Gordon Greenberg has directed on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in London’s West End, written for television and stage, and developed, directed and produced new works for arts institutions across America.
Recent Directing/Writing projects include the London production of The Baker’s Wife at the Menier Chocolate Factory, hailed by The Stage as “Triumphant… A masterclass in musical theatre”, Time Out London as “A beautifully judged revival, equal parts goofy and yearning”, the London Times as a “Undeniably alluring, bathed in a Provencal sheen”, and by The Daily Mail as “a delightful confection”. The Heart of Rock and Roll on Broadway at the James Earl Jones Theatre, which the New York Times called “Pure fun”, Vulture/New York Magazine called “the funniest new musical of the season”, The New York Post called “a knockout comedy” and The New York Daily News called “inestimably witty”; the hit Off-Broadway show Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors (New World Stages & podcast starring John Stamos, Laura Benanti, & Annaleigh Ashford), which The New York Times called “a gender bending equal opportunity seducer”, The New York Sun called “a raucous party achieved with an effortlessness that belies its sophistication”, Time Out called “a campy vampy scream”, Forbes called “non-stop hilarity”, and Theatremania called “deliciously irreverent”.
He created the NBC television series Most Talkative (Co-Executive Producer/Writer) for NBC, Blumhouse, and Andy Cohen.
His acclaimed revival of Who’s Afraid of Virgina Woolf starring Calista Flockhart and Zachary Quinto at the Geffen Playhouse won the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for Best Revival. Variety called it “Inspired”, the L.A. Times called it “Unerringly good…Qunto & Flockhart expose something infinitely fragile in Edward Albee’s shatterproof play”, Entertainment Weekly called it “A riveting production…brilliantly staged by Gordon Greenberg”, and the Wall Street Journal called it “Intriguing…Here, unusually, there is the suggestion that the oncoming dawn may truly presage a fragile new beginning.”
He directed (and co-wrote) the Broadway stage adaptation of Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn at Studio 54 for Universal Pictures Stage Productions, Roundabout, and PBS Television's Great Performances. Variety called it “A first-class stage redo...significantly rethought, reshaped and revitalized, giving the show more heart, a modern sensibility and a joyful spirit." Deadline called it "An endorphin assault, inducing warm bath pleasure like no other show since 42nd Street," The Hollywood Reporter called it "Pure joy," and the Star Ledger said "Directed with generosity and warmth, it wears down all defenses."
His West End revival of Guys and Dolls was nominated for six Olivier Awards at the Savoy Theatre and then transferred to the Phoenix Theatre (starring Rebel Wilson.) The New York Times’ Ben Brantley called it "Pure, unforced pleasure...a boozy, bawdy party". The Guardian's Michael Billington called it 'An expert revival...delivered with grace and elan,' the Evening Standard said 'This unstoppable hit keeps getting better and better...Gordon Greenberg's delicious production of Frank Loesser's classy classic once again boasts chemistry in all the right places', The Telegraph’s Charles Spencer wrote, "I left the theater walking on air and with a grin of pure happiness on my face," and The London Times’ Dominic Maxwell wrote, "Gordon Greenberg's production leaves the whole audience purring with pleasure."
Current projects include a new musical about Picasso (directing & co-writing with Stephen Schwartz & Caridad Svich), Single White Female (A.T.G.), Seven Shakespeares, The Wedding Banquet (Ang Lee, Hua Musicals), Ghost Tour, The Play, Crime and Punishment, A Comedy, a commission for the Old Globe, which The Union Tribune called “a wickedly funny re-imagining”, and the new comedy podcast series Rolling Calls starring Julie Halston & Richard Kind (co-writer, Steve Rosen).
Other work includes the North American premiere of Piaf/Dietrich for Mirvish in Toronto (Dora Award, Best Production), Barnum (Menier Chocolate Factory, London), The Secret Party: Jacques Brel 1968 (Das Vindobona, Vienna, Austria), Secret of My Success for Universal Pictures Stage Productions, and Ebenezer Scrooge’s Big [Your Town Here] Christmas Show! in its third season at the Old Globe (co-writer Steve Rosen), the revisal of Working (Drama Desk Award, adapted with Stephen Schwartz and Lin-Manuel Miranda), Jacques Brel…(Drama Desk, Drama League, Outer Critics Award noms), Terms of Endearment with Alfred Molina & Calista Flockhart (Geffen Playhouse for Greg Berlanti), the stage adaptation of Tangled (Disney), Johnny Baseball (Williamstown), Stars of David by Jeanine Tesori, Tom Kitt, Tony Kushner (Daryl Roth), Pirates! (created with Nell Benjamin, Huntington, Paper Mill, Goodspeed, MUNY), Band Geeks! (also co-writer, Goodspeed, NEA grant), The Baker’s Wife (Paper Mill, Goodspeed), 1776 (Paper Mill), Floyd Collins (Signature), the Klezmer-Rock reimagining of Isaac Bashevis Singer’s Yentl (Asolo Rep), Blue Sky Boys by Deborah Breevort (Capital Rep.), the professional premiere of Edges The Musical (Capital Rep.), the acclaimed reimagining of Jesus Christ, Superstar starring Billy Porter (Helen Hayes, St. Louis MUNY), the U.S. national tour of Guys & Dolls, Disney’s Believe, the Disney Fantasy Christening (with Neil Patrick Harris & Jerry Seinfeld), West Side Story (MUNY, Circle Award nom), Happy Days, A New Musical (Paper Mill, Goodspeed, U.S. National Tour), Vanities, A New Musical (Theatreworks Palo Alto - San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Award), We The People (Lucille Lortel Theatre & Paper Mill Playhouse), Rags (Roundabout, workshop), and the all-female workshop of Man of La Mancha (Mirvish, Toronto), The Single Girls Guide (co-writer Tommy Newman) for Dallas Theatre Center, Ars Nova, Capital Rep, the podcast Theatre Camp (with Jonathan Marc Sherman) for Sirius XM, Killing Time (with Steve Rosen), an At Home Play Commission from The Old Globe, and the new book of Meet Me In St. Louis for the St. Louis MUNY's 100th Anniversary.
For television, he co-wrote Herbie Rebooted for Disney, Emerald City Music Hall, an original movie musical for Nickelodeon Television and Scramble Band, an original movie musical for the Disney Channel.
Born in Texas and raised in New York, Greenberg performed in his first Broadway show at age 13. He attended Stanford University and NYU Film School before joining J. Walter Thompson Worldwide for a stint as a producer/director of commercials. He then moved back into theatre -- first performing on Broadway and on television and soon directing and writing. He was a Curator for Ars Nova, Director of Musical Theatre Development at The New Group, and Artistic Producer at Musical Theatre Works, where he created the writers development program and the new voices workshop series.
He is also deeply involved in arts education and is Co-Director of The BROADWAY TEACHING GROUP, Broadway’s largest education program, in conjunction with Music Theatre International and Playbill. He has taught master classes at Yale University, University of Michigan, University of Oklahoma, Belmont University, Hartt School of Music, Broadway Moscow, Broadway Berlin, Arts Ed London.
He is a member of the Stage Directors & Choreographers Society, The Writers Guild of America, The Dramatists Guild, and the Lincoln Center Theatre Directors Lab.