Gordon Greenberg

Gordon Greenberg (born 1969) is a stage director, a theater and television writer, and an Artistic Associate at The New Group.

Education

Greenberg attended Stanford University and NYU Film School Tisch School of the Arts, as well as The Lincoln Center Theatre Directors Lab, The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and Stagedoor Manor.

Career

Greenberg recently directed Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf at the Geffen Playhouse starring Calista Flockhart and Zachary Quinto It was widely praised. Entertainment Weekly called it "A riveting portrait of toxic domestic bliss...brilliantly staged." Variety said "A fearless Calista Flockhart tears into Zachary Quinto in the inspired 60th Anniversary Revival."

He is currently creating and Co-Executive Producing "Most Talkative", a new comedy television series for NBC and Blumhouse based on Andy Cohen's coming of age in St. Louis and writing a new musical about Pablo Picasso with Stephen Schwartz (composer) and Caridad Svich for Antonio Banderas.

He co-wrote (with Steve Rosen) and directed ''Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors!'' which was recorded as a radio play starring John Stamos, Laura Benanti, Annaleigh Ashford, Alex Brightman, Ashley Park, James Monroe Iglehart, Christopher Sieber, Richard Kind and Rob McClure It will premiere Off-Broadway in fall, 2023.

Their new play, ''Crime & Punishment, A Comedy'' was commissioned by the Old Globe Theatre and was part of the Powers Festival. It will premier there in summer of 2023.

He directed the American premier of ''Piaf/Dietrich, A Legendary Affair'' for Mirvish in Toronto, which opened to rave reviews, was extended three times and was nominated for 7 Dora Awards and won Best Musical Production.

He directed the Broadway adaptation of Irving Berlin's film ''Holiday Inn''. Greenberg also co-wrote the adaptation (with Chad Hodge). Produced by the Roundabout Theatre Company and Universal Pictures Stage Productions, the show was well received by critics, with Variety noting that "the 1942 film has gotten a complete and first-class stage redo ..turning this shaky fixer-upper into prime property."

His revival of ''Guys And Dolls'' received excellent reviews and was nominated for six Olivier Awards. It premiered at Chichester Festival Theatre and then ran in London's West End at the Savoy Theatre then at the Phoenix Theatre, where it starred Rebel Wilson. In his review for the New York Times, Ben Brantley called it "Pure, unforced pleasure...a boozy bawdy party."

Greenberg directed and adapted the revised production of '' Working'' (adapted and revised with composers Stephen Schwartz and Lin-Manuel Miranda). The revival was presented at Broadway in Chicago's Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place, as well as the 59 E 59 Theatre in New York, the Old Globe in San Diego and Asolo Repertory Theatre. It received a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performances and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival. It was generally positively-reviewed by critics, wit
New York One
writing that "the revisions, under Gordon Greenberg's imaginatively resourceful direction, hit all the right notes."

Greenberg revised and directed the Drama Desk Award-winning revival of '' Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris'' (Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Drama League nominations for Best Revival of a Musical), which garnered excellent reviews. Charles Isherwood of the New York Times called it a "powerful revival" and Elysa Gardner of USA Today wrote that Greenberg "captures what made Brel's oeuvre at once distinctly of a certain place and time and enduringly universal."

He directed the new stage adaptation of ''Tangled'' for Disney.

He has written original movie musicals for Nickelodeon called ''Emerald City Music Hall'' and another for The Disney Channel titled ''Scramble Band'', with Michael Weiner.

His other work includes ''Johnny Baseball'' at Williamstown Theatre Festival, a workshop of a newly revised Rags for Roundabout Theatre Company, ''Pirates!, or Gilbert & Sullivan Plunder'd'', conceived with Nell Benjamin and John McDaniel; the U.S. national tour of Guys & Dolls, Floyd Collins for Signature Theatre, ''Stars of David'' based on Abby Pogrebin's book for producer Daryl Roth, ''Farewell My Concubine'' (China) and several television projects, and ''1776'' for Paper Mill Playhouse. He co-wrote and directed the show ''Band Geeks'

for Goodspeed Musicals, supported by grants from the NEA and NAMT. He worked with Kirsten Childs on ''Disney's Believe'', a new musical for Disney Creative Entertainment, the launch show for the Disney Fantasy with Neil Patrick Harris and Jerry Seinfeld, the U.S. National tour of ''Happy Days'' (by Garry Marshall); and worked extensively with Stephen Schwartz and Joseph Stein to revise ''The Baker's Wife'' in a critically acclaimed production at Paper Mill Playhouse starring Alice Ripley,. Further work includes ''Half a Sixpence'', the South African-inspired production of '' Jesus Christ Superstar'', the U.S. National tour of ''Peter Pan'', ''We The People: America Rocks'' at the off-Broadway Lucille Lortel Theater, and contemporary dramas including ''33 Variations''. He is the writer of a new musical updating Jane Austen's Emma to the Helen Gurley Brown 1960s New York, ''The Single Girls Guide'' which he developed at Seattle Fifth Avenue Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, Ars Nova, Goodspeed Musicals, ASCAP and a developmental production at Capital Rep and then NAMT.

Formerly an actor, Greenberg appeared in the Broadway productions of ''How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying''; '' Grease''; ''The Little Prince and the Aviator''; and Off-Broadway in ''Peacetime''; ''Names''; ''City Suite''; '' Show Me Where the Good Times Are''; and on television in ''Shaky Ground'', '' Knots Landing'', ''Living Single'', '' Step By Step''; and on film in ''New York City Serenade'' directed by Frank Whaley.

Greenberg produced and directed commercials for J. Walter Thompson from 1991 to 1993. He served as the artistic director of Musical Theatre Works in New York City from 1997 to 2000, and currently serves as artistic director of the Broadway Teachers Workshop. and Artistic Associate at The New Group.

Greenberg adapted (with Steve Rosen) and directed ''The Secret Of My Success'', a musical comedy based on the 1987 movie of the same name, as a Broadway musical for Universal Pictures. The musical was mid-run for its world premiere and pre-Broadway tryout at the Paramount Theatre in March 2020 with Sydney Morton (Christy Lockhart) and Billy Harrigan Tighe (Brantley Foster/Carlton Whitfield) as leads when production was shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. It had been scheduled to run from February 21 – March 29, and the final performance was March 12, as Illinois governor J. B. Pritzker shut down all performance venues starting March 13.

Awards

'' Piaf/Dietrich'' 2020 Dora Award for Outstanding Production, Musical Theatre 7 Dora Award Nominations, including Best Director

Holiday Inn (musical) Outer Critics Circle Award Nomination for Outstanding New Broadway Musical

Guys and Dolls 6 Olivier Award nominations, including Best Revival

Working'' Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performances Drama Desk Award Nomination for Outstanding Revival.

Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Drama League nominations for Best Revival of a Musical

Guys and Dolls St. Louis Theatre Circle nominations, Best Director, Best Production

West Side Story St. Louis Theatre Circle Award nominations, Best Director, Best Production

Vanities, A New Musical Bay Area Critics Circle Award, Best Production

See also

* Broadway Teachers Workshop

References

External links

*http://www.broadwayteachinggroup.com
*http://huntingtontheatre.org/season/0809/pirates/interview.pdf
*http://musicalschwartz.com/working-reworked.htm
*http://www.gordongreenberg.com/

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenberg, Gordon
American musical theatre directors
Living people
Stanford University alumni
Tisch School of the Arts alumni
1969 births