Lonny Price | |
---|---|
Born | New York City, New York, U.S. | March 9, 1959
Education | Juilliard School |
Occupation(s) | Theatre/film/television director, actor, writer |
Lonny Price (born March 9, 1959) is an American director, actor, and writer, primarily in theatre. He is best known for his New York directing work, including Sunset Boulevard , Sweeney Todd , Company , and Sondheim! The Birthday Concert . As an actor, he is perhaps best known for his creation of the role of Charley Kringas in the Broadway musical Merrily We Roll Along , Neil Kellerman in Dirty Dancing , and Ronnie Crawford in The Muppets Take Manhattan .
Price was born in New York City, the son of Edie L. (Greene), a merchandise manager, and Murray A. Price, a car leasing company owner. [1] Price grew up in Fresh Meadows, New York and Metuchen, New Jersey. [2] He attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts, and the Juilliard School, which he only attended for a year in order to begin pursuing acting professionally. [3]
His early career was spent performing in Off-Broadway productions, including Class Enemy in 1979, for which he won a Theater World Award for outstanding stage debut. [4]
His first major Broadway credit was the ill-fated Stephen Sondheim/Hal Prince/George Furth musical Merrily We Roll Along (1981), which underwent constant changes during an unusually long preview period and closed after only sixteen performances. His next show, the Athol Fugard play "Master Harold"...and the Boys - in which he portrayed a South African student opposite Danny Glover and Zakes Mokae as the family servants - ran for eight months.[ citation needed ]
Possibly his most significant Off-Broadway stage credit as an actor is the William Finn – James Lapine musical Falsettoland as Mendel in 1990. [5]
Price's film and television credits include major supporting roles in The Muppets Take Manhattan and Dirty Dancing , and guest appearances on The Golden Girls and Law & Order , among others.[ citation needed ]
In 1989, he appeared as Jimmy Durante in the musical biography Durante. [6]
This section needs additional citations for verification .(February 2024) |
Price made his directorial debut with the Off-Broadway revival of The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N in 1989 for the American Jewish Theater, [7] followed by The Rothschilds and Juno , both of which received Outer Critics Circle nominations for Best Revival.
Price served as Associate Artistic Director for the American Jewish Theatre from the late 1980s through the mid-1990s. [8] He was artistic director at Musical Theatre Works, a non-profit theatre dedicated solely to the development of new musicals until 2002, when he became resident director. [9]
He was a staff director for the ABC soap opera One Life to Live , for which he was part of a team that received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Drama Series Directing in 1995. [10]
He has directed numerous musical productions, both concert and non-concert, with the New York Philharmonic, which include Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd with Patti LuPone and George Hearn in 2000, [11] for which he won an Emmy Award, Leonard Bernstein's Candide (2004), with Kristin Chenoweth, Sir Thomas Allen, and Patti LuPone, Passion with Patti LuPone and Audra McDonald, which won an Emmy Award, and Camelot with Gabriel Byrne, Marin Mazzie, Christopher Lloyd, and Nathan Gunn, among other productions.
In 2000, Price co-wrote (with Linda Kline), directed, and starred in A Class Act , based on the life and career of composer-lyricist Edward Kleban, whose sole Broadway credit was A Chorus Line . The score consisted of songs Kleban had written for other shows that remained unproduced. [12] [13] After a two-month run at the Manhattan Theatre Club, it transferred to the Ambassador Theatre, where it fared less successfully and closed after three months. [13] It earned Price his sole Tony Award nomination to date, for Best Book of a Musical. The show was also nominated for four other Tony Awards, including Best Musical.[ citation needed ]
In 2007, he directed a Broadway revival of 110 in the Shade at the Roundabout Theatre Company, starring Audra McDonald. The play was nominated for the 2007 Tony Award, Best Revival of a Musical (among others). [14]
In March 2010, he conceived and directed Sondheim! The Birthday Concert at the New York Philharmonic, celebrating the composer-lyricist's 80th Birthday. [15] The PBS television broadcast was nominated for several Emmy Awards, and Price won for "Outstanding Directing For A Variety, Music Or Comedy Special".
In April 2011, he directed an acclaimed concert production of Sondheim's Company with Neil Patrick Harris, Stephen Colbert, Martha Plimpton, Christina Hendricks, and Patti LuPone, backed by the New York Philharmonic. [16] [17]
In 2013, he again directed Sweeney Todd at the New York Philharmonic, this time starring Emma Thompson and Bryn Terfel. The PBS telecast for Live from Lincoln Center won the Emmy Award for "Outstanding Variety, Music, Or Comedy Special".
He has directed numerous productions at the Chicago Ravinia Festival, including Sweeney Todd, Gypsy , Sunday in the Park With George , Anyone Can Whistle , Passion , and Annie Get Your Gun . Frequent collaborators for his productions include performers Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Michael Cerveris, and George Hearn, and musical director and conductor Paul Gemignani.
He directed the 2014 Broadway production of Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill starring McDonald, who won her historic sixth Tony Award for her performance as Billie Holiday. He would subsequently stage the production in 2017 on the West End in London, again starring McDonald, as well as the HBO special. In 2016, he directed the acclaimed London revival of Sunset Boulevard starring Glenn Close, which transferred to Broadway and played a limited run in 2017.
In 2016, Price directed the documentary Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened , which chronicles the ill-fated journey of Stephen Sondheim and Harold Prince's original 1981 Broadway musical Merrily We Roll Along . It played the New York Film Festival, and was named one of the New York Times Top Ten Films of 2016. [18] [19]
His episodic television directing work includes five episodes of Desperate Housewives and three episodes of 2 Broke Girls .
In 2019, Price directed the Roundabout Theatre Company premiere of the musical Scotland, PA. [20] Price is a guest instructor at HB HB Studio. [21]
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1981 | The Survivor | Rudy | |
Merrily We Roll Along | Charley Kringas | ||
1982 | "Master Harold"...and the Boys | Hally | |
1986 | Rags | Ben | |
1987 | Broadway | Roy Lane | |
Burn This | Larry (replacement) | ||
1994 | Sally Marr…and her escorts | Director, Writer | |
2001 | A Class Act | Ed Kleban, Director, Book | Tony Award for Best Musical (nominee) |
2003 | Urban Cowboy | Director | |
"Master Harold"...and the Boys | Director | ||
2007 | 110 in the Shade | Director | Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical (nominee), Drama Desk Award for Best Revival of a Musical (nominee) |
2014 | Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill | Director | also West End |
2017 | Sunset Boulevard | Director | also West End |
2022 | Walking with Ghosts | Director | also West End |
Year | Title | Role | Theater/Company | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1979 | Class Enemy | Rakes | Perry St. Theater | |
1983 | Up from Paradise | Abel | Jewish Repertory Theater | |
1985 | Rommel’s Garden | Private Ackenbaum | Harold Clurman Theater | |
1986 | Room Service | Faker Englund | Roundabout Theatre Company | |
1987 | Come Blow Your Horn | Buddy Baker | Jewish Repertory Theatre | |
1989 | The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N | Director | Jewish Repertory Theatre | |
1990 | Falsettoland | Mendel | Lucille Lortel Theatre | |
The Rothschilds | Director | American Jewish Theatre | Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Revival (nominee) | |
1991 | Grown Ups | Director | American Jewish Theatre | |
The Matchmaker | Director | Roundabout Theatre Company | ||
1992 | Juno | Director | Vineyard Theatre | Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Revival (nominee) |
1995 | Pal Joey | Director | New York City Center | |
1996 | The Springhill Singing Disaster | Director | 47th Street Theatre | |
1997 | Visiting Mr. Green | Director | Union Square Theatre | |
1999 | Finian's Rainbow | Director | New York City Center | |
2000 | Sweeney Todd | Director | David Geffen Hall | |
A Class Act | Ed Kleban, Director, Book | New York City Center | ||
2004 | Can-Can | Director | New York City Center | |
Candide | Director | David Geffen Hall | ||
2006 | Kismet | Director | New York City Center | |
Stopping Traffic | Director | Vineyard Theatre | ||
2011 | Company | Director | David Geffen Hall | |
2019 | Scotland, PA | Director | Roundabout Theatre Company | |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1980 | Headin’ for Broadway | Steven Levy | |
1981 | The Chosen | Davey | |
1984 | The Muppets Take Manhattan | Ronnie Crawford | |
1987 | Dirty Dancing | Neil Kellerman | |
1988 | Hot to Trot | Frank | |
1992 | Flodder in Amerika! | Geoffrey | |
2016 | Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened | Director, Writer |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1979 | ABC Afterschool Specials | Danny Dawson | |
1980 | Love Cycle: A Soap Operetta | Tom | |
1985 | Hail to the Chief | Steve | 1 episode |
1987 | Not Quite Human | Mr. Sturges | |
1988 | The Golden Girls | Hastings | 1 episode |
Dear John | Andrew Garberg | 1 episode | |
1989 | Jacob Have I Loved | Mr. Rice | TV movie |
1990 | Doctor Doctor | Peter Balcovske | 1 episode |
Loving | Howie Miller | 1 episode | |
1991 | Law & Order | Frank Hoover / Dr. Lieber | 2 episodes |
1994–1996 | One Life to Live | Director | 3 episodes |
1996 | O'Henry’s Christmas | Jack | TV movie |
2001 | PBS Great Performances : Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in Concert | Director | |
2005 | PBS Great Performances : Leonard Bernstein's Candide, a Comic Operetta in Two Acts | Director | |
Live from Lincoln Center : Passion | Director | Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Program [22] | |
2007 | PBS Great Performances : Company: A Musical Comedy | Director | |
2008 | Live from Lincoln Center : Camelot | Director | |
2010 | PBS Great Performances : Sondheim! The Birthday Concert | Director | |
2010–2011 | Desperate Housewives | Director | 5 episodes |
2011 | PBS Great Performances : Company | Director | |
2012 | Live from Lincoln Center : One Singular Sensation! Celebrating Marvin Hamlisch | Director | |
2012–2016 | 2 Broke Girls | Director | 3 episodes |
2013 | Live from Lincoln Center : Ring Them Bells! A Kander & Ebb Celebration | Director | |
2014 | Live from Lincoln Center : Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - In Concert with the New York Philharmonic | Director | |
Live from Lincoln Center : New York Philharmonic New Year’s Eve Gershwin Celebration | Director | ||
2015 | The Jack and Triumph Show | Director | 2 episodes |
Gypsy: Live from the Savoy Theatre | Director | ||
Live from Lincoln Center : Sinatra: Voice for a Century | Director | ||
2016 | Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill | Director | HBO |
Live from Lincoln Center : New York Philharmonic New Year's Eve: An Enchanted Evening | Director | ||
2017 | Dirty Dancing | Neil Kellerman | TV movie |
2018 | Live from Lincoln Center : New York Philharmonic New Year's Eve with Renée Fleming | Director | |
PBS Great Performances : Harold Prince: The Director’s Life | Director | ||
2019 | Live from Lincoln Center : New York Philharmonic New Year's Eve 2019: Celebrating Sondheim | Director | |
2021 | Show of Titles | Director | |
The Bite | Director | 1 episode | |
Award / Organization | Year | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Theatre World Award | 1980 | Outstanding Stage Debut | Class Enemy | Won | [23] |
Daytime Emmy Awards | 1995 | Outstanding Drama Series Directing Team | One Life to Live | Nominated | |
Tony Awards | 2001 | Best Book of a Musical | A Class Act | Nominated | |
Primetime Emmy Awards | 2002 | Outstanding Classical Music-Dance Program | PBS Great Performances : Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street | Won | |
2008 | Outstanding Directing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program | PBS Great Performances : Company | Nominated | ||
2011 | Outstanding Directing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Special | PBS Great Performances : Sondheim! The Birthday Concert | Won | ||
Company is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth. The original 1970 production was nominated for a record-setting 14 Tony Awards, winning six. Company was among the first book musicals to deal with contemporary dating, marriage, and divorce, and is a notable example of a concept musical lacking a linear plot. In a series of vignettes, Company follows bachelor Bobby interacting with his married friends, who throw a party for his 35th birthday.
Gypsy: A Musical Fable is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. It is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee, and focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate show business mother." It follows the dreams and efforts of Rose to raise two daughters to perform onstage and casts an affectionate eye on the hardships of show business life. The character of Louise is based on Lee, and the character of June is based on Lee's sister, the actress June Havoc.
Patti Ann LuPone is an American actress and singer best known for her work in musical theater. After starting her professional career with The Acting Company in 1972 she soon gained acclaim for her leading performances on the Broadway and West End stage. She has won three Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards, and two Grammy Awards, and was a 2006 inductee to the American Theater Hall of Fame.
George Hearn is an American actor and bass-baritone singer, primarily in Broadway musical theatre.
Audra Ann McDonald is an American singer and actress. Primarily known for her work on the Broadway stage, she has won six Tony Awards, more performance wins than any other actor, and is the only person to win in all four acting categories. In addition to her six Tony Awards she has received numerous accolades including two Grammy Awards, and an Emmy Award. She was honored with the National Medal of Arts in 2016 from President Barack Obama, and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2017.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 1979 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. It is based on the 1970 play Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond. The character of Sweeney Todd first appeared in a Victorian penny dreadful titled The String of Pearls.
Alexander Cesare Gemignani is a Broadway actor, tenor, musician, and conductor. He was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance in Carousel and a Drama Desk Award for his performance in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
John Doyle is a Scottish stage director of musicals and plays, as well as operas. He served as artistic director at several regional theatres in the United Kingdom, where he staged more than 200 professional productions during his career spanning over 40 years.
Susan H. Schulman is an American theatre director.
Norm Lewis is an American actor and baritone singer. He has appeared on Broadway, in the West End, film, television, recordings and regional theatre. He’s also noted for his wide vocal range. Lewis was the second African-American actor after Robert Guillaume to perform in the title role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera and the first one to do so in the Broadway production. In 2023, he reprised the role in the show's sequel, Love Never Dies, in London's West End.
Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer is an American musical theatre actress and singer. She was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in the Broadway revival of Spamalot.
Mrs. Lovett is a fictional character appearing in many adaptations of the story Sweeney Todd. Her first name is most commonly referred to as Nellie, although she has also been referred to as Amelia, Margery, Maggie, Sarah, Shirley, Wilhelmina, Mary and Claudetta. A baker from London, Mrs. Lovett is an accomplice and business partner of Sweeney Todd, a barber and serial killer from Fleet Street. She makes meat pies from Todd’s victims.
Paul Gemignani is an American musical director with a career on Broadway and West End theatre spanning over forty years.
Timothy Nolen was an American actor and baritone who had an active career in operas, musicals, concerts, plays, and on television for over four decades. He was the second actor to play the title role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway replacing Michael Crawford in October 1988.
Lauren Molina is an American actress, singer, songwriter, and musician. She is a co-creator and performer with the comedy-pop, undie-rock band The Skivvies. Her Broadway credits include Johanna in the actor-musician revival of Sweeney Todd. To describe her as an actress, one reviewer said "She's part Mary Martin, Lucille Ball, Kristen Wiig and [fill in the blank with your favorite opera star because Molina has one of the most powerful and flexible voices in the annals of Broadway]." While performing on the first national tour of Sweeney Todd, she received the Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) Award for Best Supporting Actress. She won a Helen Hayes award for her portrayal of Cunegunde in Candide (2010-2011), directed by Mary Zimmerman at the Shakespeare Theatre in DC, and received an IRNE nomination for the same role at the Huntington Theatre. She originated the role of Bella Rose in Desperate Measures (2017-2018) Off-Broadway and received nominations for the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical and Outer Critics Circle for Best Supporting Actress. In 2019, she and her Skivvies partner Nick Cearley co-conceived a new actor-musician revival of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown", also playing Lucy and Linus, at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. A Detroit native, Lauren received her BFA from the University of Michigan in musical theatre. She resides in New York City.
John William McDaniel is an American theatre producer, composer, conductor, and pianist. He is known as the lead composer and producer of the daytime television talk show The Rosie O'Donnell Show, for which he received six Daytime Emmy Award nominations, winning two.
Claybourne Elder is an American actor, singer, and writer who is best known for his work on television and on Broadway.
Rob Fisher is an American music director, conductor, arranger and pianist. He was the founding music director and conductor of the New York City Center Encores! series from 1994 to 2005. He is the leader of the Coffee Club Orchestra, which was the house band for Garrison Keillor’s radio broadcasts from 1989 to 1993.
Jay Armstrong Johnson is an American actor, singer, and dancer, known for starring roles on Broadway in musicals like Parade, On the Town, and The Phantom of the Opera and for his portrayal of Will Olsen in the ABC television series Quantico.
Sondheim! The Birthday Concert was a concert celebrating the 80th birthday of Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim. The concert was directed by Lonny Price and hosted by David Hyde Pierce. The event was performed at Avery Fisher Hall within Lincoln Center in New York City on March 15 and 16 in 2010. The New York Philharmonic accompanied performers including Michael Cerveris, Alexander Gemignani, Joanna Gleason, Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Donna Murphy, Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters, Elaine Stritch, and the 2009 Broadway revival cast of West Side Story.