Manny Fox

BroadwayWorld brings you the Best of Phoenix in the year 2012. Check out the Top Theatre Stories from each month during in the year 2012. We look forward to another exciting year of theatre in 2013!

According to published reports, famed producer and director, Manny Fox, passed away on Tuesday, September 23, due to complications deriving from a heart condition. He was 77 years old, currently residing in Pheonix, Arizona, and leaves behind four sons and three grandchildren.

Honoring the work and legacy of one of the great jazz composers and collaborators, the Music Institute of Chicago presents a Billy Strayhorn Festival October 26-28. The festival, presented in partnership with Billy Strayhorn Songs Inc., a family corporation of the Strayhorn heirs, includes two star-studded concerts featuring trumpet great Terell Stafford and a screening of the award-winning film Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life followed by a panel discussion. The festival takes place at Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Avenue, Evanston.

According to a report from Variety, the critically-acclaimed production of Duke Ellington's Sophisticated Ladies may be remounted as a national tour due to the overwhelmingly positive reception it has received in its run at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C.

My popular articles, entitled 'Diary of a Producer', which I have written more than 150 of for the San Juan Star, the leading English language newspaper in Puerto Rico, which alas, didn't survive the recession here. But the good graces have provided for my series to have a new beginning herein, as the beat goes on.

Variety reports that producer Manny Fox is setting up plans for a new musical, 'Family Fortune,' to make its way to Broadway via New Orleans. The production has music by Puerto Rican musician Alberto Carrion, with pop musician-producer Nile Rodgers ('We Are Family,' 'Like a Virgin') onboard as co-composer and producer of the score.