playbill vip

THOMAS MEEHAN (Book) received the Tony Award for co-writing the book for The Producers in 2001 and in 2003 for co-writing the book for Hairspray. He received his first Tony Award in 1977 for writing the book of Annie, which was his first Broadway show, and has written the books for the musicals Rocky, Elf the Musical, Cry-Baby, Young Frankenstein, Chaplin, Bombay Dreams, I Remember Mama, Ain’t Broadway Grand and Annie Warbucks. In addition, he was a long-time contributor of humor to The New Yorker, an Emmy-Award winning writer of television comedy, and a collaborator on a number of screenplays, including Mel Brooks' Spaceballs and To Be Or Not To Be. Mr. Meehan was also a member of the Council of the Dramatists Guild. He and his wife, Carolyn, divided their time between a home in Nantucket and an apartment in Greenwich Village, near which, on Hudson Street, she owned and presided over the long-running and near-legendary children's store Peanut Butter & Jane. 

CHARLES STROUSE is a long-standing member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and in January 2002, an inductee into The Theater Hall of Fame. His first Broadway musical, Bye Bye Birdie (1960), won him a Tony® Award and the London Critics Best Foreign Musical Award. In 1970, Applause, starring Lauren Bacall, achieved the same honors and his smash hit, Annie (1977), also won a Tony® for Best Score as well as two Grammy Awards®. Some of his other musicals include All American; Golden Boy (starring Sammy Davis Jr.); It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's Superman; I and Albert, directed in London by John Schlesinger; and Dance A Little Closer, written with Alan Jay Lerner. Charlie & Algernon won a 1981 Tony® nomination for Best Score, as did Rags in 1987 and Nick and Nora in 1992. He wrote both the music and lyrics for off-Broadway's Mayor, and teamed again with Martin Charnin to create Annie Warbucks, the sequel to Annie. His film scores include Bonnie & Clude, The Night They Raided Minsky's, and All Dogs Go to Heaven. A tv interpretation in 1999, Annie, aired on ABC's Wonderful World of Disney, swept the ratings by winning over 40 million viewers, won the 1999 Peabody Award and 2 Emmy Awards. The show starred Kathy Bates, Audra McDonald, Alan Cumming, Kristin Chenoweth, Victor Garber, Andrea McArdle and Alicia Morton as Annie and ranked #1 as movie of the year.

MARTIN CHARNIN created the role of Big Deal in the original Broadway company of West Side Story in 1957, the only acting job he ever had. He began writing during West Side Story and his first collaborator was Mary Rodgers. He was subsequently the director, lyricist, composer, librettist, producer or a combination of the aforementioned, for over 140 theatrical productions, including Annie, Annie Warbucks, the Rock Opera version of Joan of Arc, Mata Hari, Loose Lips, Star-Crossed, Sid Caesar and Company, Carnal Knowledge, In Persons starring Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson, The Flowering Peach, Winchell, the revised Can Can by Cole Porter (for which he wrote a new libretto), Cafe Crown, Mike, Laughing Matters, The No Frills Revue, The First, On the Swing Shift, A Little Family Business, Upstairs at O'Neals, The National Lampoon Show, Lena Horne on Broadway, I Remember Mama, Hot Spot, Zenda, Put It In Writing, Fallout, Kaleidoscope, Ballad For A Firing Squad, La Strada, Nash at Nine, Music Music, Two by Two, And in London, Bar Mitzvah Boy, Bless the Bride, The 9 1/2 Quid Revue, and internationally and regionally, 17 productions of Annie. Charnin was the artistic director of Seattle's Showtunes for 7 years, before moving back to New York for the 4th incarnation of Annie on Broadway. He also created a one woman theatrical entertainment for his wife, Broadway and television star Shelly Burch.