Born On This Day- April 15th... Craig Zadan

When the Religious Right Wingers rile against homosexuals, shouting that we are less than fully human, I can’t help but wonder…  really? Do we want to live in a world without Musicals? Really?

Zadan on the left, with Meron

Openly gay birthday boy- Craig Zadan, along with his equally gay professional partner- Neil Meron are the producers, with their company Storyline Entertainment, of critically acclaimed & award-winning feature films, TV movies & series & Broadway productions. Their films & TV movies have brought the pair 6 Academy Awards, 5 Golden Globes, 11 Emmy Awards, & 2 Peabodys. Their work in TV has brought the gentlemen, 69 Emmy nominations. On Broadway it has been 2 Tony wins & nominations. To clutter up each of their mantles there is a Grammy.

Currently they have me deeply involved in their Monday night NBC show- SMASH.

Their recent accomplishments include a TV film, the film of Lorraine Hansberry's  A Raisin in The Sun, with Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald  & the film- The Bucket List, starring Jack Nicholson & Morgan Freeman.

Zada & Meron produced  the film adaptation of the Broadway Musical version of the John Water’s film- Hairspray. Their feature film version of Chicago won the Academy Award as Best Picture, & 5 more from the 13 nominations, it won 6 in all. Chicago won 3 Golden Globes won including Best Motion Picture. Chicago has gone on to become Miramax's highest-grossing movie in the studio's history, and was the first movie musical to win the Oscar for Best Picture in 34 years.

Checked off their Bucket List are: Meredith Wilson's The Music Man, starring Matthew Broderick & Kristin Chenoweth, Life with Judy Garland: Me & My Shadows, starring Judy Davis, The Beach Boys: An American Family, a new version of the musical Annie, which starred Kathy Bates, Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, starring a still functional Whitney Houston, Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story starring Glenn Close & Judy Davis, Martin & Lewis, starring Sean Hayes; Wedding Wars, starring my ex-lover- John Stamos, What Makes A Family, starring lesbians- Whoopi Goldberg, Brooke Shields & Cherry Jones, Living Proof, starring Harry Connick Jr. & Bernadette Peters, The Reagans, with that zany Ronnie & Nancy portrayed by James Brolin & Judy Davis (Judy Davis as Nancy!).

They producing team are responsible for one of my favorite productions of my favorite musical-  Gypsy with Bette Midler in top form as Rose.

Zadan is also the author of the critically acclaimed Sondheim & Co., the first book ever written about Broadway composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim. He also produced the first-ever celebration of Sondheim's work-Sondheim: A Musical Tribute, which was staged at the Shubert Theater on Broadway in 1974. He produced the recently digitally remixed & re-mastered Original Broadway Cast Album. I have the book & the album. They are essential for Sondheim fans like me.

Zadan & Meron returned to Broadway of Promises, Promises, starring Sean Hayes & Kristin Chenoweth, & How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, starring Daniel Radcliffe.

They bring a decidedly modern gay sensibility to their works & appreciate that they have what amounts to a stock company, continuing to use Post Apocalyptic Bohemian favorites: Kristin Chenoweth, Matthew Broderick, Sean Hayes, & especially the fearless Judy Davis.

Congratulations to Craig Zadan, he received the Vito Russo Award at the 23rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards in NYC last month.

I would be very willing to be friends & hangout with Zadan.

I loved the first season of Smash, lost interest, but came back & now I am quite absorbed with this drama. I appreciate the look at professional theatre folk & the fully drawn gay characters, including a super-butch chorus boy, a completely believable composer & a hot gay Republican, with none of these characters working the usual clichés. I am made happy by living in a world with the work of Craig Zadan.

Zadan produced both the 1984 & 2011 versions of Footloose.