Music Box Theatre
Opened April 18, 2024
Closes January 5, 2025
Suffs Musicians
ANDREA GRODY
CONDUCTOR/KEYBOARD 2
Emily Whitaker
Keyboard 1/Accordion/Associate Conductor
Brian Krock
Reed 1 - PIccolo/Flute/Clarinet/
Bass Clarinet/Soprano Sax/Bari Sax
Chris MacDonnell
Reed 2 - Flute/Oboe/English Horn/Clarinet/Alto Sax
Max Darché
Trumpet 1
Rebecca Steinberg
Trumpet 2
Matt Melore
Trombone/Euphonium
Rosa Avila
Drums/SPD
Beth Callen
Acoustic guitar/electric guitar/Mandolin/Tenor Banjo
Julia Adamy
Acoustic Bass/Electric Bass
Mazz Swift
Violin
Dara Hankins
Cello
Music Team
Andrea Grody
Music Supervisor/Music Director/
Incidental Music Arranger/Vocal Arranger
Emily Whitaker
Associate Music Director
Shaina Taub
Composer/Incidental Music Arranger/Vocal Arranger
Michael Starobin
Orchestrator/Incidental Music Arranger
Kristy Norter
Music Coordinator
Jane Best and Patrick B. Phillips
Score Coordinators
Emily Grishman, Adriana Grace, and Alden Terry
for Emily Grishman Music Preparation
Music Copyists
Musician Bios
Chris MacDonnell
Reed 2 - Flute / Oboe / English Horn /
Clarinet / Alto Sax
Chris MacDonnell, a graduate of The Juilliard School, is a clarinetist and multi-woodwind specialist. Regularly performing in various Broadway and off-Broadway productions, Chris has subbed on over 40 shows, most recently as a regular on New York, New York and currnetly on Suffs. Chris has been the chairholder at Radio City for The Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes for the past three years. Prior to that, she has also filled in as a substitute for many years. She is often seen performing at venues such as Paper Mill Playhouse, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Northeast Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as the Walnut Theatre and The Philly Pops in Philadelphia, and the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
Before arriving in New York, Chris toured on various national tours including The Phantom of the Opera and Miss Saigon. Featured as a clarinet artist on the Washington D.C. radio station WPFW “The Jazz Collectors,” Chris has served two U.S. Presidents in the “President’s Own” Marine Band as a clarinetist and saxophonist and performed abroad as principal clarinet in the Orquestra Sinfonica Brasileira in Brazil and the Nova Philharmonia Portuguesa in Portugal.
Currently, she is a woodwind instructor at the United Nations International School and is busy scheduling concerts with her quartet, The Fort Lee Saxophone Quartet. She also plays with numerous ensembles ranging from woodwind quintet to big band and has accompanied artists such as Bernadette Peters, Florence Henderson, Aretha Franklin, and Frank Sinatra, Jr.
Conducting master classes at various Universities within the United States, South America, and Taiwan, Chris has also recorded two CDs, “Enchanted Saint Saens” and “Clarinet Rhapsody,” hailed as “beautifully played and well-deserved of its title.” Her latest recording, “Chris’ Journey, A Whimsical Collage of Music,” is a piece composed for her showcasing her multi-woodwind talents on 11 woodwinds depicting various musical styles.
As a busy artist commissioning and performing new works for the clarinet, she is a repeated invited performer for the International Clarinet Association’s annual Clarinetfest. Chris is also a Yamaha Performing Artist and a D’Addario Performing Artist.
Website: www.winds4you.com
YouTube Page: Winds4You
Rebecca Steinberg
Trumpet 2
Rosa Avila
Drums / SPD
Rosa Avila was born in Germany and spent her childhood between Mexico and Vienna, Austria.
She has performed with artists such as The Lennon Sisters, Ann Margret, Glen Campbell, Shari Lewis, Debby Boone, Elkie Brooks, and Petula Clark, and was the drummer for Andy Williams from 1992-2008. She plays drums in the all-women jazz group Sheroes with band leader Monika Herzig.
In 2018, she held the drum chair at Summer: The Donna Summer Musical on Broadway. She held the drum chair in the Off-Broadway shows Chick Flick, Broadway Bounty Hunter, Love in Hate Nation, for colored girls at the Public Theater, Shaina Taub’s Suffs at the Public Theater, and John Leguizamo’s Kiss my Aztec.
She can be heard on drums in the 2020 Grammy-winning album All the Ladies by Joanie Leeds.
She has been a sub in the Broadway shows Hadestown, Shucked, and Back to the Future. She currently holds the drum chair at Suffs.
Beth Callen
Acoustic Guitar / Electric Guitar /
Mandolin / Tenor Banjo