PORTFOLIO: direction & choreography

BROADWAY | OFF-BROADWAY | REGIONAL | NEW WORKS | SPECIAL EVENTS

The director’s job is to tell the story.

Whether it’s the story of an underdog, fighting against all the odds, or an ordinary person faced with an impossible choice, the audience enters the theatre ready to be taken on a journey. It’s the job of the director to help shape that experience for the audience: showing them where to look, who to root for.

I’ve been incredibly fortunate to get to tell stories on the stage with wonderful collaborators.

BIO

Award-winning director, choreographer, producer, and entrepreneur with work on Broadway, TV/Film, special events and concerts around the world, including work with James Taylor, Bette Midler, Steve Martin, Tony Bennett, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Sting.

BROADWAY: (Associate Director): Bullets Over Broadway (6 Tony Nominations), Big Fish, The Scottsboro Boys (12 Tony nominations), Hair (Tony-winner), Young Frankenstein, and Wicked's 5th Anniversary. NATIONAL TOUR: Credits include Hairspray, Young Frankenstein, Bullets Over Broadway, Rockin’ Road to Dublin, Christmas in Killarney, and The Producers. REGIONAL THEATRE
Whiting was asked to re-imagine America’s longest-running outdoor symphonic drama, The Lost Colony, for a modern audience. Other regional credits include The Scottsboro Boys, Singin’ In The Rain, A Chorus Line, The Sound of Music (Phoenix Theatre), Big, Big Fish, (Milwaukee), Catch Me If You Can (New London Barn), and Gypsy (Best Direction). FILM: Executive Producer -Best Documentary The Show Must Go On (Cannes). Director The Lost Colony. CONCERTS: Carnegie Hall: James Taylor, Bette Midler, Steve Martin, Sting, Tony Bennett, Barbara Cook, Dianne Reeves. New Victory: Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, David Hyde Pierce, John Lithgow, Sarah Jessica Parker.

BUSINESS: Jeff is the Owner of rehearsal studio, Open Jar Studios, Artistic Director of The Open Jar Institute, Founder of Stage Write Software, President of Stage Door Network, theatrical search-engine portal and Chair of The Stage Door Foundation.

TEDTalk:
Whiting was invited to give a TEDTalk on February 6, 2016 at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, where he spoke about his innovative philosophy of "Open Jar Thinking" with his talk entitled "Rising Beyond Limits with Open Jar Thinking."

IN DEVELOPMENT

THE ROADS TO LOCH LOMOND:

Book & Lyrics by Maggie Herskowitz, Music by Neil Douglas Reilly

For centuries, the haunting Scottish ballad Loch Lomond has echoed across time, its lyrics telling a tale of love, loss, and sacrifice, yet few know the profound story behind the song. The Roads to Loch Lomond, a regional premiere musical, unveils this lost fable through a breathtaking Celtic-inspired score, following two brothers caught in the turmoil of the Jacobite rebellion—a fight for Scotland’s future that would change history. Experience the power of love, loyalty, and the struggle for freedom in this deeply moving new musical.

IN THE LIGHT:

Music & Lyrics by Michael Mott, Book by Kate Mulley and Nathan Wright, Based on a work by Justin Sylvestri and Michael Mott.

In The Light follows Dr. Johann Faustus, an astronomer, who is accused of blasphemy by the Holy Inquisition. Guided by a mysterious being called the Traveler, he flees to the small town of Hertz. There he meets a young scholarly woman named Gretchen, who shares his goals. Gretchen believes Doctor Faustus can use the town to begin a rebellion against the Inquisition. Together, they create a plan to resist its coming and to overthrow the power of the Church. As their plot proceeds, secrets Gretchen has hidden are discovered and Johann’s ambition is undermined by his own tormented mind. The Traveler urges the two forward and their dysfunctions entangle, leading to disaster for all.

ECHO & NARCISSUS:

Music & Lyrics by David Christensen and Luke Holloway, Choreography by Caterina Rago.

This dance-based piece is part-dance concert, part music concert, and visual illusions, re-telling the Greek tale of Narsissus and Echo through projection mapping and movement.

THE 39 WIDOWS:

Book and Concept by Tregoney Shepherd.

When a woman rediscovers relics from her past, she is suddenly thrust into vivid memories of her time spent amongst the infamous Widows of the Plaza Hotel. Manhattan’s most dazzling, outrageous and eccentric personalities of the Gilded Age. The stories blossom with hilarious and heartbreaking details, excavating layers of love, loss and joy among these extraordinary women that blended everyday life with high society theater.

THE GAY DIVORCEE:

Music & Lyrics by Cole Porter, Book by Robbie Cowan, Concept by Bradley Allan Zarr.

Loosely based on the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers film, this new Cole Porter musical, THE GAY DIVORCEE is set in a brand new 1928 where no one questions who you love:

He has fallen madly in love with a mysterious man.
She yearns for a divorce she cannot get.
A case of mistaken identity brings them together with a surprising twist that shocks them both.

Created in collaboration with the Cole Porter Trust, THE GAY DIVORCEE breathes new life into “Night and Day,” “Begin the Beguine” and many other hit Cole Porter songs, producing the perfect recipe for mix-ups, mayhem, and, of course, tap dancing!