George Abud is a

Lebanese-American Lebanese Americans ( ar, أمريكيون لبنانيون) are Americans of Lebanese descent. This includes both those who are native to the United States of America, as well as immigrants from Lebanon. Lebanese Americans comprise 0.79% of the ...

actor, playwright, and musician. He is known for playing Camal in the Off-Broadway and Broadway productions of ''

The Band's Visit ''The Band's Visit'' ( he, ביקור התזמורת, Bikur Ha-Tizmoret) is a 2007 comedy-drama film, directed and written by Eran Kolirin, and starring Saleh Bakri, Ronit Elkabetz, Sasson Gabai and Uri Gavriel. It is an international co-pro ...

'', receiving a

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

for his work on the show's NBC ''Today Show'' performance.

Early life and education

Abud was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

to Lebanese-American parents Gary and Paulette Abud. He attended

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in theatre acting before moving to

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 ...

in 2012.

Career

Abud first appeared in New York in the 2014 revival of

Rodgers and Hammerstein Rodgers and Hammerstein was a theater-writing team of composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and lyricist-dramatist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895–1960), who together created a series of innovative and influential American musicals. Their popu ...

Allegro Allegro may refer to: Common meanings * Allegro (music), a tempo marking indicate to play fast, quickly and bright * Allegro (ballet), brisk and lively movement Artistic works * L'Allegro (1645), a poem by John Milton * ''Allegro'' (Satie), an ...

directed by John Doyle at

Classic Stage Company Classic Stage Company, or CSC, is a classical Off-Broadway theater. Founded in 1967, Classic Stage Company is one of Off-Broadway's oldest theaters. Its 199-seat theatre is the former Abbey Theatre located at 136 East 13th Street between Third a ...

. His adaptation of “Children and Art” from

Sunday in the Park with George ''Sunday in the Park with George'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It was inspired by the French pointillist painter Georges Seurat's painting ''A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatt ...

was selected to be played live at

New York City Center New York City Center (previously known as the Mecca Temple, City Center of Music and Drama,. The name "City Center for Music and Drama Inc." is the organizational parent of the New York City Ballet and, until 2011, the New York City Opera. and th ...

for

Stephen Sondheim Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March 22, 1930November 26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. One of the most important figures in twentieth-century musical theater, Sondheim is credited for having "reinvented the American musical" with sho ...

Jeanine Tesori Jeanine Tesori (known earlier in her career as Jeanine Levenson) is an American composer and musical arranger best known for her work in the theater. She is the most prolific and honored female theatrical composer in history, with five Broadway mu ...

recounted: Abud made his Broadway debut in 2015 in

John Kander John Harold Kander (born March 18, 1927) is an American composer, known largely for his work in the musical theater. As part of the songwriting team Kander and Ebb (with lyricist Fred Ebb), Kander wrote the scores for 15 musicals, including ''Ca ...

Fred Ebb Fred Ebb (April 8, 1928 – September 11, 2004) was an American musical theatre lyricist who had many successful collaborations with composer John Kander. The Kander and Ebb team frequently wrote for such performers as Liza Minnelli and Chita Ri ...

's final musical, '' The Visit'', starring

Chita Rivera Chita Rivera (born Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero Anderson; January 23, 1933), is an American actress, singer and dancer best known for originating roles in Broadway musicals including Anita in ''West Side Story'', Velma Kelly in ''Chica ...

and

Roger Rees Roger Rees (5 May 1944 – 10 July 2015) was a Welsh actor and director, widely known for his stage work. He won an Olivier Award and a Tony Award for his performance as the lead in ''The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby''. He also rece ...

. Later, he originated the role of Camal in the Off-Broadway and subsequent Broadway production of ''The Band's Visit''. Zachary Stewart of ''TheaterMania'' wrote: ''"Playing the role of violinist Camal, George Abud consistently wows with both his comic timing and musical virtuosity. His voice gloriously rings through the theater in Itzik's Lullaby, during which he plays an oud."'' After leaving ''The Band's Visit'' in late 2018, Abud was cast in the Off-Broadway production of

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui ''The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui'' (german: Der aufhaltsame Aufstieg des Arturo Ui, links=no), subtitled "A parable play", is a 1941 play by the German playwright Bertolt Brecht. It chronicles the rise of Arturo Ui, a fictional 1930s Chicago m ...

starring

Raúl Esparza Raúl Eduardo Esparza (born October 24, 1970) is an American stage, screen, and voice actor. Considered one of Broadway's leading men since the 2000s, he is best known for his Tony Award-nominated performance as Bobby in the 2006 Broadway reviva ...

. Sara Holdren of ''Vulture'' noted: ''"George Abud is a nimble, fast-talking delight…".'' In 2019, Abud portrayed Lewis Chapman in the musical version of

August Rush ''August Rush'' is a 2007 musical drama film directed by Kirsten Sheridan and produced by Richard Barton Lewis. The screenplay is by Nick Castle and James V. Hart, with a story by Paul Castro and Castle. A co-production between the United States, ...

directed by John Doyle at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora, IL. Next, he was cast in Annie Get Your Gun directed by Sarna Lapine at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, NY. In 2020, he starred as Nerd Face in the new pop musical ''

Emojiland Emojiland is a pop musical written by Keith Harrison Dworkin and Laura Schein. It premiered off-Broadway on January 19, 2020, at the Duke on 42nd Street. It centers around a group of emojis living in the world of a smartphone on the eve of a s ...

'', Off-Broadway at the Duke on 42nd Street, about which Laura Collins-Hughes of ''

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 ...

'' said: ''"But with the arrival of Nerd Face, played with wonderfully sweet dorkiness by George Abud, you can feel the air turn electric. There is a very good chance that you will be as instantly smitten with him as he is with Smize (Schein) in her polka-dotted fit-and-flare dress."'' It was announced in May 2022 that Abud would star as Marinetti in the new musical Lempicka by Carson Kreitzer and Matt Gould at

La Jolla Playhouse La Jolla Playhouse is a not-for-profit, professional theatre on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. History La Jolla Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, and Mel Ferrer. In 1983, it was revived under ...

directed by

Rachel Chavkin Rachel Chavkin (; born July 20, 1980) is an American stage director best known for directing the musicals '' Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comet of 1812'' and ''Hadestown,'' receiving nominations for a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical f ...

. ''

The San Diego Union Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

'' wrote: ''“George Abud is another ideal hand-in-glove fit for the role of Italian pro-fascist modernist Filippo Marinetti. His edgy performance of the high-flying song 'Perfection' is one of those moments in a show where thoughts of future Tony nominations dance in the head — for him, as well as for Espinosa and Iman.”''

Stage credits

Theatre credits

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abud, George American male television actors American male stage actors Daytime Emmy Award winners American people of Lebanese descent 1990 births Living people