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Backstage look at books starring on Broadway.
Water for Elephants: A New Musical
Tony Award® Nominee for Best Musical
Wade McCollum (Wade)
Rick Elice (Book) Tony Award® Nominee for Best Book of a Musical
Hosted by Ilana Levine, Actress and Podcaster, Little Known Facts with Ilana Levine
Wade McCollum has been seen on Broadway in Wicked (Witch's Father, Wizard/Dr. Dillamond Cover) and on London's West End in the world premiere of It Happened in Key West (Carl). His Broadway tour credits include Lincoln Center Theatre’s My Fair Lady (Karpathy/Higgins cover), Priscilla Queen Of The Desert (Tick/Mitzi), Jersey Boys (Norm). Off-Broadway performances include Make Me Gorgeous (Kate/Kenneth Marlowe), Triassic Parq (Velociraptor of Faith), Secondary Dominance (The Muse), and a Lortel® Nominated and Norton Award®-winning performance as Ernest in Ernest Shackleton Loves Me. Wade has been part of the world premieres of Water For Elephants, Alliance Theatre (Wade); Michael Weller’s A Welcome Guest, CATF (Shimeus); Rob Askins’ The Carpenter, Alley Theatre (Gene); Fly By Night, TheatreWorks Palo Alto (The Narrator). Selected theatre credits include I Am My Own Wife, PCS (Charlotte/Others); A Lie Of The Mind, PCPA (Jake); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Willamette Rep (Puck); Batboy the Musical, PCS (Batboy); The Rocky Horror Show, Triangle Productions (Frank-N-Furter); The Santaland Diaries, Syracuse Stage (Crumpet); Cabaret, Dallas Theatre Center (Emcee) – Dallas/Fort Worth Theatre Critics Award; Hedwig And The Angry Inch, Triangle Productions and L.A.’s Celebration Theatre (Hedwig) – Drammy, Ovation, Los Angeles Critics Circle, and Garland Awards. Selected TV and film credits include “FBI: MW,” “Madame Secretary,” “The Knick,” “Nightcap,” “At Home with Amy Sedaris,” Options, “Prodigal Son,” Delicate Instruments, and “Submissions Only”.
Rick Elice's Broadway credits include Jersey Boys (Best Musical, 2006 Tony® Award, 2007 Grammy® Award and 2009 Olivier® Award); The Addams Family; Peter and the Starcatcher (winner of five 2012 Tony® Awards);and The Cher Show (winner of two 2019 Tony® Awards). In the pipeline: The Princess Bride and Smash, co-written with Bob Martin; Silver Linings Playbook, a musical adaptation of the popular film; The Marvels, a musical adaptation of the popular novel; and Treasure, an original musical written with 2021 Ed Kleban Award-winner Benjamin Scheuer. From 1982-1999, as creative director at Serino Coyne Inc, Rick created and produced ad campaigns for more than 300 Broadway shows, from A Chorus Line to The Lion King. From 1999-2009, he served as creative consultant for The Walt Disney Studio. He is a charter member for American Repertory Theatre and a trustee for The Actors’ Fund. He holds a BA from Cornell University; a MFA from Yale Drama School; and is a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University. Heartfelt thanks to those he’s been lucky enough to know, whose work makes him grateful for the day he was born: Sondheim, Stoppard, Bennett, Prince, Fosse, Robbins, Nichols, Tune, Nunn, Timbers, McAnuff, Laurents, Lippa, Stone, Taymor, Papp, Schumacher, Schneider, Costello, Coyne, Brickman, and eternally, Roger Rees. Hey Rog, look who’s running away with the circus!
As an actress, Ilana Levine has performed on stage and screen to critical acclaim. On Broadway, Ilana is best known to musical theater fans for her comedic turn as "Lucy Van Pelt" in the Broadway revival of, You're A Good Man Charlie Brown. Ilana also starred in the Broadway productions of Jake's Women, Wrong Mountain and The Last Night Of Ballyhoo. She has performed on the Tony Awards. Her ability to portray characters with raw honesty, humor, and pathos, has sustained her career as an actress for over 25 years. She first appeared on the scene in the HBO series Tanner ’88 directed by Robert Altman and quickly was plucked by Vanity Fair journalist James Wolcott as an “up and comer to watch.” Seinfeld fans recognize her from the infamous episode "The Contest." She has appeared in many television shows and films including Divorce, Law and Order, Tanner on Tanner, Damages, The Job, Cashmere Mafia, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Kissing Jessica Stein, Gigantic, Ira and Abby, Failure to Launch, The Nanny Diaries, Friends With Kids and Five Flights Up. As a voice over artist she has done commercials and audio books. For the past three years Ilana has been cited as a “Twitter Influencer To Follow”. She resides in Brooklyn, New York with her husband, actor Dominic Fumusa, her two children, and their dog, Lola.