Burn Brae’s Backstage Stories
Many talented people have “trod the boards” at Burn Brae Dinner Theatre, and many others served the organization well in roles that were less visible but just as critical for success. We’re proud of and grateful for all the “lives well lived!” Listed here are the names of Burn Brae Productions (AKA “K&L Productions”) alumni from all its theatrical entities who have enjoyed and continue to enjoy successful careers in the world of entertainment.
Joe Piscopo
Saturday Night Live
Andrea McArdle
Broadway’s original Annie
Richard Stilwell
The Metropolitan Opera
Scott Ellis
Original cast 1776 and directed Grease for Burn Brae’s Equity Production in Philadelphia
Olivier Award-Winning Director (She Loves Me, 1995)
Multiple Tony Award Nominee
Associate Artistic Director at the Roundabout Theatre Company in New York City
Susan Stroman
Choreographed Grease for Burn Brae’s Equity Production in Philadelphia
Tony Award-Winning Choreographer
Peter Reckell
NBC TV’s Days of Our Lives
John Weiner
Broadway’s La Cage Aux Folles
Tony Capone
Broadway’s Miss Saigon
Beth McVey
Broadway’s Phantom of the Opera
Steve Cramer
Played the role of Jean Val Jean in Broadway’s Les Miserables
Susan Bigelow
Original Broadway cast, Working (1978)
Played “Ado Annie Carnes” in a Broadway revival of Oklahoma! (1980)
Starred on Broadway opposite Dean Jones in Into the Light (1986)
Understudied four roles in Broadway’s Footloose (2000)
Also worked in TV movies and situation comedies
Joy Hawkins
A “Golddigger” on the Dean Martin Variety Show and played “The Tiger Girl”
Currently the Artistic Director of the Red Barn Theatre in Key West FL
Cathy Holz Mundy
Played “The Star-To-Be” in the Broadway National Tour of Annie
Dan Schiff and the late Eileen Blackman
Appeared in the Broadway National Tour of Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? with the original Broadway star the late Russ Thacker (1985-87, Boston, Cleveland, Washington DC, St. Louis and Chicago)
Steve Bauman
Appeared in the First National Tour of Broadway’s A Chorus Line and also in London’s West End production
Mr. Bauman has performed with Lauren Bacall, Carol Channing, Carol Lawrence, Larry Kert, Alfred Drake, Agnes Moorehead, Robert Morse, Nanette Fabray, Joey Heatherton, Van Johnson, Gig Young and Richard Chamberlain, to name a few
Steve also came to the City Line Dinner Theatre in Philadelphia (another Kinnamon-Levin house) to choreograph and direct Chicago and choreograph a production of No, No Nanette for director Frank Anzalone
Robin Baxter
Performed in the original cast of Mamma Mia on Broadway
Allen Fitzpatrick
Performed in several musicals on Broadway, including Memphis, 42nd Street, Sweet Smell of Success and in the Broadway revival of Les Miserables
Steve Wappel
Stage Manager for the Broadway national touring productions of Agnes of God and Barnum
Sally Jane Heit
Played the late Dorothy Loudon’s sister on Broadway in Ballroom, which was directed and choreographed by Michael Bennett
Dan Schiff
Played “Beauregarde” in Mame opposite Tony winner Christine Ebersole at PaperMill Playhouse. Also played “Nick Arnstein” opposite the late Laurie Beechman in Funny Girl at Sacramento Music Circus
Dan also starred in Shear Madness and in Forbidden Broadway for a year in Philadelphia
Dan replaced the original star in Shear Madness at the Kennedy Center Theatre Lab in Washington DC
Frank Anzalone
Advance Stage Manager of Shear Madness at the Kennedy Center in 1988 – and the show is still running in 2019
Production Stage Manager for 23 years at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia for 115 shows, and also directed four musicals and one play on the Mainstage and three plays and one musical in the Studio Theatre
John Stevenson
John has been a key figure at The Voice of America for decades
Katie Campbell Stevenson
Katie has developed numerous brilliant and award-winning one-woman shows, including Women: Back to the Future, Forging Frontiers: Women in STEM and Amending America: How Women Won the Vote
Jane Beckman
Earned her Actors Equity card and starred as “Mother Superior” in NUNSENSE at Society Hill Playhouse in Philadelphia
Randy Lord
Earned his Equity card in Anything Goes in New York in 1978, appeared with Donald O’Connor in Damn Yankees and with Virginia Martin in Annie, performed as “Rolf” in The Sound of Music with Peter Palmer; he worked in the motion pictures All That Jazz, Fame, Splash, Unfaithfully Yours and many others before graduating first in his class from the University of Florida School of Law in 1988
Gay Willis
Gay starred on Broadway as “Magnolia” in Show Boat
Vicki Smith
Vicki is Artistic Director of Stage Works, where she serves as a Teacher, Choreographer and Director
Performed every summer on the world-famous Steel Pier in Atlantic City, NJ for Tony Grant’s Stars of Tomorrow
Vicki was a three-time winner on the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour TV show
Vicki started in theatre at age 15 working at Burn Brae for K&L Productions
Carla Renata Williams
Carla performed in several Broadway productions, including Avenue Q, The Lion King, Smokey Joe’s Cafe and How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. She also has an extensive list of appearances in national tours, Las Vegas shows, television shows and worked as a backup singer for people like Tracy Chapman, Phoebe Snow, Michael Bolton and others. She wrote a book for actors titled The Actors Guide to Self Marketing and is the host/creator of The Curvy Critic podcast and is Co-president of the Documentary Branch of the Critics Choice Association. Carla is currently working as a voice actor on Invisible Fight Girl, Scooby Doo and the Mystery Pups and Barbie: It Takes Two.
Wayne Hamilton
Earned his MFA in Theatre at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA
After teaching and directing musical theatre and theatre at VCU, Montgomery College and Mount St. Mary’s, he became the only known Burn Brae alumni to teach on the full-time theatre faculty of a Big Ten University (University of Minnesota)
Wayne has also created three theatre-related, non-fiction “online books”:
First On Stage, a collection of historical firsts in American musical theatre
History Theatre–The First 40 Years, a chronology of productions from 1978-2018
Burn Brae Legacy, a chronology of productions from 1968-2001
Sincere thanks to Frank Anzalone for researching and writing most of the content for this page.
To add another Burn Brae participant or to correct errata, please send details via the form on this site’s Contact page.
