I grew up in Rockford, Illinois (see map, left)...which, according to the 2005 SPERLING'S BEST PLACES TO LIVE LIST, ranks 231st out of 331 cities in the U.S....though, I didn't think it was that bad, really.

Next stop? College.

OTTERBEIN COLLEGE (college web site) in Westerville, Ohio (rated the #7 Comprehensive Midwestern College by US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT, 2005) which has a fantastic musical theatre program--of which I am a graduate.

After graduating from Otterbein, I moved to New York City (after having done an internship with Stuart Howard & Associates casting office in New York my senior year).

Shortly thereafter, I found myself on the road for the SLIM GOODBODY CORPORATION. This was an 18-month SOLO tour...meaning that I drove around the country for 18-months BY MYSELF! By the end of the tour, I had driven through 46 states (missing North Dakota, Maine, Alaska and Hawaii) performing 4 different one-hour shows (the Slim Goodbody Health Show, a Drug Prevention Program, a Dinosaur Show and an Environmental Program) for grade schools, libraries, children's hospitals, parks and whoever else wanted "Bill Strong" to perform (we were not allowed to be called "Slim Goodbody" because the adults watching the show would expect the guy they remembered from the TV program to show up).

Fun side note: I was actually hired to do the Drug Prevention show at a prison in California...needless to say, I turned that show down. It's hard to get your own plasma out of head-to-toe white spandex.

The Slim tour was an eye opening experience. I saw a HUGE section of the country and learned a LOT about performing. Kids are an EXTREMELY honest audience. You quickly learn what works and what doesn't for each particular audience, and then it then becomes a game of "adapt or flop" in terms of performing.

After I hung up my (not so flattering) spandex Slim suit, I decided I would rather tour with other people...and muppets.

Happy to oblige, Elmo and the gang hired me to play "Sam The Postman" on a 10-month national tour of Sesame Street Live's: 1-2-3 Imagine. This was yet another humbling experience. My character started the show and I was "king of the hill"...that is until the curtain opened. The audience saw an 8'2" yellow bird wearing a neck tie and a furry red muppet known across the globe and they LITERALLY lost their minds. Suddenly, no one knew (or cared) who I was because I wasn't draped in a primary color.

Ok, the photo to the left needs a little explanation. The contract for Sesame Street Live! allowed us to do more than 8 shows per week, so there were two of us playing "Sam The Postman." When one of us wasn't playing "Sam" we had other duties in the show... for instance playing the floating caterpillar in the ultra violet scene. Thus explains why I'm wearing spandex...again. What is NOT so easily explained, however, is why I insisted on acting like an idiot backstage before we went on...or why I allowed this picture on my site. Enjoy!

Sesame Street Live! ended and it was back to New York and then off to the BEAUTIFUL country of Brazil where I played the radio announcer 'Vince Fontaine' in the musical Grease! We rehearsed in Curitiba (see map, left), and ended our run in Sao Paulo. The production was AMAZING, the cast was INCREDIBLE (see picture, right, me and Jamie Day...a FANTASTIC 'Marty') and the producers were unbelievably generous & kind (not always the case with tours). Unfortunately, our 6 month tour of Brazil was cut short by the lack of audience response to the show. Many theories surfaced as to why we were shut down, but the time we all spent there created some amazing memories...not to mention the MEALS! Brazilians REALLY know how to cook!

After Brazil, the next big leap was one that I have yet to exceed (theatrically). My friends Bobby Cronin and Johanna Pinzler had formed a company called THE ERGO THEATRE COMPANY. This company was a vehicle to produce works either BY their friends or to be PERFORMED by their actor friends. They approached me about doing a one-man musical they had discovered called The Vicar's Wife, which was one of the greatest challenges I've ever faced. We only did two weeks worth of shows, but some of those 16 were the best I've ever had.

V is for The Vicar's Wife, the best musical of the season that nobody saw.
Not only that, Todd Alan Crain was the Best Musical Actor of the Season,
as a young man whose mother, grandmother and great grandmother had each
married a vicar...which was precisely his ambition, too.
Let's see more of this one.

Needless to say, The Vicar's Wife has never been done again. Tragic ending to a fantastic story.

Listen to the audio selections from the show on the MEDIA page of this web site.

The next stroke of luck in my career was meeting the MAZZARELLA BROTHERS of Bristol, CT. The Emmy Award Winning Mazzarella Brothers had been making kids' educational videos for 20 years and decided to start a new series of science videos. We met at their auditions for their new host "Max Orbit," and the rest is...well, you know. Thus began my venture BACK into kids' "edu-tainmant." As of this moment, we have 5 Parents' Choice Award/Dove Award Winning videos produced: Rockfinders, Stormchasers, Spacetrekers, Biotrackers and Dinohunters...PLUS, a number of Technology, Biography, History & Nutritional videos all written, directed and produced by the Brothers Mazzarella.

Through another series of happy accidents, I became the "king of in-house satellite broadcasts" for pharmaceutical companies. They will hire me to be the "interstitial host"--which simply means that I introduce the next segment coming up, or the next speaker, or interview a company employee or patient...pretty much what Ryan Seacrest does on "American Idol."

Simply put, my job is to keep things moving and not let anyone get bored. Seacrest doesnt' have to sing and I don't have to know anything about the pharmaceutical industry...so, it works out for everyone. Audiences range in size from the low hundreds to the high thousands.

There are a LOT of things that I've left out, but these are just some of the events that have made me into who I've become...
both as a person, and as a performer.

Have a look, listen and read around the rest of my site.
If you are into me HALF as much as I apparently am,
you're in for a real treat!