February 7-9 & 14-16, 2020
There’s this song writing team—but they aren’t a team when our musical begins. He’s already a successful composer (think Marvin Hamlisch). She’s a slightly crazy but very talented lyricist (think Carole Bayer Sager). First, she’s intimidated working with such a successful man. But that doesn’t last very long and sparks begin to fly—professional and romantic sparks. (Think Marvin Hamlisch and Carole Bayer Sager’s real life romance.) Ten great songs to share their story with us in a great script by Neil Simon (Think THE ODD COUPLE.). A delightful musical treat right around Valentine’s Day.
Adults & Teens
Ric Roberts
Ric is very proud that in 2020 he will be celebrating his 45th year in theatre. The veteran actor/director has an impressive list of credits at Bay City Players (Music Man, Kiss Me Kate, 1940’s Radio Hour), Pit & Balcony, Saginaw Valley State University., and the 1997 Off-Broadway Musical production of That’s Life! in New York City.
Ric has been very involved with the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. He has served as KCACTF festival host four times, spent four years as the Michigan State Chair, three years as Region III Vice-Chair and recently finished serving as Region III Chair. In 2019, Ric was recently honored by having his name placed on the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Wall at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C.
Ric recently retired from teaching after serving as chair of the department of theatre at Saginaw Valley State University where he was a professor. He received his BA in theatre from S.V.S.U. and his M.F.A. in drama/theatre for the Young from Eastern Michigan University. He studied professionally at the New Actors Workshop in New York City.
An avid singer, he sings 1st tenor in the choir at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Saginaw and with the Saginaw Choral Society. He has been a past featured soloist at the Baroque on Beaver Music Festival on Beaver Island. Ric and his husband, Jeremiah Kraniak, are currently restoring a thirty-two room mansion in the Cathedral District in Downtown Saginaw.
Kevin Cole
Kevin Cole is an award-winning musical director, arranger, composer, vocalist and archivist who garnered the praises of Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen, E.Y. Harburg, Hugh Martin, Burton Lane, Marvin Hamlisch, Stephen Sondheim and members of the Jerome Kern and Gershwin families. He has shared the concert stage with Liza Minnelli, Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, William Warfield, Sylvia McNair, Lorin Maazel, Itzhak Perlman, Brian d’Arcy James, Barbara Cook, Robert Klein, Lucie Arnaz, Maria Friedman, Idina Menzel and friend and mentor Marvin Hamlisch. Kevin has given Master Classes in musical theatre vocal performance at Interlochen Center for the Arts and North Carolina School of the Arts. He has served as Musical Director for Pasadena Playhouse, Michigan Ensemble Theatre, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Royal George Theatre (Chicago) and New York Musical Theatre Festival. Kevin is also an internationally known concert pianist whose engagements include sold-out performances at Hollywood Bowl, Royal Albert Hall, Kennedy Center, Ravinia Festival, Wolf Trap, Chautauqua Institute and legendary Carnegie Hall. Kevin has been active at Bay City Players as Music Director, Assistant Director and Actor-Singer. He has been instrumental in the progress of renovations to the theatre through many benefit concerts. One of his original musicals, A SHINE ON YOUR SHOES, made its premiere at Bay City Players in 2007.
Erin Frye
Erin has been involved with Bay City Players for several seasons. She is excited to be assistant directing with this amazingly talented cast and crew. During her time at Players, Erin has enjoyed working on both sides of the curtain with set design and decor as well as onstage. Her most recent roles include-Aggie in Play On and Karen in August: Osage County. Erin is a K-12 Visual Arts teacher for Breckenridge Community Schools. She received her BA in Art from Siena Heights University and her MA in Educational Leadership from Saginaw Valley State University.
Erin and her husband, Jeremy, have two children, Sienna and Hudson and reside in Thomas Township.
David Snyder
David has enjoyed a multi-faceted career that has taken him from the scoring stages of Hollywood to Carnegie Hall, where he performed frequently with the New York Pops as their arranger and pianist from 2009 to 2013. Thanks to creator Kevin Cole, David became familiar to U.S. symphony audiences as arranger/orchestrator and host of Here to Stay: The Gershwin Experience, featuring Grammy-winning soprano Sylvia McNair and Broadway dancer/vocalist Ryan VanDenBoom. His musical theatre credits include Grey Gardens on Broadway; Oklahoma!, The Little Mermaid, and Pirates! at the Paper Mill Playhouse; Ethel Merman’s Broadway with Rita McKenzie, and the 25th Anniversary Tour of Les Miserables. David has also had a long association with the musical Forever Plaid, serving first as musical director during the original NY cast’s acclaimed Los Angeles engagement, then continuing on as orchestrator, music supervisor and pianist for the 2009 film version, as well as musical director and co-arranger for the holiday sequel, Plaid Tidings (LA Ovation Award nomination). As a composer, David wrote the score for the new musical Mr. Confidential, which premiered at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2014, and composed/conducted the score to the 2002 documentary A Tradition of Honor. He resides in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
