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, playing Tessie and understudying the role of Betty Haynes.

A graduate of Yale University and Manhattan School of Music, Amy's roles have included Mary Turner in Of Thee I Sing (Bard SummerScape), Claire in Ordinary Days (Adirondack Theatre Festival), Mrs. Nordstrom/Anne cover in A LIttle Night Music (Centerstage), and Young Heidi in Follies (Maine State Music Theatre), Her New York credits include Bernstein's Mass at Carnegie Hall with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (recording on Naxos), Music in the Air at City Center Encores!, and concerts at Joe's Pub, Symphony Space and the Center for Contemporary Opera.

Amy 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. She has been a soloist with the American Symphony Orchestra (Lincoln Center, Bard Music Festival) and at the Ravinia Festival under the baton of Maestro James Conlon. She can also be heard on two CDs from composer Larry Gelb, I'll Remember Love and Songs for Pickles.

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, studying acting with Artistic Director Jeffrey Sanzel and piano and voice with Resident Music Director Ellen Michelmore.

As well as frequently performing with Long Island theaters, Amy also trained at USDAN Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, Stagedoor Manor and New York State Summer School for the Arts, run by the (now-defunct) Circle Repertory Company. She continued her piano studies with concert pianist Jeffrey Marcus, also working as a musical director at Kids for Kids in Centereach, NY, and playing auditions and rehearsals for other local theaters. After appearances with All-State and All-Eastern Choirs, Amy spent Saturdays of her senior year 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. Besides performing principal roles in several musicals and plays, including Cinderella in Into the Woods and the title role in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Amy musical directed the co-ed a cappella group Mixed Company. She arranged several pieces (some of which remain in the group's current repertoire), co-produced their album, Change of Plans, and toured from San Francisco to Miami to Montreal. She continued her vocal training with Richard Lalli and famed contralto Lili Chookasian and was a soloist with such groups as Orchestra New England, New Haven Unity Big Band, and the Ken Todd Quartet. Her performance in The Stardust Road, an evening of Hoagy Carmichael songs at New Haven's Sprague Hall, is preserved on the Urban Disk recording of the concert.

During her summers, Amy went to London where she participated in LAMDA's Summer Shakespeare Program, played the title role in Little Mary Sunshine at Mammoth Lakes Summer Repertory Theatre, and was an apprentice at Forestburgh Playhouse, where, besides her role in Guys and Dolls, she was Frances in No Sex Please, We're British.

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 studied voice with department chair Maitland Peters. She 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.

Her time at MSM was immediately followed by work at Barrington Stage Company as Dinah in South Pacific and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Myths and Hymns. She then earned her Equity card in the first (and only) national tour of The Tell-Tale Heart and Other Classics with Theatreworks/USA written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Finding Nemo) and James-Allen Ford.

Amy's solo work includes Carmina Burana, Haydn's Missa in Tempore Belli, Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, and Bach's Christmas Oratorio and appearances with the Bard Community Chorus (Fisher Center), Berkshire Bach Society, New York Virtuoso Singers and Central City Chorus. She was a Young Artist at Natchez Festival of Music and a principal artist at Light Opera Oklahoma, where she was seen as Peep-Bo in The Mikado, The Sandman in Too Many Sopranos, and Doña Inez in a concert version of La Périchole. 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 the East Village of 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 Lads: A Memoir of Manhood.