The New York Times has praised Bartlett Sher as “one of the most original and exciting directors, not only in the American theater but also in the international world of opera.” Nominated for the Tony Award nine times, he took home the prize in 2008 for his powerful revival of South Pacific. He has worked more than 35 years as a director in theaters and opera houses all over the world. He is a founding partner of SRO Productions with J.T. Rogers and Cambra Overend.
Born in San Francisco into a large family where he was fifth of seven children, Bart’s early career started there and in San Diego, where he developed his own company and assisted Robert Woodruff at the La Jolla Playhouse. After attending the University of Leeds in England for an MA, he then became Resident Director at the Guthrie Theater, where he worked under the extraordinary guidance of Garland Wright. Soon after he became Associate Artistic Director at the Hartford Stage, led by Mark Lamos, until arriving at the Intiman Theater in Seattle, where he served as the Artistic Director from 2000-2009.
During his time working in a regional theater, he directed more than 20 plays by Shakespeare, and immersed himself in the classics — Moliere, Goldoni, Ibsen, Chekhov, Thorton Wilder, Shaw, Gogol, Soyinka, Femi Osofisan, Brecht, and many others. In 2000, his production of Harley Granville-Barker’s Waste premiered at Theater for a New Audience in New York, and his Cymbeline premiered as the first American production of a Shakespeare play at the RSC in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Bart’s first Broadway production was the 2005 world premiere of The Light in the Piazza, by Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas, which garnered him his first Tony nomination. Soon after he became the Resident Director of Lincoln Center Theater, a position he has held ever since. While at LCT, Bart has revived such dramas as Clifford Odets’ Awake and Sing and Golden Boy, and August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s…, and staged thrilling productions of the musicals The King and I, Fiddler on the Roof, The Bridges of Madison County, My Fair Lady, and most recently a chamber opera of Intimate Apparel. His ongoing relationship with J.T. Rogers began with their work on Blood and Gifts and culminated in the 2017 Tony-winning Best Play, Oslo. In 2018, he directed Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird on Broadway, which became the best-selling American play in Broadway history.
In the world of opera, Bart has directed both new work and classics, including Mourning Becomes Electra at Seattle and New York City Operas, Two Boys by Nico Muhly at ENO and the Met, and Barbiere di Siviglia, Il Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Le Comte Ory, and Otello at the Met. He also directed Roméo et Juliette for the Salzburg Festival, La Scala, Chicago and the Met, as well as Faust and Barbiere di Siviglia in Baden Baden and Rigoletto at the Berlin Staatsoper and the Met.
His film of Oslo premiered on HBO and was nominated for two Emmy Awards and won a Critics Choice Award. In 2022, he staged the arrival of Little Amal into New York at JFK airport. His work in the last several years includes a new play by Sharr White, Pictures from Home, and a revival of Lerner & Lowe’s Camelot at Lincoln Center with a book by Aaron Sorkin. This past 2024 season, he directed Corruption at Lincoln Center Theater, a new play written by J.T. Rogers.
Corruption
Corruption tells the story behind the story of the phone hacking scandal that engulfed Rupert Murdoch’s media empire in 2011, stunning the world and upending British politics. When Parliament member Tom Watson is maliciously smeared by the newspapers of Murdoch’s News International, he decides to fight back – taking on its larger-than-life leader Rebekah Brooks.
Camelot
A fresh take on the classic tale, featuring a book by Academy® and Emmy® Award–winning writer Aaron Sorkin, based on the original by Alan Jay Lerner and directed by Bartlett Sher. It is the story of King Arthur, the founding of Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table. King Arthur struggles to uphold his ideal for a democratic kingdom when his wife, Guenevere, falls for his favorite knight, Sir Lancelot.
Pictures From Home
Based on the photo memoir by photographer Larry Sultan, this is a comic and dramatic portrait of a mother (Zoë Wanamaker), a father (Nathan Lane), and the son (Danny Burstein) who photographed their lives. It will evoke memories of childhood, parenthood, and the vicissitudes that comprise familial relationships.
Intimate Apparel
Set in 1905 in turn-of-the-century New York, it tells the story of Esther, a lonely, single African-American woman who makes her living sewing beautiful corsets and ladies’ undergarments. There is warm affection between her and the Orthodox Jewish man who sells fabrics to her, but any relationship between them, even a touch, is completely forbidden. Seeking love and romance, Esther eventually embarks on a letter-writing relationship with a mysterious suitor laboring on the Panama Canal. When he moves to New York, they embark on an unhappy marriage, leading Esther to realize that only her self-reliance and certainty of her own worth will see her through life’s challenges.
Oslo (film)
The film stars Ruth Wilson and Andrew Scott as the married Norwegian couple who initiated secret back-channel peace talks between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, leading to the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords. It also features Itzik Cohen, Salim Daw, Sasson Gabay, Dov Glickman, Rotem Keinan, Igal Naor, Jeff Wilbusch, Tobias Zilliacus, and Waleed Zuaiter. It premiered on HBO Max, and was nominated for two Emmys, including Outstanding Television Movie. It won the Critics Choice Award for Best Movie Made for Television.
To Kill A Mockingbird
Set in Alabama in the 1930s, Harper Lee’s enduring story of racial injustice and childhood innocence centers on one of the most admired characters in American literature, the small-town lawyer Atticus Finch, and his daughter Scout.
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady tells the story of Henry Higgins, a linguistics professor, determined to transform a young, Cockney flower seller named Eliza Doolittle into a “proper lady.” They form an unlikely friendship that is threatened by an aristocratic suitor.
Rigoletto
Verdi’s ever-popular operatic masterpiece staged in its first revival, with an Art-Deco inspired production. The tragic jester Rigoletto tries to protect his innocent daughter, Gilda, at the court of the promiscuous Duke of Mantua. Gilda is seduced by the Duke nonetheless, and Rigoletto suffers his curse when he discovers his precious daughter has sacrificed herself for love.
Oslo (play)
Oslo is inspired by the amazing true story of the back-channel talks, unlikely friendships, and quiet heroics that led to the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords between the Israelis and Palestinians. The production starred Jennifer Ehle and Jefferson Mays.
Otello
Performed as an opera, one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies tells the story of the Moorish general Otello, who returns home victorious to his beautiful wife Desdemona. However, on his arrival home he is ensnared in a plot by the evil Iago, who is willing to do anything to bring the downfall of Otello.
Fiddler on the Roof
The story, based on tales by Sholem Aleichem, revolves around Tevye (Danny Burstein), a poor milkman living in the small Russian village of Anatevka, circa 1905. With five willful daughters, a demanding wife, and the threat of a pogrom in the air, Tevye struggles to balance his religious beliefs and traditions against the ever-changing realities of family and community.
The King and I
In 1862, British schoolteacher Anna Leonowens arrives in Siam as governess to the royal children. Her sharp wit and strong will guide her to navigate this rich and complicated new land, but nothing prepares her for the powerful connection she forges with the imperious King.
Golden Boy
Golden Boy, by Clifford Odets, charts the swift rise of a gifted twenty-one-year-old violinist, Joe Bonaparte, who is corrupted by fame and fortune when he chooses to become a professional boxer.
Two Boys
A new opera by Nico Muhly explores the shadowy world of the Internet, as a detective investigates the stabbing of one teenaged boy by another. Based on real events in Manchester, England, the opera is a cautionary tale of the dark world of the internet.
Blood and Gifts
As the Soviet army burns its way through Afghanistan, CIA operative Jim Warnock is sent to try and halt its bloody progress, beginning a secret spy war behind the official hostilities. Spanning one decade and two continents, Blood and Gifts is a sweeping, often shockingly funny epic drama.
Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Based on Pedro Almodóvar’s 1988 film, the musical considers the plight of an actress whose lover has left her, setting into motion dizzying complications, farcical comedy, and some pretty potent gazpacho.
Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
August Wilson’s JOE TURNER’S COME AND GONE is set in a Pittsburgh boarding house in 1911. Owners Seth and Bertha Holly play host to a makeshift family of people who come to stay, some for days, some longer, during the Great Migration of the 1910s when descendants of former slaves moved in large numbers from the South toward the industrial cities of the North, seeking new jobs, new lives, and new beginnings.
South Pacific
Roger and Hammerstein’s portrayal of Americans stationed on a South Pacific island during World War II. Nellie, a nurse from Arkansas, falls in love with local plantation owner Emile de Becque, and Lieutenant Joe Cable falls in love with a Tonkinese girl, Liat. Both Americans confront their own prejudices as the war looms closer to home.
The Light in the Piazza
Italy, summer of 1953: Margaret Johnson, married to a successful American businessman, tours the Tuscan countryside with her daughter Clara. Clara, a beautiful but childish young woman, serendipitously meets the handsome Florentine Fabrizio Naccarelli. They embark on an immediate and passionate romance, only thwarted by the extremely protective Margaret. We come to learn that Clara is keeping a secret from Fabrizio, and unable to suppress the truth, Margaret is forced to reconsider her daughter’s future, as well as her own happiness.
Awake and Sing!
Generally considered Clifford Odets’ finest play, AWAKE AND SING! is the story of the Bergers, a lower-middle-class, three-generation Jewish family living in a Bronx apartment during the Depression. Odets described his play as “a struggle for life amid petty conditions.” It is a darkly funny and strikingly dramatic portrayal of a pressured and chaotic existence during a tumultuous time in our history.