Phil Suarez is an American entrepreneur and restaurateur, from Manhattan, New York. He was born in Washington Heights, New York City, where he attended George Washington High school. He is the youngest of four, and the son of Puerto Rican immigrants.
Suarez began working part-time for Papert Koenig & Lois, in the television production department ran by ad man George Lois. It was there he gained experience in media production, which led him in the direction of forming his own company.
Suarez left Papert Koenig & Lois to form a joint venture with Bob Giraldi, known as Giraldi Suarez Productions in 1973. The two met playing at an ad agency basketball game. [1]
Giraldi Suarez Productions went on to produce ad campaigns for Miller Brewing, and numerous music videos for artists including Lionel Richie, Pat Benatar, Diana Ross, Paul McCartney, as well as Michael Jackson's “Beat It” video. The company also produced theatrical trailers for Broadway plays like Evita, Dream Girls, A Chorus Line. Suarez produced & Giraldi Directed the feature film “Dinner Rush” starring Danny Aiello.
Suarez saw an opportunity to extend his production life into the restaurant business saying “It was like going from one theatre to another. I loved that I could translate the art of production into another realm equally as thrilling to me as music and television”. [2]
In 1980 he opened Positano, a restaurant inspired by the cuisine of the Amalfi coast. [3]
Suarez's next creation was Patria. A restaurant.
Since 1991 Suarez has opened:
Name | Location |
---|---|
JoJo | NY, New York |
The Mark Restaurant by Jean-Georges | NY, New York |
Wd~50 | NY, New York |
Gigino Trattoria | NY, New York |
Gigino at Wagner Park | NY, New York |
Perry St | NY, New York |
Pipa | NY, New York |
ABC Kitchen | NY, New York |
ABC Cocina | NY, New York |
Co. | NY, New York |
Mercer Kitchen | NY, New York |
Jean-Georges | NY, New York Shanghai, China |
Market | Paris, France Los Cabos, Mexico |
Kaua'i Grill | Kaua'i, Hāwai'i |
J&G Steakhouse | Phoenix, AZ Washington DC |
J&G Grill | Deer Crest, UT |
Fern | Bahia Beach, PR |
Prime Steakhouse | Las Vegas, NV |
Lagoon | Bora Bora, Fr. Polynesia |
Pump Room | Chicago, IL |
Mercato | Shanghai China |
Le Dock | Fire Island, NY |
Suarez and Jean-Georges Vongerichten have continued to work together for over twenty years creating international restaurants. [5]
Phil Suarez has been nominated by the James Beard Foundation as Outstanding Restaurateur for 2011, 2012, and 2013.
Suarez and his wife Lucy are two of the producers of the musical Kinky Boots , [6] which opened April 2013, in New York City. The musical was nominated for 13 Tony Awards, It has been awarded 6 Tony's, including Best Musical.
Suarez is a partner in the West Perry development company, in which architect Richard Meier [ broken anchor ] developed the 'sister' buildings on the corners of Perry and West streets. These buildings have been the residences of many celebrities.
He has actively served on the board of directors of the Police Athletic League for more than twenty years. He has also been on the board of the New York Urban Coalition, acted as President of the Catholic Big Brothers Association, and is a member of the New York State Commission on Human Rights.
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in Manhattan. The ceremony is usually held in June.
Harvey Forbes Fierstein is an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter, known for his distinctive gravelly voice. He is best known for his theater work in Torch Song Trilogy and Hairspray and film roles in Mrs. Doubtfire, Independence Day, and as the voice of Yao in Mulan and Mulan II. Fierstein won two Tony Awards, Best Actor in a Play and Best Play, for Torch Song Trilogy. He received his third Tony Award, Best Book of a Musical, for the musical La Cage aux Folles and his fourth, the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, for playing Edna Turnblad in Hairspray, a role he revived in its live television event, Hairspray Live! Fierstein also wrote the books for the Tony Award-winning musicals Kinky Boots, Newsies, and Tony Award-nominated, Drama League Award-winner A Catered Affair. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2007.
Anthony Marc Shalhoub is an American actor. His breakout role was as Antonio Scarpacci on the sitcom Wings from 1991 to 1997. He later starred as Adrian Monk in the USA Network series Monk from 2002 to 2009, winning three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. For his supporting role as Abe Weissman on Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
Kinky Boots is a 2005 British comedy-drama film directed by Julian Jarrold and written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth. Nominated for Best Film at the 64th Golden Globe Awards, it is based on a true story. The film tells of struggling shoe factory owner Charlie, who forms an unlikely partnership with Lola, a drag queen, to save the business. Charlie develops a plan to produce custom footwear for drag queens, rather than the men's dress shoes that his firm is known for, alienating many in the process.
The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical is an honor presented at the Tony Awards, a ceremony established in 1947 as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, to actors for quality leading roles in a musical play, whether a new production or a revival. The awards are named after Antoinette Perry, an American actress who died in 1946.
Jean-Georges Vongerichten is a French chef. Vongerichten owns restaurants in Miami Beach, Las Vegas, London, Paris, Shanghai, and Tokyo, as well as New York's Jean-Georges restaurant and Tangará Jean Georges in São Paulo's Palácio Tangará, by Oetker Collection. He is head chef of Eden Rock, St Barths. Vongerichten is the author of five cookbooks, two with Mark Bittman.
Stark Sands is an American actor. He is known for his role as Tunny in the original Broadway cast of American Idiot, and originating the role of Charlie Price in Kinky Boots on Broadway. He is a two-time Tony Award nominee. He is also known for the roles of Lance Sussman in Die, Mommie, Die! and Lt. Nathaniel Fick in Generation Kill. He starred as Dash Parker in FOX's series Minority Report.
Ken Davenport is a two-time Tony Award-winning theatre producer, blogger, and writer. He is best known for his production work on Broadway.
Bob Giraldi is an American film and television director, educator, and restaurateur. He is known for directing the film Dinner Rush (2000) and the music video for Michael Jackson's "Beat It" (1983). Giraldi has been inducted into the Art Director's Hall of Fame, one of the few film directors to be honored; and, in 2014, was the first director ever to be inducted to the Advertising Hall of Fame. His work has garnered several London International Awards, Cannes Advertising Awards, NY International Awards, Addy Awards, Chicago Film Festival Awards, and dozens of Clio Awards. He has been named one of the 101 Stars Behind 100 Years of Advertising.
George Lois was an American art director, designer, and author. Lois was perhaps best known for over 92 covers he designed for Esquire magazine from 1962 to 1973.
William Ellis Porter II is an American actor and singer. Porter gained notice performing on Broadway before starting a solo career as a singer and actor. Porter won the 2013 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his role as Lola in Kinky Boots. He credits the part for "cracking open" his feminine side to confront toxic masculinity. For the role, Porter also won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical and Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical.
Julian Norman Koenig was an American copywriter. He was inducted into The One Club Creative Hall of Fame in 1966.
Gillian Duffy is an English food writer and editor of New York magazine, and 2015 winner of the James Beard Foundation award for Food Journalism - Visual Storytelling. She was born in Salisbury, England and having lived in Weston, Connecticut for some years, now lives in Provence and commutes regularly to New York. Brought up on a Sussex farm, she spent summers in France, and is fluent in French. After Finishing School in London, she worked in various ad agencies "learning the trade".
Papert Koenig Lois, also known as PKL, was an advertising agency founded by Fred Papert, Julian Koenig and George Lois in January 1960. Its first office was in the Seagram Building in Park Avenue in Manhattan. Early clients included Peugeot and Xerox. Its campaigns were successful and it was the first such agency to go public.
Stephen Oremus is an American musician who has worked on Broadway theatre productions as musical director and as orchestrator. His credits include arranger and orchestrator for the music for Avenue Q, musical director and arranger for Wicked, arranger and orchestrator for All Shook Up, and musical director for 9 to 5. His orchestrations for The Book of Mormon won him a Tony Award in 2011, for Best Orchestrations. Oremus also won the Tony Award for Best Orchestrations for Kinky Boots.
Killian Donnelly is an Irish tenor singer and stage actor. He has appeared in musicals such as Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, and Kinky Boots.
Kinky Boots is a musical with music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper and book by Harvey Fierstein.
The 67th Annual Tony Awards were held June 9, 2013, to recognize achievement in Broadway productions during the 2012–13 season. The ceremony returned to Radio City Music Hall in New York City, after two years at Beacon Theatre, and was broadcast live on CBS television. Neil Patrick Harris hosted for the third consecutive year, his fourth time as host. Awards in four of the eight acting categories, were given to African-American performers. Furthermore, it is the second time in Tony history that both directing prizes went to women. Garry Hynes and Julie Taymor had previously won in 1998. Kinky Boots had a season best 13 nominations and 6 awards. Cyndi Lauper, composer of the score for Kinky Boots, is the first solo female winner for Best Original Score.
John Shivers is a theatrical sound designer based in New York, United States. Shivers specialises in the design of sound systems for musical theatre productions on Broadway and internationally.