Creative Team
MICHAEL MACKENZIE WILLS (Writer/Director) He has worked with several cutting-edge icons such as Penn & Teller, Blue Man Group, MTV Networks, and FUSE TV. His award-winning shows have played in various venues in New York City such as Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, The National Opera Center, and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. He was the co-founder, Artistic Director, and Resident Director of Playful Theatre Productions in NYC where Theatre Row and The Currican Theatre was PTP’s home for over 10 years. Premiere productions in New York include developing and directing James Gandolfini in Tarantulas Dancing, Liev Schreiber in G-Force, Jamy Ian Swiss in The Honest Liar, Recreation by Penn Jillette, Hunting Humans by Richard Thompson, Fixing Frank by Ken Hanes, and the original NYC production of The Last Session. He has written the book and lyrics to several children’s musicals licensed by Heuer Publishing: A Cow Named Cow, The Princess, The Cow, and The Corn Maze, Cow Goes to the Opera, Cow’s Nutty Christmas, The Adventures of Superbunny, A Superbunny Christmas, Superbunny's Pirate Vacation, Superbunny Meets the Mummy, The Adventures of Superbunny Episode 5, and POE: An Introduction to Edgar Allan. His film GRINCH, won honors at FILMEX, the International Film Festival in Los Angeles. His play Stormy Weather made its debut at Broadway/Tony-winning Producer Ken Davenport’s Rave Festival. He is a member of The Actors Studio and belongs to SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers Society) and The Dramatist Guild, and is a voting member of Grammy (NARAS – National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences). Education: American Academy of Dramatic Arts, UCLA (Michael Gordon), Gordon Hunt, and Playwrights Horizons Professional Theatre Program (Bob Moss). He is also an illustrator of children's books where his work can be seen not only in print but also on Chinese to English bilingual reading apps available from Neumedias.
MICHAEL D. GAYLORD (Arranger and Orchestrator) Michael’s work has been heard in Carnegie Hall plus various theaters and cabarets in New York City and nationwide. His projects include the national tour of BIG The Musical and The Last Session. A former digital media executive for the cable networks Nick at Nite and TV Land, he accepted an Emmy Award on behalf of his team for Outstanding Achievement in the Enhancement of Original Television Programming. Over the years, Michael has had the fortune of interviewing many of his childhood idols, including Bea Arthur, Mary Tyler Moore, Mr. Ed, and all six Brady kids. Michael received a Bachelor of Music degree in Woodwind Performance from the Hartt School of Music and a Master of Music degree in Commercial Composition from the Manhattan School of Music.
AMBER L. SPRADLIN (Producer) is currently a partner with the music and variety entertainment company G&W, LLC. She is the author and creator of the action hero series Thumperino Superbunny and the Storybook collection A Cow Named Cow. Her books have been named a National Indie Excellence Award Finalist, a four time Grammy® Contender for Best Children’s Album (audiobook), Winner of the Creative Child magazine Book of the Year, a Purple Dragon Fly Award Finalist, received the Pinnacle Book Award for Best Juvenile Fiction, Winner of the Pacific Book Award, the Beverly Hills Book Award, the Story Monsters Approved Award, and the Preferred Choice Award. They have appeared on NBC’s The Michael J. Fox Show, reached number one on the Top 100 Children’s Books list and made their international debut at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in Italy. Her stories have been adapted for the stage in a series of New York Times recommended productions, available for licensing through Heuer Publishing, and have been accepted into the Library of Congress and The National Library of Scotland. As a producer, her recent musical The Cow, The Princess, and The Corn Maze was nominated for six MITF Awards and the original cast recording from the concept opera she produced in 2015, Son of the Storm, was a Grammy Contender for best new musical. She was named by Who's Who Worldwide as a 2017 "Woman of Excellence." She was a founding member of the theatre and dance production company Making Faces Productions, based in Los Angeles, and served as Production Manager for independent record label, Shark Meat Records, based in Miami. She is a voting member of Grammy (NARAS – National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences), a graduate of the University of Washington School of Drama in Seattle, and was nominated for the Kennedy Center's Irene Ryan Acting Award. Ms. Spradlin regularly presents author visits at libraries and elementary schools around the country.
G&W ENTERTAINMENT (Executive Producer) specializes in music and variety entertainment. Our performers have worked in preeminent concert halls, opera houses, and theaters around the world.
Performers
ADELMO GUIDARELLI (Baritone) Grammy® Award-winning opera singer Adelmo Guidarelli has performed with Opera Evreux of France, as a featured soloist in Orff’s “Carmina Burana” for The Bach to Bartok Festival in Italy, at The Vatican before Pope John Paul II, before Queen Elizabeth in the UK, as well as tours in Spain, Portugal, Greece, and Germany. He has headlined festivals, venues, and sung principal roles with numerous opera companies spanning several continents. New York venues include Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space, and Lincoln Center. Accolades feature: a 2019 Grammy Award, the MAC Award for “Best Musical Comedy Performer,” holding the #1 position on the charts for an astonishing 14 months for his dual language version of “Funiculi, Funicula,” and winning The Akademia Music Award for Best Gospel Song for his rendition of “Sweet Little Jesus Boy.” In 2018, Adelmo landed two national TV commercials for the SONY PS4 Pro “Opera Campaign,” which debuted during Super Bowl LII on NBC. Ryan Seacrest invited him to Hollywood to perform Mozart’s “Non più andrai” before a live studio audience. His one-man musical comedy show “Operation Opera” made its orchestral debut with The Garden State Philharmonic. New York City critics dubbed him “The Clown Prince of Opera” and equated him to Victor Borge and Anna Russell. Early in his career he worked with Luciano Pavarotti, Sherrill Milnes, and Jerome Hines.
RUBY LAURANCE (Philanthropist) Born into the Laurance family of Seattle, Madame Ruby spent her childhood summers on the beaches of Mercer Island where she was discovered by her first husband, an 80 year old Texas oil tycoon who immediately offered her a job as the spokesmodel for his line of luxury RVs. While honeymooning in the Rockies, a freak mountain climbing accident took the life of her geriatric husband. She drowned her sorrows by sponsoring several Bull Riding Champions who gave her private lessons in the fine art of roping cattle and riding broncos. Once sated by the bowlegged boys of Texas, she briefly married an over educated grounds keeper, who collected office supplies. She bought him a publishing deal with McClanahan Publishing for his book on topiary, “How to Trim a Bush into Fun Shapes.” After the book failed, she got a quick Mexican divorce and turned her attention to bringing culture to the world with Operation Opera.
SETH WEINSTEIN (Pianist) Seth was the musical director and composer of the Off-Broadway musical How to Save the World and Find True Love in 90 Minutes (New World Stages). He is the composer of the following musicals: The Remarkable Prince Jen, Vanity Fair, and Heartthrob. He has toured internationally with Fosse and Ivan Jacobs’s The Phantom of the Opera and in the USA with Almost Heaven: Songs of John Denver. Regionally, he has been the musical director of Black House (Zagreb, Croatia), Do I Hear a Waltz? (Arvada Center), Smokey Joe’s Cafe (Connecticut Repertory Theatre), and Chick Flick (Loft 227 and Millbrook Playhouse), among other shows. Seth also wrote and recorded “The Chagall Suite” (an eight-movement piano piece based on themes of Marc Chagall’s artworks) and “Conversations” (a musical meeting between Chagall and Elvis Presley), and he has played the pieces in France, Germany, and the USA. He performs monthly with L’Opera Burlesque and he is the pianist for the MAC and Bistro Award–winning Screen Gems: Songs of Old Hollywood (featuring Sarah Rice) and Operation Opera.
Special Thanks
ERNESTO R. GURULE, TOBY HASKINS, PENN JILLETTE, ELAINE RINALDI,
C. COLBY SACHS, BRUCE STASYNA, and JAMY IAN SWISS
