Albert Marre (September 20, 1924 – September 4, 2012) was an American stage
director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''D ...
and
producer. He directed the stage musical ''
Man of La Mancha'' in 1965, for which he won the
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...
for Best Director of a Musical.
Biography
Early life
He was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
as Albert Elliot Moshinsky. He received a bachelor's degree from
Oberlin College. He enlisted in the
United States Navy Reserve
The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Se ...
where he was initially held the rank of Seaman Apprentice. He attended the Naval Oriental Language School in Boulder, Colorado and then deployed to Berlin. After service in the Navy, he attended
Harvard Law School. He joined a drama group at Harvard, where he met his first wife, actress Jan Farrand.
[Nelson, Valerie J]
"Albert Marre dies at 87; director of 'Man of La Mancha'"
''Los Angeles Times'', September 18, 2012
Career
Marre made his
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
debut as an
actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...
and associate director of the 1950 revival of
John Vanbrugh's
Restoration comedy ''
The Relapse
''The Relapse, or, Virtue in Danger'' is a Restoration comedy from 1696 written by John Vanbrugh. The play is a sequel to Colley Cibber's '' Love's Last Shift, or, The Fool in Fashion''.
In Cibber's ''Love's Last Shift'', a free-living Rest ...
''. He directed a production of
Shaw's ''
Misalliance
''Misalliance'' is a play written in 1909–1910 by George Bernard Shaw. The play takes place entirely on a single Saturday afternoon in the conservatory of a large country house in Hindhead, Surrey in Edwardian era England.
It is a continuation ...
''. He directed ''
Kismet'' on Broadway in 1954, for which he received the 1954 Donaldson Award (precursor to the Tonys) for Best Director of a Musical.
The cast of ''Kismet'' included
Alfred Drake
Alfred Drake (October 7, 1914 – July 25, 1992) was an American actor and singer.
Biography
Born as Alfred Capurro in New York City, the son of parents emigrated from Recco, Genoa, Drake began his Broadway career while still a student at Broo ...
,
Doretta Morrow
Doretta Morrow (January 27, 1927 – February 28, 1968) was an American actress, singer and dancer who appeared in stage and television productions during the 1940s and 1950s. She is best remembered for having created roles in the original pro ...
,
Richard Kiley
Richard Paul Kiley (March 31, 1922 – March 5, 1999) was an American stage, film and television actor and singer. He is best known for his distinguished theatrical career in which he twice won the Tony Award for Best Actor In A Musical. Kiley ...
and
Joan Diener. Diener and Marre married in 1956, the same year he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Director for ''
The Chalk Garden
''The Chalk Garden'' is a play by Enid Bagnold that premiered in the US in 1955 and was produced in Britain the following year. It tells the story of the imperious Mrs St Maugham and her granddaughter Laurel, a disturbed child under the care of ...
''. In 1956 he directed a Broadway revival of Shaw's ''
Saint Joan'' starring Irish actress
Siobhán McKenna
Siobhán McKenna (; 24 May 1922 – 16 November 1986) was an Irish stage and screen actress.
Background
She was born Siobhán Giollamhuire Nic Cionnaith in Belfast in the newly-created Northern Ireland into a Catholic and nationalist family. ...
.
In 1957, Marre directed the
Jean Anouilh
Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh (; 23 June 1910 – 3 October 1987) was a French dramatist whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1944 play ''Antigone'', an a ...
play, ''
Time Remembered'' (translated by
Patricia Moyes
Patricia Pakenham-Walsh, also known as Patricia Moyes (19 January 1923 – 2 August 2000) was a British mystery writer. Her mystery novels feature C.I.D. Inspector Henry Tibbett. One of them, ''Who Saw Her Die'' (''Many Deadly Returns'' in the US ...
) on Broadway, which starred
Helen Hayes,
Richard Burton
Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s, and he gave a memorable pe ...
,
Susan Strasberg and
Sig Arno
Sig Arno (born Siegfried Aron, 27 December 1895 – 17 August 1975) was a German-Jewish film actor who appeared in such films as '' Pardon My Sarong'' and '' The Mummy's Hand''. He may be best remembered from '' The Palm Beach Story'' (1942) as T ...
. The production received five Tony nominations including Best Play, and Hayes won the prize for Best Actress.
He directed a production of ''At the Grand'', a musical version of
Vicki Baum
Hedwig "Vicki" Baum (; he, ויקי באום; January 24, 1888 – August 29, 1960) was an Austrian writer. She is known for the novel ''Menschen im Hotel'' ("People at a Hotel", 1929 — published in English as '' Grand Hotel''), one of h ...
's 1930 novel, ''
Grand Hotel A grand hotel is a large and luxurious hotel, especially one housed in a building with traditional architectural style. It began to flourish in the 1800s in Europe and North America.
Grand Hotel may refer to:
Hotels Africa
* Grande Hotel Beir ...
'', in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
in 1958, with Marre's wife, Joan Diener, as the opera diva who falls in love with a charming, but larcenous, faux baron. Marre returned to New York where he directed
Jerry Herman
Gerald Sheldon Herman (July 10, 1931December 26, 2019) was an American composer and lyricist, known for his work in Broadway theatre.
One of the most commercially successful Broadway songwriters of his time, Herman was the composer and lyricist ...
's first Broadway musical, ''
Milk and Honey'' in 1961, nominated for five Tony Awards including Best Musical. He directed a revival of Shaw's little-known ''Too True to Be Good'', on Broadway in 1963, with an all-star cast that included
Lillian Gish,
Cyril Ritchard
Cyril Joseph Trimnell-Ritchard (1 December 1898 – 18 December 1977), known professionally as Cyril Ritchard, was an Australian stage, screen and television actor, and director. He is best remembered today for his performance as Captain Hook in ...
,
Glynis Johns
Glynis Margaret Payne Johns (born 5 October 1923) is a South African-born British former actress, dancer, musician and singer. Recognised as a film and Broadway icon, Johns has a career spanning eight decades, in which she appeared in more than ...
and
David Wayne
David Wayne (born Wayne James McMeekan, January 30, 1914 – February 9, 1995) was an American stage and screen actor with a career spanning over 50 years.
Early life and career
Wayne was born in Traverse City, Michigan, the son of Helen M ...
.
Several misfires were followed by what proved to be his greatest success,
Dale Wasserman
Dale Wasserman (November 2, 1914 – December 21, 2008) was an American playwright, perhaps best known for his book for Man of La Mancha.
Early life
Dale Wasserman was born in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, the child of Russian immigrants Samuel ...
,
Joe Darion
Joe Darion (30 January 1917 — 16 June 2001) was an American musical theatre lyricist, most famous for ''Man of La Mancha'', which is considered, by some critics, as a precursor to 1980s sung-through musicals such as '' Les Miserables''.
Dario ...
and
Mitch Leigh
Mitch Leigh (born Irwin Michnick; January 30, 1928March 16, 2014) was an American musical theatre composer and theatrical producer best known for the musical ''Man of La Mancha''.
Biography Early years
Leigh was born in Brooklyn, New York as Irw ...
's ''
Man of La Mancha'' (1965), again pairing Kiley and Diener. Marre won the Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical. He went on to direct numerous national and international productions of the hit musical, as well as the Broadway revivals in 1972, 1977, and 1992. He was signed to direct the screen version but was replaced first by
Peter Glenville
Peter Glenville (born Peter Patrick Brabazon Browne; 28 October 19133 June 1996) was an English film and stage actor and director.
Biography
Born in Hampstead, London, into a theatrical family, Glenville was the son of Shaun Glenville (born J ...
, and ultimately by
Arthur Hiller, in favor of a more experienced film director. The film, starring
Peter O'Toole and
Sophia Loren, was critically and financially unsuccessful.
Marre's subsequent collaborations with Leigh and his wife, the musicals ''
Cry for Us All'' (1970) and ''
Home Sweet Homer
''Home Sweet Homer'' is a 1976 musical with a book by Roland Kibbee and Albert Marre, lyrics by Charles Burr and Forman Brown, and music by Mitch Leigh.
Originally called ''Odyssey'', it is one of the most notorious flops in Broadway theatre ...
'' (1976), were not successful.
Marre directed two versions of ''
Chu Chem
''Chu Chem'' is a musical with a book by Ted Allen, lyrics by Jim Haines and Jack Wohl, and music by Mitch Leigh.
Background
Allen's inspiration was a trip to Kaifeng Fu (''prefecture''), China, the site of a major Jewish migration in the 10t ...
'', a musical by Leigh, Ted Allan, Jim Haines and Jack Wohl. The original in 1966, starring
Menasha Skulnick and
Molly Picon
Molly Picon ( yi, מאָלי פּיקאָן; born Malka Opiekun; February 28, 1898 – April 5, 1992) was an American actress of stage, screen, radio and television, as well as a lyricist and dramatic storyteller.
She began her career in Yidd ...
, closed out of town in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
). A second version opened
Off-Broadway in 1988 at the
Jewish Repertory Theatre.
[Shepard, Richard F]
"Review/Theater; 'Chu Chem,' a Musical"
''The New York Times'', December 23, 1988 Buoyed by good reviews from critics at ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''
[ and ''The New York Post'', the show was subsequently moved to Broadway in April 1989, where it was not as well received and closed after 45 performances.
In 1948, Marre was one of the co-founders of the historic ]Brattle Theatre
The Brattle Theatre is a repertory movie theater located in Brattle Hall at 40 Brattle Street near Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The theatre is a small movie house with one screen. It is one of the few remaining movie theaters, if n ...
in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...
, one of the country's first classical repertory companies (and one not built on the not-for-profit model), which yielded five years of classics and new plays, many of which moved on to subsequent New York productions.
In 1953, he was hired by Lincoln Kirstein to be the first Artistic Director for the New York City Drama Company at City Center, where he directed its first theatrical season, which were ''Love's Labour Lost'' (February 1953), ''The Merchant of Venice'' (March 1953) and ''Misalliance'' (April 1953).
He was an active director in both London and Los Angeles, particularly for Los Angeles Civic Light Opera Company, where he directed many major star-studded revivals including Burt Lancaster in ''Knickerbocker Holiday
''Knickerbocker Holiday'' is a 1938 musical written by Kurt Weill (music) and Maxwell Anderson (book and lyrics); based loosely on Washington Irving's ''Knickerbocker's History of New York'' about life in 17th-century New Netherland (old New ...
''.
He directed one of the inaugural productions at the Ahmanson Theatre
The Ahmanson Theatre is one of the four main venues that compose the Los Angeles Music Center.
History
The theatre was built as a result of a donation from Howard F. Ahmanson Sr, the founder of H.F. Ahmanson & Co., an insurance and savings and ...
/ Los Angeles Music Center, ''The Sorrows of Frederick'' by Romulus Linney in 1967, which starred Fritz Weaver
Fritz William Weaver (January 19, 1926 − November 26, 2016) was an American actor in television, stage, and motion pictures. He portrayed Dr. Josef Weiss in the 1978 epic television drama, ''Holocaust'' for which he was nominated for a Primetime ...
.
Personal life
In the late 1940s, Marre was married to actress Jan Farrand,[ who played numerous leads with the Brattle Theatre and later on Broadway; the marriage ended in divorce. Marre and actress Joan Diener wed in 1956, had two children, Jennifer and Adam, and remained married until her death in 2006.
In 2009, Marre married actress-lyricist Mimi Turque, to whom he remained wed until his death three years later. He died on September 4, 2012, aged 87, at Mt. Sinai Hospital, New York City, after a long illness.]Simonson, Robert
Robert Simonson (born September 11, 1964) is an American journalist and author.
Personal life
Robert Simonson was born in Wisconsin; he has lived in Brooklyn since 1988.
Career
Robert Simonson began writing about cocktails, spirits and bars for ...
"Albert Marre, Director of 'Man of La Mancha', Dies at 86"
''Playbill'', September 5, 2012, accessed December 25, 2016 Turque had played Antonia, Don Quixote's niece, in the original production of ''Man of La Mancha''.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marre, Albert
1924 births
2012 deaths
20th-century American Jews
American male stage actors
American choreographers
American theatre directors
American theatre managers and producers
Donaldson Award winners
Tony Award winners
Male actors from New York City
Oberlin College alumni
United States Navy reservists
United States Navy sailors
Harvard Law School alumni
21st-century American Jews