+ ABOUT THE PANELISTS

Phillip Gainsley, a Metropolitan Opera “Opera Quiz” veteran, has been giving talks on music and music theater for 45 years. He has spoken for numerous opera companies around the country, and he currently provides regular pre-concert discussions and program notes for The Minnesota Orchestra. He is also the Orchestra’s oral history archivist. Phillip is the host of a podcast series, “Let’s Talk Music”, devoted to classical music and music theater, available on his website, www.gainsleymusic.com and all of the usual platforms.

After originating the role of Mary Flynn in Merrily We Roll Along, Ann Morrison went on to appear in LoveMusik on Broadway.

Jim Walton has appeared in over a dozen Broadway shows, including Come From Away, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Guys & Dolls, She Loves Me, Bye Bye Birdie, Sweeney Todd, and 42nd Street.

One of Broadway’s most revered musical directors and winner of a special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement, Paul Gemignani has conducted over three dozen Broadway shows, including most of Stephen Sondheim’s productions.

Twelve-time Grammy Award winner Thomas Z. Shepard is a recording producer who is perhaps best known for his recordings of Broadway musicals, especially the works of Stephen Sondheim. He produced the landmark original cast recordings of the Sondheim musicals Company, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along and Sunday in the Park with George, as well as the 1985 New York Philharmonic concert recording of Follies.

As a producer for ABC News, Alexander Bernstein, son of Leonard Bernstein, shot a great amount of footage for a Merrily We Roll Along documentary that never came to fruition. However, much of his footage was used in the documentary Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened, directed by original cast member Lonny Price. He is president of Artful Learning, Inc., and Vice President and Treasurer of The Leonard Bernstein Office, Inc.

Peter Rothstein has directed 81 mainstage productions for Theater Latté Da, including 12 world premieres. Other collaborations include the Guthrie Theater, the Children’s Theatre Company, Minnesota Opera, Ten Thousand Things, Minnesota Orchestra, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theater, the Zach Theatre, Boston Lyric Opera, and Asolo Repertory Theatre. He is the creator of All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914 which won the 2019 New York Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience. Peter was named the 2015 Artist of the Year by the Star Tribune, Theater Artist of the Year by Lavender, and Best Director by City Pages. He has received nine Ivey Awards and has been awarded grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Theatre Communications Group, the Minnesota State Arts Board and the McKnight Foundation. He holds a B.A. in Music and Theater from St. John’s University and a Master of Fine Arts in Directing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. www.Peter-Rothstein.com.