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Steve Gunderson (actor)

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For other people named Steve Gunderson, see Steve Gunderson (disambiguation).

Steve Gunderson is an American actor, singer, composer, arranger and playwright. As an actor, he has appeared off-Broadway, with regional theatre companies, and on film. As a composer, arranger and/or playwright, his works include Suds: The Rockin’ 60s Musical Soap Opera, Back to Bacharach and David, Dixie Highway, an adaptation of A Christmas Carol, and music for the TV series Romancing America.

Career

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Gunderson made his off-Broadway debut as Daniel Buchanan in Kurt Weill's Street Scene with the Equity Library Theatre in 1982.[1] In 1983 he performed in the off-Broadway musical revue I'll Die If I Can't Live Forever by Joyce Stoner,[2] and in 1987 he portrayed Joseph Keyston in Simon Gray's play Butley at The Courtyard Playhouse (39 Grove Street, New York, NY).[3] In 1991 he portrayed Sparky in Forever Plaid at the Triad Theatre.[4]

Gunderson co-created an original cabaret show with actress Melinda Gilb titled The Melinda and Steve Show, for which he arranged extant musical material by other composers and wrote original music.[5] The duo performed the work periodically at the Manhattan cabaret restaurant Don't Tell Mama in 1984, 1985, and 1986 among other venues.[6][7][8] Cabaret critic Bob Harrington wrote the following in his Back Stage review:

Melinda Gilb and Steve Gunderson exhibit a very limited range: from very funny to outrageously funny as comics, and from interesting to exciting as musicians! And if you are going to have limits, these are ones to have. Their broad zany behavior neatly underscores some magnificent arrangements by Gunderson, and both he and Gilb have the voices to carry them off.[5]

Gunderson and Gilb collaborated again to create the musical parody Suds: The Rockin’ 60s Musical Soap Opera together with Bryan Scott.[9] The three co-authored the musical's book, and wrote spoof lyrics to 1960s popular songs, with arrangements by Gunderson. The work was commissioned by the San Diego Repertory Theatre (SDRT) after one of the SDRT staff saw Gunderson and Gilb's cabaret show in New York.[10] It premiered there in October 1987.[9] Well received by San Diego audiences, it was revived just a few months later at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego.[11][12] The production moved off-Broadway at the Criterion Theatre where it ran from September 25 through December 4, 1988.[13]

1990s and later

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In January and February 1992 Gunderson returned to San Diego to portray Peter in Wendy Wasserstein's The Heidi Chronicles at the Hahn Cosmopolitan Theatre.[14][15] Later that year, he co-created and starred in another original cabaret revue, Back to Bacharach and David, which featured music by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, arranged by Gunderson. The revue's script was written by Gunderson and Kathy Najimy, who directed the revue.[16][17] He and Najimy also appeared together in the film Topsy and Bunker: The Cat Killers (1992).[citation needed]

In 1993 Gunderson created and starred in another musical revue, "24 Hours From Tulsa", co-starring Lillias White.[18] Gunderson's other stage works include the musical Dixie Highway (1994)[19] and a musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol (1994), both for the San Diego Repertory Theatre.[20]

Filmography

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Actor
Composer
  • Romancing America (1997) TV Series

References

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  1. ^ MADD (February 3, 1982). "Legitimate: Off-Broadway Reviews - Street Scene". Variety. 306 (1): 130.
  2. ^ "I'll Die If I Can't Live Forever". Back Stage: 75. March 4, 1983.
  3. ^ Sheward, David (January 2, 1987). "Reviews: Butley". Back Stage. 28 (1): 12A.
  4. ^ Bob Harrington (July 5, 1991). "Bistro Bits". Back Stage. Vol. 32, no. 27. pp. 11, 23.
  5. ^ a b Bob Harrington (November 15, 1985). "Bistro Bits: The Melinda and Steve Show". Back Stage. 26 (46): 17A.
  6. ^ "The Melinda and Steve Show". Back Stage. 27 (46): 11A. November 14, 1986.
  7. ^ Stephen Holden (2 September 1985). "Going Out: The Melinda and Steve Show". The New York Times. p. 35.
  8. ^ "The Melinda and Steve Show". Back Stage. 25 (9): 13A. March 2, 1984.
  9. ^ a b "Legitimate: 'Suds' at Lyceum Spoofs '60s Tunes". Variety. 328 (12): 227. October 14, 1987.
  10. ^ Harrington, Bob (July 15, 1988). "Bistro Bits". Back Stage. 29 (29): 11A.
  11. ^ "Legitimate: Tea, Suds Fill Out Old Globe's Lineup". Variety. 329 (5): 129. November 25, 1987.
  12. ^ Nancy Churnin (31 Mar 1988). "Why the Old Globe Decided to Use Suds on Its Boards". Los Angeles Times. p. AB1.
  13. ^ Jeffrey Sweet, Otis L. Guernsey, ed. (1989). "Suds". The Best Plays of 1988–1989: The Complete Broadway and Off-Broadway Sourcebook. Hal Leonard. p. 435. ISBN 9781557830562.
    Meyr (September 28, 1988). "Legitimate: Off-B'way Review – Suds". Variety. 332 (10): 81.
    Scheck, Frank (October 14, 1988). "Theatre reviews: Suds". Back Stage. 29 (42): 25A.
    Mel Gussow (28 September 1988). "Life and Love at the Laundromat". The New York Times. p. C20.
  14. ^ Nancy Churnin (18 January 1992). "Gaslamp's Heidi Captures Everywoman With Ease". Los Angeles Times. p. SDF1.
  15. ^ Stevens, Rob (February 21, 1992). "West Coast Stages". Back Stage. 33 (8): 7, 34.
  16. ^ Sander, Roy (April 30, 1993). "Cabaret Reviews: Back to Bacharach And David". Back Stage. 34 (18): 11.
  17. ^ Stephen Holden (4 September 1992). "One Foot in Motown, The Other in Suburbia". The New York Times. p. C2.
  18. ^ Kerensky, Oleg (Apr 8, 1993). "Foreign News: MACC awards highlight cabaret month in New York". The Stage and Television Today (5843): 6.
  19. ^ Nancy Churnin (11 June 1994). "Ambitious Highway Dead-Ends". Los Angeles Times. p. OCF2.
  20. ^ Nancy Churnin (8 Dec 1994). "San Diego Rep's Staging of Carol". Los Angeles Times. p. F11.

Further reading

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  • Nancy Churnin (30 September 1988). "Critics Wash Out 'Suds': Hit San Diego Play Takes Drubbing Off Broadway". Los Angeles Times. p. SD_D1.
  • Dan Sullivan (4 April 1988). "Suds' Foam Puts '60s Songs in Spin Cycle". Los Angeles Times. p. OC_D1.
  • "SAN DIEGO ARTS; Forever Plaid Continues Successful Run". Los Angeles Times. 10 Apr 1997. p. OC44.
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