User:Bialytock&Bloom/Doug Besterman

Douglas "Doug" Besterman is a Drama Desk and Tony Award-winning American orchestrator and musical arranger.

Career
Besterman found work in New York City in 1986, as a rehearsal pianist. In 1990, he met Danny Troob, who recommended Besterman to work on an off-Broadway musical with Alan Menken. He then made his Broadway theatre debut with Damn Yankees (1994).

Subsequent credits include King David (1997), Seussical (2000), and Tarzan (2007). He has won the Tony Award for Best Orchestrations three times: Fosse in 1999, The Producers in 2001, and Thoroughly Modern Millie in 2002. Besterman was also nominated for the award in 2000 for The Music Man.

In 2001, Besterman orchestrated Rogers and Hammerstein's score in the TV movie South Pacific. The following year, he served as orchestrator for the Academy Award-winning film adaptation of Chicago (2002), with music and lyrics by Kander and Ebb. Besterman also arranged music for the 2003 film Piglet's Big Movie.

In 2005, Besterman reunited with The Producers composer Mel Brooks for the 2005 film version of the same name. Released in December 2005, the film was not as successful as the stage version. He again worked with Brooks on his 2007 musical adaptation of Young Frankenstein, which played on Broadway until 2009.

Besterman worked with writer Deb Fordham and composers Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez for a musical episode of Scrubs, titled "My Musical", airing in 2007. Many described initial misgivings that the musical concept would make the episode seem gimmicky, but these fears were, for the most part, put to rest by the fact that the episode was "logically insane."

He has orchestrated and arranged concerts and recordings for Barbra Streisand and Mandy Patinkin, among other artists. Besterman has been confirmed to provide musical arrangements for the upcoming MCC Theater revival of the 1988 flop musical Carrie, to be produced in their 2011/2012 season.

Besterman serves as orchestrrator for Rob Ashford's 2011 Broadway revival of Frank Loesser's How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, starring Daniel Radcliffe. He also provided orchestrations for the London, Hamburg, and Broadway productions of the Whoopi Goldberg-produced musical Sister Act.

Other credits

 * Orchestrations in ballets
 * Take Five (More Or Less) (Pacific Northwest Ballet)
 * Double Feature (New York City Ballet)
 * But Not For Me (Martha Graham Dance Company)


 * Orchestrations in concerts
 * Mel Brooks Tribute, Kennedy Center Honors
 * Barbra Streisand, Millennium Concert
 * Boston Pops Orchestra
 * Hollywood Bowl Orchestra (suites from Pocahontas and Anastasia)
 * Beyonce Knowles, 2002 benefit concert
 * Stephen Sondheim 75th Birthday Celebration, Los Angeles Philharmonic
 * Chita Rivera, Kennedy Center Honors