Award-winning director Michael Mayer has worked in a broad spectrum of media from theatre and opera to television and film.

Current theatre: Swept Away, a new musical featuring songs of The Avett Brothers which opened November 19, 2024 on Broadway, the hit revival of Little Shop of Horrors now playing at the Westside Theatre, the national tour of his hit Broadway revival of Funny Girl (which starred Lea Michele) and the national tour of A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical, which recently ended its Broadway run.  Recent opera:  Jeanine Tesori and George Brant’s new opera Grounded which opened the Metropolitan Opera season on September 23, 2024 with performances running until October 19. Upcoming opera: a new production of Aida at the Metropolitan Opera this season opening on December 31, 2024. Other Broadway credits include Adam Driver and Keri Russell in Burn This, Head Over Heels (featuring the songs of The Go-Go’s), Neil Patrick Harris in Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Tony Award, best musical revival, also National Tour), Spring Awakening (Tony Award/Best Musical and Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Director; also London, National Tour, Vienna, Tokyo, and Seoul productions); Green Day’s American Idiot (also co-author, Drama Desk Award for Best Director; also US, UK and Asia tours); Thoroughly Modern Millie (Tony Award/Best Musical also London and National Tour), Side Man (Tony Award/Best Play also London and Kennedy Center Productions),  A View from the Bridge (Tony Award/Best Revival),  Michael Moore’s The Terms of My Surrender, Everyday Rapture, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and Triumph of Love; off-Broadway credits include Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 21 Chump Street (BAM), Chess (Kennedy Center), Love, Love, Love (Roundabout), Brooklynite (Also co-author, Vineyard), Whorl Inside A Loop (with Dick Scanlan, Second Stage), 10 Million Miles (Atlantic): Angels in America. London: a record-breaking West End run of Funny Girl and a UK tour. Tokyo: As You Like It (Toho Theatre).

Film: A Home at the End of the World (Excellence in filmmaking, National Board of Review, GLAAD nomination), Single All the Way for Netflix, Flicka, The Seagull. He was featured in both the documentaries Those You’ve Known on HBO and Broadway Idiot.

Television credits Include: SMASH (Pilot, producing director: Season One), two seasons of Alpha House (Amazon), and producer for the HBO film WIG.

He made his Metropolitan Opera debut with a celebrated new production of Rigoletto, followed by a co-production (with the English National Opera) of Nico Muhly’s Marnie, and a new production of La Traviata, which broke box office records. He directed the world premiere of Jeanine Tesori’s Grounded at the Washington National Opera. Grounded  opened the Met’s 24/25 season on September 23, 2024, and his new production of Aida will premiere at the Met on New Year’s Eve 2024. 

Additional Awards and fellowships: the inaugural Daryl Roth Creative Spirit award, Drama League Founders Award, Jefferson, Ovation, Alan Schneider, and Carbonell awards;  Fox Foundation, Drama League and TCG/NEA Directing Fellowships.  

He serves on the Boards of SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers Society) and the Arthur Miller.

Photos by Sergio Villarini for Broadway.Com- assisted by BrookeBellPhoto

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