Desmond Steven McAnuff (born June 19, 1952) is the

American-Canadian American Canadians are Canadians of American descent. The term is most often used to refer to Canadians who migrated from or have ancestry from the United States. Demography According to the 2016 Census, 29,590 Canadians reported American as ...

former artistic director of Canada's

Stratford Festival The Stratford Festival is a theatre festival which runs from April to October in the city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Founded by local journalist Tom Patterson in 1952, the festival was formerly known as the Stratford Shakespearean Festival ...

and director of such Broadway

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

productions as '' Big River'', '' The Who's Tommy'' and '' Jersey Boys''.

Biography

Born in Princeton, Illinois to John Nelson and Ellen Boyd, McAnuff is a citizen of United States and Canada. He lived briefly in

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, attending grade 4 at St. George's Public School. His family then moved to Scarborough,

, at the time a suburb of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

, and attended high school at Woburn Collegiate Institute where he made his first theatrical appearance in the school's production of ''

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, ''The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. S ...

'', playing the role of Kurt. Later, with the help of two friends, he wrote the music and lyrics to a

rock musical A rock musical is a musical theatre work with rock music. The genre of rock musical may overlap somewhat with album musicals, concept albums and song cycles, as they sometimes tell a story through the rock music, and some album musicals and con ...

called ''Urbania'', which was performed by the high school drama club. He attended Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, but never completed his degree. In June 2011, he was awarded an honorary degree by the Ryerson Theatre School. McAnuff 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 New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where he co-founded the Dodger Theatre Company in 1978, where he also directed the first production, entitled '' Gimme Shelter''. He is a former faculty member of the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely ...

. McAnuff was

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since th ...

of the La Jolla Playhouse, which he revived in 1983, during which time the theatre won more than 200 awards. For the Playhouse, he directed ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with ''Ham ...

'', '' A Mad World'', ''My Masters'', '' Big River'',''

As You Like It ''As You Like It'' is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 h ...

'', '' The Sea Gull'', ''

The Matchmaker ''The Matchmaker'' is a 1954 play by Thornton Wilder, a rewritten version of his 1938 play ''The Merchant of Yonkers''. History The play has a long and colorful history. John Oxenford's 1835 one-act farce ''A Day Well Spent'' had been extend ...

'', '' A Walk in the Woods'', ''Two Rooms'', ''80 Days'', ''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

'', ''

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum ''A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum'' is a Musical theatre, musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart. Inspired by the farces of the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman playwright Plautu ...

'', ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night'', or ''What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Vi ...

'', '' Three Sisters'', ''

Elmer Gantry ''Elmer Gantry'' is a satirical novel written by Sinclair Lewis in 1926 that presents aspects of the religious activity of America in fundamentalist and evangelistic circles and the attitudes of the 1920s public toward it. The novel's protagonis ...

'', '' Much Ado About Nothing'', '' The Who's Tommy'' and ''

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying ''How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'' may refer to: * ''How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'' (book), a 1952 book written by Shepherd Mead and the inspiration for the musical of the same name. * ''How to Succeed in Bu ...

''. He turned over his leadership of the playhouse in 2005 to Michael Greif in order to take a position of leadership at Canada's

Stratford Shakespeare Festival The Stratford Festival is a theatre festival which runs from April to October in the city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Founded by local journalist Tom Patterson in 1952, the festival was formerly known as the Stratford Shakespearean Festival ...

. In 2008, after a year sharing power with Don Shipley and

Marti Maraden Marti Maraden (born June 22, 1945 in El Centro, California) is a Canadian actor and director. She emigrated to Canada in 1968, and became a leading actor at the Stratford Festival in the 1970s. She was artistic director of the National Arts Cent ...

, McAnuff became the sole artistic director at Stratford. McAnuff has directed two motion pictures, '' The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle'' (2000) and ''

Cousin Bette ''La Cousine Bette'' (, ''Cousin Bette (given name), Bette'') is an 1846 novel by French author Honoré de Balzac. Set in mid-19th-century Paris, it tells the story of an unmarried middle-aged woman who plots the destruction of her extended fami ...

'' (1998), both of which failed critically and at the box-office. However, the animated version of ''

The Iron Giant ''The Iron Giant'' is a 1999 American animated science fiction film produced by Warner Bros. Feature Animation and directed by Brad Bird in his directorial debut. It is based on the 1968 novel '' The Iron Man'' by Ted Hughes (which was pub ...

'', which he served as producer, earned several awards. In 2010 McAnuff was the subject of a documentary special entitled ''Des McAnuff: A Life In Stages'' which was a part of the broadcast schedule on

Bravo! CTV Drama Channel (formerly known as Bravo) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by Bell Media. The channel was founded as the Canadian version of the U.S. channel Bravo (which is now owned by NBCUniversal) on January 1, 1995 ...

in Canada for February 7, 2010. During the 2011-12 Season at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is opera ...

he directed a new production of

Charles Gounod Charles-François Gounod (; ; 17 June 181818 October 1893), usually known as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been ''Faust (opera), Faust'' (1859); his ''Roméo et Juliette'' (18 ...

's '' Faust'' starring soprano Marina Poplavskaya and tenor Jonas Kaufmann. On Sunday, October 23, 2011, a tribute for McAnuff was given by staff and students from Ryerson's Theatre School.

Personal life

McAnuff married actress Susan Berman ( Smithereens) in 1984; the couple has one daughter, Julia McAnuff, who played a young Karen Sympathy in '' The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle''. The couple divorced in 2009. In 2012, McAnuff married Bryna McCann.

Stage productions

* '' Big River'' (1985) * '' A Walk in the Woods'' (1988) * ''Dangerous Games'' (1989) * '' The Who's Tommy'' (1993) * ''

'' (1995) * ''Tartuffe'' (2002) * '' Dracula, the Musical'' (2004) * ''

700 Sundays ''700 Sundays'' is an autobiography written by Billy Crystal. The title refers to the number of Sundays shared by Billy and his father, Jack Crystal, who died when Billy was 15. Broadway Crystal's stage adaptation was originally produced in 2004 ...

'' (2004) * '' Jersey Boys'' (2005) * ''

'' (2008) * '' Caesar and Cleopatra'' (2008) *''

Guys and Dolls ''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on " The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also b ...

'' (2009) * ''

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum ''A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum'' is a Musical theatre, musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart. Inspired by the farces of the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman playwright Plautu ...

'' (2009) * ''

'' (2010) * '' The Tempest'' (2010) * ''

Jesus Christ Superstar ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Gospels' accounts of the Passion, the work interprets the psychology of Jesus and other characters, with ...

'' (2011) * ''

'' (2011) * ''A Word or Two'' (2012) * ''

Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (c. 1173–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (121 ...

'' (2012) * '' Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots'' (2012) * ''The Who's Tommy'' (2013) * ''700 Sundays'' (2014) * '' Summer: The Donna Summer Musical'' (2017) (book writer and director) *''

Ain't Too Proud ''Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations'' is a 2018 jukebox musical with music and lyrics by The Temptations and a book by Dominique Morisseau. Based on the story of The Temptations, the musical had a series of regional produc ...

'' (2017)

Awards and nominations

McAnuff has won two Tony Awards: as Best Director (Musical) in 1985 for ''Big River'' and again in 1993 for ''The Who's Tommy''. He was nominated in 1993 for Best Book (Musical), with

Pete Townshend Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is co-founder, leader, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s. Towns ...

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 Direction of a Musical, for ''Jersey Boys'', based on the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Although he did not win, the production won Best Musical that year. In 2019 he received another Tony nomination for Best Direction of a Musical for ''Ain't Too Proud''. He was awarded the Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Director of 1996 for ''The Who's Tommy'' at the Shaftesbury Theatre. In May 2012, McAnuff received the National Arts Centre Award, a companion award of the

Governor General's Performing Arts Awards A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts. He was invested as a

Member of the Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

(CM) in 2013.

References

External links

* *
Des McAnuff ''Downstage Center'' interview at AmericanTheatreWing.org

''Mise en Scène''
a short film tribute for McNuff's National Arts Centre Award,

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary fi ...