Patti LuPone is a three-time Tony Award winner for her performances as Joanne in Marianne Elliott’s award-winning gender-swapped production of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s musical Company; Madame Rose in the 2008 Broadway revival of Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim, and Arthur Laurents’s classic Gypsy; and the title role in the original Broadway production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice production of Evita. Ms. LuPone launched her concert career in 1980 at New York City’s legendary nightclub Les Mouches while also performing in Evita. Since then she has continued to tour extensively, captivating audiences across North America, on London’s West End, in Australia, and on Broadway. Her celebrated concert repertoire includes Don’t Monkey with Broadway, Far Away Places, A Life in Notes, and the upcoming 2026 tour of Matters of the Heart, marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of that beloved show. Ms. LuPone has also appeared in operas, including L.A. Opera productions of John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles and Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. Among her numerous film and television appearances are recent roles in Ari Aster’s Beau is Afraid (opposite Joaquin Phoenix), HBO’s And Just Like That, and Marvel’s Agatha All Along. She played Libby Thatcher for four seasons on ABC’s Life Goes On. Ms. LuPone is a founding member of both the drama division of The Juilliard School and John Houseman’s The Acting Company, and is the author of the New York Times best-seller Patti LuPone: A Memoir.

Joseph Thalken is an award-winning composer, conductor, and pianist whose theater and concert works have been performed internationally. A recording of his ballet Chasing Home played by the Dallas Chamber Symphony was recently released by Albany Records and is available on all streaming platforms. He is the composer of the musicals Was, Harold & Maude, Fall of ’94, Borrowed Dust, and Inventions for Piano. His concert works encompass chamber, choral, orchestral, wind ensemble, and vocal music, as well as music for the podcast Radio Play Revival. In addition to working with Patti LuPone, he has served as music director and/or arranger for luminaries of classical music and Broadway, including Julie Andrews, Liza Minnelli, Bernadette Peters, Renée Fleming, Rebecca Luker, Marin Mazzie, Liz Callaway, Sierra Boggess, B. J. Ward, Catherine Malfitano, Elizabeth Futral, Kristin Chenoweth, Sally Wilfert, Polly Bergen, Faith Prince, Hugh Panaro, Michael Crawford, Howard McGillin, Jason Danieley, Nathan Gunn, Rodney Gilfry, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and many more. He has taught music theatre composition at Yale and is a proud graduate of Northwestern University.

Brad Phillips (strings) has become known as “Sideman to the Stars,” having worked with Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Pat Metheny, Iggy Pop & The Stooges, The Verve Pipe, Grammy winner Mark O’Connor and countless singer-songwriters and artists from the Great Lakes region. He is especially known for his long-standing musical collaborations with Emmy Award winning actor/singer/songwriter (and fellow Michigander) Jeff Daniels. Brad holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Jazz Studies and a Master of Music degree in Improvisation from the University of Michigan, where he now serves as a lecturer in the department of Jazz & Contemporary Improvisation. A composer, arranger, musical director, singer-songwriter, record producer, theatrical sound designer, actor, and multi-instrumentalist, he also serves as a resident artist at Daniels’s Purple Rose Theatre Company in Chelsea, Michigan, where he has contributed to more than twenty-five plays in various creative capacities.