"Producing 'I Love a Piano' was a memorable experience that I will
cherish always.  Ray Roderick's concept and construction of ‘Piano’ includes an amazingly large range of the work of Irving Berlin.  Performance after performance, I would stick my head into the theatre to 'watch the top of the show' only to find myself standing with the rest of the audience at the final curtain."  -- Randy Weeks, Executive Director, Denver Center for the Performing Arts

I Love a Piano is a nostalgic musical journey spanning seven decades of American history as seen through the eyes of Irving Berlin – a man who Jerome Kern described by saying "Irving Berlin has no place in American music...He is American Music!" The show tracks the life of a piano with one sour key through four generations of singers and dancers who have performed with and around it.

With 6 actors and over 60 of Berlin’s enduring and popular favorites, this spectacular new show captures the spirit of America from the Ragtime rhythms of the early 20th century through the swinging sophistication of the 1920s and 30s, from the sentimental songs that inspired a nation during two World Wars to the innocent optimism of the 1950’s. Timeless classics, such as “White Christmas,” “God Bless America,” “Puttin’ On The Ritz,” and “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” do more than define the music of a generation, they define the music of our country.

Ray Roderick (Director/Choreographer/Co-Writer) - was associate director of Madison Square Garden’s A CHRISTMAS CAROL (director Mike Ockrent) and THE MUSIC MAN Broadway revival (director Susan Stroman). He subsequently directed the North American tour. Off Broadway, director/choreographer: THE ARK, co-writer/director: THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER, I LOVE NEW YORK (Bistro Award, Best Musical Review 1999).  Regionally: I LOVE A PIANO (Carbonell nomination, Best Choreography), A CHRISTMAS SURVIVAL GUIDE, I LOVE YOU, YOU’RE PERFECT NOW CHANGE (Denver’s longest running show), HEAVEN HELP US! (Carbonell nomination, Best New Work) ARE WE THERE YET?, SATURDAY NIGHT AT GROSSINGER’S and COMING TO AMERICA. Ray was the founding Artistic Director of Tri-State Center for the Arts. For the past six years, he has been creative director Tennis Association’s US Open. He is the director of BELIEVE, the all new Shamu show at SeaWorld in San Diego. With collaborator James Hindman, he has formed Miracle or 2 Productions, Inc. (Miracleor2.com) which is involved in developing new musicals. They are currently creating a new musical review for Busch Gardens in Tampa. He is married to actress Karyn Quackenbush and is the proud father of high school freshman Jamie Roderick.

Michael Berkeley (Co-Writer /Musical Arranger) is the composer/lyricist/librettist of IMAGINE THAT!,  OFF THE WALL, and DIRTY DOINGS IN DEADWOOD; and the composer/lyricist/co-writer (with Ray Roderick) of RIP VAN WINKLE. He has served as the Artistic Director of TriArts' Sharon Playhouse (Sharon, CT) since 1999.  His musical directing has taken him across the country and around the world, including Associate Conductor on the national tour of JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT starring Donny Osmond.  Michael has also created concerts for Potential Unlimited, an arts organization dedicated to the celebration of the talents of performers with developmental disabilities. He has been a member of New York's prestigious BMI-Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop and the ASCAP Composers Workshop.
 

Boston native Alex LeFevre (Music Director) is honored to be paying tribute to Irving Berlin in "I Love A Piano". National tour: HAIRSPRAY (Associate Conductor/MD.)  New York City: THRILL ME (51st Annual Drama Desk Awards, PBS,) ETHAN FROME (York Theatre Company,) ORDINARY DAYS (Manhattan Theatre Club Studios.)  Regional: COCKTAILS WITH COWARD (Northern Stage,) ASSASSINS (Arkansas Shakespeare Festival,) A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, NUNSENSE...A-MEN! (Bucks County Playhouse) and three summer seasons at the New London Barn Playhouse.  Artistic training: Eastman School of Music, NYU: Tisch School of the Arts.  Special thanks to Mom and Dad, Dan Lavender, and Bertica Shulman Cramer for teaching me how to love a piano.