Stewart F. Lane

Stewart F. Lane

Stewart F. Lane
Background information
Born May 3, 1951
Origin New York City, United States
Occupation(s) Assistant, Producer, Theatre Owner/Operator
Website www.mrbroadway.com

Stewart F. Lane (born 1951) is a six-time Tony Award winning Broadway producer with two shows currently on Broadway: Priscilla Queen of the Desert andWar Horse. He also has a DVD out now based on his critically acclaimed book, Let's Put on a Show![1] and a new book called "Jews of Broadway" He has also produced in Dublin and London (Olivier nominated twice). In addition to publishing two plays, he has directed across the country, working with Stephen Baldwin, Shannon Doherty, Chazz Palminteri, and more. He is co-owner of the Palace Theatre (Broadway) with the Nederlander Organization and a partner in the Tribeca Grill with Robert De Niro. Having been an actor, Mr. Lane has begun public speaking about his theatrical ventures.

Tony Awards
1991 Best Musical - The Will Rogers Follies
1984 Best Musical - La Cage aux Folles
2002 Best Musical - Thoroughly Modern Millie
2006 Best Theatrical Event - Jay Johnson: The Two and Only
2011 Best Play - War Horse
2014 Best Musical - A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder

Olivier Awards
2013 Best Musical - Top Hat

Biography

Early life

Lane was born in New York, New York, the son of Leonard Charles Lane (a corporate executive) and Mildred Chesanow Lane. He has an older sister and a younger brother. Lane graduated Great Neck North High School in 1969 and attended C. W. Post College for one year before transferring to Boston University College of Fine Arts where he graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree in Acting in 1973.[2]

Career

In 1974, Lane earned his Actors Equity card performing in The Little Theater on the Square in Sullivan, Illinois playing in Oklahoma! starring Peter Palmer. He later toured in summer stock with Van Johnson in Send Me No Flowers (1975). In 1976, Lane worked at the Piedmont Repertory Company starring in Picnic, The Philadelphia Story and The Odd Couple. In the spring of 1977, Lane co-starred with Ed Herlihy in Never Too Late at the Fox Hollow Dinner theater in Jericho, New York. Later that year, he joined the Screen Actors Guild and AFTRA unions and moved to California and wrote the first draft of his play In the Wings.[3] Returning to New York in 1978 he worked as assistant house manager at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre during the run of Same Time, Next Year by Bernard Slade. Lane also worked at the theater during Tribute starring Jack Lemmon and later at the Alvin Theatre during the run of Annie. His first billing as Assistant to the Producer was for Whose Life Is It Anyway? starring Tom Conti.

Off-Broadway and regionally, Mr. Lane produced: Jay Johnson: The Two and Only, Fortune's Fools, Sarah Abraham by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Marsha Norman, Eating Raoul - The Musical," "Hitchcock's The 39 Steps" and The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz composed by Allen Menken.

In London, Mr. Lane produced Thoroughly Modern Millie (Olivier Nomination), Ragtime (Olivier Nomination and Lobby Hero. In Dublin, he produced the world premiere of JFK: A Musical Drama

Expanding into film, Mr. Lane produced the documentary Show Business: the Road to Broadway and Brooklyn Rules starring Alec Baldwin and Freddy Prinze Jr.. Mr. Lane produced the Broadway production of Company starring Raul Ezparza, Cyrano de Bergerac for Great Performances on PBS.

Mr. Lane has written "Jews on Broadway", (McFarland Publishers) Let's Put on a Show, "Black Broadway: African Americans on the Great White Way," (Square One Publishers - February 2, 2015 - ISBN 978-0757003882)[4] and the plays In the Wings (published in the spring 2008 by Hal Leonard), If It Was Easy (published by Performing Books and nominated for Best New Play by the American Theatre Critics Association), and "A Moment in Time" (With music and lyrics by John Denver.). He has directed extensively with productions of A Moment in Time (at the Dix Hill Performing Arts Center in Huntington New York), The Foreigner, The Gig, Ain't Misbehavin', If It Was Easy, The Golden Age, Frankenstein, Final Appeal with Chaz Palminteri and Stephen Baldwin, and In the Wings with Shannen Doherty.

Representing former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Mr. Lane served on the Board of Directors at the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center and the Transitional Committee where appointed both the Commissioner for Cultural Affairs and the Commissioner of Film, Theater & Broadcasting.

Currently, Lane is President and Chief Executive Officer of Stellar Productions International, Inc. and Stewart F. Lane Productions, Inc. He is the co-owner and operator of the Palace Theatre in NY, and partnered in the Tribeca Grill Restaurant with Robert De Niro.

Mr. Lane previously sat on the Board of Directors of Rogar Studios and currently is on the Board of Trustees of The Actor's Fund of America. Mr. Lane sat on the Board of Governors of The Broadway League for eleven years and still remains a member of the League. He is on The Board of Advisors for The American Theater Wing and previously The Times Square Group. Mr. Lane is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Theatre Museum. See Awards and nominations below.

Giving back to the theater community, Mr. Lane has created scholarship funds at Columbia University Business Graduate School, and Boston University College of Fine Arts Undergraduate School, (B.F.A) as well as major support to the University of Massachusetts, Emerson College and Fiorello H. La Guardia High School for the Performing Arts School.

In 2013, Mr. Lane co-founded BroadwayHD.[5]

Personal life

Lane is married to fellow producer Bonnie Comley[6] and they live in NYC with their five children.

Filmography

  • Puppet on a Chain (1971) as George Lemay
  • Curtain Time (1994) (producer)
  • I Want to Be a Hilton (1 episode 2005) as Charity Auction Patron
  • ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway (2007) (producer)
  • Brooklyn Rules (2007) (producer)
  • Great Performances (TV Series) (3 episodes, 2007 - 2010) (producer)
  • A Nanny for Christmas (2010) (actor, producer) as Mike Edelstein
  • American Bandits: Frank and Jesse James (2010) (producer)
  • Company (2011) (producer)
  • The Dog Who Saved Halloween (2011) (producer)
  • A Christmas Wedding Tail (2011) (producer)
  • Stolen Child (2012) (producer)
  • Wyatt Earp's Revenge (2012) (producer)
  • A Christmas Wedding Date (2012) (producer)
  • The Dog Who Saved the Holidays (2012) (actor, producer) as Mr. Edelstein
  • Summoned' (2013) (producer)
  • Romeo and Juliet (2014) (producer)
  • The Drama League: 100 Years and Counting (2014) (producer)
  • Christmas in Palm Springs (2014) (producer)
  • Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill (2015) (producer)

Notable stage productions

Awards and Nominations

External links

Published articles

References

  1. ↑ Stewart F. Lane's Let's Put on a Show!
  2. ↑ BU Alumni Web :: Bostonia :: Winter 2003
  3. ↑ In The Wings - A New Comedy by Stewart F. Lane
  4. ↑ http://www.talkinbroadway.com/bookreviews/gwwbb.html
  5. ↑ New York Times Article
  6. ↑ Stewart F. Lane at the Internet Broadway Database