About the People

Things As They Are is a collaboration between talented people in the Cast and on the Production Team.

The musical was concieved and created by two veterans of the New York Theater and Music communities:

John Dietrich (Book Writer / Lyricist)

John has had a career as a professional Director / Choreographer that has spanned over 25 years. This includes a 17 year relationship with Radio City Entertainment, where he was a Director / Choreographer for the world-famous Rockettes, Rockette Special Events, as well as for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Other work includes hundreds of shows in a vast range of entertainment genres; from television to Off-Broadway & regional theatre, from industrial shows to ice shows. He has written for Walt Disney Entertainment, as well as for Dolly Parton & Dollywood Entertainment.

He received his Masters degree from New York University, studying Musical Theatre structure & Directing theory. He also holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Wisconsin. He continues to freelance as a Director / Choreographer & Writer while maintaining a position as a Creative Director/Writer for Niles Creative Group, a film production company specializing in large scale theatrically based video productions, based in lower Manhattan.

Jonathan Comisar (Composer)

Jonathan Comisar began his music career in his native Rochester, N.Y., where he studied piano in the preparatory department of the Eastman School of Music.  At the age of 17, he won first prize in the Eastman Young Artists Award and performed as soloist with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. He continued to study piano and music theory at the Oberlin Conservatory and after graduation, studied composition with Pulitzer Prize winning composer David Del Tredici.

Jonathan Comisar is an invested Cantor with a Masters in Sacred Music from the Hebrew Union College School of Sacred Music.  He is a noted composer of Jewish liturgical music and has received commissions and artist residencies from synagogues across North America.  Many of his compositions have been published by Transcontinental Music Publishing.  Comisar also has been appointed to the faculty of Hebrew Union College, where he teaches courses on arranging, orchestration, and composition.

Jonathan Comisar is a composer/lyricist in the prestigious BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop.  His musical theater piece “Things As They Are,” a musical about the life of American photographer Dorothea Lange has been selected as one of five finalists for the Fred Ebb Foundation Award.  His musical comedy “Cynthia and the Dreadful Kite” was premiered at the Public Theater as part of the Labyrinth Barn Series.