Little Known Facts with Ilana Levine

Latest Episodes:

Episode 336 - Liz Garbus Feb 06, 2023

Show notes

Liz Garbus is one of America’s most celebrated documentary filmmakers. She has received two Academy Award nominations, two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Peabody Awards and a Grammy nomination for her body of work, which includes “Harry & Meghan”; “The Farm: Angola, USA”; “What Happened, Miss Simone?”; “Bobby Fischer Against the World”; “Nothing Left Unsaid”; “The Fourth Estate”; “All In: The Fight for Democracy”; and “Becoming Cousteau” among others. Her scripted feature debut, “Lost Girls,” premiered at Sundance in January 2020. Since then, she’s continued her foray into the scripted world by directing the season 4 finale of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which earned her an Emmy nomination. In 2019, Garbus co-founded, alongside her Academy Award- and Emmy Award-winning husband, Dan Cogan, Story Syndicate, a premium film and television production company that provides a home for talented filmmakers, producers, journalists, thinkers and artists to create innovative, ambitious and elevated visual content.

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Episode 335 - Jenny Gersten Jan 30, 2023

Show notes

Jenny Gersten serves as Line Producer for Beetlejuice on Broadway and National Tour, Executive Producer for the musical Born for This, Producer of Musical Theater for New York City Center, and Interim Artistic Director of the Williamstown Theatre Festival. She sometimes produces commercially, including the award -winning Off Broadway “pie shop” production of Sweeney Todd. She works with Jessica Hecht on The Campfire Project, an arts program that primarily serves Syrian and Ukrainian refugees overseas. Previously, Jenny served as Executive Director of Friends of the High Line and as the Associate Producer of The Public Theater in New York City. At sea, she is the Creative Producer of Virgin Voyages.

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Episode 334 - Scott Wittman Jan 23, 2023

Show notes

Tony, Grammy, and Olivier Award winning lyricist, director, writer, and conceiver, Scott Wittman co-wrote the lyrics for the hit musical Hairspray (Tony, Grammy, Olivier Award winner) with creative partner Marc Shaiman. Wittman also served as an executive producer on the hit film starring John Travolta.

Scott was nominated for a Golden Globe, Grammy, and two Emmy Awards for the original songs on NBC’s musical drama Smash. While working on the show, he co-wrote songs for Jennifer Hudson, Uma Thurman, Bernadette Peters, and Liza Minnelli. Shaiman and Wittman’s original score for the Marilyn Monroe musical Bombshell was released by Sony Records.

Scott & Marc’s Broadway writing credits include Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, which Scott also directed, Catch Me If You Can (Tony nom. for Best Musical), and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on Broadway and the West End.

Scott has created and directed two Broadway shows, three studio recordings, and three sold-out Carnegie Hall concerts for Patti LuPone. He has created solo shows for Christine Ebersole and Nathan Lane, as well as writing for Bette Midler’s 2015 Divine Intervention World Tour. Off-Broadway, he conceived and directed Jukebox Jackie starring Justin Vivian Bond, Cole Escola, and Bridget Everett at La Mama., and Bridget Everett’s Rockbottom at the Public Theatre.

His notorious and legendary Downtown shows are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York

Marc and Scott also wrote the score to Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns starring Emily Blunt, Lin Manuel Miranda, and Meryl Streep. Directed by Rob Marshall. Their song, “The Place Were Lost Things Go” was nominated for an Oscar.

He recently joined the Marvel Universe with his song cowritten with Marc for “Rodgers:The Musical for “Hawkeye”.

They have written a new musical version of “Some Like It Hot” to premiere on Broadway in the fall of 2022.

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Episode 333 - Michael Canzoniero Jan 16, 2023

Show notes

Michael Canzoniero is an award winning writer/director working out of his film studio MCM Creative in midtown Manhattan. Born in the Bronx, and raised on the east end of Long Island, Michael grew up obsessed with making movies alongside his cousin Marco Ricci. After attending the University of Notre Dame, where he had his first taste of Hollywood working as a production assistant on the iconic sports movie “Rudy”, Canzoniero was accepted to NYU Graduate Film, alma mater of his directing hero Martin Scorsese. But it was his apprenticeship of maverick indie filmmaker Abel Ferrara (King of New York, Bad Lieutenant) that he credits as the formative piece in learning to make his own highly personal, independent films. After Canzoniero’s thesis film “Pishadoo” was awarded the Princess Grace award for the nation’s best student film, Michael and his cousin Marco co-wrote and co-directed the popular 2009 SXSW comedy “The Marconi Bros.”. He followed this with several more comedic indie films starring his Tony-winning friend and frequent collaborator Dan Fogler (who recently portrayed Francis Coppola in Paramount’s The Offer). In 2022, Canzoniero theatrically released his fifth feature “Making The Day” which had its premiere at Cinequest Film Festival and is now available on Amazon video.

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Episode 332 - Quentin Plair Jan 09, 2023

Show notes

Quentin Plair was recently seen in the Peabody Award-winning Showtime series The Good Lord Bird, and a lead role on Roswell, New Mexico, Quentin will star this November 22nd in the Hulu Limited series, Welcome to Chippendales, opposite Kumail Nanjiani. Quentin trained rigorously to dance for this breakout role as ‘Otis,’ the first and sole Black dancer at Chippendale’s at its inception. Otis is taken under the wing of self-made founder Steve Banjeree (Nanjiani) in this fictional crime series (based on true events). Below is the Vanity Fair first look image of Quentin in the role and here is the teaser trailer. Quentin will then star opposite Kathryn Hahn in the Hulu series Tiny Beautiful Things (early 2023) based on author Cheryl Strayed’s NYT bestseller and helmed by Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine Productions.

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Episode 331 - Micayla Brewster Jan 02, 2023

Show notes

Micayla Brewster is a freelance Social Media Manager who oversees the digital presence of brands within the world of Arts & Culture. Past and current clients range from museums to musicals, books to bands, podcasts to performers, and films to forums on advocacy, to name a few.Formerly, she was an Account Manager at Marathon Digital, a social media agency that represents Broadway shows and live entertainment clients in NYC and around the world. While there, she led innovative social media campaigns for shows such as HAMILTON, Hadestown, Be More Chill, and Freestyle Love Supreme, among others.Previously, she has worked at media and entertainment companies such as theSkimm and Paramount Pictures. She is deeply passionate about the strategy behind creative digital marketing campaigns, as well as re-watching The Office. @MicaylaBrewster, www.MicaylaBrewster.com

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Episode 330 - Sarah Ruhl Dec 26, 2022

Show notes

Sarah Ruhl is a playwright . Her plays include- How to Transcend a Happy Marriage; The Oldest Boy; In the Next Room, or the vibrator play (Pulitzer Prize finalist); The Clean House (Pulitzer Prize finalist, The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize). Other plays include For Peter Pan on her 70th Birthday; Stage Kiss; Dear Elizabeth; Passion Play, a cycle (PEN American Award, The Fourth Freedom Forum Playwriting Award from The Kennedy Center); Dead Man’s Cell Phone (Helen Hayes Award); Melancholy Play; Eurydice; Orlando; and Late: a cowboy song. Her plays have been produced around the country and internationally, translated into fourteen languages. Her books include Smile, a memoir; 100 Essays I Don’t have Time to Write and Love Poems in Quarantine. Opera: Libretto for Eurydice (Metropolitan Opera, composer Matthew Aucoin). Awards: MacArthur “Genius” Grant, Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, Helen Merrill Emerging Playwrights Award, Whiting Writers’ Award, MacArthur Fellowship, Lily Award, PEN Center Award for a mid-career playwright. Education: M.F.A., Brown University (with Paula Vogel). Teaches at the Yale School of Drama.

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Episode 329 - Julie Boardman Dec 19, 2022

Show notes

Julie Boardman is an entrepreneur and Tony Award-winning producer. She recently conceived and produced I'm Still Here, a 90th anniversary celebration for the Billy Rose Theatre Division at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, featuring archival materials from the Theatre on Film and Tape archive, interviews with Broadway legends and emerging creatives and reimagined musical numbers with a cast of over 100 artists. In fall 2020 she produced In Our America: A Concert for the Soul of the Nation and Artists for Change. She is currently a co-producer on the Broadway revival of Funny Girl. Other Broadway credits include: An American in Paris (Tony nomination), Carousel (Tony nomination), Company (Tony Award), Dames at Sea, Head Over Heels, Hughie, Indecent (Tony nomination), and The Inheritance (Tony Award). Tours: An American in Paris, Dreamgirls, Peter and the Starcatcher. West End: An American in Paris (Olivier nomination), Academy Award winner Florian Zeller's The Son. Julie is a Tony voter and member of The Broadway League. She is on the Theatre Committee at New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, the Leadership Council for the Costume Industry Coalition, the Creative Advisory Board of Festival Internazionale del Musical Milano, the Musical Theatre Advisory Board for the University of Southern California, the Advisory Board for the Musical Theatre Conservatory at Orange Country School of the Arts, and an arts advocacy coalition of arts leaders in NYC. Through her company Boardman Productions she has has worked with some of the worlds leading brands including Nike, Maybelline, Evian, Vogue, Victoria’s Secret, Microsoft, Diet Coke, VitaminWater, Samsung, Game of Thrones, Disney’s The Lion King and many more on their activations and fan experiences. With over 14 years working in experiential and promotional marketing, she is thrilled to combine all of her talents to create The Museum of Broadway. @msjulieboardman

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Episode 328 - Colin Donnell and Patti Murin Dec 12, 2022

Show notes

Colin Donnell is an actor and musician who will next be seen as the lead in Peacock’s “Irreverent,” which premieres November 30, 2022. He is well known to television audiences for his roles on NBC’s hugely popular franchise “Chicago Med,” the CW series “Arrow,” and as Scotty Lockhart on the Showtime “The Affair.” He is also known for his Broadway performances in Violet, Anything Goes, and Jersey Boys, as well as the Regional and Off-Broadway productions of Wicked, Mamma Mia!, Merrily We Roll Along, Love's Labours Lost, among many others. In 2020, Donnell and his band The Nineteen Twenty released their debut album Chaos + Cocktails.

Patti Murin is an accomplished stage and television actress who will next be seen in the upcoming Hallmark film In Merry Measure which will be released on November 11, 2022. Murin is well known for her critically acclaimed Broadway performances, which include originating the role of ‘Princess Anna’ in Disney’s Frozen, the titular role in Lysistrata Jones, her Broadway debut in Xanadu, as well as Glinda in the national tour of Broadway’s renowned show Wicked. She previously appeared in Hallmark’s Holiday for Heroes, as well as alongside her real-life husband Colin Donnell in Love on Iceland. On television, Murin has starred as recurring character ‘Dr. Nina Shore’ in NBC’s “Chicago Med,” as well as ‘Ana’ in USA’s “Royal Pains.” Murin has narrated a variety of audiobooks written by the likes of authors Jodi Picoult, Christina Lauren, Katherine Center, and more.

In the fall of 2022 the married duo released an album together - “Something Stupid”

The album was produced by Robbie Rozelle for Broadway Records.

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Episode 327 - Casey Likes Dec 05, 2022

Show notes

Casey Likes made his Broadway debut in Almost Famous The Musical as ‘William Miller' starring alongside Solea Pfeiffer and Chris Wood. Created and written by Cameron Crowe and directed by Jeremy Herrin, this adaptation from the 2000 film chronicles an adolescent's experience touring with an up-and-coming band when given the chance to write a story for Rolling Stone. He will next be seen as 'Gene Simmons' in the Neil Bogart biopic Spinning Goldthat will be released on March 31, 2023 and as 'Richie Shepard,' the leading role in MGM's feature Dark Harvest.

Previous film credits include Everything Must Go, where he portrayed a young Will Ferrell. TV credits include the recent Crypt TV and Facebook Watch series The Birch, as well as National Geographic's American Blackout. As a filmmaker, he has won awards for the direction of his films Seriously and How to Romance, including the top prize in the Arizona Student Film Festival. His latest two self-produced films Thespians and I Got You can be seen on YouTube now,

At the age of 17, Likes won the ASU Gammage High School Musical Theatre Award for "Best Lead Male" and was a finalist in the 2019 High School Musical Theatre Awards, AKA The Jimmy Awards.

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