candidate: Amongst the alumni are four - time Tony Award winning director Jerry Zaks , Robert Jess Roth ( " Beauty and the Beast " ) , Michael Mayer ( " Thoroughly Modern Millie " ) , Gabriel Barre ; writers Marta Kauffman and David Crane ( TV 's " Friends " ) , Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty ( " Ragtime " , " Once on This Island " ) , Jason Robert Brown ( " Parade " ) , Larry O'Keefe ( "" ) , Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx ( " Avenue Q " ) ; and Tony - winning actors Roger Bart , Chuck Cooper , John Lloyd Young , and John Glover .