Michael grandage biography

  • Michael Grandage CBE (born 2 May

    • Michael Grandage

    Michael Grandage is Artistic Director of the Michael Grandage Company (MGC) where he has directed numerous productions in the West End and on Broadway including Emma Corrin in Orlando, Forest Whitaker in Hughie, Aidan Turner in The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Nicole Kidman in Photograph 51, Jude Law in Henry V, Daniel Radcliffe in The Cripple of Inishmaan and Judi Dench & Ben Whishaw in Peter and Alice. Also for MGC, he has directed the feature films Genius with Colin Firth and more recently My Policeman with Harry Styles.

    His Opera work includes Madama Butterfly for Houston Grand Opera and Chicago Lyric Opera, Le Nozzi de Figaro for Glyndbourne and Houston, Don Giovanni for the Met and this new San Francisco production of Billy Budd, which has also been seen at Glyndbourne and BAM in New York.

    He was Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse (2002–2012) and Sheffield Theatres (2000-2005) where his work included Chiwetel Ejiofor in Othello, Frank Langella and Michael Sheen in Frost/Nixon, Derek Jacobi in King Lear, Eddie Redmayne and Alfred Molina in Red (Tony Award for Best Director), Jude Law in Hamlet and Kenneth Branagh in Ivanov. He won three Olivier Awards for his musical productions of Guys and Dolls, Merrily We Roll Along and Grand Hotel. He is currently also the director of Disney's Frozen in the West End.

    He was President of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama from 2010 to 2022. He was appointed CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honors 2011. His book, A Decade At The Donmar, was published by Constable & Robins in 2012. His charity, set up to help young theatre makers, can be found at www.mgcfutures.com.

    Michael Grandage Biography

    Date of Birth:
    May 2, 1962Birth Place:
    Yorkshire, England, UK

    Biography

    Director and producer Michael Grandage was born in Yorkshire, England and grew up in the Penzance section of Cornwall. Grandage was trained as an actor at the Royal Center of Speech and Drama, graduating in 1984. He worked as an actor for over a decade for theater companies like The Royal Exchange and the Royal Shakespeare Company, before making the transition to director. In 1986, Grandage made his debut as a director with Arthur Miller's play "The Last Yankee" performed at the Mercury Theatre in Colchester. Two years later he made his debut on the London stage directing George Bernard Shaw's "The Doctor's Dilemma." Between 2002 and 2012 Grandage was the Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse, a highly reputed non-profit theater in the Covent Garden district of London. Under Grandage's directorship the theatre's repertoire expanded, and he made an effort to create affordable theater opportunities, as well as create space for the works of young and emerging directors. In 2010 Grandage extended his theatrical reach to the opera, directing a production of Billy Budd at the Glyndebourne. In 2011 Grandage partnered with James Bierman, a former Executive Producer at the Donmar, and the two established the Michael Grandage Company, with a focus on developing projects for theatre, TV, and film. In 2014 the pair embarked on work on their first film, "Genius", an exploration of the relationship between editor Max Perkins and author Thomas Wolfe.

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    About

    Michael Grandage directed this production of Madame Butterfly for HGO in 2010; the company revived the production in 2015, and it was also performed by Lyric Opera of Chicago. HGO also staged his production of The Marriage of Figaro in 2016 and 2023. Other opera work includes Don Giovanni for the Metropolitan Opera and Billy Budd for the San Francisco Opera, which has also been seen at Glyndebourne and Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. Grandage is Artistic Director of the Michael Grandage Company, where his work includes the films Genius starring Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, and Laura Linney, and most recently My Policeman starring Harry Styles and Emma Corrin. His theater productions for MGC in the West End and on Broadway include Orlando with Emma Corrin, Hughie with Forest Whitaker, Photograph 51 with Nicole Kidman, The Cripple of Inishmaan with Daniel Radcliffe, and Peter and Alice with Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw. He was Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse in London (2002-12) and Sheffield Theatres (2000-05), where his work included directing Chiwetel Ejiofor in Othello, Frank Langella and Michael Sheen in Frost/Nixon, Derek Jacobi in King Lear, Eddie Redmayne and Alfred Molina in Red (Tony Award for Best Director), Jude Law in Hamlet, and Kenneth Branagh in Ivanov. He won three Olivier Awards for his musical productions of Guys and Dolls, Merrily We Roll Along, and Grand Hotel.  He was President of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama from 2010 to 2022. He was appointed CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honors 2011.

    Director:

    MADAME BUTTERFLY 2010-11

    Original Director:

    MADAME BUTTERFLY 2014-15

    THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO 2015-16, 2022-23

    Michael Grandage

    British theatre director (born 1962)

    Michael GrandageCBE (born 2 May 1962) is a British theatre director and producer. He is currently artistic director of the Michael Grandage Company. From 2002 to 2012 he was artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse in London and from 2000 to 2005 he was artistic director of Sheffield Theatres.

    Early years

    Grandage was born in Yorkshire, England, and raised in Penzance, Cornwall, where his parents ran a family business. He was educated at the Humphry Davy Grammar School before training as an actor at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama through 1984. He spent twelve years working as an actor for companies such as the Royal Exchange and the Royal Shakespeare Company and was also a member of National Youth Theatre before turning to directing. He made his directorial debut in 1996 with a production of Arthur Miller's The Last Yankee at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester. In 1998 he was invited by Sheffield Theatres to direct Twelfth Night, his first Shakespeare production. In the same year he made his London directorial debut at the Almeida Theatre with a production of Shaw's The Doctor's Dilemma.

    Career

    Sheffield Theatres

    From 2000 to 2005 he was artistic director of Sheffield Theatres where his high-profile productions included Edward II with Joseph Fiennes, Richard III with Kenneth Branagh, Suddenly Last Summer with Diana Rigg and Victoria Hamilton, The Tempest with Derek Jacobi and Don Carlos with Derek Jacobi. He produced over forty plays with predominantly young directors and designers. He is credited with delivering consistently high quality work as well as bringing in new audiences and in 2001, Sheffield Theatres won the TMA Theatre of the Year.

    Donmar Warehouse

    From 2002 to 2012, he was artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse, where he succeeded Sam Mendes. During his tenure, he expanded the th

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