He wrote plays that tackled big issues like the death penalty and gun violence. He also wrote for series including the superhero saga “Luke Cage.”
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:55PMAs Val, one of the dancers in the hit Broadway musical, she sang a memorable song explaining how she got work by enhancing her body through cosmetic surgery.
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:04PMHe helped secure landmark status for more than two dozen theaters in the 1980s, then initiated the design competition that led to a new TKTS booth.
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:55PMHe created sets for more than 50 of Broadway’s most celebrated productions, including “Hair,” “A Chorus Line,” “On the Twentieth Century” and “The Producers.”
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:02PMHe worked with stand-up comedians to develop shows — one of which is headed for Broadway — that were more than just collections of jokes.
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:36PMOne of the first Black regulars on a TV variety show, he brought tap to millions of viewers on “The Lawrence Welk Show” after Betty White gave him his first big break.
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:49PMAfter playing a critical Broadway role in “A Chorus Line,” he helped start the vibrant Off Broadway MCC Theater. TV watchers knew him from “The Sopranos” and “Law and Order.”
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:43PMShe was nearly 60 when she began producing shows on Broadway. In 19 years, she had a hand (and her money) in 30 plays and musicals.
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:18PMAs a Black woman, she blazed a path Off Broadway with an intuitive grasp of “how a story should be told, particularly a Black story,” Giancarlo Esposito said.
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:54PMThe sitcom, about an interfaith marriage, drew criticism from Jewish groups and was canceled after one season. He fared better onstage than in television.
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:18PMIn a varied career, she had memorable roles in “Damn Yankees” and on “Seinfeld” and was nominated for three Tonys. She later became a director.
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:54PMHe worked with the directors Mike Nichols, Bob Fosse and Jerry Zaks, winning three Tony Awards and an Oscar for “All That Jazz.”
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:33PMWith “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope,” she became the first woman to write the book, music and lyrics of a Broadway musical.
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:32PMHe led a big band, conducted on Broadway, collected Emmys and for nearly 50 years led the orchestra on the annual Tony Awards broadcast.
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:06PMHe was honored for “Travels With My Aunt,” “Death on the Nile” and “Tess.” He was also renowned for the outlandish outfits he created for Glenn Close as the evil Cruella de Vil.
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:42PMShe was a tough yet empathetic voice professor at Oklahoma City University for 67 years. Two of her students, Kelli O’Hara and Kristin Chenoweth, won Tony Awards.
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 03:18PMHe worked with Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand and Elvis Presley, wrote the theme music to many familiar series and accompanied Nichols and May and Bea Arthur on Broadway.
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 07:48PMIn his long career, he persuaded Elizabeth Taylor to make her Broadway debut in “The Little Foxes” and produced a memorable flop starring Muhammad Ali.
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 05:32PMHe specialized in one-character dramas, portraying luminaries like Emily Dickinson, John Barrymore, Lillian Hellman, Zelda Fitzgerald and Isak Dinesen.
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:18PMHe turned the comic strip “Little Orphan Annie” into a long-running Broadway musical and wrote the memorable lyrics to a score that included “Tomorrow.”
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 10:03PMFor more than a decade, Mr. Hirson was known for writing for television, but meeting the composer Stephen Schwartz led to the hit musical “Pippin.”
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:48PMInspired by Jerome Robbins, who cast him in the stage and film versions of “West Side Story,” he went on to create dances for Ann-Margret and others.
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 09:24PMCalled “the Susan Sontag of Soviet aesthetic thought,” she wrote about film and theater and helped make a film that drew parallels between Nazism and Stalin.
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 06:36PMShe was best known for wildly different roles, in a frat house comedy and in the 1960s drama “Medium Cool.” She was also in films by Clint Eastwood and Martin Scorsese.
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:32PMMr. Masterson helped turn a magazine article about a bordello into a hit Broadway musical. He later directed the movie “The Trip to Bountiful.”
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 04:32PMAs a founder of the Compass Players in Chicago, he helped create the world of improvisational comedy that is best known in the work of Second City
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:54PMMr. Frankel, a former dress manufacturer, produced more than 50 plays and musicals with various partners and won nine Tony Awards.
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 01:18PMUsing unorthodox methods (walk around a room, speak it together), she helped actors find their voices by feeling the weight and rhythms of the words.
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 02:18PMMr. Donat acted often on the screen and had a recurring role on “The X Files.” But he said he was most gratified by theatrical work.
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:18PMA showman who helped put “The Sound of Music” on television, “Chicago” on movie screens and “How to Succeed in Business” back on Broadway.
SOURCE: The New York Times Subscription at 08:18PMMs. Harris got her start with the Second City and went on to win a Tony Award and to appear in films like “A Thousand Clowns” and “Nashville.”
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