Jerry Zaks | |
---|---|
Born | |
Occupation(s) | Theatre, film director |
Spouse | Jill Rose (2 children) |
Jerry Zaks (born September 7, 1946) is an American stage and television director, and actor. He won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play and Drama Desk Award for directing The House of Blue Leaves (1986), Lend Me a Tenor (1989), and Six Degrees of Separation (1991) and the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical and Drama Desk Award for Guys and Dolls (1992).
Zaks was born in Stuttgart, Germany, the son of Holocaust survivors Lily (Gliksman) and Sy Zaks, a butcher. [1] His family immigrated to the United States in 1948, finally settling in Paterson, New Jersey, where he graduated from Eastside High School in 1963. [2] [3] He graduated from Dartmouth College and received a Master of Fine Arts from Smith College. [4]
He made his Broadway acting debut in the original production of Grease as "Kenickie" and appeared in Tintypes in 1980. He made his directing debut in 1981 with the off-Broadway production of Christopher Durang's Beyond Therapy , which co-starred Sigourney Weaver. [5] He has directed many Broadway productions, both musicals and dramas.
He has also directed many Off-Broadway productions, several at Playwrights Horizons and the Public Theater. He directed the City Center Encores! productions of Girl Crazy (November 2009), [6] Stairway to Paradise (May 2007), [7] and Bye Bye Birdie (May 2004). [8]
He was the director of the new musical The 101 Dalmatians Musical , which toured the United States from October 2009 through April 2010. [9] Zaks was named "creative consultant" for the new musical The Addams Family , which opened on Broadway in April 2010. [10]
He directed the Broadway production of Sister Act , which opened in Spring 2011. [11]
Zaks served as Resident Director at Lincoln Center from 1986 to 1990 and is a founding member of the Ensemble Studio Theatre. [12]
As an actor, Zaks' screen credits include Outrageous Fortune , Crimes and Misdemeanors , and Husbands and Wives . On television he has appeared in M*A*S*H and The Edge of Night and directed episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond , Frasier , Hope and Faith , and Two and a Half Men , among others. He also directed the feature films Marvin's Room and Who Do You Love? [13] Marvin's Room won the Golden St. George at the 20th Moscow International Film Festival. [14]
Zaks received the George Abbott Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater in 1994 and an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Dartmouth College in 1999. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2013. [15]
Zaks married Jill Rose, an actress, on January 14, 1979; they have two children, Emma and Hannah Zaks. [1]
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1987 | Outrageous Fortune | Tobacco Clerk | [16] | |
1989 | Crimes and Misdemeanors | Man on Campus | [16] | |
1992 | Husbands and Wives | Dinner Party Guest | [17] | |
1996 | Marvin's Room | Director | Directorial debut | [18] |
2008 | Who Do You Love? | Director | [16] | |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1973 | The New Temperatures Rising Show | Episode: "The Misguided Appendectomy" | [16] | |
1973 | M*A*S*H | Cpl. Phil Walker | Episode: "L.I.P. (Local Indigenous Personnel)" | [16] |
1980 | Attica | Lenny Becker | TV movie | |
1981 | The Gentleman Bandit | Carl Schnee | TV movie | |
1983–1984 | The Edge of Night | Louis Van Dine | 24 episodes | |
1996 | O'Henry's Christmas | Director | Segment: "The Last Leaf" | [16] |
2000 | The Beat | Episode: "Can I Get a Witness?" | ||
2000 | The Man Who Came to Dinner | Director | Television movie | [16] |
2001 | Kristin | Director | 2 episodes | [16] |
2001–2004 | Everybody Loves Raymond | Director | 21 episodes | [16] |
2002 | Bram and Alice | Director | 7 episodes | [16] |
2002–2003 | Frasier | Director | 4 episodes | [16] |
2004 | All About the Andersons | Director | 2 episodes | [16] |
2004 | Married to the Kellys | Director | Episode: "Double Dating" | [16] |
2004 | Hope and Faith | Director | 2 episodes | [16] |
2006–2007 | Two and a Half Men | Director | 3 episodes | [16] |
Year | Association | Category | Project | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1986 | Tony Awards | Best Direction of a Play | The House of Blue Leaves | Won | [48] |
1988 | Best Direction of a Musical | Anything Goes | Nominated | [49] | |
1989 | Best Direction of a Play | Lend Me a Tenor | Won | [50] | |
1991 | Six Degrees of Separation | Won | [51] | ||
1992 | Best Direction of a Musical | Guys and Dolls | Won | [52] | |
1995 | Smokey Joe's Cafe | Nominated | [53] | ||
1996 | A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum | Nominated | [54] | ||
2017 | Hello, Dolly! | Nominated | [55] | ||
1980 | Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Tintypes | Nominated | |
1986 | Outstanding Director of a Play | The Marriage of Bette & Boo / The House of Blue Leaves | Won | ||
1988 | Outstanding Director of a Musical | Anything Goes | Nominated | ||
1989 | Outstanding Director of a Play | Lend Me a Tenor | Won | ||
1991 | Six Degrees of Separation | Won | |||
1991 | Outstanding Director of a Musical | Assassins | Nominated | ||
1992 | Guys and Dolls | Won | |||
2006 | Outstanding Director of a Play | The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial | Nominated | ||
2022 | Drama League Award | Best Direction of a Musical | The Music Man | Nominated | |
1985 | Obie Award | The Marriage of Bette and Boo / The Foreigner | Won | ||
1988 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Best Direction | Wenceslas Square | Won | |
2022 | Best Direction of a Musical | Mrs. Doubtfire | Nominated | ||
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by The Village Voice newspaper to theater artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. Starting just after the 2014 ceremony, the American Theatre Wing became the joint presenter and administrative manager of the Obie Awards. The Obie Awards are considered off-Broadway's highest honor, similar to the Tony Awards for Broadway productions.
Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero, known professionally as Chita Rivera, was an American actress, singer, and dancer. Rivera received numerous accolades including two Tony Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, and a Drama League Award. She was the first Latina and the first Latino American to receive a Kennedy Center Honor in 2002, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. She won the Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2018.
Robert Alan Morse was an American actor. Morse started his career as a star on Broadway acting in musicals and plays before expanding into film and television. He earned numerous accolades including two Tony Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
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.
Victoria Clark is an American actress, musical theatre soprano, and director. Clark has performed in numerous Broadway musicals and in other theatre, film and television works. Her voice can also be heard on various cast albums and in 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.
Walter Bobbie is an American theatre director, choreographer, and occasional actor and dancer. Bobbie has directed both musicals and plays on Broadway and Off-Broadway, and was the Artistic Director of the New York City Center Encores! concert series. He directed the long-running Broadway revival of the musical Chicago. His most well-known acting role was Nicely-Nicely Johnson in the 1992 Broadway revival of Guys and Dolls.
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.
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. He starred as Marvin in the 2016 Broadway revival of Falsettos. He also starred as Tom Levitt on the NBC musical-drama television series Smash and Vox in the adult animated black comedy musical series Hazbin Hotel.
The House of Blue Leaves is a play by American playwright John Guare which premiered Off-Broadway in 1971, and was revived in 1986, both Off-Broadway and on Broadway, and was again revived on Broadway in 2011. The play won the Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play and the Obie Award for Best American Play in 1971. The play is set in 1965, when Pope Paul VI visited New York City.
Rob Ashford is an American stage director and choreographer. He is a Tony Award, Olivier Award, Emmy Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award winner.
Tintypes is a musical revue conceived by Mary Kyte with Mel Marvin and Gary Pearle. The score, featuring works by George M. Cohan, John Philip Sousa, Joseph E. Howard, Scott Joplin, and Victor Herbert, among others, is a blend of the patriotic songs, romantic tunes, and ragtime popular during the era between 1897 and 1914. The show features five actors representing various historical characters of the period, including Emma Goldman, Theodore Roosevelt, and Anna Held.
Alex Timbers is an American writer and director best known for his work on stage and television. He has received numerous accolades including two Tony Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a Drama Desk Award, as well as nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Grammy Award. Timbers received the Drama League Founder's Award for Excellence in Directing and the Jerome Robbins Award for Directing.
John Rando is an American stage director who won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for Urinetown the Musical in 2002. He received his 2nd nomination in the same category in 2015 for the 2014 Broadway revival of On the Town.
Warren Carlyle is a British director and choreographer who was born in Norwich, Norfolk, England. He received Drama Desk Award nominations for Outstanding Choreography and Outstanding Director of a Musical for the 2009 revival of Finian's Rainbow.
David Jonathan Pittu is an American actor, writer and director.
Sergio Trujillo is a theater director, choreographer, dancer and actor. Born in Colombia and raised in Toronto, Canada, he is now 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.
Thomas Kail is an American theatre and television director, known for directing the Off-Broadway and Broadway productions of Lin-Manuel Miranda's musicals In the Heights and Hamilton, garnering the 2016 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for the latter. Kail was awarded the Kennedy Center Honor in 2018. He has also directed the television series Fosse/Verdon (2019), for which he was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards.
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is a comedy play written by Christopher Durang. The story revolves around the relationships of three middle-aged single siblings, two of whom live together, and takes place during a visit by the third, Masha, who supports them. They discuss their lives and loves, argue, and Masha threatens to sell the house. Some of the show's elements were derived from works of Anton Chekhov, including several character names and sibling relationships, the play's setting in a country house with a vestigial cherry orchard, the performance of an "avant-garde" play by one of the main characters, and the themes of old vs. new generations, real vs. assumed identities, the challenges of a woman growing older after successes in a career that seems to be ending, the hope and carelessness of youth, intrafamilial rivalries, and the possible loss of an ancestral home.
Leigh Silverman is an American director for the stage, both off-Broadway and on Broadway. She was nominated for the 2014 Tony Award, Best Direction of a Musical for the musical Violet and the 2008 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Director of a Play for the play From Up Here.