Bartlett B. Sher is an American theatre director. The New York Times has described him as "one of the most original and exciting directors, not only in the American theater but also in the international world of opera". Sher has been nominated for nine Tony Awards, winning a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical as well as a Drama Desk Award for his direction of the 2008 Broadway revival of South Pacific.
Sher served as Artistic Director at Intiman Playhouse in Seattle from 2000–2010. During 2010 Sher handed over this job to his successor, Kate Whoriskey.. His productions at Intiman have included:
Nickel and Dimed, a world premiere by Joan Holden based on the book by Barbara Ehrenreich;
In 2006 Sher directed Gioachino Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Metropolitan Opera in Lincoln Center.
In 2009 Sher directed the opera Tales of Hoffman at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
In 2010 Sher directed a musical production of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, based on the 1988 film by Pedro Almodóvar. The show opened November 4, 2010 on Broadway in a Lincoln Center Theater production. The musical was criticized by Ben Brantley of The New York Times as being distracted, gimmicky and overdesigned.
In March 2011, Le Comte Ory by Rossini opened at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, in a production directed by Sher. The reviewer for The New York Times called the production "lively, colorful and inventive."
In June 2011, Sher's production of the world premiere of Nico Muhly's Two Boys was presented at the English National Opera. The American debut took place October, 2013, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The Met commissioned the production.
The previously announced revival of Funny Girl that Sher was expected to direct with a Broadway opening in February 2012 has been postponed.
In December, 2012 Golden Boy by Clifford Odets as directed by Sher opened in New York to a positive review in The New York Times. This production was staged at the Belasco Theatre, the same spot where Golden Boy was first presented on Broadway, 75 years earlier. The production received eight Tony award nominations, including Sher's fifth for directing. Sher had directed Odets' Awake and Sing in 2006. The production ran from December 2012 into January 2013 for 53 performances.
In 2014 Sher directed a musical production of the novel The Bridges of Madison County. The production ran for 100 performances from February to May, 2014.
Sher directed a Broadway revival of The King and I, which opened at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln Center on April 16, 2015, with Kelli O'Hara as Anna Leonowens, Ken Watanabe as The King of Siam and Ruthie Anne Miles as Lady Tiang. He received a 2015 Tony Award Nomination for Best Direction of a Musical, and the production received Tony Awards for Best Revival of a Musical, Best Actress in a Musical, Best Featured Actress in a Musical and Best Costume Design of a Musical.
Sher directed a Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof, starring Danny Burstein as Tevye and Jessica Hecht as Golde, which opened at the Broadway Theatre on December 17, 2015 and played its final performance December 31, 2016.
Sher directed the world premiere of J.T. Roger's play Oslo which opened at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater in July 2016. The production transferred to the Vivian Beaumont Theater for an open run in April 2017.
Personal life
Sher lives in Manhattan with his wife Kristin Flanders and two daughters. His father, an insurance broker whom he described to The New York Times as a "brilliant businessman, very charismatic", was also a serial philanderer who had a second family with another woman. Sher's childhood was marked by a drawn-out divorce. His mother soon met a Chinese-American man, Doug Chung, who moved in, helped rear the family and brought them much needed stability. Sher's experiences with interracial blended families informed his directing of South Pacific.
