DIFFICULT WOMEN
Created by Casey Erin Clark
For Erin Cronican and The Valkyries
MUSICAL NUMBERS
Opening: How Lovely to Be a Woman
Music by Charles Strouse, Lyrics by Lee Adams, additional lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Arrangement and additional music by Casey Erin Clark
Spark of Creation
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
Miss Independent
Music and Lyrics by Kelly Clarkson, Christina Aguilera, Rhett Lawrence, and Matt Morris, additional lyrics by Frank Loesser
Arrangement by Casey Erin Clark and Deidre Struck
Tarts with Hearts (who die)
Music and Lyrics by Jule Styne, Leo Robin, Jonathan Larson, Frank Wildhorn, Geórges Bizet, Stephen Sondheim, Alain Boublil, Claude Schönberg, Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, Lionel Bart, and Andrew Lloyd Webber
Additional lyrics and arrangement by Casey Erin Clark
Green Finch and Linnet Bird
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Arrangement by Casey Erin Clark and Caitlin Thomas
I Hate the Way I Look Today
Music and Lyrics by RAYE (Rachel Keen), additional music and lyrics by Charles Strouse, Lee Adams, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Richard Rodgers, and Oscar Hammerstein
Arrangement by Casey Erin Clark
Part of Your World
Music by Alan Menken, Lyrics by Howard Ashman
My Stupid Mouth
Music and Lyrics by John Mayer
Perimenopause Things
Music by Richard Rodgers, Parody Lyrics by Casey Erin Clark
They Just Keep Moving the Line
Music and Lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman
Time on My Hands
Music and Lyrics by Katya Stanislavskaya
Sympathy Magic
Music and Lyrics by Florence Welch and Danny L Harle
Everybody Says Don’t
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Piano: Deidre Struck
Bass: Tina Lama
Cello / Guitar: Caitlin Thomas
Percussion: Jazmine Hayes
Vocalists: Candice Helfand, Brianna Kaleen, Kerri George
Dramaturg: Courtney Self
Special Thanks: Don and Kathy Clark, Chris Kuty, Julie Fogh, Kate Holzman, Kylie Long, Brianna Morrison, Cara Morabito, Claire-Frances Sullivan, Kristina Libby, Adee David, the Broadway Inspirational Voices, The List, The Ampersands, Katya Stanislavskaya, Candice Helfand, and every single woman who has ever trusted me with her precious voice.
Deidre Struck
Originally from Idaho, Deidre Struck is a composer, pianist, and singer who moved to NYC in 1997 to play keyboards with the Big Apple Circus. She then toured extensively with all-girl band The Lascivious Biddies, while maintaining a monthly big band residency with Roy Nathanson of The Jazz Passengers back in NYC. Deidre has co-written nearly 200 lullabies with mothers from prisons, hospitals, and shelters as part of Carnegie Hall’s Lullaby Project, Additionally, she has three jazz albums on the Sunnyside label (one of which, Twin Falls, is a duo album with renowned bassist Steve Swallow), and appears on recordings with Natalie Merchant, Elvis Costello, Darius de Haas, and Debbie Harry. She proudly premiered her first full-length musical, Fun Spot: An Ex-Mormon Musical, at the Green Room 42 in January, and is currently working on a new musical with Lumineers’ bassist Byron Isaacs.
Piano
Caitlin Thomas
Caitlin Thomas is thrilled to be joining the DIFFICULT WOMEN music team. A composer and multi-instrumentalist based in NYC, she recently toured with folk legend Dar Williams on cello, vocals, and guitar. As a Broadway sub, she’s shared the stage with Sara Bareilles in Waitress (2021), as well as Real Women Have Curves (2025). She also held the cello/guitar chairs for the Dear Evan Hansen and Waitress Nat’l tours. As a composer: Caitlin’s short musical Divorce Party premiered in Sound Bites 2025 Festival. (Add: BMI Lehman Engle Workshop; Berklee College of Music, NYU.) Her debut single, “Love Me from St. Louis,” is on all music streaming platforms.
Cello / Guitar
Tina Lama is a Queens, NY based upright and electric bassist. Originally from Ithaca, NY, she received her Masters in Jazz Performance from Queens College. Broadway work includes: SIX The Musical, Death Becomes Her, Hell's Kitchen, Suffs and Shucked. Off-Broadway work includes Heathers, Bigfoot!, Picnic At Hanging Rock, A Sign of the Times. Tina has also worked on the SIX The Musical North American Tour. In addition to her theatre work, she has recorded and toured with The Red Birds (Jazz), Gangstagrass (Hip-hop) and The Maybelles (Bluegrass)
BassTina Lama
Jazmine Hayes is an interdisciplinary visual artist, musician, educator and poet born and based in Brooklyn, New York. Through a research based lens, Hayes adapts through various mediums including drawing, performance, sound, printmaking, textile, video, and writing. Her practice is informed by cultural traditions of the African diaspora, lived experience, travel, and research. She is a 2023 U.S. Fulbright researcher, in which she traveled to Senegal, Africa. For over 15 years, she has worked with community-based youth arts organizations across New York City as an educator and muralist. Currently, Hayes is unveiling her first permanent public art installation titled “I Am Protected”. The project is commissioned by the New York City Percent for Art program. “I Am Protected” consists of four large scale sculptural works with themes of protection, art as prayers of affirmation, healing and reclamation of space that culturally reflects the local youth, community and history of Brownsville, Brooklyn.
PercussionJazmine Hayes
Candice Helfand
Candice Helfand-Rogers is a versatile, experienced singer whose voice has been featured everywhere from Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Met Gala and the Minskoff Theatre, to platinum-selling movie soundtracks ("Pitch Perfect" and "Pitch Perfect 2") and national ad campaigns. She developed her craft to expertly perform most every genre of music during her decades-long career, as both a soloist and ensemble member. Candice has also garnered numerous awards and distinctions for her onstage and in-studio work as a singer, arranger, choreographer and musical director of both collegiate and semi-professional vocal ensembles. In addition to ongoing session and arranging work for internet, TV, stage and film, as well as choral demos for Hal Leonard, J.W. Pepper and independent composers, Candice – a current member of SAG-AFTRA – has performed with numerous prestigious New York City-based ensembles, including Broadway Inspirational Voices, the New York Vocal Collective and Broadway Goes A Cappella.
Vocals
Brianna Kaleen
Brianna Kaleen is an award-winning performer, singer-songwriter, and the host of Suffering for Art, a podcast exploring the highs and lows of creative living. Seen on the national tour of Hairspray and on stages across the country, Brianna finds her purpose in sharing stories through art. Most recently, she released her debut EP “Growth,” highlighting her deeply personal songwriting and evocative storytelling. You can stream it now on all platforms. @briannakaleen
Vocals
Kerri George
Kerri George is a New Jersey–based actor, singer, and vocal coach known for blending performance with education. A graduate of Pace University's BFA Musical Theatre program, Kerri's favorite stage credits include Veronica in Heathers, Constance in Oscar @ The Crown, and a run as Enid Hoopes in Legally Blonde at the Muny. Beyond the stage, Kerri has built a thriving voice and audition coaching practice. Kerri has appeared on The Broadway Cruise both as a performer and teacher, bringing their vocal technique masterclass to the seas! Passionate about musical theatre's future, Kerri continues to perform and teach both locally and with clients internationally. Find Kerri @kerniworm or www.kerrigeorge.com.
Vocals
Casey Erin Clark is a multi-hyphenate public speaking and communication coach, actor, recording artist, writer, podcast host, and “walking exclamation point.” A small town Illinois theater kid who moved to NYC, landed on multiple city stages large and small, toured the country and various regional theaters, and ended up on the Oscar stage with the cast of Les Misérables and just behind Cynthia Erivo’s right shoulder with the Broadway Inspirational Voices at the Tony Awards in 2025, she then developed an obsession with who gets heard, why, and how. Alongside Julie Fogh, she co-founded Vital Voice Training in 2014 to explore her favorite huge questions: how does power work? Why are women’s voices so uniquely scrutinized? And how do we build a better world by expanding the definition of what leadership looks and sounds like? Ask her about the glorious feminism of romance novels and the best breakfast restaurants across America.