PUTNEY — Director and choreographer Alisa Hauser says she is excited to be working with the seventh and eighth graders at The Grammar School once again on a show in which she was a member of the Broadway cast.
This year, the musical is Beauty and the Beast Jr., with performances March 25 through 28. Hauser played a Silly Girl in the original Broadway production. Last year, she directed Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. at The Grammar School, also on her list of Broadway credits.
Locally, Hauser is on the faculty at New England Youth Theater where she runs the Musical Theatre Studio program. At NEYT, she also has directed Seussical Jr., A Year With Frog and Toad Kids, and has choreographed The Sound Of Music and Hairspray. She teaches private voice lessons at the Brattleboro Music Center and runs the Summer Musical Workshop.
As a performer, in addition to her Broadway appearances in the original casts of Thoroughly Modern Millie (Alice) and Disney's Beauty and The Beast (Silly Girl), she also appeared in Grease! (Frenchy).
Some of her favorite regional and stock roles include Peggy Sawyer in 42nd Street (Theatre-By-The-Sea), Judy in A Chorus Line (Stages St. Louis), and Her/Barb in Romance/Romance (Fulton Opera House). Other theatre credits include shows at Paper Mill Playhouse, Seven Angels Theatre, Music Theatre Wichita, and the Goodspeed Opera House. She is a graduate of the Cincinnati Conservatory Of Music with a BFA in musical theatre.
Hauser not only loves teaching and performing, according to a news release, but she also is a lyricist and book writer. Last summer she was nominated for a 2014 Emmy award for her lyrics to “No Trouble” from A Christmas Carol - The Concert, a work she wrote with composer Bob Christianson that aired on PBS.
She also wrote an original song (music and lyrics) for the Weston Playhouse production of Stuart Little. She has written lyrics with composer Stephen Sislen for the Disney Channel's Johnny And The Sprites. Her cabaret songs have been performed at various venues around New York City and beyond, including The Kennedy Center, Ars Nova, Joe's Pub, and Encore Theatre Company's Big Fat Concert Series.