Ed Dixon (Dr. Engel)

His many Broadway appearances include Sunday in the Park with George, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Gore Vidal’s The Best Man, The Iceman Cometh, Les Misérables, Cyrano, The Three Musketeers, King of Schnorrers, No, No, Nanette and The Scarlet Pimpernel. Ed is the author/composer of Shylock, Cather County, Richard Cory, Fanny Hill and Whodunit… The Musical. Two Drama Desk Nominations, Steinberg Grant, Dramalogue, Leon Rabin and two Dean’s Lists Awards. www.eddixon.biz

Madeleine Doherty (Gretchen)

Broadway / Off-Broadway: Les Misérables (Mme. Thenardier), The Producers (Original cast Hold-Me-Touch-Me), Christmas Carol (Original cast), Romance, Romance (Original cast). Regional: Goodspeed: Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas (Mrs. Mink), North Shore Music Theater: Fiddler (Yenta), Bye Bye Birdie (Mrs. Doris MacAfee) Sacramento Music Circus: Man of La Mancha (Housekeeper). Just recently, National Tour of 101 Dalmatians (Nanny Butler/Gypsy Wife). Film, TV, Animations & more.

Shana Farr (Princess Margaret)

New York Theatre: Princess Ida, Princess Ida; Elsie Maynard, The Yeomen of the Guard; Marian Paroo, The Music Man; Laurey Williams, Oklahoma!; Hanna Glawari, The Merry Widow; Mabel, The Pirates of Penzance; Adele, Dearest Enemy. Regional Stage and Concert: Kathie, The Student Prince; Kate Pinkerton, Madame Butterfly; Soloist, Patriotic Pops; Soloist, Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?; Countess Ceprano, Rigoletto. Cabaret: Pure Imagination Feinstein’s in New York, Grand Center in St. Louis; A Celebration of Julie Andrews Feinstein’s in New York. Television: “Guiding Light,” QVC-UK, HSN-GER, Tokyo Shop Channel, Paris Shop Channel.

Jacquelynne Fontaine (Kathie)

Jacquelynne Fontaine was reviewed as “a soprano new to us, and all the more wondrous for that” by Alan Rich. Recent operatic stage performances: Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro with the Rogue Opera, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and Pamina in Die Zauberflöte with the Tuscia Opera Festival in Viterbo, Italy. Other leading roles include Cunegonde in Candide, Alma in Summer and Smoke, and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. Miss Fontaine has performed with the Orchestra di Roma del Lazio, Italy, and numerous Symphony Orchestras in Southern California. Recent awards include: Loren Zachary Grand National Finals top five Winner; Semi- finalist in the Competitzione dell Opera in Dresden; and Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Western Regional Finalist and District Winner.

Tim Hartman (Herr Lutz)

Broadway: A Tale of Two Cities and Finian’s Rainbow. Pittsburgh roles include Don Quixote in The Man of La Mancha, Daddy Warbucks in Annie, El Gallo in The Fantastics, and Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music. Other favorites include Miles Gloriosus in …Forum, Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast, Falstaff in Henry IV, C.S. Lewis in Shadowlands, and Mr. Fezziwig/The Ghost of Christmas present in CLO’s A Musical Christmas Carol. Tim has also appeared as Merlin in Camelot, Ziegfeld in Funny Girl with Anna Gasteyer, FDR in Annie, and 24 characters in the one man show The Cotton Patch Gospel. Film: “Silence of the Lambs,” “The Piano Lesson,” “The Mothman Prophecies” and “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh.” For the last 25 years, Tim has been writing and performing assembly programs for elementary school children nationwide. Tim is also an illustrator and award winning political cartoonist. www.timhartman.com

Chad Johnson (Prince Karl Franz)

Mr. Johnson is quickly making a name for himself in the world of opera. He was most recently seen on the operatic stage as Alfredo in La traviata with both Dayton Opera and Greensboro Opera and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with both Virginia Opera and Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and in concert with the Alabama Symphony in Mozart’s Requiem and the Dayton Philharmonic for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Other highlights include the title role in Candide, Gérald in Lakmé, Mozart’s Requiem, Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance. www.chadajohnsontenor.com

Stuart Marland (Count Von Mark)

Mr. Marland has appeared on Broadway in Xanadu (understudy for Tony Roberts), as ‘Lumiere’ in Beauty and the Beast, ‘General Lord Glossop’ and ‘Mr. Utterson’ in Jekyll & Hyde and in Cyrano - The Musical. National Tours include ‘Roger DeBris’ in The Producers, ‘General Genghis Kahn Schmitz’ in Seussical (with Cathy Rigby), ‘Juan Peron’ in Evita, Ragtime, The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber with Sarah Brightman, The Who’s Tommy, A Chorus Line, Sophisticated Ladies and The King and I (with Rudolf Nureyev). Recent regional and stock roles include ‘Thenardier’ in Les Misérables, ‘Bobby Franklyn’ in Run For Your Wife, ‘The Captain/Hennessy’ in Dames at Sea and ‘Dr. Carrasco’ in Man of La Mancha.

Paul Palmer (Herr Ruder)

Mr. Palmer returns to his native Pittsburgh and the Benedum Center stage for his fifty fourth CLO production during thirty two summer seasons since 1975. The Student Prince marks the second Sigmund Romberg “operetta” in which this veteran character actor has appeared for CLO, the first being The Desert Song exactly twenty five years ago. Major kudos to the CLO “powers that be” for reaching deep into the bag for this beautiful and touching Romberg melodic banquet nearly ninety years removed from its highly acclaimed Broadway debut. 

Myrna Paris (Grand Duchess)

Ms. Paris last appeared at CLO in Me and My Girl (with James Brennan!) Pittsburgh appearances: Opera, Symphony, City Theatre, Pittsburgh Public, Music Theatre, Opera Theatre, Brass Band and the Ballet. New York: Mrs. Lovett (Sweeney Todd), Lady Jane (Patience), Ruth (Pirates of Penzance), Katisha (Mikado), Mama McCourt (Ballad of Baby Doe). Regional: many Gilbert and Sullivan productions, Forum, Phantom, Our Town, Tom Jones and at Public Theater: A...My Name is Alice. Happy to be back!

Patrick Richwood (Hubert)

Favorite Theatre roles: Little Shop of Horrors (Seymour), The Robber Bridegroom (Goat), The Seagull (Treplev), Peter Pan starring Cathy Rigby (Mr. Smee) and The Foreigner - Helen Hayes Award - (Ellard). His 23 films include “The Princess Diaries,” “Dear God,” “Beaches,” “The Race to Space,” “Armageddon” and “The Other Sister.” Most recognized as Dennis, the elevator operator in “Pretty Woman” and from countless wacky TV commercials. Least recognized as the White Rabbit, a seventy-five year old British bunny (underneath 3 hours of prosthetic makeup) on Disney’s acclaimed series, “Adventures in Wonderland.”

Gene A. Saraceni (Old Josef)

Pittsburgh CLO credits include Joseph...Dreamcoat, Sound of Music, Me and My Girl, Guys and Dolls, South Pacific, Pajama Game, Kiss Me Kate, Most Happy Fella, Fiorello!, Annie, My Fair Lady, Kismet, Anything Goes, Can-Can, Carousel, Song of Norway, Fanny, two productions of West Side Story, two of Oliver!, and three of 1776. His Regional credits include the PICT productions Tartuffe and Hamlet and City Theatre’s Temptation. Early in his career he toured the US and Canada in Shakespearean repertory. In 2003 “Doc” Saraceni became Professor Emeritus of Theatre after having taught at Seton Hill University for 37 years.

Peter Matthew Smith (Captain Tarnitz)

Mr. Smith always loves coming home to Pittsburgh and the CLO! Last season he played Pharoah in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Most recently he was back in Pittsburgh when he made his directorial debut and starred as Mark in RENT at Pittsburgh Musical Theater. Broadway credits include: RENT, Mamma Mia, Hairspray, Fiddler on the Roof (Motel), and Cry Baby.

James Brennan (Director/Choreographer)
Mr. Brennan has directed productions of Crazy For You and The Sound of Music for Pittsburgh CLO and The MUNY in St. Louis and Call Me Madam at the Goodspeed Opera House, Regrets Only, Moonlight and Magnolias, On Your Toes, Noises Off, Don’t Dress For Dinner, A Day in Hollywood, A Night in Ukraine, and A. R. Gurney’s The Dining Room for the Cape Playhouse on Cape Cod. He directed the Off-Broadway premieres of Ed Dixon’s musicalizations of the ribald 16th century novel Fanny Hill at the York Theater and Richard Corey, based on the Gurney play of the same name, at The Lion Theater. Jim was responsible for the first full production in the New York City area of A Wonderful Life, by Sheldon Harnick and Joe Raposo, as well as The New York Philharmonic’s acclaimed production of My Fair Lady at Lincoln Center. He has also created the Paper Mill Playhouse productions of Kiss Me Kate, She Loves Me, Oklahoma!, Noises Off, Sound of Music, and Crazy For You (which was telecast on PBS), as well as Where’s Charley? in Wichita, 42nd Street and Hello, Dolly! in Sacramento, C4Us in Atlanta, Sacramento, Westchester, and Wichita, and She Loves Me in Philadelphia and Maine. On Broadway, he directed and choreographed the revivals of Cole Porter’s Jubilee and Jerome Kerns’ Sally. He has over the years, in various stock and dinner theatres, directed and choreographed productions of Chicago, Cabaret, The Merry Widow, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Bells Are Ringing, George M, The Apple Tree and High Button Shoes among others. As an actor, he has appeared on Broadway in Good News, Rodgers and Hart, So Long 174th Street, I Love My Wife, Little Me, 42nd Street, Singin’ in the Rain, Me and My Girl, and Crazy For You. He toured America in No, No, Nanette, Good News, Me and My Girl, Camelot, and Crazy For You. Jim has played Elyot Chase in Private Lives at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady in Philadelphia, Sacramento, Wichita and Winnipeg (and Alfred P. Doolittle in Portland and Dallas), King Arthur in Camelot in San Diego, Sacramento, Philadelphia (Barrymore nomination) and at the Paper Mill Playhouse, John Adams in 1776 in Sacramento, Rochester, and Philadelphia (Barrymore Award), and both the Devil in Damn Yankees and Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum both in Sacramento and Wichita. When he’s been directing for a while, he misses acting...and vice versa.

Tom Helm (Music Director)
Mr. Helm returns for his fifteenth season with Pittsburgh CLO. On Broadway, he was musical director of Les Misérables, of Me and My Girl, and the revival of Brigadoon. He was musical director of the first national tour of Cats, and conducted Cats on Broadway early in its run. At Radio City, he conducted 5-6-7-8 Dance! starring Sandy Duncan. Tom is also the resident music director at Paper Mill Playhouse, where he has conducted some 30 productions, including Follies (also on CD), Crazy For You (also on PBS), and She Loves Me. He is the musical supervisor for the live theatre productions of Diego Live, Blue’s Clues and Dora the Explorer. Recently, Tom was musical supervisor of the Broadway play-with-music, Souvenir with Judy Kaye.
 

John McClain (Lighting Designer)
Mr. McClain’s credits include National and International productions of musicals, ballet and opera. He has spent 21 years designing for Pittsburgh CLO. He has designed for Ice Capades, Radio City Music Hall, The Lido in Paris, Jubilee for the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and Reno. He has represented every major regional theater and opera company in the USA. In the summer, he divides time between Pittsburgh CLO, Theater of the Stars in Atlanta and the Dallas Summer Musicals. He has designed productions of Porgy and Bess all over the world. He has been represented on the road by Rugrats, Camelot, Joseph..., The King & I, The Sound of Music and Bombay Dreams. John lives in New York City and Connecticut.