Posts filed under cast member

Deb Rabbai

DEB RABBAI (Co-Artistic Director, Co-Producer, Performer) is an original member and co-creator of Broadway’s Next H!T Musical.  A native New Yorker, Deb has worked as an actor, improviser, singer and voiceover artist for the last twenty five years.  Deb became the Co-Artistic Director of BNHM in 2009 and has proudly witnessed its progress into the hilarious hit it is today.  A graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NYC, Deb spent ten years performing and teaching improvisation with Freestyle Repertory Theatre (TheatreSports New York),  five years performing with ComedySportz NY and seven years with the Chicago City Limits national touring company. Deb is a highly experienced teacher of improvisation and acting, having worked at NYU, Marymount Manhattan College, The American Comedy Institute, NY Film Academy and American Musical and Dramatic Academy in NYC. Deb successfully created programs that teach curriculum through improvisation – these programs have been integrated into public schools in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.  Deb has appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and in national commercials for MasterCard, Wendy’s and Zyrtec.  Deb has done countless voiceovers, ranging from radio and TV advertisements, to video games and anime films. For more information, please visit www.DebRabbai.com


Videos of Deb Rabbai in Broadway's Next Hit Musical


Audio of Deb Rabbai in Broadway's Next Hit Musical



Reviews Mentioning Deb Rabbai

Deb Rabbai, who also serves as co-producer and co-artistic director for the group, creatively transported the audience to a magical world in, “I Graduated Today,” and seamlessly sang her improvised lyrics with confidence that made me honestly question whether or not this was actually made up on the spot.
— Sally Henry, Broadway World
Deb Rabbai opened the night; her song title was “Des Moines Blues.” Rabbai, also a co-creator, instantly decided the song Des Moines Blues came from a musical Snow Again, about a Des Moines model whose plane flight to bigger and better things is cancelled because of a freak May snowstorm. Rabbai has quite a set of pipes and was dropping lines that were perfectly timed.
— Brooke Bridenstine, BroadwayWorld.com
Rabbai, the most skilled and thoughtful of the cast, found herself with “A Rope and Hope.” She turned the phrase into a gleeful bit on airplane travel in the current times. In her other theatrical work she is a voice for animated features and voice-over work. It showed.
— David Siegel, DC Metro News
The comedy improv in “Broadway’s Next Hit Musical” moved from excellent to inspired Friday night at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall when Deb Rabbai and Rob Schiffmann took off their shoes and socks, pressed their bare feet together and sang a love duet.
— Steve Barnes, TimesUnion

Rob Schiffmann

ROB SCHIFFMANN (Co-Artistic Director, Co-Producer, Performer) has worked and toured as a professional improviser and musician for over seventeen years.  As a two-time MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs) Award winner and the recipient of the 2011 INNY (Improvisation News) Award for Best Improv Coach, Rob’s musical and improv talents are known across the country.  He has taught and directed improv at The School for Film and Television, Weist-Barron, and the Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. A graduate of Oberlin College, Rob performed regularly with Chicago City Limits before joining Broadway’s Next Hit Musical in 2001.  BNHM’s master improvisers started their success at the famous NYC cabaret club Don’t Tell Mama as well as with the New York Musical Theater Festival. Rob became Co-Artistic Director in 2009, and continues to perform with the hysterical troupe throughout the country and at their resident theater The Triad in NYC.  Called “sharper than a pound of cheddar cheese” by reviewfix.com, Rob has showcased his skills on The Daily Download and The CBS Early Show. Rob’s musical talent is also evident with the New York based acoustic-pop band, The Hillary Step; he is the main writer, lead singer, guitarist, and Music Director. For more information, please visit www.robschiffmann.com.

 


Videos of Rob Schiffmann in Broadway's Next Hit Musical


Audio of Rob Schiffmann in Broadway's Next Hit Musical



Reviews of Rob Schiffmann in Broadway's Next Hit Musical

Easily the highlight of the evening was co-producer/co-artistic director Rob Schiffman. His creative mind is full of rhymes and childlike creativity that was refreshing. He listened to his fellow actors brilliantly, so much so that he could sing in harmony or descant with them and (usually) successfully made a well-structured musical number. The entire time, I could not decide whether he should go into writing or acting, because the former would seem a waste of a brilliant character actor, and the latter a waste of a brilliant writer. Thus, I believe he has found his niche in improvisational musicals. I will say that his vocals were wanting at multiple times, but this is the first case in which I can genuinely say that such a flaw didn’t matter at all. Particularly, he and Grant read each other very well, to the point that their scenes together seemed rehearsed. The scenes that they shared were the highlight.
— Sally Henry, Broadway World
Deb Rabbai and Rob Schiffmann were sharper than a pound of cheddar cheese.
— Patrick Hickey Jr, ReviewFix.com
And as it turns out, a show about an Iowa model can hinge on the evil ways of a serpent like devil, hilariously played by Rob Schiffmann, whose weakness is frigid temperatures.
— Brooke Bridenstine, Broadway World