Interview with Sinai Tabak – Musical Director of Guys and Dolls

8-2-16 Interview

11-15-16 At only 25 years old Sinai Tabak has already been Musical Director for four major musicals. Ironically Sinai only began to take piano lessons because his grandmother had given the family a piano. Uninterested in traditions lessons Sinai was captured by a piece he thought would be fun to play – Listen to him play it even now. And although he studied piano and flute and sang in school choirs, it wasn’t until he was asked to accompany the school choir that he began to feel that there was fun to be had playing the piano. And when he was asked to fill in for a musical director, playing for a musical – he was hooked. Although never actually deciding what career to pursue, when he had to decide on a college major, he found that he was unwilling to stop musical directing. Listen to this delightful, articulate, funny, talented young man describe his life’s journey and come and hear the result of his choices as he musical directs his 3rd production for the Asolo Repertory Theater – this time the opening musical of the season Guys and Dolls

5-24-16 Interview

6-21-16 Broadway Producer Ken Waissman decided what he was going to be at 6 years old when he saw his first Broadway plays. He was so profoundly affected by this experience that he can still recall moments from those early plays, like seeing Ella Logan standing at the footlights singing “How Are Things in Glocca Morra” in the original production of Finian’s Rainbow. Knowing that his father was in ‘business’ little Ken asked him who was ‘the boss’ of this amazing thing and when Dad replied “the producer,’” the dye was cast. Unwilling to wait until he grew up to pursue this passion, Ken began producing plays in the family basement when he was 11 years old. Remarkable ingenuity and resolve went into these productions, the profit from which was donated to charity, and Ken, already showing marketing savvy, made sure that the donations took place on TV. Ken went on to produce TV shows in Bogota Columbia for the Peace Corp, apprentice to the iconic theater guru George Abbot, and then to produce such Broadway hits as Fortune in Men’s Eye’s and Grease. Currently he is working on “Josephine” a musical based on the life of Josephine Baker which he expects to bring to Broadway. Listen to this exuberant, passionate man talk about the work to which he has given his life.