It’s a collaboration that was decades in the making. George C. Wolfe, who has helped bring the words of everyone from Tony Kushner to Nora Ephron to life in acclaimed productions, says it was in the mid-1990s when playwright August Wilson first raised the prospect of working with him.
“He said, ‘I want you to direct one of my plays,’” Wolfe recalls. “And I said, ‘Let me read it so I can make sure I have something to offer.’ He said, ‘Well, I haven’t written it yet.’”
Considering both are legends of the theater, it’s odd that it has taken this long for Wolfe and Wilson to come together, and that their long-gestating partnership is taking place not in their more familiar medium of the stage but on film. Wolfe is directing Netflix’s adaptation of Wilson’s second play, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” which hits the streaming service on Dec.
“He said, ‘I want you to direct one of my plays,’” Wolfe recalls. “And I said, ‘Let me read it so I can make sure I have something to offer.’ He said, ‘Well, I haven’t written it yet.’”
Considering both are legends of the theater, it’s odd that it has taken this long for Wolfe and Wilson to come together, and that their long-gestating partnership is taking place not in their more familiar medium of the stage but on film. Wolfe is directing Netflix’s adaptation of Wilson’s second play, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” which hits the streaming service on Dec.
- 12/11/2020
- by Jenelle Riley
- Variety Film + TV
The Broadway community mourns the loss of multiple Tony Award winning producer Margo Lion, who died on January 24, 2020 at age 75. To commemorate her life and work, the Committee of Theatre Owners will dim the lights of the Jujamcyn Theatres the Al Hirschfeld, August Wilson, Eugene O'Neill, St. James, and Walter Kerr Theatres where Ms. Lion often collaborated and worked as well as the American Airlines, Bernard Jacobs, Helen Hayes, Neil Simon, New Amsterdam, Lincoln Center, Lyric Theatre, and Samuel J. Friedmans in New York for one minute on Saturday, February 29 at exactly 745pm.
- 2/20/2020
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Margo Lion, the producer behind the Tony-winning musical adaption of Hairspray, died January 24 at age 75. She had a brain aneurysm, according to her son.
Lion was an independent producer with eclectic tastes, backing everything from revivals to new musicals, many of them award-winners.
“When Hairspray happened—it was just a miracle,” she told Playbill. “The first reading of Hairspray was at New York Theatre Workshop. And I thought it would take the kind of journey of Rent, because it was John Waters and I wanted to retain his voice. But when I heard that first reading, I said, ‘This is not for New York Theatre Workshop.'”
The show won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and ran for 2,642 performances.
Lion was born October 13, 1944 in Baltimore. She worked for Robert F. Kennedy, but gave up politics after his assassination. She instead immersed herself in the theater, becoming a producing director of Music-Theater Group.
Lion was an independent producer with eclectic tastes, backing everything from revivals to new musicals, many of them award-winners.
“When Hairspray happened—it was just a miracle,” she told Playbill. “The first reading of Hairspray was at New York Theatre Workshop. And I thought it would take the kind of journey of Rent, because it was John Waters and I wanted to retain his voice. But when I heard that first reading, I said, ‘This is not for New York Theatre Workshop.'”
The show won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and ran for 2,642 performances.
Lion was born October 13, 1944 in Baltimore. She worked for Robert F. Kennedy, but gave up politics after his assassination. She instead immersed herself in the theater, becoming a producing director of Music-Theater Group.
- 1/25/2020
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Vineyard Theatre welcomes Betty Buckley, Kathleen Chalfant, Holly Hunter, Tony Kushner, Matthew Morrison, Tonya Pinkins, Kate Mulgrew and Aaron Tveit joining host John Waters Hairspray, Cry Baby for their 2015 Gala honoring Tony Award-winning producer Margo Lion. The annual Gala Fundraiser will take place tonight, March 30th, 2015, beginning at 630pm, at Edison Ballroom 240 West 47th Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenue. The Gala performance is directed by Tony Award winner Michael Mayer Hedwig, Spring Awakening, Brooklynite.
- 3/30/2015
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Exclusive: HBO has put in development God Save Texas, a drama series project written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright (The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda And The Road To 9/11) and executive produced by X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner. It centers on an idealistic cowboy who, looking to save his ranch and marriage, tries to get elected to the Texas Legislature, where he becomes the target of the powerful energy lobby and learns how to survive in the crazy, brutal world of Texas politics. Wright, a native Texan and longtime observer of the political scene in Austin, is also a playwright. God Save Texas is based on his 2005 play Sonny’s Last Shot. Tony-winning veteran theater producer Margo Lion (Hairspray), who is working with Shuler Donner on adapting the Shuler Donner-produced feature The Secret Life Of Bees as a Broadway musical, gave her a copy of the play. Both felt Sonny’s...
- 6/6/2014
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
"Sex and the City" star Sarah Jessica Parker, Oscar winner Forest Whitaker and agent Bryan Lourd were among big Hollywood names named on Monday as members of U.S. President Barack Obama's Committee on Arts and the Humanities.The panel focuses on arts and humanities education, cultural diplomacy, economic revitalization through the arts and humanities and special events.First lady Michelle Obama is its honorary chairwoman and film producer George Stevens Jr. and theater producer Margo Lion had already been named as its co-chairs.Besides Parker, Whitaker and Lourd, who is a partner and managing director of Creative Artists Agency, other Hollywood figures named to the group included actors Edward Norton, Kerry Washington and Alfre Woodard, director George Wolfe, independent filmmaker Liz Manne and publicist Andy Spahn.The list of 25 people from the worlds of arts and entertainment also included cellist Yo Yo Ma, Vogue editor Anna Wintour,...
- 11/2/2009
- Filmicafe
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