Stafford Arima
Encyclopedia
Stafford Arima is a Canadian-born theatre director. Arima studied at York University
in Toronto
where he was the recipient of the Dean's Prize for Excellence in Creative Work.
Arima is directing Carrie
(book by Lawrence D. Cohen
, music by Michael Gore
, lyrics by Dean Pitchford
) for MCC Theater
in 2012, and is in development with the following projects: A Separate Peace
based on the John Knowles
’ novel (book by Warren Leight
, score by Todd Almond); Allegiance - A New American Musical (by Jay Kuo and Lorenzo Thione); Bare
formerly known as bare: A Pop Opera (by Jon Hartmere and Damon Intrabartolo
); and Somewhere in Time
based on the film and novel.
Arima directed the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway musical Altar Boyz
, which received the 2005 Best Musical Outer Critics Circle Award
and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award
as Outstanding Musical. Music and lyrics are by Gary Adler
and Michael Patrick Walker
, and book is by Kevin Del Aguila. Arima directed the West End premiere of the Stephen Flaherty
and Lynn Ahrens
musical Ragtime
, which was recognized in 2004 with eight Olivier Award nominations including Best Director and Best Musical.
Additional credits include: Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
(Stratford Shakespeare Festival); Roundabout Theatre Company
's production of The Tin Pan Alley Rag; My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding (NYMF); The Princess and the Black-Eyed Pea (San Diego Rep.
); Esther Demsack (Summer Play Festival
, The Public Theater); Bowfire
(PBS television special/world tour); Leonard Bernstein
’s Candide
(San Francisco Symphony
); Ace
(The Old Globe, CA); The Secret Garden
(World AIDS Day concert, New York City); "A Tribute to Stephen Sondheim
" (Boston Pops); Paul Scott Goodman's Bright Lights, Big City
(Prince Music Theater); Guys and Dolls (Paper Mill Playhouse
); 2009 Tisch Gala (New York City); Abyssinia
(Goodspeed Musicals
); Chef’s Theater (The Supper Club, New York City); Rags
- In Concert (Nokia Theatre Times Square
, New York City); Christopher Hampton
’s Total Eclipse
(Toronto); and Children's Letters to God
(Off Broadway).
Arima also served as associate director for the Broadway
productions of A Class Act
and Seussical
.
York University
York University is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, Ontario's second-largest graduate school, and Canada's leading interdisciplinary university....
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...
where he was the recipient of the Dean's Prize for Excellence in Creative Work.
Arima is directing Carrie
Carrie
Carrie may refer to:* Carrie , a given name and those with it* Carrie , a novel by Stephen King** Carrie , a 1976 film adaptation*** Carrie , a 2002 remake** Carrie , a musical adaptation...
(book by Lawrence D. Cohen
Lawrence D. Cohen
Lawrence D. Cohen is an American screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on Brian De Palma's Carrie , an adaptation of Stephen King's novel. Following this he scripted a simplified film adaptation of Peter Straub's novel Ghost Story in 1981...
, music by Michael Gore
Michael Gore
Michael Gore is an American composer. He, along with lyricist Dean Pitchford, won the Oscar in 1980 for best original song for "Fame" from the film of the same title. He also won the award that year for best original score. Gore is the younger brother of singer/songwriter Lesley Gore.Gore wrote...
, lyrics by Dean Pitchford
Dean Pitchford
Dean Pitchford is an American songwriter, screenwriter, director, actor, and novelist. His work has earned him an Oscar and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for three additional Oscars, two more Golden Globes, seven Grammy Awards and two Tony Awards.-Early life:Pitchford was born in...
) for MCC Theater
MCC Theater
MCC Theater is an Off-Broadway theater company located in New York City, founded in 1986 by artistic directors Robert LuPone and Bernard Telsey along with six graduates of the New York University drama department, including Jana Herzen...
in 2012, and is in development with the following projects: A Separate Peace
A Separate Peace
A Separate Peace is a novel by John Knowles. Based on his earlier short story "Phineas", it was Knowles' first published novel and became his best-known work.-Plot summary:...
based on the John Knowles
John Knowles
John Knowles was an American novelist best known for his novel A Separate Peace. He died in 2001 at the age of seventy-five.-Early life:...
’ novel (book by Warren Leight
Warren Leight
Warren Leight is an American playwright, screenwriter, film director and television producer. He is best known for his work on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Lights Out and the showrunner for In Treatment and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit....
, score by Todd Almond); Allegiance - A New American Musical (by Jay Kuo and Lorenzo Thione); Bare
Bare
Bare means minimal or naked.Bare may also refer to:- People :* Bobby Bare , American country music singer and songwriter* Bobby Bare, Jr. , American musician and recording artist...
formerly known as bare: A Pop Opera (by Jon Hartmere and Damon Intrabartolo
Damon Intrabartolo
Damon Intrabartolo is an American composer, orchestrator and conductor. He attended the University of Southern California and departed before graduation to work with John Ottman on The Usual Suspects.-Work:...
); and Somewhere in Time
Somewhere in Time (film)
Somewhere in Time is a 1980 romantic science fiction film directed by Jeannot Szwarc. It is a film adaptation of the 1975 novel Bid Time Return by Richard Matheson, who also wrote the screenplay...
based on the film and novel.
Arima directed the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway musical Altar Boyz
Altar Boyz
Altar Boyz is a musical comedy with music and lyrics by Gary Adler and Michael Patrick Walker and book by Kevin Del Aguila . Centering on a fictitious Christian boy band from Ohio, the show satirizes, among other things, the phenomenon of boy bands and the popularity of Christian-themed music in...
, which received the 2005 Best Musical Outer Critics Circle Award
Outer Critics Circle Award
The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on and Off-Broadway and were begun during the 1949-1950 theater season. The awards are decided upon by theater critics who review for out-of-town newspapers, national publications, and other media outlets...
and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
as Outstanding Musical. Music and lyrics are by Gary Adler
Gary Adler
Gary Adler is an American composer and musical director based in New York. He received two 2005 Drama Desk nominations for his music and lyrics for the off-Broadway show Altar Boyz, which had its premiere in the New York Musical Theatre Festival the year before...
and Michael Patrick Walker
Michael Patrick Walker
Michael Patrick Walker is a composer/lyricist and musician as well as an arranger and orchestrator. He is best known for co-writing the musical, Altar Boyz with fellow composer/lyricist Gary Adler and book writer Kevin Del Aguila...
, and book is by Kevin Del Aguila. Arima directed the West End premiere of the Stephen Flaherty
Stephen Flaherty
Stephen Flaherty is an American composer of musical theatre. He works most often in collaboration with the lyricist/bookwriter Lynn Ahrens...
and Lynn Ahrens
Lynn Ahrens
Lynn Ahrens is an American writer and lyricist for the musical theatre, television and film. She has collaborated with Stephen Flaherty for many years...
musical Ragtime
Ragtime (musical)
Ragtime is a musical with a book by Terrence McNally, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and music by Stephen Flaherty.Based on the 1975 novel by E. L. Doctorow, Ragtime tells the story of three groups in America, represented by Coalhouse Walker Jr., a Harlem musician; Mother, the matriarch of a WASP family in...
, which was recognized in 2004 with eight Olivier Award nominations including Best Director and Best Musical.
Additional credits include: Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris is an American musical revue of the songs of Jacques Brel.-Original Off-Broadway Production:...
(Stratford Shakespeare Festival); Roundabout Theatre Company
Roundabout Theatre Company
The Roundabout Theatre Company is a leading non-profit theatre company based in New York City.-History:The company was founded in 1965 by Gene Feist and Elizabeth Owens and now operates five theatres, all in Manhattan: the American Airlines Theatre ; Studio 54 ; the Stephen Sondheim Theatre The...
's production of The Tin Pan Alley Rag; My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding (NYMF); The Princess and the Black-Eyed Pea (San Diego Rep.
San Diego Repertory Theatre
The San Diego Repertory Theatre was developed out of Indian Magique, a street theater group of actors/writers/directors/producers who were fellow theatre graduates from USIU. Founded initially in 1975 by Sam Woodhouse, Christopher R, John Lee and others, they met in the loft of the old Spreckels...
); Esther Demsack (Summer Play Festival
Summer Play Festival
The Summer Play Festival is an annual four-week festival that stages new plays and musicals by emerging writers during the summer months in New York City founded by Broadway producer Arielle Tepper Madover. The first Summer Play Festival was presented in 2004. A year later in 2005, The Living...
, The Public Theater); Bowfire
Bowfire
Bowfire is a Canadian musical show featuring multiple violins, established in June 2000 by violinist and composer Lenny Solomon. They perform an eclectic mix of classical music, jazz, bluegrass music, celtic music, rock music, and world music....
(PBS television special/world tour); Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
’s Candide
Candide (operetta)
Candide is an operetta with music composed by Leonard Bernstein, based on the novella of the same name by Voltaire. The operetta was first performed in 1956 with a libretto by Lillian Hellman; but since 1974 it has been generally performed with a book by Hugh Wheeler which is more faithful to...
(San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
); 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...
(The Old Globe, CA); The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden (musical)
The Secret Garden is a musical based on the 1911 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The musical's book and lyrics are by Marsha Norman, with music by Lucy Simon...
(World AIDS Day concert, New York City); "A Tribute to 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...
" (Boston Pops); Paul Scott Goodman's Bright Lights, Big City
Bright Lights, Big City (musical)
Bright Lights, Big City is a musical with music lyrics and book written by Paul Scott Goodman and is based on the novel by Jay McInerney. It follows a week in the life of Jamie, an aspiring writer in his mid 20s who loses himself in the chaos of 1980s New York City.-Plot:Jamie, a...
(Prince Music Theater); Guys and Dolls (Paper Mill Playhouse
Paper Mill Playhouse
Paper Mill Playhouse is a regional theatre with approximately 1200 seats, located in Millburn, New Jersey, less than 25 miles from Manhattan. Due to its location, it can draw from the pool of actors who live in New York City. Its location, as well as its focus on producing large-scale shows, makes...
); 2009 Tisch Gala (New York City); Abyssinia
Abyssinia (musical)
Abyssinia is a musical with music by Ted Kociolek, lyrics by James Racheff, and a book by both Racheff and Kociolek, based on the novel Marked by Fire, by Joyce Carol Thomas.- Productions :...
(Goodspeed Musicals
Goodspeed Musicals
Goodspeed Musicals, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and advancement of musical theater and the creation of new works, was formed in 1959 to restore the Goodspeed Opera House, located in East Haddam, Connecticut, to its original Victorian appearance. Each year, Goodspeed...
); Chef’s Theater (The Supper Club, New York City); Rags
Rags (musical)
Rags is a musical with a book by Joseph Stein, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and music by Charles Strouse.-Production history:The Broadway production opened on August 21, 1986 at the Mark Hellinger Theatre with little advance sale and to mostly indifferent reviews, and it closed after only four...
- In Concert (Nokia Theatre Times Square
Nokia Theatre Times Square
The Best Buy Theater in Times Square is an indoor theatre, owned and managed by Anschutz Entertainment Group , located on 1515 Broadway, at the corner of Broadway and 44th street. It was designed by architect David Rockwell and opened in September 2005...
, New York City); Christopher Hampton
Christopher Hampton
Christopher James Hampton CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, screen writer and film director. He is best known for his play based on the novel Les Liaisons dangereuses and the film version Dangerous Liaisons and also more recently for writing the nominated screenplay for the film adaptation of...
’s Total Eclipse
Total Eclipse
A total eclipse is an eclipse where either the Sun is entirely covered by the Moon, or the Earth's shadow entirely covers the Moon.Total Eclipse may also refer to:-Music:* Total Eclipse , a Goa trance music group...
(Toronto); and Children's Letters to God
Children's Letters to God
Children's Letters to God was a Drama Desk Award nominated Off-Broadway musical that was based on the best selling book by Stoo Hample, music by David Evans, and lyrics by Douglas J. Cohen.-Summary:...
(Off Broadway).
Arima also served as associate director for the 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...
productions of A Class Act
A Class Act
A Class Act is a musical with a book by Linda Kline and Lonny Price and music and lyrics by Edward Kleban. The musical is based on the life of composer-lyricist Ed Kleban, who died at the age of 48 in 1987...
and Seussical
Seussical
is a musical by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty based on the books of Dr. Seuss that debuted on Broadway in 2000. The play's story is a rather complex amalgamation of many of Seuss's most famous books. After a Broadway run, the production spawned two US national tours and a UK tour...
.