Frank "Fraver" Verlizzo is an American design artist and Drama Desk Award-winner. He is best known for creating the posters for many prominent

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 ...

productions, including the original productions of Stephen Sondheim's '' Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'' and '' Sunday in the Park with George''.

Early life

Fraver is a native New Yorker, born in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and raised in the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

. He attended the

High School of Art and Design The High School of Art and Design is a career and technical education high school in Manhattan, New York City, New York State, United States. Founded in 1936 as the School of Industrial Art, the school moved to 1075 Second Avenue in 1960 and mor ...

and the Pratt Institute. It was at Pratt that he received his first big break in the theater industry, as his illustration teacher was

David Edward Byrd David Edward Byrd (born April 4, 1941) is an American graphic artist, designer, illustrator and painter. Many of his design are considered to have helped define the look of rock and roll music starting in the 1960s. He is most well known for his p ...

, the man who designed the poster art for the original productions of the musicals ''

Follies ''Follies'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. The plot takes place in a crumbling Broadway theater, now scheduled for demolition, previously home to a musical revue (based on the ''Ziegfeld Fol ...

'' and ''

Godspell ''Godspell'' is a musical composed by Stephen Schwartz with book by John-Michael Tebelak. The show is structured as a series of parables, primarily based on the Gospel of Matthew, interspersed with music mostly set to lyrics from traditional hym ...

''. Byrd, seeing that Fraver's work largely centered on movies, suggested he visit The Blaine Thompson Agency, at the time the largest

advertising agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generally ...

for Broadway shows.

Notable past work

Eileen

*''

Travesties ''Travesties'' is a 1974 play by Tom Stoppard. The play centres on the figure of Henry Carr, an elderly man who reminisces about Zürich in 1917 during the First World War, and his interactions with James Joyce when he was writing '' Ulysses'' ...

'' (1975) *''

The Night of the Iguana ''The Night of the Iguana'' is a stage play written by American author Tennessee Williams. It is based on his 1948 short story. In 1959, Williams staged it as a one-act play, and over the next two years he developed it into a full-length play, p ...

'' (revivals, 1976 and 1988) *''

American Buffalo American Buffalo may refer to: *American Buffalo (play), ''American Buffalo'' (play), a play by David Mamet *American Buffalo (film), ''American Buffalo'' (film), a 1996 film of Mamet's play directed by Michael Corrente *American Buffalo (coin), a ...

'' (1977 and 2000) *''The Merchant'' (1977) *''

Otherwise Engaged ''Otherwise Engaged'' is a bleakly comic play by English playwright Simon Gray. The play previewed at the Oxford Playhouse and the Richmond Theatre, and then opened at the Queen's Theatre in London on 10 July 1975, with Alan Bates as the sta ...

'' (1977) *''Cheaters'' (1978) *'' Deathtrap'' (1978) *'' Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'' (1979) *'' Whose Life Is It Anyway?'' (1979) *''

I Ought to Be in Pictures ''I Ought to Be in Pictures'' is a comedy drama play written by Neil Simon, his 18th. The play opened on Broadway in 1980. It was subsequently made into a film, released in 1982. The play involves a film screenwriter who has abandoned his famil ...

'' (1980) *''

A Doll's Life ''A Doll's Life'' was a 1982 musical with music by Larry Grossman, and a book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. A sequel to the 1879 Henrik Ibsen play ''A Doll's House'', it told the story of what happened to the lead character, Nora, ...

'' (1982) *'' Beyond Therapy'' (1982) *'' "Master Harold"...and the Boys'' (1983) *''Total Abandon'' (1983) *''

Baby An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...

'' (1984) *'' Sunday in the Park with George'' (1984) *''

As Is As is, when employed as a term with legal effect, is used to disclaim some implied warranties for an item being sold. Certain types of implied warranties must be specifically disclaimed, such as the implied warranty of title. "As is" denotes tha ...

'' (1985) *'' Loot'' (revival, 1986) *''

Burn This ''Burn This'' (stylized as ''Burn/This'' for the 2019 revival) is a play by Lanford Wilson. Like much of Wilson's work, the play includes themes of gay identity and relationships. Plot summary The play begins shortly after the funeral of Robbie, ...

'' (1987) *''Roza'' (1987) *''Spoils of War'' (1988) *''Michael Feinstein Piano and Voice'' (1990) *''

An Inspector Calls ''An Inspector Calls'' is a play written by English dramatist J. B. Priestley, first performed in the Soviet Union in 1945 and at the New Theatre in London the following year. It is one of Priestley's best-known works for the stage and is c ...

'' (revival, 1995) *''David Copperfield: Dreams and Nightmares'' (1996) *'' The Young Man From Atlanta'' (1997) *''

The Glass Menagerie ''The Glass Menagerie'' is a memory play by Tennessee Williams that premiered in 1944 and catapulted Williams from obscurity to fame. The play has strong autobiographical elements, featuring characters based on its author, his Histrionic persona ...

'' (revival, 1995) *''Getting Away With Murder'' (1996) *''

The Lion King ''The Lion King'' is a 1994 American animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 32nd Disney animated feature film and the fifth produced during the Disney Renaissance ...

'' (1997) *''

The Scarlet Pimpernel ''The Scarlet Pimpernel'' is the first novel in a series of historical fiction by Baroness Orczy, published in 1905. It was written after her stage play of the same title (co-authored with Montague Barstow) enjoyed a long run in London, having ...

'' (1997) *'' Electra'' (revival, 1998) *''

It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues ''It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues'' is a musical written by Charles Bevel, Lita Gaithers, Randal Myler, Ron Taylor, and Dan Wheetman. It was originally produced at The Denver Center for the Performing Arts and later presented by the Crossroads Th ...

'' (1999) *'' Waiting in the Wings'' (revival, 1999) *'' Death and the Maiden'' (2002) *'' Fortune's Fool'' (2002) *'' Imaginary Friends'' (2002) *''

Morning's At Seven ''Morning's at Seven'' is a play by Paul Osborn. Its plot focuses on four aging sisters living in a small Midwestern town in 1928, and it deals with ramifications within the family when two of them begin to question their lives and decide to mak ...

'' (revival, 2002) *''Prymate'' (2004) *''

Twelve Angry Men ''Twelve Angry Men'' is an American courtroom drama written by Reginald Rose concerning the jury of a homicide trial. It was broadcast initially as a television play in 1954. The following year it was adapted for the stage. It was adapted for a ...

'' (2004) *'' Little Women'' (2005) *''Primo'' (2005) *''

Festen ''The Celebration'' ( da, Festen) is a 1998 Danish dark comedy-drama film directed by Thomas Vinterberg and produced by Nimbus Film. The film tells the story of a family gathering to celebrate their father's 60th birthday, juggling subjects ...

'' (2006) *''

Twentieth Century The 20th (twentieth) century began on January 1, 1901 (1901, MCMI), and ended on December 31, 2000 (2000, MM). The 20th century was dominated by significant events that defined the modern era: Spanish flu, Spanish flu pandemic, World War I and ...

'' (revival, 2004) *'' Hot Feet'' (2006) *''

The Threepenny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a " play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, '' The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François Villon, with mu ...

'' (revival, 2006) *''

Journey's End ''Journey's End'' is a 1928 dramatic play by English playwright R. C. Sherriff, set in the trenches near Saint-Quentin, Aisne, towards the end of the First World War. The story plays out in the officers' dugout of a British Army infantry c ...

'' (revival, 2007) *'' The Story of My Life'' (2009) *'' Looped'' (2010)

Fraver.com

Fraver recently created Fraver.com, an educational

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wi ...

devoted to preserving his projects and the stories behind them.

References

External links

Fraver.com Frank Verlizzo's website
*

TDF Video: How to Design a Broadway Show Poster
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verlizzo, Frank American designers Living people High School of Art and Design alumni Pratt Institute alumni Year of birth missing (living people)