Dear Ones,

It’s hard to believe that yet another year has gone by so quickly! Not so much traveling for us this year – but we did spend a lot of the year preparing ourselves for the amazing WEDDING of REBECCA and IHAB!

January started with our (reluctant) return from our amazing trip to Egypt, and heading straight back into auditions and rehearsals with the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra.

Another big thing that happened in 2025 – New Musicals Inc. gave up the lease on our warehouse space in North Hollywood. We had been there for 20 years and it served us well – but the ongoing grind of keeping the space sub-rented to make sure we could pay our rent made less and less sense as we were doing more and more of our work on Zoom anyway. So we struck a deal with the immersive theatre company AFTER HOURS to take over our lease, in return for letting us continue to use the space for rehearsals for our 15 Minute Musicals in July. But, for all intents and purposes, NMI stopped operating a brick-and-mortar space in January – and Elise moved her office into the music room at home. There is still lots of work – it’s just all happening on Zoom!

January also brought the terrible fires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena. LAYO had to cancel our first rehearsal because the evacuation zone made it to just south of our rehearsal hall. A smaller fire in Hollywood flared up that was threatening us much closer to home, and all four of us (and the cat!) packed up and headed down to stay with Ihab’s mother Della in Orange County until the fire was under control. We consider ourselves very lucky as there were many many people who suffered so much more than we did. At least three families in LAYO lost their homes.

In February we celebrated Stephen’s birthday with a trip to Descanso Restaurant for their “LaPlancha” dining experience (where they cook the food right in front of you!); and in March, we celebrated Elise’s birthday with a trip to the beach. The end of March also saw our spring concert for LAYO at the Alex Theatre in Glendale.

In April, Elise’s dad (Arthur) checked into the hospital, and didn’t make his usual miraculous recovery in rehab. He decided it was time to move into hospice. We were all lucky enough to be able to get there quickly to visit with him during his short stay in hospice. Although he was sleeping a lot, and in and out of coherence, we all had some precious quality time with him where he was reminiscing and cracking his usual jokes. A blessing for all of us. Dad passed on quietly on April 23, and we can at least comfort ourselves in knowing that he really seemed to be ready to go.

We celebrated Easter with the Gabras at the lake in Mission Viejo (the same place we met them for the first time three years ago!).

In May, Stephen and Elise went on a short vacation to Paso Robles for some amazing wine tasting opportunities – three wineries and an olive oil farm. Lots of wine and olive oil was consumed!

In June, Elise got her first new resume picture in years; and Elise’s friend Carl Ritchie came to visit! (Elise and Carl met in India when they were 16 years old!); and Elise jetted over to Kansas City to be part of the memorial brother Bruce put together so that the residents of John Knox Village could pay their respects to Arthur. (It turned out to be a longer trip than planned when thunderstorms caused havoc with flights and Elise wound up spending the night on the floor of the Chicago airport!)

July brought the annual 15 Minute Musicals – and Elise was in the cast for the first time in years. We performed five new 15-Minute Musicals at the Broadwater Theatre in Hollywood. The writers of the shows surprised Elise at the preview performance (at NMI) by singing a song they had written entitled “Thank you Elise” – as a thank you for the season on learning about new musicals with me. A very fitting way to end our tenure at the North Hollywood space!

In August, Elise began rehearsals for a production of the new musical “Let’s Write A Musical” – based on the true story of a man who got a terminal cancer diagnosis and decided he wanted to spend his last year writing a musical with his wife. His wife was a former NMI student – so she brought the show to Elise who got to star as the wife in this two weekend run at the Hudson Theatre in Hollywood. It was a fantastic opportunity to play a dramatic role (rather than the usual comedy), and it was fantastic that so many family members got to come and see the show.

August also brought the end of Rebecca’s third summer at Camp Gilboa in Big Bear. It was a particularly tough summer, and once she got back home, Rebecca decided to give her notice and begin looking for her next adventure. She could use all of your good thoughts as she looks for the right job that will allow her to make a difference in the world.

At the end of the month, we all traveled to Clinton, Missouri for a Celebration of Life for Arthur Dewsberry with our immediate family, some local cousins, and also some of the Willimann gals who made the trip to remember with us (thanks Kathleen, Kristine, and Jennifer!).

Stephen was also busy during the summer with the Yellow River Cantata, a performance with Maestro Joo, and a production of the opera Turandot.

In October, Stephen played with the Long Beach Symphony Pops; and we all went to Huntington Gardens to celebrate Rebecca and Ihab’s birthdays.

In November, Stephen had a busy month with a production of Guys & Dolls, and gigs with the Long Beach Symphony and the Long Beach Pops. He continued to be busy through December with the Candlelight Concerts at Disney, and the ubiquitous Nutcracker Ballet with Long Beach Ballet.

And, of course, December also brought the long-awaited wedding celebration for Rebecca and Ihab! Even though they were already legally married the previous November, and they opted for a small immediate-family only party, we treated this event like a real wedding – and by the time it was all over, Rebecca and Ihab decided they had “won” weddings!

We would definitely agree! From the funky venue to the amazing charcuterie table (courtesy of Ihab’s cousin Sarah) to the gorgeous table displays to the eclectic menu to the chocolate fountain to the amazing live jazz trio to the beautiful and meaningful and very personal ceremony to the special songs from mom to the amazing dancing – not only Jewish and Egyptian but also an amazing choreographed number from the bride and groom of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” – a complete surprise to everyone! – to the ancillary events like Hannukah dinner at Stephen and Elise’s, trips to the Santa Monica Pier and the Griffith Park Observatory and Universal Studios and Disneyland – and a lovely Christmas dinner at the Gabras – it was all perfection and truly one of the most unique wedding celebrations any of us can ever remember! 

Now Rebecca and Ihab are enjoying their idyllic honeymoon in Puerto Rico – staying in a treehouse, hiking through a rainforest, and much much more! (UPDATE: it looks like they might have to stay in Puerto Rico for another week because the air space in the Caribbean closed due to the situation in Venezuela, and their flight home got canceled!)

We are thankful for sharing so much of this with so many of our family members – and for our families getting to meet each other! And we hold all of you in our hearts as we look forward to 2026!

All our love,

Elise, Stephen, Rebecca, Ihab, and Potemkin

looking forward to 2026!