about amy

Amy Justman's performances have spanned the worlds of musical theater, opera, and jazz. She made her Broadway debut in Company, winner of the 2007 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. She can be heard on the Original Revival Cast Recording and seen on the PBS Great Performances DVD, performing the role of Susan as well as playing piano, keyboard and orchestra bells as part of the actor-orchestra. She returned to Broadway in 2008 in White Christmas, understudying the role of Betty Haynes.

Raised in Port Jefferson, New York, Amy started playing piano at the age of 3, later adding vocal study. At age 11, she made her professional theatrical debut as Fan in A Christmas Carol at Theatre Three in Port Jefferson, where she continued to perform through high school. Amy also trained at Manhattan School of Music's Preparatory Division, where she was a voice major and piano minor.

At Yale, Amy received her BA in music and graduated cum laude with distinction in her major. She was the winner of the Friends of Music Recital Competition as well as a recipient of the Wrexham Prize, awarded to a senior music major for highest achievement in performance. Amy musical directed the co-ed a cappella group Mixed Company, arranging several pieces (some of which remain in the group's current repertoire) and co-producing their album, Change of Plans. Her performance in The Stardust Road, an evening of Hoagy Carmichael songs at New Haven's Sprague Hall with her mentor, baritone Richard Lalli, is preserved on the Urban Disk recording of the concert.

After graduation from Yale, Amy returned to Manhattan School of Music for her MM in classical voice. A recipient of the President's Award, Amy was a member of the American Musical Theatre Ensemble for two years and covered the role of Jenny in Robert Ward's Roman Fever, helmed by Metropolitan Opera director Robin Guarino.

Amy's theater credits include Betty in White Christmas (Pioneer Theatre), Maria in The Sound of Music (Arrow Rock Lyceum), Greta Garbo in Saint-Ex (Weston Playhouse), Heidi in Title of Show (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis), Mary Turner in Of Thee I Sing (Bard SummerScape), and Where's Charley?, Lost in the Stars and Music in the Air at City Center Encores!. Her concert credits include Disney on Classic with the Tokyo Philharmonic, The Grapes of Wrath at Carnegie Hall, Bernstein's Mass at Carnegie Hall with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (recording on Naxos), Mahagonny Songspiel at the Ravinia Festival, and Liebeslieder Walzer with New York City Ballet. She was a winner of the 2004 Kurt Weill/Lotte Lenya Competition (later appearing in a critically-acclaimed concert at the Kurt Weill Fest in Dessau, Germany), a Young Artist at Natchez Festival of Music and a principal artist at Light Opera Oklahoma. Amy has also performed solos with several major New York City churches and synagogues, including St. Bartholomew's, Marble Collegiate, Church of the Holy Family, and Park Avenue Synagogue.

Amy currently lives in Manhattan, where she maintains an active vocal coaching studio and teaches The Crossover Connection, a master class for classical singers interested in pursuing musical theater. She is married to Dave Itzkoff, a reporter for the New York Times and author of Cocaine's Son and Lads: A Memoir of Manhood.