Roger Nelson

Roger is an accomplished composer, arranger, conductor, pianist and performer. He has written the scores for the musicals Mary S., which received the Grand Prize in the 1987 American Musical Theatre Festival Competition, and Lisa and David (based on the novel by Dr. Theodore Isaac Rubin), which won the 1984 Eugene O'Neill Award and was presented at the O'Neill Center in Connecticut, and subsequently at the Marilyn Monroe Theatre in Los Angeles. Other works include the comic American opera Trio Con Brio (Recommended Work: National Music theatre Network), which premiered under his direction at Northwestern University in 1985, the full-length opera John Brown, the musical-in-mime Festivities, produced at The 45th Street theatre, NYC in 1984, and numerous song settings performed by concert artists including Frederica Von Stade.

His music director/arranger credits include A Reel American Hero (Broadway), the hit revue Scrambled Feet (both Off-Broadway and the RKO video production starring Madeline Kahn), and major tours of They're Playing Our Song with stars including Susan Anton, Larry Kert and Dawn Wells. His arrangements for The United States Army Band and Chorus continue to be standard repertoire for the organization.

As an actor, he has performed leading roles Off-Broadway in The Fantasticks, Scrambled Feet (for which he won a 1979 Show Business Award), and the dramatic song revue Bittersuite. Other roles include Dillard in Foxfire, Michael in I Do! I Do!, and the lecherous Don in Mozart's Don Giovanni.

Mr. Nelson holds both Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees (with highest honors) from Northwestern University. He is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda (national music honorary), ASCAP, Actor's Equity Association, and has served as Associate Professor of Music Theatre at New York University. He is proud to be included in the first edition of Who's Who In Entertainment.

rnelson@uwsp.edu