Lynne Bernfield: psychotherapist / author / consultant / speaker / musician / performer and media artist

2-14-12 – Interview

Jeffrey Kin is a sextuple threat! He sings, he dances, he acts, he writes, he directs, he produces and all this while guiding the fate of Sarasota’s community theater – The Players. A farm boy who discovered as a small child that he was a performer, Jeffrey pursued his chosen field with a vengeance and now brings all of the knowledge and skill he’s garnered to The Players production of A Chorus Line, which opens on Feb 16th and which he not only directs acts in as well. Listen to this charming, dedicated, funny man talk about his life and work and hear a special song from A Chorus Line.

12-13-11 Interview

Although he knew he could sing – having made his solo debut in church in the 2nd grade – Joel Hatch always thought he was headed for the seminary and a religious life. Despite being cast as the lead in Annie Get Your Gun and The Sound of Music, Joel doggedly continued to believe that he would become a Pastor. After graduation he spent a year as an assistant Pastor and learned that there were things about that life that were not what he wanted. Ironically Joel found that he had more opportunity to lead a truthful life on the stage than in the Church. Listen to this thoughtful, interesting man talk about this discovery and hear the song he sings in My Fair Lady, performed here by Robert Coote and Rex Harrison from the film version.

11-29-11 – Click here to listen to the Interviews

Interview with Laura Osnes
Director Jeff Calhoun describes Laura as “beautiful inside and out” and it is definitely true. The term unaffected is old-fashioned but seems to apply here; Laura seems almost unaware of her beauty, talent and sweetness. And her story is perfect for her; from the beginning others saw the potential star in her and encouraged it. Listen to the remarkable way her career simply unfolded, including how she won her starring role in Grease on a reality show. From there she captured roles in South Pacific and Anything Goes, but they were roles others had created. On Dec 1st Laura gets her chance to define a role – she will put her stamp on Bonnie Parker, beloved partner of Clyde Barrow. If you want to catch a rising star – hurry on down to the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, and see Laura launched.

Interview with Don Black
If Laura Osnes and Jeremy Jordan are on the cusp of their careers, Don Black the lyricist for Bonnie and Clyde the Musical is riding the crest of his. With more than 1000 songs for film and stage to his credit, mega hits – To Sir With Love and Born Free among them – Don continues to write songs which perfectly establish and define the characters for whom he is writing. Lyrics like the exuberant “When I Drive” and the poignant “My Bonnie” help us see the Clyde behind the gun. And the lyrics for “You Love Who You Love” and “Dying” help us understand why a “sweet girl like Bonnie” would give her life to a “bad boy” like Clyde. A tried and true veteran Don continues to love the life he’s chosen, to appreciate the opportunity to dream. He says that old song writers maintain a “twinkle,” and a spring in their step, this is definitely true of Don. Listen to him twinkle and .hear his beautiful lyrics.

11-22-11 Interview

Jeremy Jordan is charismatic bad boy Clyde Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde the Musical, which is now in preview and will be opening on Broadway 12/1/11, but he didn’t intend to be an actor. From the beginning Jeremy could sing and his Mom encouraged him to audition for shows at the community theater, but his first auditions were “horrible” and he “couldn’t even get cast in Peter Pan or Oliver Twist.” But he didn’t mind because he was a really good student and thought he was going to be an engineer. Just before his junior year in high school Jeremy attended a prestigious conference to jump-start his engineering career and realized that he had no interest in the field. As he says, “when you go for your career and return remembering only a couple of pretty faces, you know something is wrong.” Not knowing what he was going to do with his life Jeremy let life lead him. He sang in chorus in school and was heard by someone who offered him a role in a play. Jeremy was hooked and knew that this was the life he was meant for. And it must be true because at 26 he’s already had starring roles in Grease and West Side Story, Newses and now, he will be creating the role of Clyde Barrow, Listen to Jeremy describes the difference between telling people you are an actor (before you’ve had any success) and then when you can say you’re on Broadway….and hear the many sides of Clyde Barrow and the multi talents of Jeremy Jordan as he sings 2 songs from the show.

8-9-11

Even though she was singing in front of her church by the time she was three years old, Sunny Thompson was always shy. She studied theater at college, where she got an opportunity to perform in every production. Broke after graduation she took a job as a hostess at a local restaurant. Still shy, she went to observe an audition and not only got the job, but eventually married Greg Thomson – the producer of the show. Sunny has starred in all kinds of plays and reviews and even has a gold record. For the last four years she has been giving an amazing performance as Marilyn Monroe in Forever Blond, the one woman story of Marilyn’s life – which has just finished a run at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota Florida, and will be one of the first productions at the brand new Powerhouse Theater in Walla Walla Washington. Listen to Sunny’s contagious enthusiasm and another song from the show.

8-2-11

Stephanie Shine began dance class at three years old because the doctor said it would straighten her “wobbly ankle.” No one expected it to it to be the genesis of a life’s work. The mini-musicals she danced and sang in at the Linkletter Tot n Tot studio, and seeing musicals like Peter Pan, cemented her ambition to make a life in the theater. And seeing Franco Zeffirelli’s film Romeo and Juliet began a lifelong love affair with Shakespeare. Stephanie has worked as an actor and director and spent 25 years as the artistic director of the Seattle Shakespeare Company Stephanie met Sunny Thomson (listen to Sunny’s interview next week), and became the director of Sunny’s one woman show called Forever Blond, an homage to Marilyn Monroe. Listen to Stephanie’s description of the passion she and Sunny share to honor Marilyn Monroe on stage and hear Sunny bring Marilyn to life in a few of the songs from the show.

2-8-11

Apparently born with words in his mouth. Steve DePass was rhyming from the moment he could speak and performing on Broadway with Jimmy Durante at five years old. Nelson Rockefeller, who was then the Governor of New York, dubbed Steve America’s Singing Poet and brought him to the White House to perform when he became Vice President. Steve kept the title and has not only played for many Presidents, but in venues all over the world. Born in New York City, Steve was a very sick child so his parents returned to their native West Indies to love him into health with a combination of “coffee and stimulation.” Steve learned the lessons of love and it became his driving force. Listen to his remarkable story and the unique and special songs he writes.

January 14, 2011

Interview – When he was nine years old Mark Winkler told his parents that he was going to be a singer and surprisingly his parents said “of course you’re going to be a singer.” As luck would have it Mark’s aunt – a band singer introduced him to Jimmy Haskel a very successful arranger. Jimmy had little interest in meeting Mark, but a lot of interest in dating his beautiful aunt. And although the romance didn’t work out, Jimmy heard something in Mark and suggested that he start to write songs, and as they say – the rest is history. Listen to the rest of Mark’s story, his wonderful voice and terrific songs.

December 21, 2010

Interview – Jeremy Jordan is originating the role of charismatic bad boy Clyde Barrow in Bonnie and Clyde the Musical, but like Kevin he didn’t expect to live his life as an actor. From the beginning Jeremy could sing and his Mom suggested he audition for shows at the community theater, but his first auditions were “horrible” and he “couldn’t even get cast in Peter Pan or Oliver Twist.” But he didn’t mind because he was a really good student and thought he was going to be an engineer. Just before his junior year in high school Jeremy attended a prestigious conference to jump-start his engineering career and realized that he had no interest in the field. As he says, “when you go for your career and return remembering only a couple of pretty faces, you know something is wrong.” Not knowing what he was going to do with his life Jeremy let life lead him. He sang in chorus in school and was heard by someone who offered him a role in a play. Jeremy was hooked and knew that this was the life he was meant for. And it must be true because at 26 he’s already had staring roles in Grease and West Side Story and now, as Clyde Barrow, he is almost certainly going to find himself on Broadway again – this time creating the role he’s playing.

December 14, 2010

Interview –Kevin Massey is originating the role of Ken – the good guy – in Bonnie and Clyde the Musical – which is playing at the Asolo Repertory Theater in Sarasota and expected to go to Broadway very soon, but Kevin never intended to be a performer. Like the rest of his family he was “very musical” but no one thought of “doing it for a living.” Really good in school, Kevin liked and did well in math and science, even attending college as a pre-med major. But even though he was told that “if you’re good in school why would you throw your life away a performer,” life kept letting Kevin know that performing was definitely his path. Arriving in New York (just for a year off) a month before 911, Kevin “instantly became a New Yorker” and a series of happenstances cemented his choice (at least for now) to pursue a career as an actor. In a very short while Kevin was a working actor, winning a role in Big River as his Broadway Debut and now almost certainly destined to return to Broadway in Bonnie and Clyde.