Eric D. Schaeffer
Encyclopedia
Eric D. Schaeffer is a theater director and producer based in Arlington, Virginia.
He is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Signature Theatre., and is well known nationally for his re-invention of large American musicals for small black box venues. He has produced many of the works of Stephen Sondheim
, stating that the Signature production of Sweeney Todd in the 1990-1991 season "put us on the map". Under his leadership, Signature Theatre was chosen to receive the 2009 Regional Theatre Tony Award
.
Over its 21-year history, Schaeffer has also led the Theatre to 70 Helen Hayes Awards and 283 Helen Hayes nominations for outstanding excellence in the theater. He created The American Musical Voices Project and The American Musical Voices Project: The Next Generation, which has awarded over $500,000 in commissions to writers for new American musicals. He has directed on Broadway
, West End
in London, Los Angeles
, and Chicago
, and served as the Artistic Director of The Sondheim Celebration at The Kennedy Center in 2002.
Sunset Boulevard, Chess, Kiss of the Spider Woman
, Glory Days
, Merrily We Roll Along
, The Witches of Eastwick, Saving Aimee, Into the Woods
, My Fair Lady
, Nevermore, Assassins
, The Highest Yellow, One Red Flower, Allegro, Twentieth Century, 110 in the Shade
, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
, The Gospel According to Fishman, Grand Hotel, The Rhythm Club, Over & Over, The Fix
, Working
, The Rink, Cabaret
, First Lady Suite
, Wings, Poor Superman, Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love
, Passion
, Company
, Sweeney Todd
, Follies
, Pacific Overtures
, Ace
, Les Misérables
, and Showboat.
Broadway
National Tours
Off-Broadway
London
Kennedy Center
Awards
He is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Signature Theatre., and is well known nationally for his re-invention of large American musicals for small black box venues. He has produced many of the works of Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
, stating that the Signature production of Sweeney Todd in the 1990-1991 season "put us on the map". Under his leadership, Signature Theatre was chosen to receive the 2009 Regional Theatre Tony Award
Regional Theatre Tony Award
The Regional Theatre Tony Award is a special non-competitive Tony Award given annually to a regional theatre company in the United States. Initially presented in 1948 to Robert Porterfield of the Virginia Barter Theatre for their Contribution To Development Of Regional Theatre, the Regional Theatre...
.
Over its 21-year history, Schaeffer has also led the Theatre to 70 Helen Hayes Awards and 283 Helen Hayes nominations for outstanding excellence in the theater. He created The American Musical Voices Project and The American Musical Voices Project: The Next Generation, which has awarded over $500,000 in commissions to writers for new American musicals. He has directed 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...
, West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
in London, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, and Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, and served as the Artistic Director of The Sondheim Celebration at The Kennedy Center in 2002.
Selected directing credits
Signature TheatreSunset Boulevard, Chess, Kiss of the Spider Woman
Kiss of the Spider Woman (musical)
Kiss of the Spider Woman is a musical with music by John Kander and Fred Ebb, with the book by Terrence McNally. It is based on the Manuel Puig novel El Beso de la Mujer Araña...
, Glory Days
Glory Days (musical)
Glory Days is a musical with music and lyrics by Nick Blaemire and a book by James Gardiner about four high school friends reuniting a year after graduation....
, Merrily We Roll Along
Merrily We Roll Along (musical)
Merrily We Roll Along is a musical with a book by George Furth and lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim. It is based on the 1934 play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart....
, The Witches of Eastwick, Saving Aimee, Into the Woods
Into the Woods
Into the Woods is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It debuted in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre in 1986, and premiered on Broadway in 1987. Bernadette Peters' performance as the Witch and Joanna Gleason's portrayal of the Baker's Wife brought acclaim...
, My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
, Nevermore, Assassins
Assassins (musical)
Assassins is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by John Weidman, based on an idea by Charles Gilbert, Jr. It uses the premise of a murderous carnival game to produce a revue-style portrayal of men and women who attempted to assassinate Presidents of the United States...
, The Highest Yellow, One Red Flower, Allegro, Twentieth Century, 110 in the Shade
110 in the Shade
110 in the Shade is a musical with a book by N. Richard Nash, lyrics by Tom Jones, and music by Harvey Schmidt.Based on Nash's 1954 play The Rainmaker, it focuses on Lizzie Curry, a spinster living on a ranch in the American southwest, and her relationships with local sheriff File, a cautious...
, Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (musical)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a rock musical about a fictional rock and roll band fronted by an East German transgender singer. The text is by John Cameron Mitchell, and the music and lyrics are by Stephen Trask. The musical premiered in 1998 and has been performed throughout the world in hundreds...
, The Gospel According to Fishman, Grand Hotel, The Rhythm Club, Over & Over, The Fix
The Fix (musical)
The Fix is a musical with book and lyrics by John Dempsey and music by Dana P. Rowe. It concerns the career of a fictional U.S. politician who gets mixed up with the Mafia.It premiered at London's Donmar Warehouse in 1997.-Production history:...
, Working
Working (musical)
Working is a musical with a book by Stephen Schwartz and Nina Faso, music by Schwartz, Craig Carnelia, Micki Grant, Mary Rodgers, and James Taylor, and lyrics by Schwartz, Carnelia, Grant, Taylor, and Susan Birkenhead....
, The Rink, Cabaret
Cabaret (musical)
Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....
, First Lady Suite
First Lady Suite
First Lady Suite is a chamber musical by Michael John LaChiusa. The musical contains four separate segments about four of the First Ladies of the United States of America and the people surrounding them. They are: Eleanor Roosevelt, Mamie Eisenhower, Bess Truman, and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy...
, Wings, Poor Superman, Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love
Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love
Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love is a 1989 stage play written by Canadian playwright Brad Fraser. Set in Edmonton, Alberta, the comedy-drama follows the lives of several sexually frustrated "thirty-somethings" who try to learn the meaning of love — during a time in which...
, Passion
Passion (musical)
Passion is a musical adapted from Ettore Scola's film Passione d'Amore . The book is by James Lapine, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Central subjects include obsession, beauty, power, manipulation, passion, illness, and love...
, Company
Company (musical)
Company is a musical with a book by George Furth and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The original production was nominated for a record-setting fourteen Tony Awards and won six....
, Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd (musical)
Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 1979 musical thriller with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and libretto by Hugh Wheeler. The musical is based on the 1973 play Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Christopher Bond....
, Follies
Follies
Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. The story concerns a reunion in a crumbling Broadway theatre, scheduled for demolition, of the past performers of the "Weismann's Follies," a musical revue , that played in that theatre between the World Wars...
, Pacific Overtures
Pacific Overtures
Pacific Overtures is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, a libretto by John Weidman, and additional material by Hugh Wheeler. The musical is set in 1853 Japan and follows the difficult Westernization of Japan, through the lives of two friends caught in the change...
, Ace
Ace (musical)
ACE is a musical with a book and lyrics by Robert Taylor and Richard Oberacker, and music by Oberacker. The story is about a boy, separated from his mother, who discovers his past and himself through a series of dreams about a flying ace...
, Les Misérables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
, and Showboat.
Broadway
- Million Dollar QuartetMillion Dollar Quartet"Million Dollar Quartet" is the name given to recordings made on Tuesday December 4, 1956 in the Sun Record Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. The recordings were of an impromptu jam session among Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash. It was arguably the first...
(2010) - Glory DaysGlory Days (musical)Glory Days is a musical with music and lyrics by Nick Blaemire and a book by James Gardiner about four high school friends reuniting a year after graduation....
(2008) - Putting It TogetherPutting It TogetherPutting it Together is a musical revue showcasing the songs of Stephen Sondheim. Drawing its title from a song in Sunday in the Park with George, it was devised by Sondheim and Julia McKenzie...
(1999) - FolliesFolliesFollies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. The story concerns a reunion in a crumbling Broadway theatre, scheduled for demolition, of the past performers of the "Weismann's Follies," a musical revue , that played in that theatre between the World Wars...
(2011) [transfer from the Kennedy Center]
National Tours
- Big
- Barbie Live in Fairytopia
Off-Broadway
- Sweet AdelineSweet Adeline (musical)Sweet Adeline is a musical with music by Jerome Kern, book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and original Orchestration by Robert Russell Bennett. It premiered on Broadway in 1929...
(1997, Encores!Encores!Encores! Great American Musicals in Concert is a program that has been presented by New York City Center since 1994. Encores! is dedicated to performing the full score of musicals that rarely are heard in New York City...
) - Under the Bridge
London
- The Witches of EastwickThe Witches of Eastwick (musical)The Witches of Eastwick is a 2000 musical based on the novel of the same name by John Updike. It was adapted by John Dempsey and Dana P. Rowe , directed by Eric Schaeffer, and produced by Cameron Mackintosh....
(2000, World premiere, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and Prince of Wales Theatre)
Kennedy Center
- Follies (2011)
Awards
- 2002 Washingtonian of the Year
- 6 Helen Hayes Awards (Outstanding Direction)
- 6 Helen Hayes Awards (Outstanding Musical)
- 2007 Arts Founder Award