 LAURENCE HOLZMAN & FELICIA NEEDLEMAN (Book & Lyrics) are the winners of the prestigious Kleban Award for Most Promising Musical Theatre Librettists (2006). They have been collaborating on musicals for many years, after first meeting in Modern Drama class at Columbia College . A staged reading of Wallenberg , was presented in the New York Musical Theatre Festival after premiering in the “First-Draft Readings” series at Symphony Space in Manhattan . Their original holiday musical hit, That Time of the Year (with music by seven different composers), premiered off-Broadway at the York Theatre Company in 2006, and is now being licensed by Theatrical Rights
Worldwide. The original cast recording of that show will be released on JAY Records this fall. Together with Annette Jolles, Mr. Holzman and Ms. Needleman co-produced a DVD of that show, recorded live in front of a studio audience in 2005. In addition, songs from That Time of the Year have been recorded on the albums, Carols for a Cure Volumes 5 and 6; Susan Egan: Winter Tracks ; The North Coast Men's Chorus: Sugar Plum Fairies ; and The Philadelphia Boys Choir & Chorale: Celebrate the Sounds of the Season . The song “Little Colored Lights” was performed by Broadway star Kelli O'Hara on the CBS-TV special, “ Holiday in Bryant Park.” Mr. Holzman & Ms. Needleman's other new musical, The Jerusalem Syndrome (with music by Kyle Rosen), was produced in the fall of 2008 as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival's Next Link Project, where it won the Theatre for the American Musical Prize for Most Promising Book Musical. Prior to that, the show was presented in the York Theatre Company's “Developmental Reading Series.” Mr. Holzman and Ms. Needleman's
musical Suddenly Hope (with music by Morris Bernstein & Kyle Rosen), had its world premiere at the Stamford Center for the Arts in 2000, with subsequent productions at the Garfield Theatre in La Jolla, CA and the Denver Civic Theatre. Their first show, based on the 1942 film I Married a Witch , was presented in the ASCAP Musical Theatre Workshop, and its lyrics earned them ASCAP's Sammy Cahn Award for Outstanding Lyricists. Their children's song, “Everyone Can La-La-La-La-La” (with music by David Grover) has been performed in concerts across the U.S. , and was recorded by David Grover & the Big Bear Band on their album, Listen to the Music Band . Their latest project (with composer Misha Segal) is a musical version of the 1975 hit film, Lies My
Father Told Me . Mr. Holzman and Ms. Needleman are alumni of the BMI-Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop and members of ASCAP and the Dramatists Guild. In addition to his work in musical theatre, Mr. Holzman is the co-author (with Marc Goldsmith) of the original screenplays Fella and The Queen is in the Parlour , and the author/illustrator of My Zoo , a rhyming picture book for children. He is also a graduate of Columbia Law School and the Commercial Theatre Institute. He practiced law for several years as a litigation associate at a prestigious New York law firm. Ms. Needleman toured with 42nd Street as a member of Actor's Equity, and she was a featured performer with the A & G Dance Company. For several years, she was on the faculty of Broadway Dance Center where she taught tap.
 BENJAMIN ROSENBLUTH (Music) had his passion for musical theatre ignited when, at the age of 10, he had the opportunity to appear onstage alongside Marvin Hamlisch. He has since studied music composition with Charles Wuorinen at Rutgers and with Milton Babbitt at Juilliard, where he earned a Masters in Music. He also studied jazz piano with Kenny Baron while at Rutgers , and composed for the stage under the tutelage of John Corigliano while at Juilliard. He composed songs and incidental music for the Juilliard production of As You Like It (directed by John Rando) and the Juilliard Alumni production of Herculina (directed by Christopher Durang). His ballet, Six ,
was performed as part of the “Composers and Choreographers” series at Lincoln Center . He is an alumnus of the BMI-Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. Past musical theatre works include the original musical drama, Masada , (Oscar E. Moore and Michael Amen, book and lyrics) at the York Theatre, and The Necklace (Sandra Ben-Dor, book and lyrics) at the West Bank Cafe Theatre. His work with Laurence Holzman and Felicia Needleman has been featured in the New Voices concerts at Symphony Space (performed by Rebecca Luker & Judy Blazer). Mr. Rosenbluth also
earned an MD at Harvard Medical School and did postgraduate training in Radiation Oncology at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York . He is currently a practicing radiation oncologist at Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck , NJ .
 ANNETTE JOLLES (Director) has created a diverse body of work as a director, writer and producer for stage and television. She has developed and directed numerous new works including the Off-Broadway premiere of That Time of the Year (The York Theatre Company), Little By Little (Coconut Grove Playhouse, York Theatre Company), Suddenly Hope (Denver Civic Theater, Garfield Theater, & Stamford Center for the Arts), Manhattan Madcaps of 1924 (Symphony Space, “Summer Stock on Broadway” series), Big Red Sun (Theatreworks Palo Alto's New Works Festival), and The Jerusalem Syndrome (NYMF). As a founding partner of KTW Productions, she produced, co-wrote and directed the plays Keeping the Word and The Handshake , which toured nationwide, and The Passion of the Hausfrau (Portland Stage Company). Since 1992, she has been Resident Director/Choreographer for The Little Orchestra Society, staging their acclaimed Lolli-Pops Series for young children at Florence Gould Hall and the Kaye Playhouse, as well as productions of Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors , Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel , Berezowsky's Babar the Elephant , and
a new adaptation of Peter and the Wolf , all at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center. Theatrical concert credits include the 92nd Street Y's Lyrics and Lyricists series, Grind (Musicals in Mufti), and New Voices concerts at London's Southbank Centre and Symphony Space, where she also staged Broadway and Beyond with host Rob Fisher and the monumental Wall to Wall Sondheim tribute. Since 1992, Ms. Jolles has produced, directed and associate directed for BARD Entertainment, a television production company specializing in live multi-camera events and entertainment specials. Her work earned her an Emmy Award as producer of the 9/11 Memorial from Ground Zero and six additional Emmy nominations. Broadcasts highlights include "Mitzi Gaynor: Razzle Dazzle! The Special Years" (PBS), "Holiday in Bryant Park" and "Broadway Under the Stars" (CBS), "Egypt Week Live" (Discovery), "The Dr. Joy Browne Show" (Discovery Health), Camelot ( PBS, Live from Lincoln Center), Romance/ Romance , Nunsense 1, 2 & 3, Stop the World… (PBS, A&E, TNN), "Trading
Spaces“ Home Free Finale (TLC), "Birthday Live" I, II and III, "A Prayer for America – the 9/11 Yankee Stadium Memorial", and the Times Square New Year's Eve festivities from 1997-2004. In the emerging field of live webcasts, Ms. Jolles co-produced several AOL broadband concerts featuring artists such as Usher, Avril Lavigne and Alicia Keys. She also directed the MSN Al Gore interview that launched Live Earth: The Concerts for a Climate in Crisis . She is a summa cum laude graduate of Yale University , where she currently teaches musical theater performance and direction.
LARA A. HOLZMAN (Producer) has been practicing law at major New York law firms for over 15 years. She is currently Counsel in the New York office of Alston & Bird LLP, practicing intellectual property law. Over the years, she has produced several showcases, benefit cabarets and staged readings of new works. In 2006, she was one of producers of the holiday musical revue That Time of the Year , which had a critically-acclaimed run off-Broadway at the York Theatre. She was also one of the lead Producers and General Manager of the New York Musical Theatre Festival Production
of The Jerusalem Syndrome in the fall of 2008. Ms. Holzman is on the Board of Directors of the New York Theatre Barn. Her passion for producing began years ago when she worked for the Phoenix Theatre in Purchase, New York . Ms. Holzman is a graduate of the Commercial Theatre Institute, holds a B.S. from Brown University and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law. She was born and raised in the heart of Manhattan , in and around Broadway theatre.
RICHARD LEVINSON (Producer) is a marketing consultant based in New York . A former partner with the Consulting Group at Ogilvy & Mather, he was the project leader of the team that developed and implemented Six Flags' first ever marketing database. Some of Mr. Levinson's clients included American Express, Kodak, Johnson & Johnson, Cisco, DuPont, DHL and Motorola. Currently, he is forming a team that will develop original content for the live theatre audience to be presented at selected venues through a partnership with the National Corporate Theatre Fund (NCTF). In prior years, Mr. Levinson was a Vice President at Chase in Small Business Financial Services and Credit Risk Management. He is a software engineer by trade, and received a combined B.S. degree in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics from Albany State University .
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