MARTIN CHARNIN (Co-Creator) originated the role of "Big Deal" in the Broadway production of West Side Story in 1957, singing "Gee, Officer Krupke" and playing the role for 1,000 performances. Subsequently, he has been the director, lyricist, composer, librettist, producer or combination of the aforementioned for over 95 productions including Annie Warbucks, the rock opera version of Joan of Arc, Loose Lips, Hot Spot, In Persons, The Flowering Peach, the revised Goodspeed production of Cole Porter's Can-Can, Cafe Crown, Mike, The First, On The Swing Shift, A Little Family Business (starring Angela Lansbury), Mata Hari, The National Lampoon Show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, I Remember Mama (with music by Richard Rodgers), Zenda (with music by Vernon Duke), Put It In Writing, Fallout, Kaleidoscope, La Strada, Nash At Nine, Two By Two (again with Richard Rodgers), the concert version of Strike Up the Band, and in London: Bar Mitzvah Boy, three productions of Annie, a revival of Bless the Bride and The 9 1/2 Quid Revue.

His Tony Award-winning Annie, which he wrote the lyrics for and directed, is the 15th longest-running American musical in Broadway history. He has directed Annie's 8 national companies, and in Amsterdam and Australia. His other collaborators include, Peter Allen, Harold Arlen, Keith Levenson, Marvin Hamlish, Peter Stone and Mary Rodgers. He has directed Fred Astaire, Anne Bancroft, Joel Grey, Danny Kaye, Johnny Mathis, Bill Murray, Bebe Neuwirth, Bernadette Peters, Sarah Jessica Parker, Gilda Radner, Chita Rivera, Liv Ullman, Lou Reed, Susan Sarandon, Joan Rivers, Harvey Keitel, Chuck D, Jon Stuart, Shirley MacLaine, Marlo Thomas, Barbra Streisand, and even Catherine Zeta-Jones, who made her stage debut as "Molly" in the first London production of Annie in 1978. He has conceived, written and directed seven musical variety television programs: Anne Bancroft in "Annie, the Woman in the Life of a Man," "Annie and the Hoods," "George M," "'SWonderful, 'SMarve-lous, 'SGershwin," Cole Porter in Paris, "Get Happy" and "Dames at Sea."

He 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. He is currently writing and directing a musical with a score by the late Harold Arlen, Winchell, a musical written with Keith Levenson, Robin Hood, with Thomas Meehan and Peter Sipos, and with Kurt Andersen writing the book and utilizing Leroy Anderson's celebrated orchestral music, he is writing the lyrics for, and directing a musical derived from the fantastic cartoon character "Broomhilda", and has written songs for and is directing a one-woman entertainment entitled There's Always One More Song To Sing for his former Annie 'Star-to-Be' Shelly Burch.