LEGEND: Susan Stroman

She's worked in just about every area of entertainment - stage, screen, television.  She's worked with entertainment legends like Mel Brooks, Stephen Sondheim, Harold Prince, Kander and Ebb.  She directs, choreographs, conceives shows and she even started as a performer!  She's a 13 time Tony nominee and 5 time Tony winner.  This season, she'll have four more cracks at Tony nominations and wins, too, with her direction and choreography of both Big Fish and Bullets Over Broadway.  Her endlessly creative dance moves and stunning directorial concepts make even her "flops" theatrical classics.  She is living Broadway legend Susan Stroman.

Not Broadway, but in a production
of Applause

AS A BROADWAY PERFORMER:

• Debut: Whoopee!

AS A CHOREOGRAPHER:

• Crazy For You - Tony Winner
• Picnic
• Show Boat (1994 Revival) - Tony Winner
• Big: The Musical - Tony Nomination
• Oklahoma! (2002 Revival) - Tony Nomination

AS A CHOREOGRAPHER AND DIRECTOR:

• Debut: Musical Chairs (Assistant Director/Assistant Choreographer/Dance Captain)
• The Music Man (2000 Revival) - Tony Nomination - Choreography and Direction
• The Producers - Tony Winner Choreography and Direction
• The Frogs
• Young Frankenstein
• The Scottsboro Boys - Tony Nomination - Choreography and Direction 
• Big Fish
• Bullets Over Broadway

AS CHOREOGRPHER/DIRECTOR/CONCEPTION:

• Steel Pier (Choreography and Conception) - Tony Nomination - Choreography
• Contact - Tony Winner - Choreography; Tony Nomination - Direction
• Thou Shalt Not

BROADWAY STAR MAKER ("The Big Break"):

• Norbert Leo Butz - Thou Shalt Not
• Kristen Chenoweth - Steel Pier
• Craig Bierko - Thou Shalt Not
• Harry Connick Jr. - Thou Shalt Not

HER MUSES (2 or more shows):

• Nathan Lane - The Frogs, The Producers
• Mel Brooks - The Producers, Young Frankenstein
• Kander and Ebb - Steel Pier, The Scottsboro Boys
• Karen Ziemba - Steel Pier, Contact
• Debra Monk - Steel Pier, Thou Shalt Not
• Roger Bart - Young Frankenstein, The Producers, The Frogs
• Rebecca Luker - Show Boat, The Music Man
• Shuler Hensley - Oklahoma!, Young Frankenstein
• Craig Bierko - Thou Shalt Not, The Music Man
• Norbert Leo Butz - Thou Shalt Not, Big Fish

Jeff
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THEATRE LEGEND: Catherine Zuber

With today's announcement of  the design team for the upcoming play, Dead Accounts, including costume designer Catherine Zuber, I was reminded of just how much of her work I've seen and enjoyed.  Of course, like most designers, she has designed extensively for theatre - New York and regional, opera and the occasional film.  But her extensive career on Broadway alone qualifies her as a living legend.  She is represented this season (so far) with An Enemy of the People, Dead Accounts and Golden Boy.

Beginning with the ill-fated musical The Red Shoes in 1993, hardly a season has gone by without her working being a part of things.  She has some 47 Broadway productions to her credit, including several productions each for the Roundabout Theater Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Lincoln Center Theatre.

Her many accolades include 8 Drama desk nominations and 1 win, and 10 Tony Award nominations and 5 wins: Awake and Sing!, The Coast of Utopia (all 3 parts!), The Light in the Piazza, South Pacific and most recently, The Royal Family.

2006: Best Costumes in a Play: Awake and Sing!

2007: Best Costumes in a Play: The Coast of Utopia (I - III)

2005: Best Costumes in a Musical: The Light in the Piazza

2010: Best Costumes in a Musical: South Pacific

2011: Best Costumes in a Play: The Royal Family

Here are just a few of the other fine costumes she's designed over the years:

1997: Triumph of Love

2005: Little Women, Doubt, In My Life

2008 - Cry-Baby

2010: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

2011: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,

On a Clear Day You Can See Forever

She is a true legend of Broadway!

Before you go...

• ...have you voted in this week's HOT or NOT? ANNIE, Part 1.  CLICK HERE. You have until Thursday evening!
• ... have you checked out this week's FACE OF THE FUTURE? CLICK HERE and say, "hello!"
• ...have you VOTED in this month's THEATRE POLL? CLICK your answer on the poll in the left column!  It just started today!

Jeff

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LEGEND: Harold Prince

This time next year, if all goes according to plan, we'll be looking forward to Prince of Broadway, a musical revue celebrating the hits (and maybe a few flops, too) of legendary producer/ director Harold Prince.  The 21 time Tony-winner is preparing to direct the revue with the help of no less than Susan Stroman (Prince collaborator on Show Boat) and Jason Robert Brown (Prince collaborator on Parade).

He has done it all his 60+ year career: assistant stage manager, stage manager, producer, director, and, briefly, even a performer!  Prince has worked with all of Broadway's best, including a legendary apprenticeship with the great George Abbott.  Jerome Robbins, Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Kander and Ebb, Bock and Harnick are all among his collaborators.  He has directed such Broadway acting legends as Angela Lansbury, Zero Mostel, Carol Lawrence, Chita Rivera, Joel Grey, Ben Vereen, Michael Crawford, Liza Minelli, Barbara Cook, Glynnis Johns, Lem Cariou, Donna Murphy and Alexis Smith.  And though the revue will feature material from his musicals, Prince has also directed plays, most recently the short-lived, but critically acclaimed Hollywood Arms.

Even his flops have proven to be a part of the enduring American Theatre canon:  Merrily We Roll Along, Baker Street and Flora, the Red Menace among them.  But it is his hits that have changed the face of musical theatre: Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, Sweeney Todd and the longest-running musical in Broadway history, The Phantom of the Opera.

Below is a survey of his musicals.  A "hit" means either long-running and/or critically acclaimed.  ASM - Assistant Stage Manager; PSM - Production Stage Manager; PRO - Producer; DIR - Director; CON - Conception; ** - Prince, himself, a Tony-winner.

A Scene from Grind and the Playbill from Parade

FLOPS

• Debut - Tickets, Please  ASM
• A Family Affair - DIR
• Flora, the Red Menace - PRO
• "It's a Bird!... It's a Plane!...It's Superman!" - PRO, DIR
• Merrily We Roll Along - PRO, DIR
• A Doll's Life - PRO, DIR
• Grind - PRO, DIR
• Roza - DIR
• Candide (1997 Revival) - DIR
• Parade - DIR, CON
• LoveMusik - DIR

MODERATE SUCCESS

• Tenderloin - PRO
• She Loves Me - PRO, DIR
• Baker Street - DIR
• Zorba - PRO, DIR
• Pacific Overtures - PRO, DIR
• On the Twentieth Century - DIR
• Cabaret (1987 Revival) - DIR

Joel Grey in the 1987 revival of Cabaret;

Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman in The Phantom of the Opera

HIT SHOW

• Call Me Madam - ASM
• Wonderful Town - PSM
• The Pajama Game - PRO **
• Damn Yankees - PRO **
• New Girl in Town - PRO
• West Side Story - PRO
• Fiorello! - PRO  **
• A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum - PRO **
• Fiddler on the Roof - PRO ** + Special Tony
• Cabaret - PRO **, DIR **
• Company - PRO **, DIR **
• Follies - PRO, DIR **
• A Little Night Music - PRO **, DIR
• Candide (1974 Revival) - PRO, DIR ** +Special Tony
• Side by Side by Sondheim - PRO
• Sweeney Todd - DIR**
• Evita - DIR**
• The Phantom of the Opera - DIR **
• Kiss of the Spider Woman - DIR
• Show Boat (1994 Revival) - DIR **

Larry Kert and Carol Lawrence in

West Side Story

Show Boat and Sweeney Tood

No matter how you look at it - hits, flops, ground-breaking productions, working with the very best in Broadway history - Harold Prince is a legend.

(Source: Broadway Internet Database)
Comments? Leave one here, email me at jkstheatrescene, or Tweet me.@yahoo.com
Jeff
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