Manny Azenberg
Encyclopedia
Emanuel "Manny" Azenberg (born January 22, 1934) is an award-winning American
theatre producer and general manager
whose professional relationship with playwright Neil Simon
spans thirty-three years.
Azenburg was born in The Bronx
and attended the Bronx High School of Science
. He became interested in the theatre after seeing his uncle, former Yiddish theatre
actor Wolfe Barzell, perform in the 1948 play Skipper Next to God by Jan de Hartog
. After studying at New York University
and serving time in the United States Army
, he became the assistant company manager for The Legend of Lizzie, an ill-fated 1959 play that closed after two performances. He worked for David Merrick
and Alexander H. Cohen
before earning his first producing credit with The Lion in Winter
in 1966.
Azenburg first met Neil Simon in 1963 when the two played softball
with Robert Redford
, who was appearing in Simon's play Barefoot in the Park
at the time. Their professional association began with The Sunshine Boys
in 1972 and continued with The Good Doctor, God's Favorite
, Chapter Two, They're Playing Our Song
, I Ought to Be in Pictures
, Brighton Beach Memoirs
, Biloxi Blues
, Broadway Bound
, Lost in Yonkers
, Jake's Women
, The Goodbye Girl
, and Laughter on the 23rd Floor
, among others.
Additional Azenberg credits include Mark Twain Tonight!, George M!
, The Rothschilds, Two Gentlemen of Verona
, Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death
, Sticks and Bones
, That Championship Season
, The Wiz
, Ain't Misbehavin', Whose Life is it Anyway?
, Master Harold...and the Boys
, The Real Thing
, Sunday in the Park with George
, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
, Jerome Robbins' Broadway
, The Iceman Cometh
, Rent
, Movin' Out
, Stones in His Pockets
, and Baz Luhrmann
's adaptation of La Bohème
.
In an interview with the New York Times, Azenberg observed, "I am not a deep thinker. I am not a writer, though I recognize good ideas when I see them. I am there to service people. A producer creates an atmosphere — or tries to — that is genuinely comfortable, so the best creative work can take place. You try to keep peace, because there are so many disparate groups within the theatre."
Azenberg also has taught theatre at Duke University
for two decades. He was elected to the American Theatre Hall of Fame
in 2009. He is married to Lani Sundsten, a one-time dancer and the original stage manager for Cats
, and the father of five children: Karen, Lisa, Rebecca, Jessica, and Joshua.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
theatre producer and general manager
General manager
General manager is a descriptive term for certain executives in a business operation. It is also a formal title held by some business executives, most commonly in the hospitality industry.-Generic usage:...
whose professional relationship with playwright Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
spans thirty-three years.
Azenburg was born in The Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
and attended the Bronx High School of Science
Bronx High School of Science
The Bronx High School of Science is a specialized New York City public high school often considered the premier science magnet school in the United States. Founded in 1938, it is now located in the Bedford Park section of the Bronx...
. He became interested in the theatre after seeing his uncle, former Yiddish theatre
Yiddish theatre
Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Central European Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revues; melodrama; naturalist drama; expressionist and...
actor Wolfe Barzell, perform in the 1948 play Skipper Next to God by Jan de Hartog
Jan de Hartog
Jan de Hartog was a Dutch playwright, novelist and occasional social critic who moved to the United States in the early 1960s and became a Quaker.- Early years :...
. After studying at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
and serving time in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
, he became the assistant company manager for The Legend of Lizzie, an ill-fated 1959 play that closed after two performances. He worked for David Merrick
David Merrick
David Merrick was a prolific Tony Award-winning American theatrical producer.-Life and career:Born David Lee Margulois to Jewish parents in St. Louis, Missouri, Merrick graduated from Washington University, then studied law at the Jesuit-run Saint Louis University School of Law...
and Alexander H. Cohen
Alexander H. Cohen
Alexander H. Cohen was a prolific American theatrical producer who mounted more than one hundred productions on both sides of the Atlantic. He was the only American producer to maintain offices in the West End as well as on Broadway.-Personal life:Cohen was born in New York City...
before earning his first producing credit with The Lion in Winter
The Lion in Winter
-Synopsis:Set during Christmas 1183 at Henry II of England's château in Chinon, Anjou, Angevin Empire, the play opens with the arrival of Henry's wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, whom he has had imprisoned since 1173...
in 1966.
Azenburg first met Neil Simon in 1963 when the two played softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
with Robert Redford
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...
, who was appearing in Simon's play Barefoot in the Park
Barefoot in the Park
This article is about the Broadway production. For the film adaptation see Barefoot in the Park .Barefoot in the Park is a romantic comedy by Neil Simon. The original Broadway production, directed by Mike Nichols, opened October 23, 1963, with the four lead roles taken by actors Elizabeth Ashley ,...
at the time. Their professional association began with The Sunshine Boys
The Sunshine Boys
The Sunshine Boys is a play by Neil Simon that was produced on Broadway in 1972 and later adapted for film and television.-Plot:The play focuses on aging Al Lewis and Willy Clark, a one-time vaudevillian team known as "Lewis and Clark" who, over the course of forty-odd years, not only grew to hate...
in 1972 and continued with The Good Doctor, God's Favorite
God's Favorite
God's Favorite is a play by Neil Simon, loosely based on the Biblical Book of Job. It was produced on Broadway by Emanuel Azenberg in 1974....
, Chapter Two, They're Playing Our Song
They're Playing Our Song
They're Playing Our Song is a musical with a book by Neil Simon, lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager, and music by Marvin Hamlisch.In a story based on the real-life relationship of Hamlisch and Sager, a wisecracking composer finds a new, offbeat lyricist, but initially the match is not one made in heaven...
, I Ought to Be in Pictures
I Ought to Be in Pictures
I Ought to Be in Pictures is a play by Neil Simon.The three-character comedy-drama focuses on Herbert Tucker, a struggling, writer's-blocked screenwriter who abandoned his New York family 16 years earlier...
, Brighton Beach Memoirs
Brighton Beach Memoirs
Brighton Beach Memoirs is a semi-autobiographical play by Neil Simon, the first chapter in what is known as his Eugene trilogy. It precedes Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound.-Characters:*Eugene Morris Jerome, almost 15...
, Biloxi Blues
Biloxi Blues
Biloxi Blues is a semi-autobiographical play by Neil Simon. The second chapter in what is known as his Eugene trilogy, it follows Brighton Beach Memoirs and precedes Broadway Bound....
, Broadway Bound
Broadway Bound
Broadway Bound is a semi-autobiographical play by Neil Simon. It is the last chapter in his Eugene trilogy, following Brighton Beach Memoirs and Biloxi Blues....
, Lost in Yonkers
Lost in Yonkers
Lost in Yonkers is a 1991 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Neil Simon. After eleven previews, the Broadway production, produced by Emanuel Azenberg and directed by Gene Saks, opened on February 21, 1991 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, where it ran for 780 performances...
, Jake's Women
Jake's Women
Jake's Women is a play by Neil Simon. It centers on Jake, a writer with a struggling marriage. Jake talks to many of the women he knows, both in real life and in his imagination, as he works to save his marriage...
, The Goodbye Girl
The Goodbye Girl (musical)
The Goodbye Girl is a musical with a book by Neil Simon, lyrics by David Zippel, and music by Marvin Hamlisch, based on Simon's original screenplay for the 1977 film of the same name.-Production history:...
, and Laughter on the 23rd Floor
Laughter on the 23rd Floor
Laughter on the 23rd Floor is a play by Neil Simon.Inspired by Simon's early career experience as a junior jokesmith for Your Show of Shows, the play focuses on Sid Caesar/Jackie Gleason-like Max Prince, the star of a weekly comedy-variety show circa 1953, and his staff, including Simon's...
, among others.
Additional Azenberg credits include Mark Twain Tonight!, George M!
George M!
George M! is a Broadway musical based on the life of George M. Cohan, the biggest Broadway star of his day who was known as "The Man Who Owned Broadway." The book for the musical was written by Michael Stewart, John Pascal, and Francine Pascal. Music and lyrics were, of course, by George M...
, The Rothschilds, Two Gentlemen of Verona
Two Gentlemen of Verona (musical)
Two Gentlemen of Verona is a rock musical, with a book by John Guare and Mel Shapiro, lyrics by Guare and music by Galt MacDermot, based on the Shakespeare comedy of the same name....
, Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death
Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death
Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death is a musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Melvin Van Peebles. The musical contains some material also on three of Van Peebles' albums, Br'er Soul, Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death and As Serious as a Heart-Attack, some of which were yet to come...
, Sticks and Bones
Sticks and Bones
Sticks and Bones is a 1971 play by David Rabe. The black comedy focuses on David, a blind Vietnam War veteran who finds himself unable to come to terms with his actions on the battlefield and alienated from his family because they neither can accept his disability nor understand his wartime...
, That Championship Season
That Championship Season
That Championship Season is a 1972 play by Jason Miller. It was the recipient of the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.-Plot synopsis:Characters* The Coach* George Sitkowski* Phil Romano* James Daley* Tom Daley...
, The Wiz
The Wiz
The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the context of African American culture. It opened on October 21, 1974 at the Morris A...
, Ain't Misbehavin', Whose Life is it Anyway?
Whose Life is it Anyway?
Whose Life Is It Anyway? is a play by Brian Clark adapted from his 1972 television play of the same title. The play premiered at the Mermaid Theatre in London's West End in 1978 starring Tom Conti as Ken.-Plot:...
, Master Harold...and the Boys
Master Harold...and the Boys
Master Harold...and the boys is a play by Athol Fugard. It was first produced at the Yale Repertory Theatre in early 1982 and made its premiere on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre on 4 May where it ran for 344 performances...
, The Real Thing
The Real Thing (play)
The Real Thing is a play by Tom Stoppard, first performed in 1982. It examines the nature of honesty, and its use of a play within a play is one of many levels on which the author teases the audience with the difference between semblance and reality....
, Sunday in the Park with George
Sunday in the Park with George
Sunday in the Park with George is a 1984 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical was inspired by the painting "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat...
, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
A Day in the Death of Joe Egg is a 1967 play by English playwright Peter Nichols, first staged at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland before transferring to London's West End theatres in 1968.-Plot summary:Characters* Bri* Grace* Joe* Freddie...
, Jerome Robbins' Broadway
Jerome Robbins' Broadway
Jerome Robbins' Broadway is an anthology comprising musical numbers from earlier shows that were either directed or choreographed by Jerome Robbins. Robbins won his fifth Tony Award for direction of the show....
, The Iceman Cometh
The Iceman Cometh
The Iceman Cometh is a play written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1939. First published in 1940 the play premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on 9 October 1946, directed by Eddie Dowling where it ran for 136 performances to close on 15 March 1947.-Characters:* Night Hawk-...
, Rent
Rent (musical)
Rent is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème...
, Movin' Out
Movin' Out (musical)
Movin' Out is a jukebox musical featuring the songs of Billy Joel.Conceived by Twyla Tharp, the musical tells the story of a generation of American youth growing up on Long Island during the 1960s and their experiences with the Vietnam War...
, Stones in His Pockets
Stones in His Pockets
Stones in His Pockets is a two-hander written in 1996 by Marie Jones for the DubbleJoint Theatre Company in Dublin, Ireland.-Plot summary:...
, and Baz Luhrmann
Baz Luhrmann
Mark Anthony "Baz" Luhrmann is an Australian film director, screenwriter, and producer best known for The Red Curtain Trilogy, which includes his films Strictly Ballroom, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!...
's adaptation of La Bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
.
In an interview with the New York Times, Azenberg observed, "I am not a deep thinker. I am not a writer, though I recognize good ideas when I see them. I am there to service people. A producer creates an atmosphere — or tries to — that is genuinely comfortable, so the best creative work can take place. You try to keep peace, because there are so many disparate groups within the theatre."
Azenberg also has taught theatre at Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
for two decades. He was elected to the American Theatre Hall of Fame
American Theatre Hall of Fame
The American Theatre Hall of Fame in New York City was founded in 1972. Earl Blackwell was the first head of the Executive Committee. In an announcement at a luncheon meeting on March 1972, he said that the new Theater Hall of Fame would be located in the Uris Theatre . James M...
in 2009. He is married to Lani Sundsten, a one-time dancer and the original stage manager for Cats
Cats (musical)
Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot...
, and the father of five children: Karen, Lisa, Rebecca, Jessica, and Joshua.
Awards
- 1978 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding MusicalDrama Desk Award for Outstanding MusicalThe Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical was first awarded at the 1974-1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since. Before the 21st Drama Desk Awards, acting awards were given without making distinctions between roles in straight dramas as opposed to musicals, nor were there...
(Ain't Misbehavin) - 1978 Tony Award for Best MusicalTony Award for Best MusicalThis is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Musical, first awarded in 1949. This award is presented to the producers of the musical.-1940s:* 1949: Kiss Me, Kate – Music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Samuel and Bella Spewack...
(Ain't Misbehavin) - 1980 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play (Children of a Lesser God)
- 1980 Tony Award for Best PlayTony Award for Best PlayThe Tony Award for Best Play is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theatre, including musical theatre, honoring productions on Broadway in New York. It currently takes place in mid-June each year.There was no award in the Tony's first year...
(Children of a Lesser God) - 1982 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play (Master Harold...and the Boys)
- 1982 Tony Award for Best Play (Master Harold...and the Boys)
- 1984 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical (Sunday in the Park with George)
- 1984 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play (The Real Thing)
- 1984 Tony Award for Best Play (The Real Thing)
- 1985 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding RevivalDrama Desk Award for Outstanding RevivalThe Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival is presented by the Drama Desk, a committee of New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors. It honors the Broadway, off-Broadway, off-off-Broadway, or legitimate not-for-profit theater revival of a production previously staged in New York City.It...
(A Day in the Death of Joe Egg) - 1985 Tony Award for Best RevivalTony Award for Best RevivalThe Tony Award for Best Revival was presented from 1977 until 1994, when it was split into the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical and the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. If there are not enough revivals, it is possible under the current Tony rules for the "Best Revival of a Play or...
(A Day in the Death of Joe Egg) - 1985 Tony Award for Best Play (Biloxi Blues)
- 1989 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical (Jerome Robbins' Broadway)
- 1989 Tony Award for Best Musical (Jerome Robbins' Broadway)
- 1991 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play (Lost in Yonkers)
- 1991 Tony Award for Best New Play (Lost in Yonkers)
- 1999 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play (The Iceman Cometh)
- 1999 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play (The Iceman Cometh)
- 2002 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play (Private Lives)
- 2002 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play (Private Lives)