Bartlett Sher

Bartlett B. Sher^[1] (born March 27, 1959) 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".^[2] Sher has been nominated for nine Tony Awards, winning a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical as well as a Drama Desk Award for his direction of the 2008 Broadway revival of South Pacific.

Bartlett Sher
Sher in 2017
Born	(1959-03-27) March 27, 1959 (age 63) San Francisco, California, US
Occupation	Theatre director
Spouse	Kristin Flanders (2 children)

Early life

Sher was born in San Francisco, California, USA, the son of Aird (Stewart) and Joseph Sher.^[3] He had six siblings, including a twin brother, Bradley. He was raised Catholic (during his teenage years, he found out that his Lithuanian-born father was Jewish).^[4][5] Sher attended St. Ignatius College Preparatory and later the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. He returned to St. Ignatius to teach English and run the theatre program.^[4] During the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games he was influenced by the arts programs associated with the Games, particularly by the work of Polish director Tadeusz Kantor.

Career

Sher served as associate artistic director at Hartford Stage (Hartford, Connecticut) and company director at the Guthrie Theater (Minneapolis, Minnesota) where he worked with Garland Wright,^[6] who was a mentor as was Robert Woodruff. Sher has directed, taught and led workshops across the country and internationally. He was artistic director at Intiman Theatre in Seattle and in 2008 was named resident director at Lincoln Center Theater in New York City.^[7]

Intiman Playhouse, Seattle

Sher served as artistic director at Intiman Playhouse in Seattle from 2000 to 2010. During 2010 Sher handed over this job to his successor, Kate Whoriskey. (The Intiman cancelled its 2011 season due to financial problems.)^[8][9] His productions at Intiman have included:

• Nickel and Dimed, a world premiere by Joan Holden based on the book by Barbara Ehrenreich;
• Tony Kushner's Homebody/Kabul (British housewife becomes fascinated with Afghanistan);^[10]
• Ingmar Bergman's Nora (adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House );
• G. B. Shaw's Arms and the Man;
• Shakespeare's Cymbeline and Titus Andronicus;
• Carlo Goldoni's The Servant of Two Masters ;
• Works by Craig Lucas:

The Dying Gaul (a funny and tragic story of a grieving Hollywood scriptwriter)^[11]

The Singing Forest (neurotics and therapists sparring) — world premiere^[12]

Prayer for My Enemy (dysfunctional family, friendship, war in Iraq)^[13]

The Light in the Piazza, book by Lucas (a chance meeting in Florence leads to romance)^[14]

Other theatre and opera

At the Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA) in New York, Sher directed productions of^[15] Waste by Harley Granville Barker in 2000 (its American premiere, winning the 2000 Obie Award for Best Play), Cymbeline by Shakespeare in 2002, Dom Juan by Molière in 2003, and Pericles, Prince of Tyre by Shakespeare in 2004. He directed Cymbeline, Dom Juan, and Pericles at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. In 2006 Sher directed Gioachino Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) at the Metropolitan Opera in Lincoln Center. In 2009 Sher directed the opera Tales of Hoffmann at the Metropolitan Opera in New York (opening December 3, 2009).^[16] In 2011, Sher directed Mourning Becomes Electra for Seattle Opera.^[17][18] In March 2011, Le Comte Ory by Rossini opened at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, in a production directed by Sher. The reviewer for The New York Times called the production "lively, colorful and inventive."^[19] In June 2011, Sher's production of the world premiere of Nico Muhly's Two Boys was presented at the English National Opera. The American debut took place in October 2013, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The Met commissioned the production.

Sher made his Broadway debut in 2005 when his production of The Light in the Piazza which had originated at the Intiman Playhouse premiered at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre. Sher received Tony Award nominations for The Light in the Piazza and a 2006 revival of Awake and Sing!, winning the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for the 2008 Broadway revival of South Pacific. He received another Tony nomination for the 2009 revival of Joe Turner's Come and Gone. In 2010 Sher directed a musical production of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown based on the 1988 film by Pedro Almodóvar. The show opened November 4, 2010 on Broadway in a Lincoln Center Theater production. The musical was criticized by Ben Brantley of The New York Times as being distracted, gimmicky and overdesigned.^[20] A previously announced revival of Funny Girl that Sher was expected to direct with a Broadway opening in February 2012 was ultimately postponed.^[21]

In December 2012, Golden Boy by Clifford Odets as directed by Sher opened in New York to a positive review in The New York Times.^[22] This production was staged at the Belasco Theatre, the same spot where Golden Boy was first presented on Broadway, 75 years earlier.^[23] The production received eight Tony Award nominations, including Sher's fifth for directing. Sher had directed Odets' Awake and Sing! in 2006. The production ran from December 2012 into January 2013 for 53 performances. In 2014 Sher directed a musical production of the novel The Bridges of Madison County. The production ran for 100 performances from February to May 2014.

Sher directed a Broadway revival of The King and I, which opened at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln Center on April 16, 2015, with Kelli O'Hara as Anna Leonowens, Ken Watanabe as The King of Siam, and Ruthie Anne Miles as Lady Tiang. He received a 2015 Tony Award nomination for Best Direction of a Musical, and the production received Tony Awards for Best Revival of a Musical, Best Actress in a Musical (O'Hara), Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Miles) and Best Costume Design of a Musical (Catherine Zuber). Sher directed a Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof, starring Danny Burstein as Tevye and Jessica Hecht as Golde, which opened at the Broadway Theatre on December 17, 2015 and played its final performance December 31, 2016.^[24]

Sher directed the world premiere of J.T. Roger's play Oslo which opened at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater in July 2016.^[25] The production transferred to the Vivian Beaumont Theater for an open run in April 2017.^[26] Sher directed the 2021 television film adaptation of Oslo.^[27] Sher received Tony Award nominations for Oslo, a 2018 revival of My Fair Lady, and the 2018 play adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird. In 2023, it was announced that he would direct the stage musical adaptation of Damien Chazelle's 2016 film La La Land.^[28]

Personal life

Sher lives in Manhattan with his wife Kristin Flanders (a Yale trained actress) and two daughters.^[2] His father, an insurance broker whom he described to The New York Times as a "brilliant businessman, very charismatic", was also a serial philanderer who had a second family with another woman.^[2] Sher's childhood was marked by a drawn-out divorce.

His mother soon met a Chinese-American man, Doug Chung, who moved in, helped rear the family and brought them much needed stability. Sher's experiences with interracial blended families informed his directing of South Pacific.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2002	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Director of a Play	Cymbeline	Nominated
	Joe A. Callaway Award			Won
2004	Joseph Jefferson Award	Director of a Musical	The Light in the Piazza	Nominated
2005	Tony Award	Best Direction of a Musical		Nominated
	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Director of a Musical		Nominated
	Outer Critics Circle Award	Outstanding Director of a Musical		Nominated
2006	Tony Award	Best Direction of a Play	Awake and Sing!	Nominated
	Outer Critics Circle Award	Outstanding Director of a Play		Nominated
2008	Tony Award	Best Direction of a Musical	South Pacific	Won
	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Director of a Musical		Won
	Outer Critics Circle Award	Outstanding Director of a Musical		Won
2009	Tony Award	Best Direction of a Play	Joe Turner's Come and Gone	Nominated
	Outer Critics Circle Award	Outstanding Director of a Play		Nominated
2013	Tony Award	Best Direction of a Play	Golden Boy	Nominated
	Outer Critics Circle Award	Outstanding Director of a Play		Nominated
2014	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Director of a Musical	The Bridges of Madison County	Nominated
2015	Tony Award	Best Direction of a Musical	The King and I	Nominated
2016	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Director of a Musical	Fiddler on the Roof	Won
2017	Obie Award	Ensemble Award	Oslo	Won
	Tony Award	Best Direction of a Play		Nominated
2018	Tony Award	Best Direction of a Musical	My Fair Lady	Nominated
	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Director of a Musical		Nominated
	Outer Critics Circle Award	Outstanding Director of a Musical		Won
2019	Tony Award	Best Direction of a Play	To Kill a Mockingbird	Nominated
	Outer Critics Circle Award	Outstanding Director of a Play		Nominated
2022	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Director of a Musical	Intimate Apparel	Nominated

Other recognition

In 2017, Sher received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member Jeremy Irons.^[29][30]

In 2017, The New York Pops celebrated its 34th birthday with a gala honoring Sher and Kelli O'Hara.^[31]

See also

• Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play — 2006 nomination (Awake and Sing!), 2009 nomination (Joe Turner's Come and Gone), 2013 nomination (Golden Boy), 2017 nomination (Oslo), and 2019 nomination (To Kill a Mockingbird)
• Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical — 2005 nomination (The Light in the Piazza), 2008 winner (South Pacific), 2015 nomination (The King and I), and 2018 nomination (My Fair Lady)

Further reading

• "Meet the Nominees: And the Winner Is..." The American Theatre Wing's Tony Awards. 2008. from the original on 22 August 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
• Bartlett Sher (September 2005). . American Theatre Magazine (transcript). Interviewed by Steven Drukman. Archived from the original on 2008-06-08. Retrieved 2008-08-23.

References

1. "College of the Holy Cross – Holy Cross Magazine". Retrieved 26 December 2015.
2. Alex Witchel, The Stages of Bart Sher, The New York Times, February 24, 2008.
3. Korbelik, Jeff."The Bond of Brothers:As Close as You Would Expect Twins to Be" JournalStar.com (Lincoln), February 20, 2010
4. Drukman, Steven."The Essential Bartlett Sher" 2008-06-08 at the Wayback Machine TheatreCommunicationsGroup.com, September 2005, accessed August 23, 2011
5. "Bartlett Sher's production of South Pacific remains younger than springtime". The Australian. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
6. Gussow, Mel."Garland Wright obituary" The New York Times (requires registration), July 26, 1998.
7. Berson, Misha.Bartlett Sher, Tony Award-winning director, to leave Intiman" SeattleTimes.com, May 19, 2009
8. "Intiman release" IntimanTheatre.org, accessed August 23, 2011
9. Healy, Patrick."Seattle Theater Takes No-Frills Approach to Filling a Top Job"The New York Times, August 16, 2009.
10. "Radio interview" NPR.org, December 3, 2001
11. "Script summary" StagePlays.com, accessed August 23, 2011^{[dead link]}
12. Isherwood, Charles."Modern Neurotics Mingling With the Ghosts of Vienna"The New York Times, January 29, 2005
13. Huffman, Kelly."Review:'Prayer for My Enemy'" TheaterMania.com, August 10, 2007
14. Simonson, Robert. "Tony-Winning Light in the Piazza Extends at Lincoln Center Until Jan. 1" 2012-10-22 at the Wayback Machine Playbill.com, June 9, 2005
15. "Production history" TFANA.org, accessed August 23, 2011 September 25, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
16. Schweitzer, Vivien. "Swan Song of Offenbach, the Outsider"The New York Times, November 25, 2009
17. "Electra production" SeattleOpera.org, accessed August 23, 2011
18. Bartlett Sher interview about Electra and New York City Opera SeattleOpera.org, accessed August 23, 2011
19. Tommasini, Anthony. "With Rossini’s Mix of This and That, the Met Finds an Excuse for a Romp"The New York Times, March 25, 2011
20. Brantley, Ben."Here's Your Valium, What's Your Hurry?"The New York Times, November 5, 2010, pg C1
21. Gans, Andrew. "Los Angeles and Broadway Engagements of 'Funny Girl' Postponed" 2011-11-04 at the Wayback Machine playbill.com, November 3, 2011
22. Isherwood, Charles "The Sweet Science vs. the Stradivarius", The New York Times, December 6, 2012
23. New York Theatre "Golden Boy Reviews are Mostly Raves..."
24. League, The Broadway. "Fiddler on the Roof – Broadway Musical – 2015 Revival - IBDB". www.ibdb.com. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
25. Theater, Lincoln Center. "Oslo (Newhouse) - Lincoln Center Theater". Lincoln Center Theater. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
26. League, The Broadway. "Oslo – Broadway Play – Original - IBDB". www.ibdb.com. Retrieved 27 April 2018.
27. Grater, Tom (2020-11-09). "Ruth Wilson & Andrew Scott Starring In HBO Movie 'Oslo'; Spielberg Exec'ing Tony-Winning Play Adaptation". Deadline. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
28. Galuppo, Mia (February 7, 2023). "'La La Land' to Become a Broadway Musical". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
29. "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
30. "2017 Summit Overview Photo".
31. "Kelli O'Hara and Bartlett Sher Honored at the New York Pops Gala". www.playbill.com. Playbill.

External links

• Bartlett Sher at the Internet Broadway Database  
• Bartlett Sher at IMDb
• Intiman Theatre website
• Lincoln Center Theater website
• with Bartlett Sher, May 19, 2008