Bartlett Sher

Bartlett B. Sher (born March 27, 1959) 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".

During the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games he was influenced by the arts programs associated with the Games, particularly by the work of Polish director Tadeusz Kantor.

Sher served as associate artistic director at Hartford Stage (Hartford, Connecticut) and company director at the Guthrie Theater (Minneapolis, Minnesota) where he worked with Garland Wright, who was a mentor as was Robert Woodruff.

Sher has directed, taught and led workshops across the country and internationally.

Sher served as artistic director at Intiman Playhouse in Seattle from 2000 to 2010.

At the Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA) in New York, Sher directed productions of Waste by Harley Granville Barker in 2000 (its American premiere, winning the 2000 Obie Award for Best Play), Cymbeline by Shakespeare in 2002, Dom Juan by Molière in 2003, and Pericles, Prince of Tyre by Shakespeare in 2004.

He directed Cymbeline, Dom Juan, and Pericles at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Sher made his Broadway debut in 2005 when his production of The Light in the Piazza which had originated at the Intiman Playhouse premiered at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre.

In 2006 Sher directed Gioachino Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) at the Metropolitan Opera in Lincoln Center.

Sher received Tony Award nominations for The Light in the Piazza and a 2006 revival of Awake and Sing!, winning the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for the 2008 Broadway revival of South Pacific.

Sher had directed Odets' Awake and Sing! in 2006.

Sher has been nominated for nine Tony Awards, winning a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for the 2008 Broadway revival of South Pacific.

Sher has directed revivals of classic mid-century musicals on Broadway at Lincoln Center, which include South Pacific (2008), The King and I (2015), My Fair Lady (2018), and Camelot (2023).

He was artistic director at Intiman Theatre in Seattle and in 2008 was named resident director at Lincoln Center Theater in New York City.

In 2009 Sher directed the opera Tales of Hoffmann at the Metropolitan Opera in New York (opening December 3, 2009).

He received another Tony nomination for the 2009 revival of Joe Turner's Come and Gone.

During 2010 Sher handed over this job to his successor, Kate Whoriskey.

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.

(The Intiman cancelled its 2011 season due to financial problems.) His productions at Intiman have included:

In 2011, Sher directed Mourning Becomes Electra for Seattle Opera.

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.

A previously announced revival of Funny Girl that Sher was expected to direct with a Broadway opening in February 2012 was ultimately 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.

The production ran from December 2012 into January 2013 for 53 performances.

The American debut took place in October 2013, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

The Met commissioned the production.

In 2014 Sher directed a musical production of the novel The Bridges of Madison County.

He also directed the plays Oslo (2017), To Kill a Mockingbird (2018), and Pictures from Home (2023).

Sher was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Aird (Stewart) and Joseph Sher.

He had six siblings, including a twin brother, Bradley.

He was raised Catholic (during his teenage years, he found out that his Lithuanian-born father was Jewish).

Sher attended St. Ignatius College Preparatory and later the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

He returned to St. Ignatius to teach English and run the theatre program.