Lee Wilkof | |
|---|---|
 Lee Wilkof | |
| Born | June 25, 1951 |
| Occupation | Actor/Director/Writer |
| Years active | 1978-present |
| Spouse(s) | Connie Grappo (1984-present; 1 child) |
Lee Wilkof (born June 25, 1951) is an American character actor who has been appearing on stage, film and television for 6 decades.
Wilkof is from Canton, Ohio. He is the middle child of Anne Louise and Darwin Wilkof. He has two brothers, Todd and Robert. Wilkof is Jewish. [1] He graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1972 [2] and studied acting with Austin Pendleton in New York City.[ citation needed ]
After graduating college, Wilkof co-wrote and performed in a comedy revue, The Present Tense, in 1977 at the Park Royal Theatre in New York City. [3] Shortly after its closing, Wilkof moved to Los Angeles and landed small film and television roles. His big break came in 1982 with the leading role as Seymour in the original Off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors . [4]
Wilkof directed the film No Pay, Nudity with a cast that stars Nathan Lane, Gabriel Byrne, and Frances Conroy. [5] In 2023 he made his Metropolitan Opera debut in Terence Blanchard's Champion , as The Announcer. He starred in the short film Dig Deeper alongside Victor Williams written and directed by Girault Seger, which premiered at the Newport Beach Film Festival, followed by screenings at the Soho International Film Festival, Tennessee Indie Independent Film Festival, and the New York Indie Shorts Awards. He wrote, directed, and appears in the short film Teenage Waistband which was shot in October of 2024. Wilkof plays the banjo and sings in the musical quartet Twenty Mule Team Weiner Train. He is the winner of the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest # 217.[ citation needed ]
Wilkof lives in Gardiner, New York with his wife, painter Connie Grappo. [6] They have a daughter.
Drama Desk Award nomination for The Present Tense
Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording for "Champion"
Kiss Me, Kate is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and a book by Bella and Samuel Spewack. The story involves the production of a musical version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and the conflict on and off-stage between Fred Graham, the show's director, producer, and star, and his leading lady, his ex-wife Lilli Vanessi. A secondary romance concerns Lois Lane, the actress playing Bianca, and her gambler boyfriend, Bill, who runs afoul of some gangsters. The original production starred Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang.
Nathan Lane is an American actor. Since 1975, he has been on stage and screen in both comedic and dramatic roles. His awards include three Tony Awards, seven Drama Desk Awards, a Laurence 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 being "the greatest stage entertainer of the decade".
Philip "Fyvush" Finkel was an American actor and director known as a star of Yiddish theater and for his role as lawyer Douglas Wambaugh on the television series Picket Fences, for which he earned an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 1994. He is also known for his portrayal of Harvey Lipschultz, a crotchety history teacher, on the television series Boston Public.
The Iceman Cometh is a play written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1939. First published in 1946, the play premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on October 9, 1946, directed by Eddie Dowling, where it ran for 136 performances before closing on March 15, 1947. It has subsequently been adapted for the screen multiple times. The work tells the story of a number of alcoholic dead-enders who live together in a flop house above a saloon and what happens to them when the most outwardly "successful" of them embraces sobriety.
Jeanine Tesori, known earlier in her career as Jeanine Levenson, is an American composer and musical arranger best known for her work in the theater. She is the most prolific and honored female theatrical composer in history, with five Broadway musicals and six Tony Award nominations. She won the 1999 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music in a Play for Nicholas Hytner's production of Twelfth Night at Lincoln Center, the 2004 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music for Caroline, or Change, the 2015 Tony Award for Best Original Score for Fun Home, making them the first female writing team to win that award, and the 2023 Tony Award for Best Original Score for Kimberly Akimbo. She was named a Pulitzer Prize for Drama finalist twice for Fun Home and Soft Power.
Hy Anzell was a Yiddish-speaking American actor. He originated the role of the flower shop owner, "Mr. Mushnik", in the original off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors with Ellen Greene and Lee Wilkof. He was also in the original 1976 Broadway cast of Checking Out.
Stephanie Janette Block is an American actress and singer, best known for her work on the Broadway stage.
Mark Henderson is a British lighting designer who won the 2006 Tony Award for Best Lighting Design for The History Boys.
Little Shop of Horrors is a horror comedy rock musical with music by Alan Menken and lyrics and a book by Howard Ashman. The story follows a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood and flesh. The musical is loosely based on the low-budget 1960 black comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors. The music, composed by Menken in the style of early 1960s rock and roll, doo-wop and early Motown, includes several well-known tunes, including the title song, "Skid Row (Downtown)", "Somewhere That's Green", and "Suddenly, Seymour".
Little Shop of Horrors is a 1986 American horror comedy musical film directed by Frank Oz. It is an adaptation of the 1982 off-Broadway musical of the same name by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, which is itself an adaptation of the 1960 film The Little Shop of Horrors by director Roger Corman. The film, which centers on a floral shop worker who discovers a sentient carnivorous plant that feeds on human blood, stars Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Vincent Gardenia, Steve Martin, and the voice of Levi Stubbs. The film also features special appearances by Jim Belushi, John Candy, Christopher Guest, and Bill Murray. It was produced by David Geffen through The Geffen Company and released by Warner Bros. on December 19, 1986. It grossed $39 million domestically and $15 million internationally for a worldwide total of $54 million.
Christian Dominique Borle is an American actor and singer. He is a two-time Tony Award winner for his roles as Black Stache in Peter and the Starcatcher and as William Shakespeare in Something Rotten!. Borle also originated the roles of Prince Herbert, et al. in Spamalot, Emmett in Legally Blonde, and Joe in Some Like It Hot on Broadway, each of which earned him a Tony nomination. He starred as Marvin in the 2016 Broadway revival of Falsettos, which also earned him a Tony nomination. His first leading role on Broadway was Jimmy Smith in Thoroughly Modern Millie. He would later also star as Bert in Mary Poppins and Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He also portrayed Orin Scrivello in the Off-Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors. Borle starred as Tom Levitt on the NBC musical-drama television series Smash and Vox in the adult animated black comedy musical series Hazbin Hotel.
Stephen Howard Davies, was a British theatre and television director.
Rachel York is an American actress and singer. She is known for stage roles, including award winning performances in Camelot, Hello, Dolly!, Into the Woods, and Anything Goes. She also has performed in film and on television, including her portrayal of Lucille Ball in the 2003 television film Lucy.
Tammy Blanchard is an American actress. She rose to prominence for her role as teenage Judy Garland in the critically acclaimed television film Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows (2001), for which she received a Golden Globe Award nomination and a Primetime Emmy Award. Her other notable film roles were in The Good Shepherd (2006), Sybil (2007), Into the Woods (2014) and The Invitation (2015).
Susan H. Schulman is an American theatre director.
The 58th Annual Tony Awards were held June 6, 2004 at Radio City Music Hall and broadcast on CBS television. Hugh Jackman was the host.
The Irish Repertory Theatre is an Off-Broadway theatre company founded in 1988.
John Douglas Thompson is an English-American actor. He is a Tony Award nominee and the recipient of two Drama Desk Awards, three Obie Awards, an Outer Critics Circle Award, and a Lucille Lortel Award.
Sergio Trujillo is a Colombian theater director, choreographer, dancer, and actor. Born in Colombia and raised in Toronto, Canada, he is an American citizen and resides in New York City. Trujillo was the recipient of the 2019 Tony Award for Best Choreography for Ain't Too Proud and the 2015 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer for Memphis. He is the first ever Hispanic recipient of the Tony Award for Best Choreography.
Michael Mulheren is an American actor from Middletown, New Jersey. He is known for his roles in Law & Order, Rescue Me, and Royal Pains.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
