Director Joe Mantello will receive the “Mr. Abbott” Award for lifetime achievement from the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation.
The award, given to a Broadway director or choreographer for “a lifetime of outstanding contributions,” will be presented to Mantello at the foundation’s annual gala, on March 30, 2020. The award committee consists of Robert Greenblatt, Ryan Murphy, Scott Rudin and SDC executive board members Mark Brokaw, Rachel Chavkin and Anne Kauffman.
“Joe’s valuable artistry, wide range, and unceasing desire to achieve the very best in his work, and to bring out the best in his collaborators, all richly recommend him for this great honor,” SDCF President Sheldon Epps said in the press release.
Mantello is a two-time Tony Award-winning director, winning those awards for his direction of “Take Me Out” and “Assassins.” His other Broadway credits include “Wicked,” “Love! Valour! Compassion!” “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune,” “Glengarry Glen Ross,” “Pal Joey,” “9 to 5,” “The Last Ship,” “An Act of God,” “The Humans,” “Blackbird,” “Three Tall Women,” “The Boys in the Band” and “Hillary and Clinton.”
Past recipients of the award, named after the late director George Abbott, include Michael Bennett, Graciela Daniele, Agnes de Mille, Bob Fosse, James Lapine, Kathleen & Rob Marshall, Lynne Meadow, Jerry Mitchell, Mike Nichols, Trevor Nunn, Jack O’Brien, Harold Prince, Susan Stroman, Julie Taymor, Tommy Tune, George C. Wolfe, Jerry Zaks and Victoria Traube.
