Danny Burstein (born June 16, 1964) is an American actor and singer. Known for his work on the Broadway stage, he's received numerous accolades including a Tony Award, two Drama Desk Awards and nominations for three Grammy Awards.
Burstein's television work includes a feature-length episode of the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous (2002) and a Staten Island father in the first season of Louie (2010). He appeared as different characters in six episodes of the original NBC drama series Law & Order (1995–2010), and also recurred as Lolly Steinman on the HBO series Boardwalk Empire (2010–11) and as D.A. Lewis Cormier on the CBS series Evil. His film appearances include Transamerica (2005), Deception (2008), The Family Fang (2015), and Indignation (2016).
Early life and education
Burstein was born in Mt. Kisco, New York, and was raised in New York City.[1] Danny's parents separated when he was two months old. He was raised by his mother, Virginia (Vega), a painter, and his stepfather, Harvey Burstein, a professor of Greek philosophy.[2][3] His mother, who is from Costa Rica, is Catholic and of Spanish descent, and his stepfather is Jewish.[4][5][6] He was not raised in any particular faith and celebrated both Jewish and Christian holidays.[7]
Burstein attended the High School of the Performing Arts. While in high school, he performed in community theatre and summer stock in New Hampshire for which he was paid $200 for the entire season.[8] He graduated from Queens College in New York City, during which time he obtained his first professional acting job in the chorus of The Music Man at The Muny in St. Louis.[9] He received an MFA from the graduate acting program at the University of California, San Diego in 1990. During his time in drama school at UCSD, he appeared in Macbeth at La Jolla Playhouse.[10]
He played the role of Buddy Plummer in the Kennedy Center production of Follies, which ran from May 7, 2011, through June 19, 2011, at the Eisenhower Theater, co-starring with Bernadette Peters, Ron Raines, and Jan Maxwell.[23] He reprised that role in the Broadway engagement of Follies at the Marquis Theatre from August 7, 2011 (in previews) through January 22, 2012, and continued with the production in its engagement at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, California from May 3, 2012, through June 9, 2012.[24] He won the Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical[25] and was nominated for the Tony Award, Best Actor in a Musical.[26]
Burstein can be heard on the cast recording of many of these musicals. Among his many recordings is the musical Sweet Little Devil in which he introduced three George Gershwin, Buddy DeSylva songs. The score originally went unrecorded in 1924 and was finally recorded by PS Classics, with Burstein playing the role of Sam in 2012.[27]
He made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Frosch in Die Fledermaus (2013–14 season).
Burstein serves on the Artists Committee of the Kennedy Center Honors and has been a guest lecturer teaching at many universities such as Yale, NYU, Juilliard, UCSD and Queens College.
Burstein played the role of Tevye in the 2015 Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof, at the Broadway Theatre, directed by Bartlett Sher. The revival began in previews on November 20, 2015, and officially opened on December 20, 2015, and closed on December 31, 2016.[31][32][33]
In the summer of 2017, he played the role of Nick Bottom in the New York Public Theater's Shakespeare in the Park production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Burstein in costume as Harold Zidler, 2021
He appeared as Alfred P. Doolittle in the Broadway revival of My Fair Lady at Lincoln Center Theater from January 8, 2019.[34] He also originated the on-stage role of Harold Zidler on Broadway in Moulin Rouge! in 2019. Moulin Rouge! played its pre-Broadway performances at the Emerson Colonial Theatre in Boston from July 10, 2018, to August 19, 2018.[35][36] In 2021, Burstein received the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Moulin Rouge!
In March 2020, following the shutdown of all Broadway theatrical productions including Moulin Rouge!, in which he was starring, Burstein, along with several other cast members, contracted COVID-19. He was subsequently hospitalized at St. Luke's in the Morningside Heights section of Manhattan and recovered. Burstein discussed his experience with the disease in a column published in The Hollywood Reporter.[42][43] He wrote in August 2020 of continued challenges with his post-COVID recovery while caring for his wife, who had ALS.[44]
Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman.
Fiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in or around 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters and other tales by Sholem Aleichem. The story centers on Tevye, a milkman in the village of Anatevka, who attempts to maintain his Jewish religious and cultural traditions as outside influences encroach upon his family's lives. He must cope with the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters who wish to marry for love; their choices of husbands are successively less palatable for Tevye. An edict of the tsar eventually evicts the Jews from their village.
Nathan Lane is an American actor. Since 1975, he has been seen on stage and screen in both comedic and dramatic roles. Lane has received numerous awards, including three Tony Awards, six Drama Desk Awards, an Olivier Award, three Emmy Awards, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Lane received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006 and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2008. In 2010, The New York Times hailed Lane as "the greatest stage entertainer of the decade".
The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Following the 1964 renaming as the Drama Desk Awards, Broadway productions were included beginning with the 1968–69 award season. The awards are considered a significant American theater distinction.
Victoria Clark is an American actress, musical theatre singer and director. Clark has performed in numerous Broadway musicals and in other theatre, film and television works. Her soprano voice can also be heard on various cast albums and several animated films. In 2008, she released her first solo album titled Fifteen Seconds of Grace. A five-time Tony Award nominee, Clark won her first Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical in 2005 for her performance in The Light in the Piazza. She also won the Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, and the Joseph Jefferson Award for the role. She won a second Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical in 2023 for her performance in Kimberly Akimbo.
Bartlett B. Sher is an American theatre director. The New York Times has described him as "one of the most original and exciting directors, not only in the American theater but also in the international world of opera". Sher has been nominated for nine Tony Awards, winning a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for the 2008 Broadway revival of South Pacific.
Kelli Christine O'Hara is an American actress and singer, most known for her work on the Broadway and opera stages.
The Drama League Awards, created in 1922, honor distinguished productions and performances both on Broadway and Off-Broadway, in addition to recognizing exemplary career achievements in theatre, musical theatre, and directing. Each May, the awards are presented by The Drama League at the Annual Awards Luncheon with performers, directors, producers, and Drama League members in attendance. The Drama League membership comprises the entire theater community, including award-winning actors, designers, directors, playwrights, producers, industry veterans, critics and theater-going audiences from across the U.S.
Janice Elaine Maxwell was an American stage and television actress. She was a five-time Tony Award nominee and two-time Drama Desk Award winner. In a career spanning over thirty years, Maxwell was one of the most celebrated and critically acclaimed stage actresses of her time.
Rebecca Luker was an American actress, singer, and recording artist, noted for her "crystal clear operatic soprano" and for maintaining long runs in Broadway musicals over the course of her three-decade-long career. The New York Times compared her to actresses such as Barbara Cook and Julie Andrews.
Nancy Carol Opel is an American singer and actress, known primarily for her work on Broadway. She was nominated for the 2002 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for originating the role of Penelope Pennywise in the musical Urinetown.
Eric Anderson is an American actor and singer. On Broadway, he has originated roles in Waitress, Kinky Boots, The Last Ship, Rocky, and Soul Doctor, and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. He portrayed Mr. O’Malley in The Greatest Showman (2017).
Alex Timbers is an American writer and director and the recipient of Tony, Golden Globe, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and London Evening Standard Awards, as well as two OBIE and Lucile Lortel Awards. He also received the 2019 Drama League Founder's Award for Excellence in Directing and the 2016 Jerome Robbins Award for Directing. He was nominated for a 2020 Grammy Award. For his work on Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Timbers won a 2021 Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical.
Karen Olivo, also known as KO, is an American stage and television actor, theater educator, and singer.
Aaron Kyle Tveit is an American actor and tenor singer.
Robert Petkoff is an American stage actor known for his work in Shakespearean productions and more recently on the New York City musical theater stage. Petkoff has performed on Broadway, the West End, regional theatre, and done work in film and television. Petkoff was featured as "Perchik" in the Tony award-nominated 2004 revival cast of Fiddler on the Roof but is perhaps best known for his role as "Tateh" in the 2009 revival of Ragtime on Broadway. Petkoff has also provided the voices for over two dozen audiobooks, winning awards for his reading of Michael Koryta's So Cold the River. Married to actress Susan Wands, Petkoff has lived in New York City for the last twenty years, and often performs in benefit concerts for theater-district-related charities.
Global Creatures is a live entertainment company based in Sydney, Australia with offices in New York and London. It is privately owned by Gerry Ryan and Carmen Pavlovic and is best known for Walking with Dinosaurs, which toured for 12 years and was seen by over 10 million people. More recently the company has become known for Moulin Rouge! The Musical which won 10 Tony Awards including Best Musical, and becoming the first Australian-produced musical to originate on Broadway.
Moulin Rouge! The Musical is a jukebox musical with a book by John Logan. The musical is based on the 2001 film Moulin Rouge! directed by Baz Luhrmann and written by Luhrmann and Craig Pearce.
Charlie Rosen is an American musician, composer, arranger, orchestrator, musical director, and music producer. He is best known for his work on Broadway, where he has worked on Be More Chill, Prince of Broadway, American Psycho, and, along with Bryan Carter, won the 2023 Tony Award for Best Orchestrations for Some Like It Hot. He is also the leader of The 8-Bit Big Band, a jazz orchestra specializing in video game music.
Jana Robbins, née Marsha Eisenberg, is a Tony, Olivier and Drama Desk Award-winning American producer, actress, director, teacher, and speaker. She has produced and won awards for her West End, Broadway and Off-Broadway productions.
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