Musical Director

Similar to the role of Director, the Musical Director is key to helping shape and develop the piece. The Musical Director is in charge of directing all things that are musical. This means helping to prepare the music for rehearsal, leading musical rehearsals, teaching and directing singers and musicians, and shaping and playing with each and every aspect of the music.

With any musical, the Musical Director is an important job. Often times they are the only part of the creative team on board through the entire production. Unlike the Director or Choreographer, the Musical Director will stay involved through an entire run. Often times they lead the orchestra, they run brush up rehearsals, or they prepare an understudy for a last-minute change.

We are very excited to be working with a fantastic Musical Director… Karl Mansfield.



Karl Mansfield (Music Director) — Karl’s Broadway credits as conductor and keyboardist include Xanadu, La Boheme, 13, Dracula, Coram Boy, and Sweet Charity. His Off-Broadway credits include Grey Gardens, Toxic Avenger, Shafrika the White Girl, and Altar Boyz. Regional conducting and keyboard credits include Zhivago and Thoroughly Modern Millie at La Jolla Playhouse, The Boswell Sisters and Rough Crossing at The Old Globe, A New Brain at Portland Center Stage, The Rivals at Denver Center, and The Mambo Kings at Golden Gate Theater in San Francisco. Karl’s original music and sound design have been heard in productions at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, California Shakespeare Festival, Portland Center Stage, Yale Repertory Theater, The 52nd Street Project in New York, and The Haven Project in Portland. Karl is a recent participant in the BMI Music Theater Writers’ Workshop in New York.