DIRECTOR • AUTHOR • PRODUCER

Robert W.

Schneider

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About

Biography

The New York Times hailed director Robert W. Schneider as a “loyal subscriber since 2014” and, after their first collaboration, musical theater legend Stephen Sondheim once asked Robert “Can you please stop calling me at my home?”

Since its inception in 2020, Robert has served as Artistic Director of off-Broadway’s award winning J2 Spotlight Musical Theater Company, where he directed the first New York City revivals of eleven classic musicals. His productions of A Class Act, The Baker’s Wife, Lucky Stiff, and Zorba were all created in collaboration with the show’s original writers including Stephen Schwartz and John Kander. For their inaugural production of Seesaw, Robert received the Broadway World Award for Best Off-Off Broadway Musical and Director and The Baker’s Wife for Best Musical. For their most recent production, Robert lost the Broadway World Award for Best Off-Off Broadway Director to a middle school teacher who directed a groundbreaking revival of Parade Jr at the Thomas E. Dewey Middle School.

As a freelance director, Robert has collaborated with Second Stage, Lincoln Center, The New York Philharmonic, Manhattan Theater Club, The York Theater, North Shore Music Theater, Walnut Street Theater, Center Theater Group, Music Theater of Wichita as well as academic intuitions Yale University, Fordham University, Penn State University, and University of Southern California.  He has been the proud winner, or nominee, of such awards as The Elliott Norton Award, The Ovation Award, The StageScene LA Award, The BroadwayWorld Award, and many others. Robert’s greatest achievement is that he is always able to get three extra dipping sauces automatically added to all Burger King orders.

Selected credits include Addams Family, Bye Bye, Birdie, Cinderella, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Eubie, Frozen (regional premiere), Guys and Dolls, Hairspray, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Jekyll and Hyde, Key Stage Musicals, La Cage Aux Folles, Memphis (regional premiere), Nine, Once Upon a Mattress, Peace in Our Time, Queen’s We Will Rock You (New York City premiere), Rock of Ages, Sweeney Todd, Trouble in Tahiti, Unsung, Very Good Eddie, You Can't Take It With You, Wizard of Oz, and Zorba! One day, he would really like to direct Xanadu.

He has served as an assistant/associate director to Lonny Price, Susan H. Schulman, and Richard Maltby, Jr.

Since working as an Original Programming Producer at the Tony Award winning 54 Below, Robert has directed and produced over one hundred concerts for the venue, collaborating with almost every major Broadway artist. For his work, Robert was nominated by Broadway World as Best Cabaret Director of the Decade (he lost to Faith Prince...I mean she has a Tony, so why she needed to take this away from him, he’ll never know).

For the past ten years, audiences around the world have been introduced to Rob’s love of musical theatre through his podcasts Behind the Curtain: Broadway’s Living Legends, Broadway Bound: The Musicals That Never Came to Broadway, Fifty Key Stage Musical, Gay Card Revoked, and This Was A Thing: The Retro Podcast. To date, Robert’s most elusive guest is the Old Lady from the Grand Hotel commercial.

Despite finding every excuse imaginable not to go to classes in undergrad, including saying he had Elm Disease which apparently only trees get, it’s ironic that Robert is now one of the most notable figures in theatrical education and holds academic appointments at Pennsylvania State University, New York Film Academy, and Mount Union University. He received his MFA in Direction for the Musical Theatre Stage from Pennsylvania State University and his BA in Political Science from California Lutheran University.

Robert is a proud member of SDC, AEA, AGVA, DG, ATHE and UPS Mail and Shipping Center.

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The purpose of The American Musical Theatre Archive (501c3) is to create an online repository for scholars, academics, and theater lovers who wish to study the artistic creations of notable figures in musical theatre, yet are unable to travel to conduct research, or are unable to easily access research materials.

The American Musical Theatre Archives is currently seeking funding to support these DOBS methods of historical preservation:

  • Digitization of over 1k hours of various audio interviews from 1920 to 2000 with notable musical theatre artists including George Gershwin, Lorenz Hart, Duke Ellington, Agnes DeMille, Bob Fosse, and Ethel Waters.

  • Offering financial assistance to students and scholars of musical theatre history who are seeking travel and accommodations to specific libraries, estates, and museums.

  • Building an online repository of text, sound, and video relating to the evolution of musical theatre history from 1800 to present day that can be accessed by any student, regardless of financial and/or geographical barriers.

  • Scanning and cataloguing the personal papers, documents, and memorabilia of notable musical theatre artists for online study.

The American Musical Theatre Archive is a 501c3 and all contributions are tax deductible. EIN: 99-0961619      

3% Cover the Fee

Author

Literary Works

Queer Musicals:

Boy Meets Boy to jagged little pill

Queer Musicals takes a chronological look at queer musicals that have developed on Broadway throughout the second half of the twentieth century the the early twenty first century. Looking at the inception and development of each show, this accessible study unpacks the creation, production and reception of each musical in order to draw parallels within the wider American dramatic canon.

Pulling from multiple primary resources, each chapter traces the show from its inception to its opening night. It introduces the reader to each musical's key creators and company members and places them in the larger context of Broadway history. After examining the contemporary reception of each show and its cultural impact – both when it opened and now - it answers the question as to how and why queerness has evolved from being an anomaly to common in Musical Theatre storytelling.

Buy It Here!

Fifty Key

Stage Musicals

This volume in the Routledge Key Guides series provides a round-up of the fifty musicals whose creations were seminal in altering the landscape of musical theater discourse in the English-speaking world.

Each entry summarises a show, including a full synopsis, discussion of the creators' process, show's critical reception, and its impact on the landscape of musical theater.

This is the ideal primer for students of musical theater – its performance, history, and place in the modern theatrical world – as well as fans and lovers of musicals.

Buy It Here!

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Candid Photos

Illustration of numerous diverse Broadway actors behind red theater curtains, with three actors peeking out from behind the curtain, celebrating Broadway's legendary performers.
Four people smiling and posing together in front of a backdrop with 'The 2 Spotlight Musical Theater Company' logo, at a theater event.
Three men smiling for a selfie in a room with a TV, a lamp, and windows in the background.
Three smiling people taking a close-up selfie, showing two men and one woman, indoors with a wooden background.
The image shows a theatrical scene with four actors. One woman dressed in a bright green, ornate dress with floral embroidery is facing the others, and a man with glasses, wearing a gray sweater, appears to be giving instructions or discussing someth
Three men sitting together at a table, smiling for the camera indoors.
Group of eight people, including Drag Queen in pink wig, posing together at a Belmond event, smiling for the camera.
Three smiling men taking a selfie in front of a blue background.
A man sitting alone in an auditorium with red chairs, holding a microphone and looking towards the stage, with a caption that reads 'Idk who took the pic but I low key love it!'
Three men smiling for a selfie indoors, with a window and blinds in the background.
A smiling man with glasses, holding a book titled "Musical Theatre Today Vol. 2" in a cozy, rustic setting with a wooden wall and a decorative arrow pointing north in the background.
Group of nine young adults sitting and standing on a bench against a black background, with casual and colorful clothing.
Group of 16 people, both men and women, gathered together in an office or studio space for a photo. They are smiling and dressed in business or semi-formal attire. The background has a white backdrop with '54 BELOW' logos.
Illustrated show card for 'The Lights of Broadway' featuring cartoon versions of two performers, one with glasses and a beard, smiling, and the other with fangs, showing a distressed expression, on a multicolor glittery background.
Group of eight people smiling, gathered around a control room with monitors, documents, and water bottles, in a television or radio broadcast studio.
Two men, one elderly with white hair wearing a blue denim shirt, and one middle-aged with a shaved head and glasses wearing a dark blue polo shirt, smiling and engaging in a conversation, with several people observing in the background.
Four people smiling and posing together indoors, with one person holding a face mask and a drink, against a brick wall.
Three smiling people taking a selfie together in an indoor setting with a beige wall and a laptop in the background.
Three men sitting in a circle during a rehearsal or script reading, with scripts and notes, in a room with wooden floors and blue curtains.
A man with glasses and a bald head sitting at a table with a laptop and a water bottle, gesturing with his right hand in a discussion or presentation.
Group of people posing for a photo on a stage with a black curtain backdrop.
A group of eleven people, some holding white roses, posing in a room with large windows, with a grand piano in the foreground.
Six individuals seated at a panel in front of a blue backdrop with the word "Broadway Con" repeated on it. The panel includes a diverse group of men and women, some with papers and microphones.
A man wearing glasses, a black hat, and a burgundy shirt sitting at a table with bottles and a laptop in a room with a display board and stacked folding chairs.
A man sitting at a white table, signing a book titled 'Queer Musicals' by Robert W. Schneider. Several copies of the book are stacked on the table. The man is wearing glasses and a light-colored button-up shirt. Behind him, a living room features a f
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Contact

Portrait of a smiling man with glasses, wearing a white shirt and brown sweater, resting his chin on his hand against a dark background. Robert W. Schneider.
A graphic of a spotlight.
A graphic of a spotlight.
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