Tharon Myrene Musser (January 8, 1925 – April 19, 2009)^[1] was an Americanlighting designer who worked on more than 150Broadway productions. She was termed the "Dean of American Lighting Designers" and is considered one of the pioneers in her field.^[2]

Musser was best known for her work on the musicalsA Chorus Line andDreamgirls.A Chorus Line was the first production of Broadway to use a fully computerizedlighting console instead of manually operated "piano boards".^[2]

Musser was born inVirginia in 1925.^[3]The daughter of a clergyman, she often recalled that her family couldn't afford electricity, so she grew up with candles and gaslights. She graduated fromBerea College (Kentucky) in 1946 and later attendedYale University, obtaining her MFA in 1950. Her first Broadway lighting credit wasJosé Quintero's staging ofEugene O'Neill'sLong Day's Journey into Night in 1956 at the originalHelen Hayes Theatre.

She designed on Broadway from 1956 to 1999 and her long list of credits includeLi'l Abner,Shinbone Alley,Once Upon a Mattress,Here's Love,Any Wednesday,Golden Boy,Flora, The Red Menace,Kelly,Mame,Hallelujah, Baby!,The Fig Leaves Are Falling,Applause,The Prisoner of Second Avenue,The Creation of the World and Other Business,The Sunshine Boys,A Little Night Music,Romantic Comedy,Mack and Mabel,The Wiz,The Good Doctor,Pacific Overtures,The Act,Chapter Two,They're Playing Our Song,Ballroom,42nd Street,Brighton Beach Memoirs,Jerry's Girls,The Odd Couple,Biloxi Blues,Lost in Yonkers,The Goodbye Girl, andLaughter on the 23rd Floor.

Musser won her firstTony Award for Best Lighting Design in 1972 forFollies, followed by Tonys forA Chorus Line in 1976 andDreamgirls in 1982. She was nominated forApplause,A Little Night Music,The Good Doctor,Pacific Overtures,The Act,Ballroom, and42nd Street. She also won theDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design forDreamgirls.

In 1980 Musser was nominated for aDrama Desk Award for her design ofChildren of a Lesser God. She was honored as aUSITT Distinguished Lighting Designer in 1996.^[1]

Musser died on April 19, 2009, aged 84, from complications ofAlzheimer's disease inNewtown, Connecticut in the company of her long-time partner Marilyn Rennagel.^[4] Two nights later Broadway theatres dimmed their lights to honor her.^[5]

• Tharon Musser at theInternet Broadway Database
• Tharon Musser designs and papers, 1945-2000, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
• A brief history of stage lighting by Larry Wild at Northern State UniversityArchived January 10, 2014, at theWayback Machine
• The Lighting Archive - Tharon Musser's technical drawings, light plots, and notes for A Chorus Line

• 1925 births
• 2009 deaths
• Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in Connecticut
• Deaths from dementia in Connecticut
• LGBTQ people from Virginia
• American lesbian artists
• American lighting designers
• Artists from Roanoke, Virginia
• People from Newtown, Connecticut
• Tony Award winners
• Berea College alumni
• 20th-century American LGBTQ people

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