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Stephen Wadsworth

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BIO

Stephen Wadsworth’s productions of Aeschylus’ Oresteia, Wagner’s Ring cycle, a series of Marivaux comedies, and plays and operas by Shakespeare, Molière, Handel, Goldoni, Mozart, Shaw, Wilde, and Coward, have established him as a master of the classical repertoire and one of the most influential directors in the American theater. He has directed plays by John Guare (Dallas Theatre Centre), Beth Henley (Roundabout), Terrence McNally (Kennedy Center) and Anna Deavere Smith (Long Wharf) and during the 1990s reintroduced the work of Marivaux to the U.S. in a series of translations and productions of three plays (published by Smith and Kraus as Marivaux: Three Plays). His new translation of Molière’s Don Juan (Shakespeare Theatre, Old Globe, Seattle Rep, McCarter) reimagined a lost text and excited great interest in the French academy, and the French government named him a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters. He has also translated and adapted theater works by Monteverdi, Goldoni and Handel, and worked as writer and Dramaturg on many new operas and plays, including A Quiet Place, just produced at New York City Opera, which he wrote with Leonard Bernstein. This season he directs a new Boris Godunov at the Metropolitan Opera, stages The Bartered Bride in a Met-Juilliard collaboration, revives Iphigénie en Tauride at the Met, and brings his production of McNally’s Master Class to the Manhattan Theatre Club on Broadway, starring Tyne Daly. He also worked with Ms. Daly, and Delroy Lindo, on the Aeschylus Agamemnon at the Getty Villa in Los Angeles. Wadsworth has directed opera for the Teatro alla Scala, Royal Opera Covent Garden, Vienna Staatsoper, the Edinburgh Festival, and in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto, Santa Fe and Seattle, where his famous Ring will be revived in 2013. Wadsworth is The James S. Marcus Faculty Fellow at the Juilliard School, where he leads the advanced training program for singers, and Head of Dramatic Studies at the Metropolitan Opera.

Productions

 
[Off-Broadway, 2018]
Director
 
[West End, 2012]
Director
 
[Broadway, 2011]
Director
 
[Off-Broadway, 1998]
Director

Writing


News


OTHELLO Starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal Finds Full Cast

The complete cast has been announced Shakespeare's Othello, starring Tony Award® winner and two-time Academy Award® winner Denzel Washington and Tony Award nominee and Academy Award nominee Jake Gyllenhaal.
Houston Grand Opera to Open Season With Verdi's IL TROVATORE

Houston Grand Opera will open Il trovatore, Verdi's iconic masterpiece, in a new production from leading director Stephen Wadsworth. The production will offer a fresh vision of the composer's perennially popular tragedy. Learn more and see how to purchase tickets.
3 FACES OF STEVE SONDHEIM in Concert to be Presented at the Odyssey Theatre

Odyssey Theatre Ensemble will present 3 Faces of Steve: Sondheim in Concert, a song compendium that spans the breadth of Stephen Sondheim’s oeuvre. Learn how to purchase tickets.
The Huntington Completes Its 2024-2025 Season With THE TRIUMPH OF LOVE and NASSIM

The Huntington has announced its 2024-2025 season featuring the classic romantic comedy THE TRIUMPH OF LOVE and the International Fringe hit NASSIM.
Houston Grand Opera Reveals 2024-25 Season

Houston Grand Opera has announced its 2024-25 season, featuring a spectacular, new, season-opening production of Il trovatore; the return of charming, family-friendly Cinderella, classic tragedy La bohème, and blockbuster musical West Side Story; Houstonians’ first-ever chance to see award-winning opera Breaking the Waves; and a lushly beautiful new production of Tannhäuser.
Shereen Pimentel and Brenton Ryan To Lead WEST SIDE STORY At Houston Grand Opera; Full Season Announced

Houston Grand Opera has announced its 2024-25 season, which includes a concert presentation of the Broadway masterpiece, West Side Story, led by Broadway's Shereen Pimentel and tenor Brenton Ryan.
George & Nora London Foundation Presents Mezzo-Soprano Lindsay Kate Brown, October 22

Join us for an enchanting recital by mezzo-soprano Lindsay Kate Brown, presented by the George & Nora London Foundation. 'Serenading the Hours: A Day to Night Recital' will take place on October 22, 2023, at The Morgan Library and Museum.
George And Nora London Foundation For Singers 2023-24 Season: Lindsay Kate Brown, Blake Denson, And 52nd Competition

Recitals by rising young opera stars and one of the vocal world's most prestigious competitions comprise the George and Nora London Foundation for Singers 2023-24 season of events at New York's Morgan Library and Museum. Mezzo-soprano Lindsay Kate Brown, a 2020 George London Award winner, and baritone Blake Denson, who won his George London Award in 2022, each performs a solo program, and the 52nd year of the foundation's competition for American and Canadian opera singers will confer 2024 George London Awards on five of the opera world's most promising young artists.
Review: TRIUMPH OF LOVE at Shotgun Players

What did our critic think of TRIUMPH OF LOVE at Shotgun Players? Founding Artistic Director Patrick Dooley has a huge hit on his hands with a superb production of Pierre De Marivaux's 18th century three-act romantic comedy. A flop in 1732 due to the inappropriateness of the gender-bending love triangles, the play later became a hit as a 1997 musical and a later film adaptation. Dooley stays true to the Stephen Wadsworth translation and the production is reinforced by a sensational ensemble cast.
Cast Announced For Mona Mansour's UNSEEN at Mosaic Theater

Mosaic Theater Company welcomes playwright Mona Mansour back to Washington, DC for the regional premiere of Unseen, the cross-cultural, time-shifting journey of an American conflict photographer.
Shotgun Players Announces HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH And More for 2023 Season

The Shotgun Players have announced their 2023 season of stunning and provocative theatre celebrating diversity and connection.
Village Theatre Announces New Leadership With New Artistic Director and First-Ever Managing Director

Village Theatre announces Adam Immerwahr (Washington DC’s Theater J) as its next Artistic Director and Laura Lee (Seattle’s ArtsWest) as its first-ever Managing Director.
OPERA America Offers Glimpses Into American Opera Over Past Half-Century In Newly Released Oral History Project

OPERA America invites opera appreciators and professionals to explore a new collection of anecdotes, memories, and reflections on the past half-century of opera in the United States.
Casts Announced for B.R.O.K.E.N CODE B.I.R.D SWITCHING World Premiere & More Berkshire Theatre Group

Berkshire Theatre Group and Kate Maguire have announced casting for shows in BTG’s Early Summer 2022 Season. The full season will feature B.R.O.K.E.N code B.I.R.D switching, a world premiere play and recipient of an NEA Grants for Arts Projects Award and more.
Lucille Lortel Theatre Announces Winners of 3rd Annual NYC Public High School Playwriting Fellowship

The Lucille Lortel Theatre is pleased to announce the recipients of the 3rd Annual NYC Public High School Playwriting Fellowship, created as an opportunity for aspiring young writers citywide to get unparalleled access to professional theater artists for mentoring. The Fellows and Finalists of the program represent every borough of NYC. Each aspiring playwright submitted an original 10-minute play, and was judged by the following panel of playwrights and directors: Preston Burger, Gethsemane Herron, A.J. Muhammad, Cherry Lou Sy, and Gabriel Vega Weissman. Plays were chosen based on dramatic structure and the playwright's individual voice.  
BWW Review: Dazzling RODELINDA Proves the Met's Not Too Big To Handle Handel

If Friday night’s performance of Handel’s RODELINDA sometimes seemed like it was never going to end--it was quickly approaching the witching hour by the time the curtain calls were over, having started at 7:30--it certainly wasn’t the fault of the cast but Handel himself and librettist Nicola Haym. With ornamentation galore and da capo arias that strung phrases along one time after another (and a plot to make your head spin), it set challenges for everyone on stage, both musically and dramatically. And they were certainly up to it.
Elza van den Heever to Star in RODELINDA at The Met

Handel’s Baroque drama Rodelinda returns to the Met for the first time in more than a decade, with five performances March 11–27. Soprano Elza van den Heever makes her Met role debut singing the title character in one of Handel’s most successful operas, based on the life of a seventh-century queen in the northern Italian kingdom of Lombardy.
The Huntington Announces Loretta Greco as Artistic Director

Chairman David Epstein and President Sharon Malt, on behalf of The Huntington’s Board of Trustees and Advisors, announced today the appointment of acclaimed stage director, producer, and community builder Loretta Greco as The Huntington’s next Norma Jean Calderwood Artistic Director.
VIDEO: Get A First Look At René Pape In BORIS GODUNOV At The Met Opera

Don’t miss bass René Pape in Stephen Wadsworth’s landmark production of Mussorgsky’s masterpiece, on stage through October 17 and live in cinemas on October 9. Sebastian Weigle conducts.
BWW Review: The Met's Short Version of BORIS is Good-Enough for Me

The Lady or the Tiger? In this case, both are Mussorgsky’s BORIS GODUNOV—just different versions of it. Which is the preferred one? (Or, more properly, “the preferred one of several,” including one that the composer’s friend, Rimsky Korsakov, fiddled with after his death.) The Met chose Mussorgsky's original, and shorter, version for its revival of the composer's most famous opera this season.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How many shows has Stephen Wadsworth written?

Stephen Wadsworth has written 1 shows including Don Juan (Adaptor).

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