(PITTSFIELD, Mass.) – Few people’s resume boasts work with punk-pop outfit Green Day and musical theater artist Chita Rivera. Mix in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, a Chinese production of Chicago, and the Broadway version of the homegrown musical, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and you begin to capture the range and diversity of experience one encounters in the person of composer and musical director Carmel Dean, who is being celebrated Carmel’s Candy Store: The Sweet Songs of Carmel Dean, a cabaret-style production featuring top Broadway entertainers including Williams College alumnus Michael Winther, Lisa Howard, Alysha Umphress and Dean herself, at Barrington Stage Company from Thursday, August 23, 2012, through Saturday, August 25, 2012, at the new Mr. Finn’s Cabaret, located on the lower level of the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center (formerly Stage 2), 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield.

Carmel’s Candy Store provides a sampling of Dean’s work as a composer, with rousing, funny and emotionally evocative lyrics by William Finn, Maya Angelou, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Anna K. Jacobs, Mindi Dickstein and Sarah Underwood.

Carmel was most recently seen onstage as the musical director of American Idiot on Broadway, and performed with Green Day on the Grammy Awards in 2010. Prior to American Idiot, she was the vocal arranger and associate conductor for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Barrington Stage and on Broadway. Off-Broadway credits include Everyday Rapture, Vanities and Elegies – A Song Cycle by William Finn. International credits include Chicago (Hong Kong) and the 2000 Olympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies (Sydney). Carmel has also served as Chita Rivera’s Musical Director for many national and international appearances.

As a composer, her work includes A Girl Called Vincent; music for the Disney TV show Johnny & the Sprites; and Songs of Innocence & Experience (co-composed with William Finn, Deborah Abramson, Vadim Feichtner & Gi-hieh Lee.)

Dean is creating the vocal arrangements for the new Doug Wright, Amanda Green, and Trey Anastasio musical, Hands on a Hardbody.

Carmel is a native of Perth, Western Australia, and received a B.Mus. from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). In 2001 she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in the United States, and subsequently graduated from NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program with a Masters in Musical Theatre Writing.

Carmel currently resides in New York City.

Mr. Finn’s Cabaret, named after the Tony Award-winning composer of Falsettos and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and artistic producer of BSC’s Musical Theatre Lab, kicked off this premiere season with singer/songwriters Joe Iconis and Nikos Tsakalakos and Broadway’s Quentin Earl Darrington.

Mr. Finn’s Cabaret is located on the lower level of the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center (formerly Stage 2), 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield. Performance times are 9:30pm Thursday and Friday and 10pm on Saturday, or following the St. Germain Stage performance.  All tickets to Mr. Finn’s Cabaret series are $15 and general admission.  Beer, wine and soda are available.  To purchase tickets or for more information, call the Barrington Stage Box Office at 413.236.8888 or visit Barrington Stage Company. The Box Office at Mr. Finn’s Cabaret opens 30 minutes prior to each performance. Barrington Stage Company’s Musical Theatre Lab is sponsored in part by Elayne Bernstein and Sol Schwartz.