Staff « Broadway Theater Workshops

		Neil Berg Co-Director The composer/lyricist of the Off-Broadway musical The Prince and the Pauper and the composer for the Broadway-bound musical Grumpy Old Men. In January 2010, Berg’s The Twelve, billed as a “theatrical concert event”, premiered at The China Club, NYC. Its world premier took place in Florida in April 2010. Another of his works, Tim and Scrooge, was voted “one of the best musicals” of the inaugural NYMF. His The Man Who Would Be King also played at the NYMF. Neil has produced hundreds of Broadway concerts across the world with such stars as Michael Crawford, Rita Moreno, Bernadette Peters, Ben Vereen and Betty Buckley. He has performed his hit shows Neil Berg’s 100 Years of Broadway and 100 Years of Hollywood over 100 times a year across America.For the past 15 years, Neil has been the music director/entertainment coordinator for the Leukemia Society of America and Covenant House. He has produced countless corporate events across the country and the world. Neil has been the music director of Saint Joseph Regional High School musicals since 1996.
		John Asselta Co-Director John is the president of Standing-O, LLC, a successful entertainment firm. John has directed high school musicals for over thirty-five years and SJR’s award-winning musicals for seventeen of those years. Recently, 90 students performed in SJR’s sold-out production of Curtains which won the Metro Award for “Best High School Musical.” SJR’s 2008 production of West Side Story was a runner up in USA Today’s “Best HS musical in the Country.” The school’s 2007 production of Urinetown, The Musical, won the Helen Hayes High School Theater Award for “Outstanding Overall Production of a Musical” and the Educational Impact Award at the Twelfth Annual Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Awards. (The show also received nine other Helen Hayes nominations, including “Best Director.”)John has assisted a number of non-profit organizations, including Covenant House, by coordinating Neil Berg’s Night of Broadway Stars. The events have raised millions of dollars for the charities.
		Tammy Colucci Dance Instructor Tammy recently returned from China where she directed and choreographed “The American Dream,” a Broadway style musical review that included eight Broadway performers and many genres of American music. Tammy’s choreography credits include “2010 Hue Leggings Commercial,” “2010 Buick LaCrosse Commercial,” “Broadway on Broadway,” “Broadway’s Easter Bonnet Competition starring Liza Minnelli,” “A Tribute to Chita Rivera,” and “Broadway Bares.” She graced the stage with Chita Rivera at the Kennedy Center for an evening “Celebrating Women in the Performing Arts.” Tammy choreographed Rosie O’Donnell & Rachael Ray on the “Rachael Ray TV Show” and “The View.” She also choreographed regional productions of “Fame,” “Footloose,” “The Wiz,” “High School Musicals 1 & 2,” “Tommy,” “Once Upon a Mattress,” “Pippin,” and “Curtains,” for which she was nominated for Outstanding Choreography by the 2010 Metropolitan Awards. As an instructor, Tammy continues to travel around the country with her company, New York Dance Jamz, Inc. She instructs master classes in NYC for Broadway Classrooms, Rosie’s Broadway Kids, and has taught at the Broadway Dance Center in New York City and Dance Educators of America. Tammy is currently teaching “Dance for Musical Theater” here at SJR through Broadway Theater Workshops. She also works privately with young actors in preparation for musical theater and college auditions. www.tammycolucci.com
		Robin Irwin Acting Instructor ROBIN IRWIN is a highly sought after performer, director and coach. Broadway/National Tour credits include: the original company of the multiple Tony winning Titanic, Dance of the Vampires and Grease! She has worked extensively both regionally and Off-Broadway and you’ve heard her voice-over work on everything from baby products to chainsaws. She was invited to be a part of the elite Broadway All-Star Chorus celebrating Stephen Sondheim’s 75th Birthday. Robin runs dynamic theater intensives around the country, has served as an adjunct professor in the accelerated Musical Theater program at Tisch/NYU/Strasberg, teaching both script analysis and physical theater, as well as New York Film Academy’s new musical theater program. In New York, she coaches privately from beginners to Broadway pros and is on the faculty of the prestigious MaxTheatrix Studio. Her SJR productions of The Crucible won Outstanding Dramatic Production of the Year and her SJR production of Lend Me a Tenor won Outstanding Comedy of the Year 2009 (Montclair State University HS Theater Arts Award). Robin holds a B.S. from Northwestern University and a Masters in Directing from Roosevelt University.
		Robert Dusold Vocal Coach Robert Dusold’s Broadway and National Tour credits include Javert and Valjean in “Les Miserables,” Jason Green in “The Producers,” Monsieur Andre in “Phantom of the Opera,” Old Deuteronomy in “Cats,” Pete in Hal Prince’s “Showboat,” assorted roles in “Jekyll and Hyde,” “Kiss of the Spiderwoman” and “Chicago.” Robert recently played Harry Bright in the Las Vegas production of “Mamma Mia!”. Recent New York credits include “Mimi le Duck” opposite Eartha Kitt Off Broadway, the title role in “Don Imbroglio” at the New York Music Theater Festival as well as Ned in the Drama Desk nominated “The Audience.” Regional and Stock credits include Sweeney Todd in “Sweeney Todd…” at Connecticut Rep (Conn. Critics Circle Award Best Actor nomination), Jules/Bob Greenberg in “Sunday in the Park” at DC’s Arena Stage, Benny Southstreet in “Guys and Dolls” at Papermill Playhouse, Father in “Chrysalis” at the Adirondack Theater Festival, Peron in “Evita” at California Music Theater and various shows at the O’Neill Festival, Williamstown Theater Festival and many others. Recordings include “A Gala for Harold Prince,” “Sondheim: An Evening in Celebration at Carnegie Hall,” the “Anastasia” soundtrack and others. Robert is also featured in the new book “Making It On Boradway: Actors’ Tales of Climbing to the Top” published by Allworth Press.
		Rita Harvey Vocal Coach Rita performed on Broadway in the role of Hodel in the latest revival of “Fiddler on the Roof,” directed by David Leveaux and starring Rosie O’Donell and Harvey Fierstein and Alfred Molina. After covering the two older daughters, she took over the role of Hodel and can be seen in the role at the Lincoln Center archives. She made her Broadway debut performing the lead role of Christine Daee in “The Phantom of the Opera” after having performed the role with the second national tour for two and a half years. Rita created the role of Lady Edith in the off-Broadway hit musical “The Prince and the Pauper.” At the Irish Repertory Theatre, she played the role of Ethel Chichester in “Pet O’ My Heart.” Rita also created the role of Elizabeth in the highly-acclaimed concept CD/DVD of “Frankenstein the Musical” (available on Amazon.com). Regional and stock productions include Laurey in “Oklahoma!” and Johanna in “Sweeney Todd” (both at Marriott’s Lincolnshire Theater), Julie Jordan in “Carousel,” Christine in Maurey Yeston’s “Phantom,” Amalia in “She Loves Me,” Fiona in “Brigadoon,” Ann Collier in “1940’s Radio Hour,” Katrin in the play “I Remember Marna,” and Rose in “Street Scene.” Rita majored in Opera Performance at Simpson College and then received her Masters Degree at Northwestern University. Favorite opera roles include Susanna in “Le Nozze di Figaro,” Adele in “Die Fledermaus,” Rose in “Street Scene,” Laurie in “the Tender Land,” Marcelline in “Fidelio,” and Monica in “The Medium.” She can be heard on recordings of “The Prince and the Pauper,” “Tim,” “A Tale of Two Cities,” “Big: the Musical,” “Frankenstein: the Musical” and, now, “Fiddler on the Roof.” Rita is proud to be the principle soprano in “Neil Berg’s 100 Years of Broadway,” (voted the number one touring concert in the country!) which has enabled her to perform with such stars as Robert Evan, Liz Callaway, Betty Buckley, Ben Vereen, Craig Schulman, Lillias White, Rita Moreno and Michael Crawford. She has performed with the Westfield Symphony, the Rockford Symphony and the Bowling Green Symphony. Rita has performed in St. Petersburg, Russia in the new musical “Take Flight,” by Richard Maltby and David Shire. She was recently involved in the NY workshop production and eagerly awaits a Broadway run of this beautiful show about the Wright Brothers, Amelia Erhardt and Charles Lindbergh. Her solo cabaret, “Letting Go,” played to rave reviews and is available on CD. Rita is hard at work on her first studio CD which will be available this summer.
		Christy Tarr-McVey Vocal Coach Christy made her Broadway debut as Mrs. Walker in “The Who’s Tommy.” She was also a part of the first national tour of that same show. Other Broadway credits include: “Annie – The 20th Anniversary Tour” with Nell Carter, and “Jekyll and Hyde” where she played the roles of Kate and Emma. Regional works include Ruby in “Dames at Sea” and Nellie in “South pacific.” She has done live industrials for such companies as Mattel, Allstate, MasterCard and Pfizer. Most recently, Christy has done commercials for Microsoft7, Magnavision Eye Wear, Comcast and Gateway Health.