David Nehls (born 28 April 1964) is an American actor, singer, composer and lyricist who, with Betsy Kelso, wrote ''

The Great American Trailer Park Musical ''The Great American Trailer Park Musical'' is a two-act musical, written by David Nehls and Betsy Kelso. It explores the relationships between the tenants at the Armadillo Acres Trailer Park in Starke, Florida, particularly between Pippi, "the s ...

''. Among other appearances he originated the role of Riff Raff in the 1996-2000 European tour of ''

The Rocky Horror Show ''The Rocky Horror Show'' is a Musical theatre, musical with music, lyrics and book by Richard O'Brien. A humorous tribute to various B movies associated with the Science fiction film, science fiction and Horror film, horror genres from the 193 ...

''.Dave Thompson, ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show FAQ: Everything Left to Know About the Campy Cult Classic'', Applause Theatre and Cinema Books (2016)
-

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

pg 1999'The Rocky Horror Show Kicks off Italian Tour'
- ''

Playbill ''Playbill'' is an American monthly magazine for Audience, theatergoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most copies of ''Playbill'' are printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the ...

'' (1998) Today he works as a Musical Director for various theatres across the United States.

Acting career

Born as David Ronald Nehls and a native of Uniontown in Pennsylvania, he is the son of Ronald Nehls (1937-2008), a former Fayette County commissioner, and Darlene (née Duall), who worked at the Uniontown Hospital. In 1982 Nehls graduated from

Laurel Highlands High School Laurel Highlands High School is a public high school serving around 1,100 students in grades 9–12 from the outlying Uniontown, Pennsylvania city limits. Due to the campus' location, some students from Uniontown do attend Laurel Highlands for co ...

; he had studied piano for ten years before being accepted into the Shenandoah Conservatory, an arts college near Washington, D.C., where in 1987 he wrote his first musical, ''Starting Another Day''. Following this Nehls began an acting career which included playing in American National Tours as Seymour in ''

Little Shop of Horrors Little Shop of Horrors may refer to: * '' The Little Shop of Horrors'', a 1960 American film * ''Little Shop of Horrors'' (musical), a 1982 musical based on the 1960 film * ''Little Shop of Horrors'' (1986 film), a 1986 American film based on th ...

''; Lord Jasper Tring in ''

Me and My Girl ''Me and My Girl'' is a musical with music by Noel Gay and its original book and lyrics by Douglas Furber and L. Arthur Rose. The story, set in the late 1930s, tells of an unapologetically unrefined Cockney gentleman named Bill Snibson, wh ...

''; Sonny the Gangster in '' City of Angels'', and

Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Cantor was one of the prominent entertainers of his era. Some of h ...

in ''Ziegfeld: A Night at the Follies'' (1991). He originated the role of Don Wand in a Rock'n'Roll version of ''Beauty and the Beast''. In regional theatre Nehls appeared as Cosmé McMoon in ''

Souvenir A souvenir ( French for 'a remembrance or memory'), memento, keepsake, or token of remembrance is an object a person acquires for the memories the owner associates with it. A souvenir can be any object that can be collected or purchased and trans ...

'';

Tom Sawyer Thomas "Tom" Sawyer () is the title character of the Mark Twain novel '' The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876). He appears in three other novels by Twain: '' Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884), '' Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894), and '' Tom Sawy ...

in '' Big River''; Herod in ''

Jesus Christ Superstar ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Life of Jesus in the New Testament, Gospels' accounts of Passion of Jesus, the Passion, the work interprets ...

'';

George M. Cohan George Michael Cohan (July 3, 1878November 5, 1942) was an American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer and theatrical producer. Cohan began his career as a child, performing with his parents and sister in a vaudev ...

in ''

George M! ''George M!'' is a Broadway musical based on the life of George M. Cohan, the biggest Broadway star of his day who was known as "The Man Who Owned Broadway." The book for the musical was written by Michael Stewart, John Pascal, and Franci ...

''; and The Top Banana in ''Little Rhody's Big Burlesque'' opposite

Gennifer Flowers Gennifer Flowers (born January 24, 1950) is an American author, singer, model, actress, former State of Arkansas employee, and former TV journalist. In January 1998, President Bill Clinton testified under oath that he had a sexual encounter wit ...

.Nehls biography on the ''Killer Wigs from Outer Space'' website
/ref> From 1996 to 2000 Nehls played Riff Raff in the European tour of ''

'' and appeared on the soundtrack CD which was released by Lava Records/Polymedia International Music Service and which had been recorded in January 1996 at the Livingstone Studios in London.

Writing credits

Nate Christensen - Killer Wigs From Outer Space

Among others, Nehls wrote the music and lyrics for ''Starting Another Day'' (1987), which premiered at the

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...

in 1987; ''

'' (

New York Musical Theatre Festival The New York Musical Festival (NYMF) was an annual event held each summer from 2004 to 2019 in New York City's midtown theater district. It mounted more than 30 new musicals each year, more than half selected through an open-submission, double- ...

(2004),

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

Production (2005), National Tour (2007), the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of Arts festival, arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the ...

(2008) and various regional productions across the U.S.), written with Betsy Kelso during their European tour of ''

''; ''Broadway Bares''; ''The Watercoolers'' (Off-Broadway Production (2002) and a 2007 National Tour); ''Breach'' (Evolution Theatre Company, 2011); ''It's A Wonderful Life'' (National Tour (1993) and regional productions); ''Killer Wigs from Outer Space'' (animation project - GenCon Selection (2013), Terror Film Festival, Philadelphia (2013),

(2017); ''The Great American Trailer Park Christmas Musical'' ( Stages Repertory Theatre 2016); ''Down on the Pharm''; and ''Mommie Dearest'' (2017) in collaboration with

Christina Crawford Christina Crawford (born June 11, 1939) is an American former author and actress, best known for her 1978 memoir and exposé, '' Mommie Dearest'', which described the alleged abuse she was subjected to by her adoptive mother, film star Joan C ...

, produced by Out of the Box Theatrics in New York City.Nehls on ''The Great American Trailer Park Musical'' website
/ref> He composed the score for the short ''Rogue Eagle Creek'' (2010). With Sheryl McCallum Nehls co-wrote ''Miss Rhythm – The Legend of Ruth Brown'' which is playing at the Garner Galleria Theatre in the

Denver Center for the Performing Arts The Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) is an organization in Denver, Colorado which provides a showcase for live theatre, a nurturing ground for new plays, a preferred stop on the Broadway touring circuit, acting classes for the communi ...

from May to October 2023.Kennedy, Lisa
Sheryl McCallum and David Nehls bring the legend of R&B great Ruth Brown to the Denver Center
''

The Denver Post ''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in the Denver metropolitan area. it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 mil ...

'', 12 May 2023 Written during the COVID lockdown, and inspired by a chance meeting Nehls had with Brown on the streets of New York in his youth, the "intimate cabaret experience" explores the life of R&B performer

Ruth Brown Ruth Alston Brown (; January 12, 1928 – November 17, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and actress, sometimes referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of R&B". She was noted for bringing a popular music, pop music ...

through song and story. McCallum plays Brown, who the script allows to "...interact with the audience and demonstrate her skills as a dynamic storyteller. Each tale is interwoven with a thoughtfully curated song, allowing her to delve even further into the character."

Musical Director

As a Musical Director Nehls has overseen 50 productions at the

Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities The Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities is a nonprofit, multi-use cultural facility in Arvada, Colorado, United States, which opened in 1976. The Arvada Center facility comprises the Arvada History Museum, three theatres, 10,000 square feet ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

and winning 9 Henry Awards - four for Musical Direction (2008, 2009, 2013, 2014) and five for Best Musical Production of the year (2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013). He has also worked regionally as Musical Director at theatres including the Riverside Theatre in Vero Beach, Florida; the Fox Theatre in Denver, Colorado;

American Musical Theatre of San Jose The American Musical Theatre of San Jose (AMTSJ), previously known as the San Jose Civic Light Opera (SJCLO), was a major professional nonprofit musical theatre company in San Jose, California. Founded in 1934 as the San Jose Light Opera Associatio ...

, California;

Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) is an art museum and exhibition space located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The museum was founded as the Boston Museum of Modern Art in 1936. Since then it has gone through multiple name chang ...

; TheatreWorks in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

and Carousel Dinner Theatre in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Akron metr ...

. Nehls was Vice President of the Historic Elitch Gardens Theatre Foundation (2014–16), working to restore the 125 year old

Elitch Theatre The Historic Elitch Theatre is located at the original Elitch Gardens site in northwest Denver, Colorado. Opened in 1890, it was centerpiece of the park that was the first zoo west of Chicago. The theatre was Denver's first professional thea ...

in Denver, CO. He also served as Co-Chairman of the Elitch Theatre New Works Festival (2015–16).After 24 years, live performances return to Historic Elitch Theatre
- ''

'' 18 August 2015 He is a member of BMI and is represented by

Creative Artists Agency Creative Artists Agency, LLC (CAA) is an American talent and sports agency based in Los Angeles, California. With 1,800 employees in March 2016, it is regarded as an influential company in the talent agency business and manages numerous client ...

References

External links

*
Nehls performing as Riff Raff in the European tour of ''The Rocky Horror Show'' - YouTube
'

''
The David Nehls Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nehls, David 1964 births People from Uniontown, Pennsylvania American male stage actors American male musical theatre actors American musical theatre librettists American male composers Living people