Michael Mayer (director)
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Michael Mayer (born June 27, 1960) is an American
theatre director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...
,
filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...
, and
playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...
. He won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical in 2007 for directing '' Spring Awakening''.


Early life and education

Mayer was born in
Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Located just northwest of Washington, D.C., it is a major business and government center of the Washington metropolitan region ...
, to Jewish parents Jerry and Louise Mayer (born 1936). For his bar mitzvah, he asked his parents for a movie camera and received a Super 8 single lens with a zoom. His first film was a dramatization of " The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia". After graduating from Charles W. Woodward High School, he studied at the
University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...
before transferring to study acting at
New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
(NYU)'s Graduate Acting Program at the Tisch School of the Arts, where he earned an MFA in Theater in 1983.


Career

Mayer began performing onstage in New York City, performing in plays such as Tony Kushner's '' A Bright Room Called Day,'' but by 1990 had turned his efforts to directing, working as a freelancer while also teaching at NYU, the
Lincoln Center Theater The Vivian Beaumont Theater is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater in the Lincoln Center complex at 150 West 65th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Operated by the nonprofit Lincoln Center Theater (LCT ...
Institute, and the
Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...
. He also served as an assistant director for Kushner's ''Hydriotaphia''.


Theatre

In 2007, Mayer won his first Tony Award for his direction of the
musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...
adaptation of '' Spring Awakening'' (2006), which also won the award for Best Musical. He was nominated for the 2002 Tony for his direction of '' Thoroughly Modern Millie'', which he then directed on London's West End. Mayer also won the
Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Awards are among the most esteemed honors in New York theater, recognizing outstanding achievements across Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway productions within the same categories. The awards are considered a signific ...
for Outstanding Director of a Musical for both ''Spring Awakening'' and ''Thoroughly Modern Millie''. Other Broadway credits include '' The Lion in Winter'' (1999), the 1999 revival of '' You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown,'' and '' Side Man'' (1998; Drama Desk Award). He directed the 1998 Tony Award-winning revival of Arthur Miller's '' A View from the Bridge'' starring Anthony LaPaglia and
Brittany Murphy Brittany Anne Murphy-Monjack (; November 10, 1977 – December 20, 2009) was an American actress and singer, known for her work in both comedy and drama. Born in Atlanta, Murphy moved to Los Angeles as a teenager to pursue a career in a ...
, for which he was nominated for a Tony and won a Drama Desk Award. He directed '' Triumph of Love'' in 1997, starring Betty Buckley, Susan Egan, and F. Murray Abraham, with music by Jeffrey Stock and lyrics by Susan Bikenhead. Mayer directed and co-wrote the book for the
Green Day Green Day is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Rodeo, California, in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong and bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, with drummer Tré Cool joining in 1990. In 1994, their majo ...
-inspired musical '' American Idiot'' (which premiered in 2009 at Berkeley Rep and transferred to Broadway in 2010), based on the band's album of the same name. He directed and "re-conceived" the 2011 revival of '' On a Clear Day You Can See Forever'' starring Harry Connick Jr. He directed the first Broadway production of '' Hedwig and the Angry Inch'', which opened in 2014. Mayer's
off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
directing credits include ''Little Shop of Horrors, The Credeaux Canvas'', John C. Russell's '' Stupid Kids'', Peter Hedges' ''Baby Anger'', Theresa Rebeck's ''View of the Dome'', and the New York premiere of Janusz Głowacki's ''Antigone in New York''.


Film and television

After directing on- and off-Broadway for more than 15 years, Mayer made his feature-film directorial debut with '' A Home at the End of the World'', starring Colin Farrell and Robin Wright Penn, in 2004. He went on to make the family film '' Flicka'' (2006), an adaptation of the story '' My Friend Flicka'', which became a hit in DVD market. In 2013 and 2014 he directed select episodes of Amazon's '' Alpha House'' starring John Goodman. In 2015, he directed a new film adaptation of ''
The Seagull ''The Seagull'' () is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 in literature, 1895 and first produced in 1896 in literature#Drama, 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramati ...
'', starring
Annette Bening Annette Carol Bening (born May 29, 1958) is an American actress. With a career spanning over four decades, she is known for List of Annette Bening performances, her versatile work across screen and stage. Bening has received List of awards an ...
, Corey Stoll, and Saoirse Ronan. He directed the pilot and three subsequent episodes of NBC's TV series '' Smash'', which were broadcast starting in February 2012. He should not be confused with the identically spelled Michael Mayer, who directed a film titled ''Graduation'' (2007).


Opera

Mayer made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2012 with '' Rigoletto''; he reset the scene from 16th-century
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to 1960s
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. He was the director of the premiere of Nico Muhly's '' Marnie'' for the
English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is a British opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in E ...
in 2017, which was later performed at the Metropolitan Opera in 2018. He also directed a new production of Verdi's '' La traviata'' for the Metropolitan Opera in December 2018.


Personal life

Mayer is openly gay. He lives with his partner, oncologist Roger Waltzmann, in Chelsea, Manhattan. He is close friends with playwright
Tony Kushner Anthony Robert Kushner (born July 16, 1956) is an American author, playwright, and screenwriter. Among his stage work, he is most known for ''Angels in America'', which earned a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award, as well as its subsequent acclaime ...
, whom he met while studying at NYU.


Stage productions

Broadway * '' Swept Away'' (2024) * '' Funny Girl'' (2022) * '' Burn This'' (2019) * '' Head Over Heels'' (2018) * '' The Terms of My Surrender'' (2017) * '' Hedwig and the Angry Inch'' (2014) * '' On a Clear Day You Can See Forever'' (2011) * '' Everyday Rapture'' (2010) * '' American Idiot'' (2010) * '' Spring Awakening'' (2006) * '' Thoroughly Modern Millie'' (2002) * '' 'night, Mother'' (2004) * '' After the Fall'' (2004) * '' An Almost Holy Picture'' (2002) * '' Uncle Vanya'' (2000) * '' The Lion in Winter'' (1999) * '' You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown'' (1999) * '' Side Man'' (1998) * '' A View from the Bridge'' (1997) * '' Triumph of Love'' (1997) Off-Broadway * '' Little Shop of Horrors'' (2019) * ''WarholCapote'' (2017) * ''Love, Love, Love'' (2016) * ''
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater ''God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, or Pearls Before Swine'', Kurt Vonnegut's fifth novel, was published on April5, 1965, by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. A piece of Postmodern literature, postmodern satire, it gave context to Vonnegut's following nov ...
'' (2016) * ''Whorl Inside a Loop'' (2015, with Dick Scanlan) * ''Brooklynite'' (2015) * '' Everyday Rapture'' (2009) * ''Our House'' * ''10 Million Miles'' * ''Spring Awakening'' (2006) * ''Missing Persons'' * ''America Dreaming'' * ''Hundreds of Hats'' West End * '' Funny Girl'' (2016) National tour * '' Hedwig and the Angry Inch'' (2016–17) * '' American Idiot'' (2011–13) * '' Spring Awakening'' (2008–10) * '' Thoroughly Modern Millie'' (2003–04) * '' Angels in America'' (1994–95) Opera * '' Rigoletto'' ( Metropolitan Opera, 2012) * '' Marnie'' (
English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is a British opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in E ...
, 2017; Metropolitan Opera, 2018) * '' La traviata'' (Metropolitan Opera, 2018) * '' Aida'' (Metropolitan Opera, 2024) Film * '' Single All the Way'' (2021) * ''
The Seagull ''The Seagull'' () is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 in literature, 1895 and first produced in 1896 in literature#Drama, 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramati ...
'' (2018) * '' Flicka'' (2006) * '' A Home at the End of the World'' (2004)


Awards and nominations


See also

* LGBT culture in New York City *
List of LGBT people from New York City New York City has been described as the gay village, gay capital of the world and the central node of the LGBTQ+ political sociology, sociopolitical ecosystem. It is home to one of the world's largest and most prominent LGBTQ populations. LGBTQ ...
*
NYC Pride March The NYC Pride March is an annual event celebrating the LGBT culture in New York City, LGBTQ community in New York City#Sexual orientation and gender identity, New York City. The largest pride parade and the List of largest LGBT events, larges ...


References


External links

* * * Steven Drukman
"A Two-Career Man: Theater Director And Jewish Mother"
''The New York Times'', January 3, 1999. Retrieved July 2, 2007.
Mayer milestones
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayer, Michael 1960 births Living people 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American male writers American LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights American male dramatists and playwrights American opera directors American theatre directors Drama Desk Award winners Jewish American dramatists and playwrights Jewish American film people Jewish theatre directors LGBTQ people from Maryland Gay Jews LGBTQ theatre directors Mass media people from Bethesda, Maryland New York University faculty Tisch School of the Arts alumni Tony Award winners