b'vastmusicalknowl-edgewouldleaveanTHindeliblemarkonhisTHIISSIISSHHOOMMEEcollaboratorsandthe way in which they con-tinue to create.(Russ)issucha jazzcat.Ilove,love, love jazz, but he knows somuchjazzandhe hasitinhisfingers.he has it in his bones, saysAnderson-Lo-The creative team for In Transit. L to R: Russ Kaplan, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, James-Allen Ford, and Sara Wordsworth pez.IhavetheElla Fitzgeraldandthe standards, but hes got frenetic,Kaplanwasslowlycarvingan inner Dave Brubeck that he could outacareerandembeddinghimselfbring into the soup of our collabora- Susan Blodgett, ABR into the theater scene. He joined NewtionthatIlike.AndhesalsoreallyBroker / Sales Associate Dramatists,whichKaplandescribeswonderful with grooves. When youre973-214-4636 as the ultimate playwrights resource,working with a cappella, grooves areSusan.Blodgett@cbmoves.com althoughnoteverybodywhoenterssort of a repetitive pattern that you canGinny Spiegel there is an aspiring playwright. I hadhold on to, that can take you from oneSales Associate my eyes on directing. place to the next, which works with973-219-8865 Perhapshismostserendipitousour subway metaphor. Virginia.Spiegel@cbmoves.com 145 Maplewood AvenueMaplewood, NJ experience took place when he audi- The a cappella group was also the973-378-8300 @WeKnowNJRealEstate tioned for an a cappella group calledbeginningofalong-termcollabora-BobRossJuiceBoxacompanytive relationship between Kaplan andSERVICE KNOWLEDGE EXPERTISE that included future friends and col- Wordsworth,anaccomplishedmu-leaguesAnderson-Lopez,Fordandsicaltheaterlyricist,librettist,and Wordsworth.Thegroupservedasawriter. Her credits include large-scale jumping off point for In Transit, thestage adaptations for Disney, including show that grew out of their a cappellaFrozen, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, shows. And Kaplan would start honingas well as both Frozen Jr. and Frozen his skills as a songwriter and composer. Kidswhich are geared towards young performers.Kaplan and Wordsworth are work-ingonastageadaptationcalledThe Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Musical. TheduohaspreviouslywrittenHigh SchoolConfidential,DearAlbertEin-stein, and an in-development produc-tionoftheDoryFantasmagoryseries, which will be directed by Maplewood resident Michelle Tattenbaum. Kaplan, The Kaplan Family: Elisa Spencer-Kaplan,says Wordsworth, is like my brother. Russ Kaplan, daughter Emilia. We really have a close relationship that influencesthewaywereabletoget I wasnt writing at the time, healongascollaborators.ItsbeensuchHappy Holidays! ! recalls. Mostly anything I had done in college or up until then was inter- Thanks for a great year.pretivedirectingorplayingother peoples music. But writing was never really something I was feeling a com-pulsionfor.(Needlesstosay,that would change soon enough.) In Transit, the first a cappella show ever to play on Broadway, became theMillburn, NJ917-210-1063 Midtown, NYCquintessential example of a collabora-tive theatrical experience. And KaplansRuss with his student Abby Schwartz feature story /15'