Tony Awards: Two General Managers Score the 2017 Tony Honors
Two veteran Broadway stage managers, Nina Lannan and Alan Wasser, will be awarded the 2017 Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theater, recognizing long careers and work that has been integral to many of Broadway’s biggest shows.
The honors are handed out annually by the organizers of the Tony Awards, highlighting notable contributions to the theater industry that aren’t eligible in any of the Tonys’ competitive categories.
Lannan launched her career as the assistant general manager on “Cats,” the 1980 megamusical that became a global smash and played a significant role in revitalizing a then-struggling Broadway landscape. Starting in the offices of general management office Gatchell and Neufeld and going on to serve as the in-house general manager for the North and South American productions of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group, Lannan eventually opened her own eponymous office in 1998, renaming it Bespoke Theatricals in 2011. She’s worked on shows ranging from “Susnet Boulevard” to “Mamma Mia!” to “Billy Elliot” to the current “School of Rock,” on which she serves as an executive producer.
Wasser, meanwhile, is the founder and chair of Alan Wasser Associates, the firm that encompasses general management, tour booking and tour marketing. He’s worked on the road and at the Kennedy Center, and starting in 1986 he began managing all of superproducer Cameron Mackintosh’s U.S. productions, including “Les Miserables,” “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Miss Saigon.” He’s also worked on shows including “Fosse,” “A Chorus Line” and “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.”
The 71st Annual Tony Awards are set for June 11 at Radio City Music Hall, with Kevin Spacey on board as the recently announced emcee. Nominations will be named May 2.
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