Des McAnuff | |
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| Born | Desmond Steven McAnuff (1952-06-19)June 19, 1952 (age 72) Princeton, Illinois, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Stage and musical theatre director |
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| Children | 1 |
Desmond Steven McAnuffCM (born June 19, 1952) is theAmerican-Canadian former artistic director of Canada'sStratford Festival and director of such Broadwaymusical theatre productions asBig River,The Who's Tommy andJersey Boys.
Born inPrinceton, Illinois to John Nelson and Ellen Boyd, McAnuff is a citizen of the United States and Canada.[1] He lived briefly inGuelph,Ontario, attending grade 4 at St. George's Public School. His family then moved toScarborough,Ontario, at the time a suburb ofToronto, and attended high school atWoburn Collegiate Institute where he made his first theatrical appearance in the school's production ofThe Sound of Music, playing the role of Kurt. Later, with the help of two friends, he wrote the music and lyrics to arock musical calledUrbania, which was performed by the high school drama club. He attendedRyerson Polytechnical Institute, but never completed his degree. In June 2011, he was awarded an honorary degree by theRyerson Theatre School.[citation needed]
McAnuff worked with the Toronto Free Theatre as a director, and after several plays that had limited success, he left the Canadian scene forNew York City, where he co-founded the Dodger Theatre Company in 1978, where he also directed the first production, entitledGimme Shelter. He is a former faculty member of theJuilliard School.[citation needed]
McAnuff wasartistic director of theLa Jolla Playhouse, which he revived in 1983, during which time the theatre won more than 200 awards.[citation needed] For the Playhouse, he directedRomeo and Juliet,A Mad World,My Masters,Big River,As You Like It,The Sea Gull,The Matchmaker,A Walk in the Woods,Two Rooms,80 Days,Macbeth,A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum,Twelfth Night,Three Sisters,Elmer Gantry,Much Ado About Nothing,The Who's Tommy andHow to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.
He turned over his leadership of the playhouse in 2005 toMichael Greif in order to take a position of leadership at Canada'sStratford Shakespeare Festival.[2][3] In 2008, after a year sharing power withDon Shipley andMarti Maraden, McAnuff became the sole artistic director at Stratford.
McAnuff has directed two motion pictures,The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (2000) andCousin Bette (1998), both of which failed critically and at the box-office. However, the animated version ofThe Iron Giant, which he served as producer, earned several awards.
In 2010 McAnuff was the subject of a documentary special entitledDes McAnuff: A Life In Stages which was a part of the broadcast schedule onBravo! in Canada for February 7, 2010.[4]
During the 2011-12 Season at theMetropolitan Opera he directed a new production ofCharles Gounod'sFaust starring sopranoMarina Poplavskaya and tenorJonas Kaufmann.[5] On Sunday, October 23, 2011, a tribute for McAnuff was given by staff and students from Ryerson's Theatre School.[citation needed]
McAnuff married actressSusan Berman in 1984; the couple has one daughter, Julia McAnuff, who played a young Karen Sympathy inThe Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle. The couple divorced in 2009. In 2012, McAnuff married Bryna McCann.[6]
McAnuff has won two Tony Awards: as Best Director (Musical) in 1985 forBig River and again in 1993 forThe Who's Tommy. He was nominated in 1993 for Best Book (Musical), withPete Townshend onThe Who's Tommy, and in 1995 as Best Director (Musical) forHow to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. He was nominated again in 2006 for Best Direction of a Musical, forJersey Boys, based on the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Although he did not win, the production won Best Musical that year.[7] In 2019 he received another Tony nomination for Best Direction of a Musical forAin't Too Proud.
He was awarded theLaurence Olivier Theatre Award for Best Director of 1996 forThe Who's Tommy at the Shaftesbury Theatre. In May 2012, McAnuff received theNational Arts Centre Award, a companion award of theGovernor General's Performing Arts Awards, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts.[8] He was invested as aMember of the Order of Canada (CM) in 2013.[9]
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