The 10th Annual Harvard-Yale Cantata
September 18, 2025
Team Yale will summon some of its formidable musical theater resources to fight Team Harvard in the 10th Annual Harvard-Yale Cantata. This show is a competition of Harvard alumni vs. Yale alumni, as performers and writers. Both schools have renowned songwriter alumni (Harvard: Leonard Bernstein & Alan Jay Lerner, Yale: Cole Porter & Bobby Lopez), although a lot of the appeal comes from younger alums and even current students. Yale leads this series 6-2-1. Yale won last year, but Derek Speedy and Ian Chan are returning as Harvard Team Captain and musical director for Harvard, seeking revenge. Harvard won in 2023. Anything can happen! The Yale co-captains will be Lauren Marut and Soleil Singh, both Cantata veterans but untested as team captains. The Yale musical director will be James Brandfonbrener.
Join producer and host Tom Toce for a cutthroat evening of terrific songs and wonderful performers. The critics have raved about past shows. As we always say, you don’t have to have gone to West Point to enjoy the Army-Navy game, and you don’t have to be affiliated with either school to love the Harvard-Yale Cantata.
The Harvard performers include:
Ian Chan (Smash, The Heart of Rock and Roll, 1776)
Natalie Choo (Playbill Songwriter Series)
Laura Sky Herman (national tours of Back to the Future and Hello, Dolly!)
Elio Kennedy-Yoon
Sarah Rossman (Amazing The Change at Atlantic Theater Company)
Derek Speedy (Lifespan of a Fact at Gloucester Stage Company and Asolo Rep)
and more stars to be announced!
The Harvard songwriters include Tony Award® winner Will Aronson (Maybe Happy Ending), Ian Chan, Matt Corriel, Jerry Harrison (Rock and Roll HOF member of the Talking Heads), Liz Kantor (member of the group Hush Club), Tony Award® nominee Laurence O’Keefe (Legally Blonde, Bat Boy, Heathers), Julia Riew (Ebb Award winner, DIVE for American Repertory Theater, Sarah Rossman (Itchin’ for an Itch at Williamstown and The Emperor’s New Clothes at ART).
The Yale performers include:
Sam Ahn (Yale Whiffenpoofs)
Alaina Anderson (Dear Evan Hansen national tour)
James Brandfonbrener
Ali Ewoldt (The Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables, The King and I)
Elayna Garner (Passing Strange at Long Wharf Theatre)
Abram Knott
Lauren Marut
Bradley Nowacek (Charlotte’s Web national tour)
Sadie Pohl
Christian Probst (Boop! The Musical, Bad Cinderella, The Book of Mormon)
Soleil Singh (National Musical Theater Songwriting Competition winner)
Tom Toce (MAC Award winner)
and more stars to be announced!
The Yale songwriters include Natalie Brown (for colored girls at New York City Center, little white lies at Yale University), Rachel Folmer, Tony Award® winner Adam Guettel (The Light in the Piazza, Floyd Collins), Mitch Leigh (Man of La Mancha), Tony Award® winner Robert Lopez (The Book of Mormon, Avenue Q), and Sam Tucker-Smith.
Please note that all artists and acts are subject to change at any time.
