Des McAnuff

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Desmond McAnuff

Born June 19, 1952 (1952-06-19) (age 55)
Princeton, Illinois, United States

Desmond McAnuff (born June 19, 1952 in Princeton, Illinois) is an American award-winning director of Broadway musicals Big River and The Who's Tommy. He has also produced Tony award-winning revivals of Broadway classics like Guys and Dolls, The Music Man, Into the Woods, 42nd Street, The King and I, and many others.

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[edit] Biography

McAnuff is a citizen of United States, and Canada, and was raised in Scarborough, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto. He attended high school at Woburn Collegiate where he made his first theatrical appearance in the school's production of The Sound of Music, playing the role of Kurt. Later, with the help of two friends, he wrote the music and lyrics to a rock musical called Urbania, which was performed by the high school drama club.

McAnuff received training from Toronto's foremost drama coach Basya Hunter, to whom he has announced his indebtedness.[citation needed] He worked with the Toronto Free Theatre as a director, and after several plays that had limited success, he left the Canadian scene for New York City.

There, McAnuff co-founded the Dodger Theatre Company in 1978, where he also directed the first production, entitled Gimme Shelter. He has directed for the American Repertory Theatre at Harvard, also Yale Rep, and is a former faculty member of the Juilliard School.

McAnuff was Artistic Director of the La Jolla Playhouse, which he revived in 1983, during which time the theatre won more than 200 awards.[citation needed] For the Playhouse, he directed Romeo and Juliet, A Mad World, My Masters, Big River, As You Like It, The Sea Gull, The Matchmaker, A Walk in the Woods, Two Rooms, 80 Days, Macbeth, A Funny Thing Happened...Forum, Twelfth Night, Three Sisters, Elmer Gantry, Much Ado About Nothing, The Who's Tommy and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. McAnuff turned over his leadership of the playhouse in April 2007 to Christopher Ashley in order to take a position of leadership at Canada's Stratford Festival.[1][2]

McAnuff has directed two motion pictures, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (2000) and Cousin Bette (1998), both of which failed critically and at the box-office. However, the animated version of The Iron Giant, which he served as producer, earned several awards.

McAnuff is married to actress Susan Berman and they are the parents of Julia Violet, born in 1990. They married in 1984 and the ceremony took place on the La Jolla Playhouse stage.

[edit] Stage productions

  • Big River (1985)
  • A Walk in the Woods (1988)
  • The Gospel at Colonus (1988)
  • Dangerous Games (1989)
  • The Grapes of Wrath (1990)
  • Prelude to a Kiss (1990)
  • 'The Who's Tommy (1993)
  • How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1995)
  • I Am My Own Wife (2003)
  • Dracula, the Musical (2004)
  • 700 Sundays (2004)
  • Jersey Boys (2005)

[edit] Awards and Nominations

McAnuff won Broadway's Tony Award as Best Director (Musical) in 1985 for Big River and in 1993 for The Who's Tommy. He was nominated twice during the 1990s: in 1993 for Best Book (Musical), with Pete Townshend on The Who's Tommy and in 1995 as Best Director (Musical) for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

He was nominated again in 2006 for Best Director of a Musical, for Jersey Boys, based on the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Though he did not win, the production went on to win Best Musical that year.[3]

Additionally, McAnuff was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Director of 1996 for The Who's Tommy at the Shaftesbury Theatre.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Des McAnuff to Depart from La Jolla Playhouse in 2007 (BroadwayWorld.com)
  2. ^ http://www.stratfordfestival.ca/about/pdf/NR28A2006.pdf
  3. ^ Biography part of imdb.com entry

[edit] External links


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Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical

Michael Bennett (1976) · Gene Saks (1977) · Richard Maltby, Jr. (1978) · Harold Prince (1979) · Harold Prince (1980) · Wilford Leach (1981) · Tommy Tune (1982) · Trevor Nunn (1983) · Arthur Laurents (1984) · Des McAnuff (1985) · Wilford Leach (1986) · Trevor Nunn / John Caird (1987) · Harold Prince (1988) · Jerome Robbins (1989) · Tommy Tune (1990) · Tommy Tune (1991) · Jerry Zaks (1992) · Des McAnuff (1993) · Nicholas Hytner (1994) · Harold Prince (1995) · George C. Wolfe (1996) · Walter Bobbie (1997) · Julie Taymor (1998) · Matthew Bourne (1999) · Michael Blakemore (2000)