Michael Curry (born March 19, 1958) is an American production designer who lives in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. He is also the owner and President of Michael Curry Design Inc. in

Scappoose, Oregon Scappoose is a city in Columbia County, Oregon, United States. It was named for a nearby stream, which drains the southern part of the county. The name "Scappoose" is of Native American origin, and is said to mean "gravelly plain."

, which was started in 1986. Curry works widely in technical development with such renowned entertainment companies as

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...

, the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

, London's

Royal National Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. I ...

Walt Disney Theatrical Disney Theatrical Productions Limited (DTP), also known as Disney on Broadway, is the flagship stageplay and musical production company of the Disney Theatrical Group, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Studios, a major business unit of The Walt Di ...

and theme parks worldwide. He works regularly with directors such as

Robert Lepage Robert Lepage (born December 12, 1957) is a Canadian playwright, actor, film director, and stage director. Early life Lepage was raised in Quebec City. At age five, he was diagnosed with a rare form of alopecia, which caused complete hair lo ...

Nicholas Hytner Sir Nicholas Robert Hytner (; born 7 May 1956) is an English theatre director, film director, and film producer. He was previously the Artistic Director of London's National Theatre. His major successes as director include ''Miss Saigon'', ''Th ...

Julie Taymor Julie Taymor (born December 15, 1952) is an American director and writer of theater, opera and film. Her stage adaptation of ''The Lion King'' debuted in 1997, and received eleven Tony Award nominations, with Taymor receiving Tony Awards for Best ...

and William Friedken. He has also worked with production designers such as George Tsypin and the late Mark Fisher. Curry has been the recipient of many distinguished awards from his peers, including various awards for his puppet and costume work on

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 ...

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

ceremonies and his continuing creations and work in the field of visual effects and puppetry design. He owns and operates Michael Curry Design Inc., which designs and creates live-performance oriented dimensional characters and productions, such as those seen by worldwide audiences in the 1996, 2002, 2010 and 2014 Olympics opening and closing ceremonies, in the 2000 & 2012 Super Bowl, and

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 ...

's epoch 2000

millennium A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...

event.

Olympic work

2002 Winter Olympics

Curry shared an Emmy Award with influential Trinidadian Carnival designer

Peter Minshall Peter Minshall (born 16 July 1941) is a Trinidadian Carnival artist (described colloquially in Trinidad and Tobago as a "mas-man"). Early life and career beginnings Minshall was born in Georgetown, Guyana, but moved to Trinidad as a small child ...

for costume/performance designs created for the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

. The first notable American event following the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

, the ceremony blended light, puppets, and story.

Epcot

Epcot Epcot, stylized in all uppercase as EPCOT, is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Inspired by an unreal ...

, in

Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, th ...

, Curry created 120 towering puppets, which he titled the ''

Tapestry of Nations The Tapestry of Nations was a parade at the Epcot theme park in Walt Disney World, Florida, United States, that ran around the World Showcase Lagoon from 1999 to 2001, after which it was rethemed as Tapestry of Dreams. The parade had a unity and ...

'' (would later become Tapestry of Dreams), that paraded around the lake when sunset arrived. This parade featured the largest speaker system in the world, featuring 416 speakers and 137 amplifiers. The parade ended in March 2003 in its Tapestry of Dreams form. The puppets themselves have occasionally been brought out for special events.

Theatrical work

Curry works often in theatre, collaborating with the best in the industry. He has worked on Broadway, at The Metropolitan Opera, and at the Royal National Theatre to name a few. He also works as a conceptual and technical consultant in the live performance industry.

''The Lion King on Broadway''

Curry was made famous not only by the Olympic ceremonies he designed, but also for his puppet co-design with Julie Taymor in the highly acclaimed musical, ''

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, it ...

''in 1998. In 2014 ''The Lion King'' has become the highest-grossing musical in history.

''The Magic Flute - Metropolitan Opera - Directed by Julie Taymor''

L'Amour de loin
- Metropolitan Opera - Directed by Robert LaPage''

2017 New Production Award for L’Amour de loin at The Metropolitan Opera with Robert Lepage (scenic and costume design) – International Opera Awards

''Finding Nemo''

Curry designed the puppets used in ''

Finding Nemo – The Musical ''Finding Nemo – The Musical'' is a live puppet and musical stage show based on Disney/Pixar's 2003 film ''Finding Nemo'', located at the Theater in the Wild in DinoLand U.S.A at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Walt Disney World in Orlando, Flori ...

'' at

Disney's Animal Kingdom Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park is a zoological theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. Owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division, it is the l ...

''Rivers of Light''

Curry is production designer for the night-time show at Disney's Animal Kingdom, '' Rivers of Light''.

''Frozen – Live at Disneyland Resort, Frozen on Broadway
Frozen Disney Cruise Lines
'

Curry designed the puppets that are used in the musical ''

Frozen – Live at the Hyperion ''Frozen – Live at the Hyperion'' was a musical stage show inspired by Disney's 2013 animated film '' Frozen''. It was presented at the Hyperion Theater in Hollywood Land at Disney California Adventure. The show premiered on May 27, 2016 and h ...

'' at

Disney California Adventure Disney California Adventure Park, commonly referred to as California Adventure or by its acronym DCA, is a theme park located at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Park ...

.
Frozen on Broadway
an
Frozen Disney Cruise Lines

Cirque du Soleil

Curry has designed on five Cirque du Soleil shows. ''

Kà ''Kà'' is a show by Cirque du Soleil at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. ''Kà'' describes the story as "the coming of age of a young man and a young woman through their encounters with love, conflict and the duality of ''Kà'', the fire that ...

'' (directed by

at the

MGM Grand Las Vegas The MGM Grand Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The MGM Grand is the largest single hotel in the world with 6,852 rooms. It is also the third-largest hotel complex in the world by number of rooms ...

, and ''

LOVE Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

'' (directed by Dominique Champagne at the

MGM Mirage MGM Resorts International is an American global hospitality and entertainment company operating destination resorts in Las Vegas, Massachusetts, Detroit, Mississippi, Maryland, and New Jersey, including Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, and Par ...

, also in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

). He also designed the illusions for ''Cirque du Soleil and

Criss Angel Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos ( el, Χριστόφορος Νικόλαος Σαραντάκος; born December 19, 1967), known professionally as Criss Angel, is an American magician, illusionist and musician. Angel began his career in New ...

at the LUXOR 2009''. Curry was the scenic and puppet designer for Cirque du Soleil's Michael Jackson's Immortal World Tour.

Center for Puppetry Arts

Three major pieces by Curry are on permanent display at the

Center for Puppetry Arts The Center for Puppetry Arts, located in Atlanta, is the United States' largest organization dedicated to the art form of puppetry. The center focuses on three areas: performance, education and museum. It is one of the few puppet museums in the ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

- an interactive full-body puppet of a praying

mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They ha ...

, a animatronic original by Curry called the ''Trashcan

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

'', and a user-controlled animatronic puppet of Xelas, a

shapechanger In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shape-shifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through an inherently superhuman ability, divine intervention, demonic manipulation, sorcery, spells or having inherited the ...

from

Native American mythology The indigenous peoples of the Americas comprise numerous different cultures. Each has its own mythologies. Some are quite distinct, but certain themes are shared across the cultural boundaries. Northern America There is no single mythology o ...

.http://www.puppet.org/museum/permanent.shtml Center for Puppetry Arts - Permanent Exhibit

Awards

* Emmy Award for the 2002 Olympics Opening Ceremony in Salt Lake City * Emmy Award for 1996 Olympics Opening Ceremony (Outstanding Art Direction for a Variety or Music Program) *1998

Tony Award for Best Costume Design These are the winners and nominees for the Tony Award for Best Costume Design. The award was first presented in 1947 and included both plays and musicals. In 1961, and since 2005 the category was divided into Costume Design in a Play and Costum ...

for ''

'' (shared with Julie Taymor) *

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Fo ...

for ''The Lion King'' ( Outstanding Puppet Design) *

for ''Disney's Frozen'' (Outstanding Puppet Design) * Top 100 Honoree by Irish America Magazine, 2000 * Cannes Film Festival, Performance Pieces, Art Director (Best Fiction, Short) * The American Theater Wing Designer Award for The Lion King * Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, (Distinguished Achievement) 2000 Mask & Puppet Design, Co-Designer with Julie Taymor, ''The Lion King'' * Entertainment Design and Theatre Crafts International, 1999 EDDY Award (Puppet Designer) * Featured Artist, Prague Quadrennial (2007) * Risorgiomento Creativity Award (for lifelong creativity and risk taking in the fields of technical and Artistic Design), 2001

References

External links

Official Website

Company Profiles-Michael Curry Design Inc.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curry, Michael Living people Puppet designers People from Scappoose, Oregon Artists from Portland, Oregon Place of birth missing (living people) Animatronic engineers 1967 births Tony Award winners Drama Desk Award winners Emmy Award winners