About The Creative Team

The talented people behind the scenes are:

Cast members of the Off-Broadway production of Trolls: The Musical … (L-R) Albert Insinnia, James Van Treuren, Mark Baker, Christian Whelan and (center) Bram Heidinger.

BILL DYER (Book and Lyrics) has written lyrics and special material for television including The Tony Awards, “Ziegfeld, The Man and His Women,” “The Family Holvak,” “Dorothy,” “Columbo” and for the musical specials and concerts of Mitzi Gaynor, Melissa Manchester, John Denver, Lorna Luft, Ben Vereen and Diana Ross. He has received three Emmy nominations and co-produced the Broadway debut of Sir Derek Jacobi in The Suicide and Get Happy: The Music of Harold Arlen at the Westwood Playhouse in Los Angeles. He has collaborated with composers Billy Goldenberg, Jonathan Tunick and Bob Prince. Mr. Dyer would like to dedicate Trolls to Ronald Eugene Taylor and Alan “Boomie” DeWitt.

DICK DEBENEDICTIS (Composer, Orchestrations and Arrangements) began his career as dance music arranger for such Broadway musicals as Do I Hear a Waltz, Fade Out–Fade In, Bajour and the Lincoln Center revivals of Annie Get Your Gun and Show Boat. In Hollywood, he created the dance music for The Night They Raided Minsky’s and served as special consultant for Funny Lady. He also wrote the score for The Earthling, William Holden’s last film. He has been honored with nine Emmy nominations for his TV work, which includes “Diagnosis Murder,” “Matlock,” “Father Dowling Mysteries,” “Jake and the Fatman,” all 38 installments of the “Perry Mason” TV movies, “Columbo,” “Murder She Wrote,” “Quincy,” “Hawaii Five-O” and “The Rockford Files,” among many others.

EDMUND GAYNES (Producer) produced Picon Pie at the Lamb’s Theatre; Bein’ with Behan at the Irish Rep (nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award); Matty: An Evening with Christy Mathewson at the Lamb’s; Chaim’s Love Song and Einstein: A Stage Portrait at the America Jewish Theatre; and Panache at the Players Theatre. On the west coast, he produced The Taffetas and Songs the Girls Sang (nominated for multiple Ovation Awards); the west coast premieres of Marry Me a Little and Starting Here, Starting Now. He has appeared as an actor in 13 Broadway and Off-Broadway shows including Greenwillow with Anthony Perkins, The Body Beautiful with Jack Warden, Promenade with Madeline Kahn, Edward Albee’s Bartleby and Best Foot Forward, in which he co-starred with Christopher Walken and Liza Minnelli and sang “Buckle Down, Winsocki” on the original cast album. Directors Mr. Gaynes has worked with include Elia Kazan, Stella Adler, Herb Ross, George Abbott, George Roy Hill, Bobby Lewis, Peter Hunt, George Schaeffer, Robert Moore, Alan Schneider, Joe Layton, Gene Saks, Martin Charnin & Jerome Robbins. Mr. Gaynes’ TV credits range from Mary Martin’s “Peter Pan” to “Cheers,” “Kojak,” a recurring role on “The Patty Duke Show,” “N.Y.P.D.,” “The Sid Caesar Hour,” “Playhouse 90” and “The Ed Sullivan Show,” among many others, as well as a two-year run as Paul Stewart on “As the World Turns.”