Rocket Boys the musical

biographies

Homer Hickam, Jr. (Author)

Homer Hickam is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Rocket Boys, which was made into the acclaimed movie October Sky. Rocket Boys is studied in many schools and is one of the most selected Community/Library reads in the USA.

Mr. Hickam is the recipient of many honors and awards. Among them are an honorary doctorate for literature from Marshall University and the 2007 University Distinguished Alumni Award from Virginia Tech. While at Virginia Tech, he designed the legendary Cadet Corps cannon called the Skipper.

Mr. Hickam is also the author of The Coalwood Way, Sky of Stone, and We Are Not Afraid (all set in his beloved hometown of Coalwood, West Virginia), plus Torpedo Junction, Back to the Moon, Red Helmet, and his popular "Josh Thurlow" World War II series. He is a former coal miner, a Vietnam combat veteran, a scuba instructor, a retired NASA engineer, and an avid field paleontologist. While employed with NASA, he trained astronauts and designed spacecraft. More than anything else, he loves to write. Please see www.homerhickam.com for more information.

Christopher Budinich (Creative Concept & Stage Adaptation)

Chris is Founder and President of the Spotlight Theatre Company, an official chapter of the WPUNJ Alumni Association, and whose mission it is to nurture original stage plays. STC resides on the campus of William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ.

As a playwright, works by Chris include Whenever A Feather Falls, A Song For Mama, Prodigia, A Father To My Father, and Pitch; also Poems From Under The Pool Table, a collection of original poems adapted for stage and Soap Scum, a theatrical spoof on soap operas. His latest play, American Gator was one of the top three finalists in the NJ Playwrights Competition.

He has made recordings with Dark Cloud Productions and Tradani Productions/in Association with Atlantic Records. Chris has performed in many theatrical productions as well as toured nationally and regionally. Show Boat, Brigadoon, You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown , Gypsy, Frankenstein, First Night, name a few. He has been a featured tenor soloist in concerts at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. Most recently, he debuted with Broadway favorites Brent Barrett in “Brush Up Your Shakespeare: The British Invasion Of Broadway”, and singing great Julie Budd in “There’s Nothin’ Like A Dame: A Richard Rodger’s Birthday Bash!”, musically directed by Larry Hochman (Fiddler On The Roof and Spamalot). Locally, Chris has been on “New Jersey’s Talking” with Lee Leonard, and radio station 95.7 FM. In March, Chris will be a featured tenor performing in a benefit concert for Paul Gemignani, also starring Robert Cucciolli.

Diana Belkowski & Dan Tramon (Composer - Lyricists)

With the musicals Flyer and Rocket Boys, Diana and her frequent collaborator-brother Dan Tramon, became two-time (consecutive-year, unprecedented) winners of the ASCAP/Disney Musical Theatre Workshop Award in NY, under the direction of honored composer/lyricists Stephen Schwartz and Craig Carnelia. Diana and Dan are also alumni of the BMI Lehman–Engel Musical Theatre Workshop in NY, and won Billboard Music Awards for both “I Discovered Love” (from Flyer) as well as their Contemporary Christian album, “Glimmer of Gold”.

Rocket Boys (based on the New York Times #1 Bestseller book by NASA engineer Homer Hickam Jr.) was presented in part at ASCAP with an esteemed cast of Broadway veterans (headed by Mark McVey & Terri Klausner), as well as Broadway Musical Director Joe Baker (Blood Brothers, The Life, Bells Are Ringing, Footloose).

Flyer, based on the lives of the Wright Brothers, was presented in abridged concert form at Oklahoma City University in April 2006, selected for the Bass School of Music’s inaugural year promoting new works in musical theatre. In addition to its ASCAP workshop, Flyer was also a Finalist in Chicago STAGES 2004, and was previously presented in part at the North Carolina Festival of Flight 2003, sponsored by NASA and the US Air Force.

Diana has traveled nationwide as a member of the Presidential Arts Committee. A long-time Director of Sacred Music, she has extensively written for both children and adult choirs, and won numerous awards as a classical pianist during childhood. Other solo compositions include Clarissa (Circle Rep Theatre) and Tom Sawyer (Hudson Guild Theatre); a 50-song educational Book-Cassette series for Random House; jingles, and theme and credit music for two weekly TV newsmagazines. Her song, “Celebrate Life”, was commissioned by Equity Fights AIDS as an opening theme song for their annual NYC Benefit.

Dan was most recently Production Sound Engineer for Disney’s Tarzan and the Billy Joel & Twyla Tharp Tony-winning Movin Out. He has served as Associate Sound Designer for numerous other Tony- winning Broadway shows, including City of Angels, The Will Rogers Follies, and Victor/Victoria, and as Production Sound Engineer for Swing, The Life, Annie, and many others. He served as Music Programmer for Paul Simon’s Capeman, as well as the Broadway productions of Cats, Beauty and the Beast, and The King & I. Dan orchestrated and performed digital music for a new production of Hunchback of Notre Dame at the Westbeth Theatre and composed the musical sequences and pre show music for The Rocky Horror Show. He also composed the score for an adaptation of Moliere’s The Miser.

Both Dan and Diana are alumni of The Juilliard School.

Carl Anthony Tramon (Sonny; Director & Dramaturge)

With stage under his feet by the age of three, Carl has had a relentless smile on his face ever since. Broadway, National & International Tours, and Regional Productions, include: Fame, the Musical; Amadeus (as Mozart); What Makes Sammy Run (title role); The Goodbye Girl; Peter Pan; Gypsy (w/Angela Lansbury); Rags (dir by Stephen Schwartz); The Laughter Epidemic (w/Christian Slater), Angry Housewives, Sleeparound Town (dir by Tom Hulce), Penny by Penny (w/Richard Kiley & Sheldon Harnick), The Hunchback (dir. by Joseph Papp); etc. He’s also been seen on various television programs, including: SpaceBoyz (series regular, WB Pilot); Saved By the Bell (series regular, full season); guest star roles on One Life to Live, Growing Pains, Saturday Night Live. Feature films: Pizza Palace, The Lackluster Syndrome, Aladdin (w/Barry Bostwick, Disney Channel), The Delivery, and Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead. In 2001, Carl received the coveted Best Actor award nomination by the League of NY Theatres and Producers. Additionally, Carl has appeared in over 50 national commercials.

Carl’s major directorial credits include: Einstein’s Breakfast (Summer 2008, NY); Coconut Road (World Premiere, Delaware Amphitheatre); Fame, the Musical (Bardavon Opera House, Poughkeepsie, NY); Flyer (The Lamb’s Theatre, NY); Rocket Boys (Disney Theatricals, Workshop, NY); The Jeweler’s Shop (Carnegie Hall & The United Nations, NY); Szymborska (Consulate General, NY).

Original Cast albums include: Fame, the Musical; What Makes Sammy Run; Coconut Road; Rocket Boys; and the albums of Bill Solly: Let Me Give You a Lift and I Could Fall in Love, the latter of which earned Carl unanimous critical acclaim.

Carl, or “CAT”, as his colorful potpourri of friends calls him, was fortunate to also be the lead member of the pop group Uneti, which recently returned from an international tour. Their MTV-directed video single, which aired around the globe, was chosen to be the soundtrack for The NY Yankees and Hideki Matsui in their TV & Radio promotions for NYC. Uneti can be heard on Chaka Khan’s upcoming Christmas album, and was propelled by Nelson O’Reilly Productions, who also produce Willa Ford, Donna Summer, Lucy Woodward, The Baha Men, and other chart-topping performers.

Carl is excited about his upcoming projects: This spring he will be playing the affable underdog Jeffrey in the new musical, Love: That Four Letter Word, at a major venue in NYC. Immediately after, he will be in production for the new feature film, Downtown Brutus (New Line Cinema), followed by once again starring as Sammy Glick in the musical What Makes Sammy Run, a role which he recently premiered Off-B’way. Carl is an alumnus of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England.

Carl is thrilled, ecstatic, and supremely overjoyed to be a part of this amazing creation called Rocket Boys. The journey thus far has been an absolute BLAST (pun intended)!!!