  MARTIN
CHARNIN
originated the role of Big
Deal in the Broadway production of West Side Story, singing “Gee,
Officer Krupke”& playing the role for 1000 performances.
Subsequently, he has been the director, lyricist, composer,
librettist, producer or combination of the aforementioned for over
100 productions including Annie Warbucks, the rock opera version of
Joan of Arc, Loose Lips, Hot Spot, In Persons with Eli Wallach &
Anne Jackson, The Flowering Peach, the revised Goodspeed production
of Cole Porter’s Can-Can, Cafe Crown, Mike, The First, On The Swing
Shift, A Little Family Business (starring Angela Lansbury), Mata
Hari, The National Lampoon Show, Lena Horne; The Lady & Her Music,
I Remember Mama (with music by Richard Rodgers), Zenda (with music
by Vernon Duke), Put It In Writing, Fallout, Kaleidoscope, La Strada,
Nash At Nine, Two By Two (again with Richard Rodgers), the concert
version of Strike Up the Band, & in London, Bar Mitzvah Boy, three
productions of Annie, a revival of Bless the Bride & The 9 1/2 Quid
Revue. His Tony Award-winning Annie, which he wrote the lyrics,
created, & directed, has become the 19th longest-running American
musical in Broadway history.
He has directed Annie’s 9 national
companies as well as companies in Amsterdam & Australia. His other
musical theater collaborators include, Peter Allen, Harold Arlen,
Keith Levenson, Marvin Hamlish, Peter Stone, Mary Rodgers & Alan Jay
Lerner. He has directed Fred Astaire, Anne Bancroft, Joel Grey, Ann
Margaret, Danny Kaye, Johnny Mathis, Bill Murray, Bebe Neuwirth,
Bernadette Peters, Sarah Jessica Parker, Gilda Radner, Chita Rivera,
Liv Ullman, Lou Reed, Susan Sarandon, Joan Rivers, Harvey Keitel,
Chuck D, Jon Stuart, Shirley MacLaine, Marlo Thomas, Barbra
Streisand, Carol Burnett, & even Catherine Zeta-Jones (who made her
stage debut as Molly in the first London production of Annie in
1978). He has conceived, written & directed seven musical-variety
television programs, including Anne Bancroft in Annie, the Woman in
the Life of a Man, Annie & the Hoods (with Annie Bancroft), George
M, ‘SWonderful, ‘SMarve-lous, ‘SGershwin, Cole Porter in Paris, Get
Happy, Dames at Sea, & The Annie Christmas Show. He has received
four Tony nominations, two Tony Awards, six Grammy Awards, three
Emmy Awards, three Gold Records, two Platinum Records, six Drama
Desk Awards, the Peabody Award for Broadcasting, & another Grammy
Award for Jay-Z’s rap album Hard Knock Life, which went triple
platinum. He is currently writing & directing a musical with a score
by the late Harold Arlen, Winchell, a musical written with Keith
Levenson, Robin Hood, with Thomas Meehan & Peter Sipos, & has
written songs & directed a one-woman entertainment entitled There’s
Always One More Song To Sing for his new bride & former Annie
Star-to-Be, Shelly Burch.
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