Martin Charnin originated the role of "Big Deal" in the Broadway production of WEST SIDE STORY in 1957-it was the only acting job he ever had, He began writing during West Side and his first collaborator was Mary Rodgers. His Tony® award-winning Broadway production of Annie (the eleventh longest-runing American musical in Broadway history) celebrated its twentieth anniversary in 1997 with a return to Broadway, and its national company has spent three years touring the United States. Another production closed in 2000 in the United Kingdom, having been nominated for the 1999 Olivier Award for Best Musical. A third production ended a two-year run in Amsterdam in 2001, and his 15th over-all production closed after a triumphant run in Australia in 2002. Mr. Charnin has been the director, lyricist, composer, librettist, producer or combination of the aforementioned for over 75 theatrical productions including ANNIE, ANNIE WARBUCKS, the rock opera version of JOAN OF ARC, MATA HARI, LOOSE LIPS, STAR-CROSSED, SID CEASAR & COMPANY, CARNAL KNOWLEDGE, IN PERSONS WITH ELI WALLACH AND ANNE JACKSON, THE FLOWERING PEACH, WINCHELL, the revised Goodspeed production of Cole Porter's CAN-CAN (for which he wrote the book), CAFÉ CROWN, MIKE, LAUGHING MATTERS, THE NO FRILLS REVUE, UPSTAIRS AT O'NEALS, THE FIRST, ON THE SWING SHIFT, A LITTLE FAMILY BUSINESS, THE NATIONAL LAMPOON SHOW, LENA HORNE: THE LADY AND HER MUSIC, I REMEMBER MAMA, HOT SPOT, ZENDA, PUT IT IN WRITING, FALLOUT, KALEIDOSCOPE, BALLAD FOR A FIRING SQUAD, LA STRADA, NASH AT NINE, TWO BY TWO and, in London, BAR MITZVAH BOY, two productions of ANNIE, BLESS THE BRIDE, and THE 9 ½ QUID REVUE. His collaborators include Peter Allen, Harold Arlen, Vernon Duke, Keith Levinson, Marvin Hamlisch, Peter Sipos, Mary Rodgers, Richard Rodgers and Charles Strouse. He has directed Fred Astaire, Anne Bancrost, Lena Horne, Danny Kaye, Angela Lansbury, Johnny Mathis, Bill Murray, Bebe Neuwirth, Bernadette Peters, Sarah Jessica Parker, Gilda Radner, Molly Ringwald, Chita Rivera, Liv Ullman, Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson, Lou Reed, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Joan Rivers, Harvey Keitel, Chuck D, Jon Stuart, Phoebe Snow, Shirley Maclaine, Marlo Thomas, Sally Jesse Raphael, Julianne Moore, Kate Clinton and Martha Plimpton, among others. He is currently writing and directing a musical based on the life of the fabulous international star Josephine Baker which has a score by the late Harold Arlen; RAINBOW CORNER (a musical he is collaborating on with Nathan Silver, which is about British War Brides in 1944); Winchell, a musical about the famous newspaper reporter, written with Keith Levenson; and a revival of the first musical he wrote with Richard Rodgers, TWO BY TWO, and with Thomas Meehan and Peter Sipos as collaborators, audiences will see his latest musical-a retelling of the Robin Hood legend. He has recently completed a play, SWIMMING WITH THE SHARKS (based on the 1993 film of the same name), and is writing and directing a musical based on the life and times of Rosie the Riveter. Charnin has received four Tony® nominations, two Tony® awards, six Grammy® Awards, three Emmy® Awards, three Gold Records, two Platinum Records, six Drama Desk Awards, a Peabody Award for Broadcasting, and most recently another Grammy® Award for Jay-Z's rap album HARD KNOCK LIFE which went triple platinum in 1999. His first association with the Gershwins was the Emmy® Award winning TV special 'S WONDERFUL, 'S MARVELOUS, 'S GERSHWIN which starred Fred Astaire, Jack Lemmon. Ethel Merman, Larry Kurt, Leslie Uggams, and Peter Nero. The show won a Peabody® Award.