Broadway opens its GATES to the nerds who can get the JOBS done right.
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nerds
A MUSICAL DOT-COMEDY
UPLOADS TO BROADWAY
PREVIEW PERFORMANCES BEGIN MARCH 31, 2016
OPENING NIGHT IS APRIL 21, 2016
AT THE LONGACRE THEATRE
(New York, NY) Producers Carl Levin (Rock of Ages), Vicki Halmos, Elizabeth Williams (Waiting for Godot, Crazy For You) and Greenleaf Productions (Fiddler on the Roof, Matilda) announced today that NERDS, a new musical dot-comedy about the rise and rivalry of tech trailblazers Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, will open on Broadway Thursday, April 21, 2016 at the Longacre Theatre (220 West 48th Street), following preview performances from Thursday, March 31. Tickets are now on-sale via Telecharge.com/ 212-239-6200.
Before Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were the undisputed titans of technology, they were NERDS. Join America’s favorite garage inventors on a hilarious musical journey from the floppy disc era to the iPhone phenomenon, and the epic competition in between, that would revolutionize modern culture as we know it. Fittingly, the production will feature the most progressive technology seen on Broadway, including: on-stage holograms; projection mapping; and an enhanced theatergoing experience through app integrations that allow users to interact with the set and other audience members, choose the show’s ending, and more special features soon to be announced.
NERDS features book & lyrics by multiple Emmy Award nominees Jordan Allen-Dutton and Erik Weiner (Cartoon Network’s “Robot Chicken”, Bomb-itty of Errors), music by Hal Goldberg (The Children), direction by Casey Hushion (Aladdin - Associate Resident Director) and choreography by Emmy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Josh Bergasse (On The Town, “Smash”). The Broadway cast will be announced shortly.
“We’re thrilled to add a jolt of comedy to this already astounding theater season, with this hilarious tale of the Founding Fathers of Tech, from a creative team stacked with new voices,” said producer Carl Levin. “While fine-tuning and re-coding the show for this exciting launch, we’ve also been exploring innovative ways to enhance the ‘user experience’ inside the theater, for a uniquely entertaining event – compatible for Broadway audiences of all generations.”
NERDS features scenic design by Lee Savage (Ordinary Boys), projection design by Daniel Brodie (Aladdin), costume design by Jennifer Caprio (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), lighting design by Jason Lyons (Rock of Ages, Hand to God) and sound design by Nevin Steinberg (Hamilton, Bright Star). Orchestrations are by Adam Blau (“Funny or Die’s Billy on the Street”), Matt Doebler is Music Director and Nadia DiGiallonardo (Waitress, Pippin) is the Music Supervisor and Arranger. Casting is by Bethany Knox (Hamilton, Something Rotten!), CSA of Telsey + Co.
NERDS was first presented by the Philadelphia Theatre Company, where it received Barrymore Awards for Outstanding Original Music and Outstanding New Play. In 2013, the show played limited engagements at North Carolina Theatre and again at Philadelphia Theatre Company where it received seven Barrymore Award Nominations. The Philadelphia Inquirer called NERDS "generation defining,” “visually hot and musically adept filled with one knockout, high-velocity number after a number” and “with surgical precision [like] How to Succeed meets Urinetown, NERDS nails such themes as the cost of dreams and the emptiness of revenge. And, is full of class, insight and wit.”
NERDS is produced on Broadway by Carl Levin, Vicki Halmos, Elizabeth Williams, Greenleaf Productions and Clear Channel Spectacolor.
BIOGRAPHIES
JORDAN ALLEN-DUTTON and ERIK WEINER (Book & Lyrics) are long-time friends and writing partners whose collaboration began at NYU where they co-created and starred in The Bomb-itty of Errors, a hip-hop musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s comedy, which went on to Off-Broadway (1999), the West End (2002), and continues to play around the world. From the success of Bomb-itty, Jordan and Erik were invited to the Sundance Screenwriting Lab and co-created and starred in the MTV sketch comedy series, Scratch & Burn. Together, they’ve written on 5 seasons of the Emmy-winning series, Robot Chicken, including the Star Wars Special, and have been nominated for three Emmys for their writing.
JORDAN graduated from Tisch at NYU in '99 as a recipient of the Artist Scholar Award. He has also created original pilots for FOX, Comedy Central, Sony and Disney. He lives in Los Angeles with his lovely wife Mesha and amazing daughter, Lavinia.
ERIK won a Peabody Award for his writing on CNN Heroes. As an actor, he won a SAG Award playing Agent Sebso on HBO's "Boardwalk Empire”. Other roles include “Unscripted”, “Brown Sugar”, “The New Normal”, and he had one line on “The Sopranos”. He lives in LA with his wonderful wife, Kerry, and delightful daughter, Roxy.
HAL GOLDBERG (Composer) received Barrymore Awards for Outstanding New Play (with book/lyric writers Jordan Allen-Dutton and Erik Weiner) and Outstanding Original Music for his work on the 2007 Philadelphia Theatre Company production of "NERDS". "NERDS" has also received productions at the Experimental Theater Wing at NYU, the New York Stage & Film Festival at Vassar, the New York Music Theatre Festival, North Carolina Theatre, and a return engagement at the Philadelphia Theatre Company (2013). Hal was also the composer of the musical "THE CHILDREN" (with book/lyric writer Stan Richardson), which was presented as part of the New York Music Theatre Festival, NYMF, in 2006. Hal lives in New York City with his husband, Tim, and proudly serves as Vice President of Theatre Operations for Jujamcyn Theaters.
CASEY HUSHION (Director) Broadway: Associate Resident Director of Disney’s Aladdin, Associate/Assistant Director of Elf (2014, 2010), In The Heights (Broadway, Nat’l Tour), The Drowsy Chaperone (Broadway, Nat’l Tour, West End), To Be or Not to Be, Good Vibrations. Casey is the Artistic Director of North Carolina Theatre (2009-present) where she has directed 19 productions. Off Broadway, Casey directed Fat Camp at the ATA Theatre. She was also Associate Director of Anyone Can Whistle at Encores and Minsky’s at the Ahmanson. Many regional productions, workshops, readings, festivals and concerts. NYU Graduate. Proud mom of Lincoln, Violet and Jane, all impossible without Marc. TYMS.
JOSHUA BERGASSE (Choreographer) won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography for NBC's "Smash." Theatre credits include: On The Town (Broadway); Little Me and It's A Bird..It's a Plane..It's Superman! (City Center Encores!); Guys and Dolls and the Sound of Music (Carnegie Hall); The Bomb-itty of Erroes and Captain Louie (Off-Broadway); Fame the Musical (tour); Bull Durham (Alliance Theatre); Nerds (Philadephia Theatre Company, Barrymore nomination); Secondhand Lions (Fifth Avenue Theatre); West Side Story (Stratford Festival); On The Town, Guys and Dolls, Carousel, and The World Goes 'Round (Barrington Stage). Also for television, Bergasse choreographed for FOX's "So You Think You Can Dance."
LEE SAVAGE (Scenic Design) New York credits include The Dream of the Burning Boy and Ordinary Days at Roundabout; Oohrah! at the Atlantic Theater Company; Muscles In Our Toes, Sunset Baby, and Thinner Than Water at Labyrinth; Collapse at the Women’s Project; All-American at LCT3. Regionally, his work has been seen at Asolo Rep, Chautauqua Theater Company, Dallas Theater Center, Ford’s Theatre, Glimmerglass, Goodman, Guthrie, Long Wharf, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington National Opera, Westport Playhouse, and Yale Rep among others. Mr. Savage received a Helen Hayes Award for his work on Much Ado About Nothing and nominations for A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Richard III at Shakespeare Theatre Company, as well as a Connecticut Critics Circle Award for The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow at Yale Rep. He is a Member of Wingspace Theatrical Design and a contributing editor for Chance Magazine. He received his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and MFA from the Yale School of Drama, where he is currently on faculty.
DANIEL BRODIE (Projection Design) was born in Las Vegas and now lives in Brooklyn. He graduated with a degree in theatre and media design from the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University. He designed the projections for Christopher Wheeldon's Winter’s Tale (Royal Ballet) and Cinderella (Dutch National Ballet and San Francisco Ballet) and has worked regularly with puppeteer Basil Twist, both on The Winter's Tale and Cinderella and on Twist’s Behind the Lid, Arias with a Twist and The Rite of Spring. Brodie’s Broadway credits have included Motown the Musical, Jekyll & Hyde and Disney’s Aladdin. He has also created large-scale video designs for Kanye West, Mariah Carey and for the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. Brodie's awards include the United States Institute of Theatre Technology’s Rising Star Award (2011). He has also worked as a guest lecturer at Yale University and New York University. He is an artist in residence at the New York City IFP Media Center.
JENNIFER CAPRIO (Costume Designer). Broadway credits include: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (also original, Nat’l Tour, Chicago, San Fran, Boston). Off Broadway: In Transit (Primary Stages), Modern Living and Post Modern Living (LaMama ETC), Signs of Life: A Tale of Terezin and Wanda's World (Amas), Fugitive Songs (Dreamlight Productions), Two Rooms (Theatre Row), Masked (DR2 Theatre), Striking 12 (The Daryl Roth Theatre), Girl’s Room starring Donna McKechnie & Carol Lawrence (Queens Theatre in the Park also LA), Serendib (Ensemble Studio Theater), The Atheist (Center Stages, starring Star Trek's Chris Pine), Broadway Bares 17 & 19 (BC/EFA), The Blowin’ of Baile Gall (Gabriel Byrne), International: The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, The Great American Trailer Park Musical (Edinburgh Festival). Regional: Minnesota Opera (La Boheme, Salome, & Romeo et Juliette), Utah Shakespearean Festival (3 seasons), Williamstown Theater Festival (5 Seasons), Actors Theatre of Louisville (Humana Festival), Dallas Theatre Center, Opera Boston, Geva Theatre Center, The Cleveland Playhouse, Vineyard Theatre, North Shore Music Theater, The Hangar Theater, Weston Playhouse, Barrington Stage Company, Millbrook Playhouse, Hudson Stage, Kitchen Theater, Utah Musical Theatre, among others. Graduate of Ithaca College and Carnegie Mellon School of Drama.
JASON LYONS (Lighting Design). Broadway: Hand to God, On The Town, Bronx Bombers, Let It Be, Bring It On, Rock of Ages (Vegas, Toronto, Australia, London and Nat'l tours), The Threepenny Opera, Barefoot in the Park, Good Vibrations. Recent: Poor Behavior (Primary); Heathers; Hand to God (MCC); The Commons of Pensacola (MTC); Murder for Two, Nerds (PTC); Venice (Public); Hello, Dolly! (Goodspeed); All in the Timing (Primary); Medieval Play (Signature); Uncle Vanya (CSC); White Noise (Chicago); Broke-ology, Clay (LCT); Happy Hour, Two Plays by Harold Pinter, Scarcity (Atlantic); ten years with the New Group, including The Good Mother, Marie and Bruce, Abigail's Party, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Hurlyburly. Faculty: Purchase College.
NEVIN STEINBERG (Sound Design). Recent Broadway: Hamilton, It Shoulda Been You, Mothers and Sons, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella (Tony nom.), The Performers, Magic/Bird. Off-Broadway: The Landing (Vineyard Theatre), Far From Heaven (Playwright's Horizons). Nevin is the audio consultant for Carnegie Hall's Isaac Stern Auditorium.
ADAM BLAU (Orchestrations). Film credits include: Spy, License to Wed, The Overbrook Brothers, Phoebe in Wonderland, and Fuzz Track City, School for Scoundrels, and Smother among others. Television: “Funny or Die’s Billy on the Street” on TruTV/TBS and “You’re the Worst” on FX. In addition to music directing and arranging for numerous stage productions, Adam composed the cult favorite Monica! the Musical, a full-length musical comedy that satirically retold the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Adam has played piano and keyboards with rock bands in venues ranging from Irving Plaza in New York to the House of Blues in Las Vegas. Adam is a graduate of Yale University and former musical director of the Yale Whiffenpoofs.
NADIA DIGIALLONARDO (Music Supervisor & Arranger) Broadway: Pippin, Hair, Waitress (upcoming). Additional theatre credits: Waitress (American Repertory Theatre), Hair (The Public), Monica! The Musical, and Laugh Whore. TV: “The Tony Danza Show,” “Temptation” and music for commercials. Nadia and her siblings – Daniela and Christine – sing together as the DiGiallonardo Sisters. Their debut album, Shout Sister Shout, was recorded with Rob Fisher live at the Virginia Arts Festival. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Vassar with a degree in urban planning.
MATT DOEBLER (Music Director) Matt has played keyboards and conducted for Wicked and Book of Mormon on Broadway, as well as their respective national tours, and Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812’s Off-Broadway run and recent a.r.t production. Recent Broadway and Off-Broadway shows include: Les Miserables, Gigi, Annie, Leap of Faith and Heathers. BFA: Penn State School of Music (where he is currently on faculty).