Steve Cuden Podcasts

The brilliant singer-songwriter, David Pomeranz, has achieved success in virtually every entertainment medium. His songs have been recorded and performed by a long list of major artists including: Bette Midler, Kenny Loggins, Cliff Richard, Freddie Mercury, Kenny Rogers, Glen Campbell, Lou Rawls, John Denver, Missy Elliott, and Barry Manilow, who h…

The brilliant stage, screen, and voice actress, Melinda Peterson, has been performing professionally for more than 40 years. She was introduced to audio theatre in 1990 when she played all 17 of the female roles in Proctor & Bergman’s Power which aired on NPR as a regular segment of John Hockenberry’s Heat. Since that time she has contributed voice…

The brilliant singing duo of Maripat Davis and Richard Osborn,burst onto the cabaret scene with sold out California engagements at The Gardenia in Hollywood, and Sterling’s Upstairs at Vitello’s in Studio City. Their first show, entitled Let’s Fall In Love, featured a potpourri of classic American love songs from the 30’s, 40’s and beyond, taking a…

Please enjoy this Encore StoryBeat Episode, featuring John Davidson, one of the most extraordinarily gifted entertainers of this or any era. John’s probably best known for hosting the TV shows, The Hollywood Squares, That’s Incredible!, and as the guest host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson some 80 times, more than any other singer. John …

Bill Mumy is an actor, songwriter, recording artist, producer, voice-over artist, musician, photographer, and writer. Entering the world of professional entertainment at the age of five, Bill has worked on over 400 television shows and is best known by fans around the world for the creation of many memorable roles, including: the iconic heroic boy …

Author, screenwriter and journalist, Stephen Rebello, majored in literature and psychology, ultimately earning a master's degree. Subsequently, he became a clinical social worker at a Harvard-affiliated teaching hospital in Boston. But it was during a vacation in Los Angeles that Stephen secured an in person interview with legendary director, Alfre…

The brilliant jazz musician, Michael Wolff, is an award-winning, internationally acclaimed pianist, composer, bandleader, and now, author. In a long-running musical career, he’s been the musical director for the great Grammy-winning jazz singer, Nancy Wilson, and the award-winning The Arsenio Hall Show. He’s also been a member of Impure Thoughts, W…

The legendary, highly influential Rock ‘n Roll superstar, Suzi Quatro. Suzi made her stage debut playing bongos in her father’s jazz band, the Art Quatro Trio. At 14, she co-founded the all-girl band, The Pleasure Seekers, with her elder sister, Patti, playing a bass guitar that was as tall as she was. Suzi quickly became the band’s lead singer and…

Holly and Kelvin Reed are an up-and-coming musical theatre writing team who also happen to be married to one another. Their most recent effort, True North: A Magical New Holiday Musical, is slated to open in Orlando, Florida for the holiday season in 2022. Holly writes book, lyrics, and music along with Kelvin, who is a composer. Aside from True No…

Writer-director-producer, Amanda Raymond, is a New York transplant living in Los Angeles. Amanda wrote, produced, and directed the feature films, You Are My Home with Alyssa Milano, which can currently be found on Netflix, and My Favorite Girlfriend, that Saban Films released in the summer of 2022 for a limited theatrical run. Amanda also wrote, di…

Writer-director, Charlie Peters, was raised in New York City before spending his high school years at Stonyhurst College in Lancashire, England, where he was classmates with the director Charles Sturridge and actor Edward Duke. Charlie then studied theater at the University of Connecticut and subsequently received a Schubert Fellowship to do gradua…

Justin Fenton was a reporter for the Baltimore Sun for 17 years. A graduate of the University of Maryland College Park, Justin worked as a reporter and editor for the student newspaper, The Diamondback, and then started at The Sun as an intern. In 2010, Justin’s reporting led to an overhaul in how Baltimore police officers investigate sexual assaul…

Candi Milo is the busiest actress in voiceovers today. Among her numerous accomplishments, she was honored to take the mantle of the voice of Granny in all Warner Brothers Animation projects after the passing of the legendary voice talent, June Foray. For example, you heard Candi as Granny in Space Jam 2: A New Legacy with LeBron James, and also in…

The brilliant actress, Kandis Chappell, has appeared on Broadway in Stephen Sondheim's Getting Away with Murder and Neil Simon's Rumors, and in many of the most prestigious regional theaters across the country. She is an Associate Artist of the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, where she has appeared in more than 30 productions. She’s also worked ext…

Denise Gossett has been an actress in television and feature films for over 20 years. Denise can be seen in the feature films I Saw the Light, starring Tom Hiddleston, Get the Gringo, starring Mel Gibson, and the Morris Chestnut feature, When the Bough Breaks. Most recently, Denise worked on the romance feature, Gabriel’s Rapture, the thriller, 9 W…

Naomi Beaty is a screenwriting teacher and consultant who works with writers, producers, and directors at all levels to develop their film and TV projects. Naomi has read thousands of scripts and worked with hundreds of writers, first in development at Madonna and Guy Oseary’s Maverick Films, and currently through group workshops and one-on-one coa…

Joel Drucker writes literary non-fiction and journalism. He jokes that he’s “too sensitive to be a hard-boiled journalist – not sensitive enough to be a suicidal poet.” Joel’s work has appeared in a variety of print and broadcast outlets, ranging from HBO, CBS and Tennis Channel to Racquet Magazine, Cigar Aficionado, and the New York Times. He’s th…

Cara Friez is an experienced video producer, editor, and educator. She’s currently the Director of Education for the EdTech company, EditMentor, which teaches the art of video storytelling and the technical skills of video creation within a self-paced, interactive curriculum through a cutting-edge web-based platform. Before working for EditMentor, …

Actor and Director, Apollo Dukakis, is a member and longtime resident artist of the Pasadena, CA based theater company, A Noise Within. As a professional actor for over fifty years, Apollo has worked off-Broadway and in many prestigious regional theatres across the country, including: The American Conservatory Theatre of San Francisco, The Pasadena…

Dobie Maxwell has made a successful living in standup comedy since 1985. Starting in 1990, he’s had several stints in morning radio. Dobie has appeared numerous times on national and regional television. And from 1995 to 2020, Dobie taught his "Maxwell Method of Standup Comedy" at Zanies Comedy Clubs in Chicago to more than 3000 students. Dobie’s a…

Scott McGee is a Senior Director of Original Programming at Turner Classic Movies. He’s also a programmer for the TCM Classic Film Festival and the TCM Cruise. Scott frequently presents at TCM events and other film festivals. Recently, Scott authored one of the most enjoyable books about the movies that I’ve ever had the pleasure to read. It’s call…

Comedy writer and novelist, John Vorhaus, is best known for his comedy-writing classic, “The Comic Toolbox: How to be Funny Even if You’re Not.” His writing credits include dozens of teleplays and screenplays, plus seven novels and numerous books on comedy, writing, creativity and poker. John has taught and trained writers in 37 countries on five c…

Entertainment attorney, Robert M. (“Bobby”) Schwartz ,is a partner in Quinn Emanuel’s Los Angeles office and co-chair of the Media & Entertainment Industry Practice. Over the last 30 years, Bobby has become a nationally recognized leader in large-stakes and often precedent-setting cases, particularly in the entertainment and media fields. He’s repr…

Alan K. Rode is a noted biographer and film scholar. He is the executive producer and host of the long-running Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival. Alan is also the co-programmer and co-host of the Noir City Hollywood and Chicago film festivals. He’s a charter director and treasurer of the Film Noir Foundation, which is dedicated to resurrecting lost f…

This is a StoryBeat Encore episode! You’re likely already a fan of the actor and bestselling author, Cary Elwes, who you surely know from his many starring roles in memorable, popular films, including: The Princess Bride, Lady Jane, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Saw, Kiss The Girls, The Cradle Will Rock, Justice League, and the …

Karen Leigh Hopkins became a writer, director, and producer because she repeatedly got cut out of films like The Breakfast Club and Three Amigos, and didn’t want to go back to Sandusky, Ohio, and work on a factory line like her mother. With twenty-one bucks to her name, out of desperation, she wrote a screenplay in 12 days and sold it “overnight” w…

Author and educator, Stephen Galloway, joined Chapman University in 2020 as the Twyla Reed Martin Dean of Film and Media Arts at Dodge College. He’s best known for his role as executive editor and producer at The Hollywood Reporter, where he served for almost 30 years. Stephen created and produced series such as “The Hollywood Masters“ and “Close U…

Actor-singer-dancer-educator, Billy Hartung, has over 1000 performances on the Broadway stage to his credit. Billy’s been featured in three Broadway shows, Side Show, Footloose, and Minnelli on Minnelli. He can also be seen singing and dancing in the Academy Award winning movie musical “Chicago.” You can hear Billy singing on the original soundtrac…

Adryan Russ writes music and lyrics for theater, film, television and recordings. Her off-Broadway musical Inside Out, co-written with playwright Doug Haverty, played The Cherry Lane Theater in New York, and has been produced in many theaters across the U.S., in Europe, and for three years in Belgrade, Serbia. Also co-written with Doug Haverty, the…

Brian Drusky has been a concert and events promoter for more than two decades here in his native Pittsburgh. Brian founded Drusky Entertainment more than ten years ago after many years working with well-known concert promoter DiCesare-Engler Productions, which was one of the region’s top-grossing concert producers, a space in the local entertainmen…

Andy Marx is an award-winning photographer, writer, and musician, whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Entertainment Weekly, Premiere, Movieline, and Cigar Aficionado, among others. His photography has been exhibited throughout the world, i…

The prolific playwright and screenwriter, Myla Lichtman Fields, received training at The Juilliard School of Drama and a Ph.D. in Communications-Drama with a minor in film from the University of Southern California. As a staff writer at Universal Studios, she penned episodic TV shows, Movies of the Week, and an NBC special. Myla’s play, Felix & Fan…

Ed Driscoll is an Emmy Award-winning comedian, writer and producer who’s worked with some of the biggest stars in the entertainment industry including Billy Crystal, Morgan Freeman, Joan Rivers, Michael Bublé, Justin Timberlake and Dennis Miller – just to name a few! From variety shows to sitcoms to movies to live theater, Ed has been a performer,…

Lighting Designer, Paula Dinkel, fell in love with stage lighting in junior high school. Her dance and music training were a perfect lead-in to a life in entertainment lighting design. Growing up in a military family prepared her for frequent travel and overseas relocations. She earned her BA, MA and MFA from Cal State University Fullerton in both …

Marcus Stevens is a New York based writer, actor and director. He wrote the book and lyrics for the award winning musical, Mythic, along with composer Oran Eldor. Mythic was a winner of the NAMT Festival and subsequently had successful productions in both London and Montreal. The London production of Mythic also gave birth to an Original Cast Album…

The writer, Jon Krampner, is a native of Brooklyn. He spent the Carter administration getting fired from small newspapers, then moved in 1980 to Los Angeles, where he taught English as a Second Language for 27 years in the adult division of the Los Angeles Unified School District. This provided him with the economic basis to produce his critically …

The brilliant, multi-talented Frank Ferrante, has enjoyed a 35-year career in the theater as an actor, director and producer. At age 23, he debuted Off-Broadway in the title role in Groucho: A Life in Revue written by Arthur Marx, son of the legendary comedian Groucho Marx. For that role, Frank won New York’s Theatre World Award and a New York Oute…

The extraordinary movie and TV producer, Chris Moore, has returned to StoryBeat for the third time. You know Chris’s work from such memorable and popular movies like Good Will Hunting, the American Pie movies, Promised Land, The Adjustment Bureau, Manchester by the Sea, and such TV series as Project Greenlight and The Chair. On today’s StoryBeat, w…

Douglas Levine is a composer, pianist, music director and educator based right here in Pittsburgh. He’s the composer/co-lyricist of the new musical Claws Out!, which was filmed and premiered online in 2020 by City Theatre. He’s also the composer/lyricist of Jazz Time!, a new musical filmed and streamed online in 2021 by The Pittsburgh Cultural Trus…

The noted screenwriter and teacher, Scott Myers, has written over thirty movie and TV projects at almost every major Hollywood studio and broadcast network. Scott’s screenwriting credits include K-9, Alaska, and Trojan War. Since 2008, Scott has hosted GoIntoTheStory.com, the official screenwriting blog of the Black List, which was named the Best o…

Charles Rosenay has been in the entertainment business for over four decades as an actor, promoter, music aficionado, entertainer, MC, DJ, humorist, and author. Most recently, he released the highly acclaimed book, Monsters, Celebrities, Actors, Athletes, and Rock Stars: The Book of Top 10 Horror Lists, which contains 100 top ten lists from pop-cul…

The brilliant, Emmy Award-winning composers that comprise Dynamic Music Partners, Michael McCuistion, Lolita Ritmanis and Kristopher Carter, constantly push the envelope of innovative collaboration in TV series, films, video games and live performance events. Emmys, Annies and an Academy Award have graced productions containing their music since th…

The extraordinarily multi-talented Corky Hale is widely considered to be the most accomplished jazz harpist in the world—as well she’s an exceptional pianist and singer. Corky has performed at the White House with Tony Bennett, soloed with Barbra Streisand at the Hollywood Bowl and Central Park, with Bjork on her MTV special, and with George Michae…

Robert Miller is a musician who followed his youthful dream later in life and became a Rock Star when he was in his 60s, an age when most people are planning their retirement. He’s living proof that you’re never too old, and it’s never too late, to follow your dream. In just 5+ years Robert and his band, Project Grand Slam, have released 10 celebra…

The brilliant actor, singer, and director, Robert Cuccioli, is renowned for his critically acclaimed, Tony-nominated dual performance as the good Dr. Henry Jekyll and his sinister alter ego, Mr. Edward Hyde, in Jekyll & Hyde, The Musical. Prior to his sensational run in Jekyll & Hyde on Broadway, Robert dazzled audiences across America in the show’…

You’re likely already a fan of the actor and bestselling author, Cary Elwes, who you surely know from his many starring roles in memorable, popular films, including: The Princess Bride, Lady Jane, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Saw, Kiss The Girls, The Cradle Will Rock, Justice League, and the Billionaire Boys Club among dozens o…

Melody Thomas Scott is best known for her Emmy-nominated work in the iconic role of Nikki Reed, aka Nikki Newman, a character she’s played for forty years and counting on America’s number-one daytime television drama The Young and the Restless. She’s also appeared in feature films with the likes of Clint Eastwood and John Wayne, and worked with est…

The extraordinary actor-producer-writer and director, Bryan Cranston, is an Academy Award nominee, and the winner of the Emmy®, Golden Globe, SAG, Tony® and Olivier Awards. Bryan is best known for his portrayal of Walter White on AMC’s Breaking Bad and as Hal in Fox’s Malcolm in the Middle. In 2021, he was seen starring in the Showtime limited seri…

StoryBeat is delighted to offer up this encore episode of the great actor-director Michael Dorn, who is best known for his longtime popular portrayal of Klingon Starfleet officer Lieutenant (later Lt. Commander) Worf in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Michael has appeared more times as a regular cast member than any o…

Theatrical producer, talent manager, and press agent, Alan Eichler, has represented or produced numerous stage productions, including: The Dirtiest Show in Town, Women Behind Bars, The Neon Woman, Timbuktu, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and Dreamgirls.By Steve Cuden