Dennis Grimaldi
Encyclopedia
Dennis Grimaldi is an American theatrical producer
who has worked on Broadway
, Off Broadway and on London's West End. His work include Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes and Annie Warbucks
.
Grimaldi was born September 30 in Melrose Park, Illinois
. He is a graduate of Proviso East High School
, in Maywood, Illinois
. He studied dance at the Stone-Camryn School, Gail Larry School and under the tutelage of the Russian actress Eugenia Leontovich, Dr. John Reich and Dr Charles McGaw. Grimaldi graduated from The Theatre School of DePaul University
(then known as the Goodman School of Drama
) in Chicago. He has Co-starred with Hiram Sherman in the Feydeau farce, A Flea in Her Ear, Caesar and Cleopatra with Carrie Snodgrass and Murray Matheson,
As a dancer, he has also appeared in "Man of La Mancha", "Hello, Dolly!", "Promises, Promises", "Sugar"; among other productions.
After several injuries as a dancer, he began a career as a choreographer and director; during that time, he formed Dennis Grimaldi Productions and pursued an active career as a Stage Producer as well as televison; He first worked as an "Associate to the Producers" on the Broadway production of R. A. "Pete" Gurney's Sweet Sue starring Mary Tyler Moore and Lynn Redgrave. As a producer, his productions on Broadway and Off Broadway include the 2011 Broadway revival of the Stephen Schwartz musical "Godspell", "Leslie Jordan My Trip Down The Pink Carpet"; Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes' '(Ron Liebman, Marcia Gay Harden, Jeffrey Wright); " Other People's Money" (Mercedes Ruehl); the Olivier Award winning "Rise and Fall of Little Voice" (Rondi Reed); "Girl's Room" (with Carol Lawrence and Donna McKecknie); "Sally Marr" ( with Joan Rivers); "Grace & Glorie" (with Lucie Arnaz and Estelle Parsons); Tom Stoppard's "Artist Descending a Staircase" (Harold Gould, John McMartin); "The Boys in the Band" revival ( with Michael Siebert); "Any Given Day" (with Sada Thompson) and "Party". The musicals "Richard Corey"; "Nunsense Jamboree", "Fanny Hill" and " Annie Warbucks" (Harve Presnell and Donna McKechnie)[2], "Burning Blue"(Chad Lowe), "Like Love by Lewis Flinn and Barry Kaplan; the musical adaptation of A.R. Gurney's Richard Cory; among others. He has also been associated with Emmanuel Azenberg on the Neil Simon productions of Lost in Yonkers (Kevin Spacey, Mercedes Reuhl) and "London Suite" (Carole Shelley, Jeffrey Jones) as well as "Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life" with The Producer Circle and David Mamet's "The Cryptogram" (Felicity Huffman, Ed Bagley, Jr). His many London productions on the West End and The Fringe include "The Boys in the Band","Stephen Sondheim's "Marry Me a Little", the comedic actor Jack Gilford in "Look To the Rainbow" and John Lahr's "Diary of a Somebody". The Boys in the Band He was also an Associate Producer for Candid Productions, a television production company, for 15 years; producing programing for ABC, NBC and HBO, Many of the shows he was also Choreographer. He was awarded the Robert Whitehead Award for Excellence in Theatre Production, The NY Film and Television Gold Medal Awards, The Outer Critics Awards and The Carbonell Award. Productions have earned The Drama Desk, Tony Awards, as well as The Pulitzer Prize.
He began his career as a dancer for Jack Cole, Gower Champion and Michael Bennett. On stage he has appeared with such theater luminaries as Dorothy Lamour, Howard Keel, Anna Marie Albergehtti, Christopher Walken, Van Johnson, John Raitt, James Earl Jones, Len Cariou, Betty Buckley, Donald O'Connor, Jean Pierre Aumont, Dorothy Collins, José Ferrer, Mimi Hines, Robert Alda, Murray Matheson, Hiram Sherman and Giorgio Tozzi among others. He was also a director and choreographer; his list of credits productions for stage includes: "Dance on a Country Grave" with Kevin Kline, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (Nathan Lane, John Goodman and Dann Florek, Christopher Guest),The Off Broadway revival of "Charley's Aunt" starring Marin Mazzie, Virginia Siedel and Charles Abbott, "Show me Where the Good Times Are' with Rosalind Kind, Clint Ballard's "The Red Bluegrass Western Flyer Show", "Wonderful Town"; National tours of "Gigi" (Jean Pierre Aumont), "The Robber Bridegroom" (John Goodman), "The Pajama Game", "Man of La Mancha" (Jack Cassidy; Howard Keel); the all star production of "Broadway" (Gilda Radner, Teri Garr, William Atherton, Chris Sarandon, Jill O'Hara), are among many other productions. On television, among his earlier musical staging assignments, he worked for NBC's Saturday Night Live. As well as Choreographer for HBO, ABC and NBC television specials.
He is the receipiant of several Awards including The Robert Whitehead Award for out standing Commercial Producing.
Theatrical producer
A theatrical producer is the person ultimately responsible for overseeing all aspects of mounting a theatre production. The independent producer will usually be the originator and finder of the script and starts the whole process...
who has worked on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, Off Broadway and on London's West End. His work include Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes and Annie Warbucks
Annie Warbucks
Annie Warbucks is a musical with a book by Thomas Meehan, music by Charles Strouse, and lyrics by Martin Charnin. A sequel to the 1977 Tony Award-winning hit Annie, based on Harold Gray's Little Orphan Annie comic strip, it begins immediately after Annie ended.-Plot:On Christmas morning in 1933,...
.
Grimaldi was born September 30 in Melrose Park, Illinois
Melrose Park, Illinois
Melrose Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is a "near-in" suburb of Chicago. The population was 23,171 at the 2000 census. Melrose Park has long been home to a large Italian-American population, though now it is majority Mexican-American. It was the home of Kiddieland...
. He is a graduate of Proviso East High School
Proviso East High School
Proviso East High School is a public secondary school in Maywood, Illinois which serves the educational needs of Maywood and three other villages within Proviso Township, Cook County, Illinois: Broadview, Forest Park and Melrose Park. It is the original campus of Proviso Township High Schools...
, in Maywood, Illinois
Maywood, Illinois
Maywood is a village in Proviso Township, Cook County, Illinois, United States. It was founded on April 6, 1869 and organized October 22, 1881. The population was 26,987 at the 2000 census.-Overview:...
. He studied dance at the Stone-Camryn School, Gail Larry School and under the tutelage of the Russian actress Eugenia Leontovich, Dr. John Reich and Dr Charles McGaw. Grimaldi graduated from The Theatre School of DePaul University
DePaul University
DePaul University is a private institution of higher education and research in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th century French priest Saint Vincent de Paul...
(then known as the Goodman School of Drama
Goodman School of Drama
The Goodman School of Drama is now renamed The Theatre School at DePaul University. Founded in 1925 in Chicago, Illinois, a city with a rich theatrical heritage, the Goodman School became part of DePaul University in 1978 and was renamed The Theatre School at DePaul University in 1982...
) in Chicago. He has Co-starred with Hiram Sherman in the Feydeau farce, A Flea in Her Ear, Caesar and Cleopatra with Carrie Snodgrass and Murray Matheson,
As a dancer, he has also appeared in "Man of La Mancha", "Hello, Dolly!", "Promises, Promises", "Sugar"; among other productions.
After several injuries as a dancer, he began a career as a choreographer and director; during that time, he formed Dennis Grimaldi Productions and pursued an active career as a Stage Producer as well as televison; He first worked as an "Associate to the Producers" on the Broadway production of R. A. "Pete" Gurney's Sweet Sue starring Mary Tyler Moore and Lynn Redgrave. As a producer, his productions on Broadway and Off Broadway include the 2011 Broadway revival of the Stephen Schwartz musical "Godspell", "Leslie Jordan My Trip Down The Pink Carpet"; Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes' '(Ron Liebman, Marcia Gay Harden, Jeffrey Wright); " Other People's Money" (Mercedes Ruehl); the Olivier Award winning "Rise and Fall of Little Voice" (Rondi Reed); "Girl's Room" (with Carol Lawrence and Donna McKecknie); "Sally Marr" ( with Joan Rivers); "Grace & Glorie" (with Lucie Arnaz and Estelle Parsons); Tom Stoppard's "Artist Descending a Staircase" (Harold Gould, John McMartin); "The Boys in the Band" revival ( with Michael Siebert); "Any Given Day" (with Sada Thompson) and "Party". The musicals "Richard Corey"; "Nunsense Jamboree", "Fanny Hill" and " Annie Warbucks" (Harve Presnell and Donna McKechnie)[2], "Burning Blue"(Chad Lowe), "Like Love by Lewis Flinn and Barry Kaplan; the musical adaptation of A.R. Gurney's Richard Cory; among others. He has also been associated with Emmanuel Azenberg on the Neil Simon productions of Lost in Yonkers (Kevin Spacey, Mercedes Reuhl) and "London Suite" (Carole Shelley, Jeffrey Jones) as well as "Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life" with The Producer Circle and David Mamet's "The Cryptogram" (Felicity Huffman, Ed Bagley, Jr). His many London productions on the West End and The Fringe include "The Boys in the Band","Stephen Sondheim's "Marry Me a Little", the comedic actor Jack Gilford in "Look To the Rainbow" and John Lahr's "Diary of a Somebody". The Boys in the Band He was also an Associate Producer for Candid Productions, a television production company, for 15 years; producing programing for ABC, NBC and HBO, Many of the shows he was also Choreographer. He was awarded the Robert Whitehead Award for Excellence in Theatre Production, The NY Film and Television Gold Medal Awards, The Outer Critics Awards and The Carbonell Award. Productions have earned The Drama Desk, Tony Awards, as well as The Pulitzer Prize.
He began his career as a dancer for Jack Cole, Gower Champion and Michael Bennett. On stage he has appeared with such theater luminaries as Dorothy Lamour, Howard Keel, Anna Marie Albergehtti, Christopher Walken, Van Johnson, John Raitt, James Earl Jones, Len Cariou, Betty Buckley, Donald O'Connor, Jean Pierre Aumont, Dorothy Collins, José Ferrer, Mimi Hines, Robert Alda, Murray Matheson, Hiram Sherman and Giorgio Tozzi among others. He was also a director and choreographer; his list of credits productions for stage includes: "Dance on a Country Grave" with Kevin Kline, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (Nathan Lane, John Goodman and Dann Florek, Christopher Guest),The Off Broadway revival of "Charley's Aunt" starring Marin Mazzie, Virginia Siedel and Charles Abbott, "Show me Where the Good Times Are' with Rosalind Kind, Clint Ballard's "The Red Bluegrass Western Flyer Show", "Wonderful Town"; National tours of "Gigi" (Jean Pierre Aumont), "The Robber Bridegroom" (John Goodman), "The Pajama Game", "Man of La Mancha" (Jack Cassidy; Howard Keel); the all star production of "Broadway" (Gilda Radner, Teri Garr, William Atherton, Chris Sarandon, Jill O'Hara), are among many other productions. On television, among his earlier musical staging assignments, he worked for NBC's Saturday Night Live. As well as Choreographer for HBO, ABC and NBC television specials.
He is the receipiant of several Awards including The Robert Whitehead Award for out standing Commercial Producing.