Lawrence Kasha
Encyclopedia
Lawrence Kasha was a Tony Award
-winning American
theatre producer and director, playwright
, and stage manager.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Kasha began his Broadway
career as a production assistant for Silk Stockings
in 1955. He joined the show's national tour as stage manager, then returned to New York City
to work in that capacity for Li'l Abner
(1956), Whoop-Up (1958), Happy Town (1959), and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
(1961).
Kasha had directed a season of summer stock
productions at the Colonie Summer Theatre in Latham, New York
in 1959, but his first major directing assignment came in 1962 with Guys and Dolls and The Most Happy Fella
at the O'Keefe Center
in Toronto
. He returned to Broadway to share a producing credit with Hal Prince
for She Loves Me
in 1963, then the following year directed Bajour
and worked as associate director on Funny Girl, which he directed in the West End
when Barbra Streisand
took the show to London
in 1966, the same year he helmed Show Boat
at the New York State Theatre in Lincoln Center. Three years later he returned to London to direct Ginger Rogers
in Mame.
In 1978, Kasha adapted the 1954 MGM movie musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers for the stage. Although the national tour, which he also produced and directed, was a critical and commercial success, the 1982 Broadway staging proved to be a flop, closing after fifteen previews and five performances.
Kasha's playwriting credits include The Pirate (1968), Where Have You Been, Billy Boy (1969), and Heaven Sent (1978).
Kasha served as producer for the television series Busting Loose, Komedy Tonite, and Knots Landing
. He died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
in Los Angeles, California
.
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
-winning American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
theatre producer and director, playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, and stage manager.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Kasha began his 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...
career as a production assistant for Silk Stockings
Silk Stockings
Silk Stockings is a musical with a book by George S. Kaufman, Leueen MacGrath, and Abe Burrows and music and lyrics by Cole Porter.Hildegarde Knef gives a vivid backstage account of the casting, rehearsals, tryouts and Broadway opening of "Silk Stockings" in her autobiography "The Gift Horse:...
in 1955. He joined the show's national tour as stage manager, then returned to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to work in that capacity for Li'l Abner
Li'l Abner
Li'l Abner is a satirical American comic strip that appeared in many newspapers in the United States, Canada and Europe, featuring a fictional clan of hillbillies in the impoverished town of Dogpatch, Kentucky. Written and drawn by Al Capp , the strip ran for 43 years, from August 13, 1934 through...
(1956), Whoop-Up (1958), Happy Town (1959), and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, and Willie Gilbert, based on Shepherd Mead's 1952 book of the same name....
(1961).
Kasha had directed a season of summer stock
Summer Stock
For the article about the theatre genre, see Summer stock theatre.Summer Stock is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical made in 1950. The film was directed by Charles Walters and stars Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Eddie Bracken, Gloria DeHaven, Marjorie Main, and Phil Silvers...
productions at the Colonie Summer Theatre in Latham, New York
Latham, New York
Latham is a hamlet in Albany County, New York, United States. It is located along U.S. Route 9 in the town of Colonie, a dense suburb north of Albany.-History:...
in 1959, but his first major directing assignment came in 1962 with Guys and Dolls and The Most Happy Fella
The Most Happy Fella
The Most Happy Fella is a 1956 musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Frank Loesser. The story, about a romance between an older man and younger woman, is based on the play They Knew What They Wanted by Sidney Howard...
at the O'Keefe Center
Hummingbird Centre
The Sony Centre for the Performing Arts is a major performing arts venue in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.-About the Centre:The Sony Centre For The Performing Arts is Canada’s largest soft-seat theatre...
in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. He returned to Broadway to share a producing credit with Hal Prince
Hal Prince
Harold Smith Prince is an American theatrical producer and director associated with many of the best-known Broadway musical productions of the past half-century...
for She Loves Me
She Loves Me
She Loves Me is a musical with a book by Joe Masteroff, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and music by Jerry Bock.The musical is the fifth adaptation of the play Parfumerie by Hungarian playwright Miklos Laszlo, following the 1940 James Stewart-Margaret Sullavan film The Shop around the Corner and the...
in 1963, then the following year directed Bajour
Bajour (musical)
Bajour is a musical with a book by Ernest Kinoy and music and lyrics by Walter Marks. The musical is based on the Joseph Mitchell short stories The Gypsy Women and The King of the Gypsies published in The New Yorker...
and worked as associate director on Funny Girl, which he directed in the 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...
when Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
took the show to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1966, the same year he helmed Show Boat
Show Boat
Show Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...
at the New York State Theatre in Lincoln Center. Three years later he returned to London to direct Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
in Mame.
In 1978, Kasha adapted the 1954 MGM movie musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers for the stage. Although the national tour, which he also produced and directed, was a critical and commercial success, the 1982 Broadway staging proved to be a flop, closing after fifteen previews and five performances.
Kasha's playwriting credits include The Pirate (1968), Where Have You Been, Billy Boy (1969), and Heaven Sent (1978).
Kasha served as producer for the television series Busting Loose, Komedy Tonite, and Knots Landing
Knots Landing
Knots Landing is an American primetime television soap opera that aired from December 27, 1979 to May 13, 1993 on CBS. Set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles in California, the show centered on the lives of four married couples living in a cul-de-sac, Seaview Circle...
. He died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Originally established as Kaspare Cohn Hospital in 1902, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a non-profit, tertiary 958-bed hospital and multi-specialty academic health science centre located in Los Angeles, California, US. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital employs a staff of over...
in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
.
Additional Broadway credits
- Hadrian VII (1969), producer
- ApplauseApplause (musical)Applause is a musical with a book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, lyrics by Lee Adams, and music by Charles Strouse. It won the Tony Award for Best Musical and Lauren Bacall won the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical....
(1970), producer - Lovely Ladies, Kind GentlemenLovely Ladies, Kind GentlemenLovely Ladies, Kind Gentlemen is a musical with a book by John Patrick and music and lyrics by Stan Freeman and Franklin Underwood.Based on Patrick's play and screenplay The Teahouse of the August Moon, it focuses on Capt. Fisby who, assigned the task of Americanizing the village of Tobiki on...
(1970), director - Father's Day (1971), producer
- Inner City (1971), producer
- SeesawSeesaw (musical)Seesaw is a musical with a book by Michael Bennett, music by Cy Coleman, and lyrics by Dorothy Fields.Based on the William Gibson play Two for the Seesaw, the plot focuses on a brief affair between Jerry Ryan, a young lawyer from Nebraska, and Gittel Mosca, a kooky, streetwise dancer from the Bronx...
(1973), producer - No Hard Feelings (1973), producer
- Woman of the YearWoman of the YearWoman of the Year is a romantic comedy film. The movie is about an emancipated woman, chosen "Woman of the Year", and her colleague-turned-husband and their efforts to negotiate a path to marital bliss....
(1981), producer
Additional national tours
- Li'l Abner (1956), director
- Gentlemen Prefer BlondesGentlemen Prefer Blondes (musical)Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a musical with a book by Joseph Fields and Anita Loos, lyrics by Leo Robin, and music by Jule Styne, based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Loos...
(1961) director - CamelotCamelot (musical)Camelot is a musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe . It is based on the King Arthur legend as adapted from the T. H. White tetralogy novel The Once and Future King....
(1964), director - Cactus Flower (1968), director
- The Star-Spangled GirlThe Star-Spangled GirlThe Star-Spangled Girl is a comedy written by Neil Simon. The play, set in the San Francisco in the 1960s, concerns three characters: Andy, Norman and Sophie. The original Broadway cast featured Anthony Perkins as Andy, Richard Benjamin as Norman and Connie Stevens as Sophie...
(1968), director
Awards and nominations
- 1981 Tony Award for Best Musical (Woman of the Year, nominee)
- 1974 Tony Award for Best Musical (Seesaw, nominee)
- 1970 Tony Award for Best Musical (Applause, winner)
- 1969 Tony Award for Best Play (Hadrian VII, nominee)
- 1964 Tony Award for Best Musical (She Loves Me, nominee)