Des McAnuff

Des McAnuff is a two-time Tony Award-winning director and former Artistic Director of Canada’s Stratford Festival. He is also Director Emeritus of La Jolla Playhouse, where as Artistic Director he staged over 30 productions of classics, new plays and musicals. He’s co-founder of Broadway’s Dodgers. Broadway: The Who's Tommy (2024) Ain’t Too Proud; Summer; Doctor Zhivago; Jesus Christ Superstar; Guys and Dolls; Aaron Sorkin’s The Farnsworth Invention; Jersey Boys (Tony and Olivier Awards: Best Musical); Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays (Tony Award); Dracula the Musical; How to Succeed...; The Who’s Tommy (Tony and Olivier Awards: Best Director, Olivier Award: Best Musical), A Walk in the Woods; and Big River (Tony Awards: Best Director, Best Musical). Selected New York: Fetch Clay, Make Man (NYTW); multiple productions at The Public and BAM. Stratford highlights: A Word or Two; Caesar and Cleopatra; and The Tempest (all with Christopher Plummer), Twelfth Night (with Brian Dennehy). Opera: Faust (The Met, ENO). TV: 700 Sundays (HBO). Film: Cousin Bette (with Jessica Lange, director); The Iron Giant (producer, BAFTA Award); and Quills (executive producer). He has an honorary doctorate from Ryerson University, and in 2012, he was awarded Canada’s Governor General’s National Arts Center Award and the Order of Canada.