wrote for nightclub acts and revues, as well as for the television series This Was the Week That Was. After a few unsuccessful Broadway productions, Ebb was introduced to composer John Kander in 1964. The legendary team would stay together for 21 years.

The first successful Kander & Ebb collaboration was on the song “My Coloring Book,” recorded by Kitty Kallen, Sandy Stewart, and Barbra Streisand. The duo’s first stage musical, Golden Gate, went unrealized, but it did convince producer Harold Prince to hire them for his new Broadway show Flora, The Red Menace, a satire of Greenwich Village bohemian culture and radical politics that starred Liza Minnelli in her Tony Award-winning Broadway debut. Though not a hit, the show solidified Kander and Ebb as a team and Liza Minnelli as a star.

The next year, Prince commissioned Kander & Ebb to create the score for a musical version of I Am A Camera, which was to be produced under the name of Cabaret. In 1966, Cabaret opened, winning seven Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Score of the Season Award. The original production ran for 1,166 performances, has been revived three times and produced a 1972 film version starring Liza Minnelli (a role which earned her a Best Actress Oscar Award).

1968 produced two other musicals, The Happy Time and Zorba and three years later the team produced 70, Girls, 70.

In 1972, Kander & Ebb wrote a number of songs for Minnelli’s television special, Liza With a Z, which received an Emmy for Outstanding Single Program – Variety or Popular Music. After contributing five songs, including “How Lucky Can You Get” and “Let’s Hear It For Me,” to the 1975 movie Funny Lady, they launched the Broadway musical Chicago, which was largely overlooked during its original run but was revived to massive success two decades later. Chicago had another incarnation in 2002, when the film version received an Oscar for Best Picture and revived the movie musical.

In 1977, Kander & Ebb collaborated with Martin Scorsese on the movie New York, New York; the title song was introduced by Minnelli, and later recorded by Frank Sinatra, and became the unofficial theme song of New York City. The Minnelli Broadway vehicle The Act also opened that year.

After a four-year absence from Broadway, Kander and Ebb returned with 1981’s Woman of the Year, which starred Lauren Bacall and was based on the 1942 Katharine Hepburn movie. The Rink, which opened in 1984, starred Chita Rivera and Minnelli, with the songs “Colored Lights”, “Chief Cook and Bottle Washer,” and “Mrs. A.” In 1985, Kander & Ebb opened Kiss of the Spider Woman and Steel Pier in 1997. In 1999, Ebb wrote and directed Minnelli on Minnelli, starring Liza Minnelli in a Broadway tribute to the movie musicals directed by her father Vincente Minnelli.

For nearly five decades, Kander and Ebb have been one of Broadway’s preeminent songwriting teams, the longest-running music-and-lyrics partnership in Broadway musical history. Minnelli once said, “The greatest thing about Kander and Ebb is you sing their songs and you feel good.”

Bio from Theatrical Rights Worldwide.
View Fred Ebb’s catalogue of work.

Broadway: TITANIC, 1776, THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES (all Tony Award winners for Best Musical), and WOMAN OF THE YEAR MY ONE AND ONLY, SUGAR, TWO BY TWO, and KEAN. Film: won an Academy Award for his screenplay FATHER GOOSE, the Edgar (Mystery Writers of America) for his film CHARADE and the Christopher Award for the screen adaptation of 1776, other films include THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1-2-3, SWEET CHARITY, WHO’S KILLING THE GREAT CHEFS OF EUROPE? and JUST CAUSE. Television: won the Emmy Award for an episode of “The Defenders”. Mr. Stone is the only writer to ever win the Tony, Oscar, and Emmy.

Bio from Theatrical Rights Worldwide. View Peter Stone’s catalogue of work.