Paul Lazarus is a director and producer of theater, film, and television projects. He recently directed and produced his first feature film, "Seven Girlfriends," starring Tim Daly, Mimi Rogers, Jami Gertz and Elizabeth Peña. Produced independently, "Seven Girlfriends" was released by Castle Hill Productions and is currently playing on Comedy Central. For Dreamworks SKG, he voice directed the animated musical feature, "Joseph," starring Ben Affleck.
In the theater, he most recently directed the critically acclaimed production of Neil Simon s Biloxi Blues at the Pasadena Playhouse and I ll Be Seeing You as part of the Blank Theater Company s Young Playwrights Festival. Other recent credits include directing Kristin Chenoweth in her solo concert debut and the world premiere of a new musical by Jim Wann, "The People vs. Mona," also at the Pasadena Playhouse. Other favorite Los Angeles projects include directing the world premieres of Mark St. Germain's play "Camping With Henry and Tom" starring Robert Prosky, Ronny Cox and John Cunningham and "The 24th Day" starring Noah Wyle and Peter Berg. "Camping..." received the Outer Critics' Circle and Lucille Lortel awards for best off-Broadway play. "The 24th Day" received six Los Angeles Dramalogue awards including Best Director and four LA Ovation award nominations.
From 1990 to 1992, he served as the Artistic Director of the historic Pasadena Playhouse. Mr. Lazarus has directed over seventy plays and musicals in such prominent theaters as The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Playwrights Horizons, The Manhattan Theater Club, Circle Rep, The Actors Studio, La Mama ETC, and The Goodspeed Opera House, to name a few.
Highlights include: receiving a Drama Desk Nomination for directing the hit Off-Broadway musical, "Personals," which was written by Marta Kauffman & David Crane, Stephen Schwartz and Alan Menken; directing Anouilh's "Antigone" for the Lincoln Center Institute; serving as associate director for the celebrated concert version of Stephen Sondheim's "Follies" starring Carol Burnett, Lee Remick and Mandy Patinkin; and staging the premiers of Jon Klein's drama, "Life Class," for the Art Institute of Chicago; David Crane and Larry Coen's comedy, "Epic Proportions" for the Manhattan Punch Line; and Mark St. Germain and Randy Courts' AT&T award-winning musical "Johnny Pye and the Foolkiller" for the George Street Playhouse.
Since moving to Los Angeles in 1989, Mr. Lazarus has been directing many notable prime time television series. Shows include: "Friends," "Mad About You," "Everybody Loves Raymond," "LA Law," "Melrose Place," "Beverly Hills 90210," "Ned and Stacy," "Partners," "Murder She Wrote," "Dream On," for which he received a Cable Ace nomination and "Shrink," a pilot presentation starring James Garner. Recently, he directed the pilot for the new MTV series, 2gether and episodes of the NBC series, Kristin and the FOX series, Grounded For Life starring Donal Logue (The Tao of Steve).
In 1983, he produced and directed "A Stephen Sondheim Evening," which starred Angela Lansbury, George Hearn and Mr. Sondheim and was recorded by RCA Records. From 1978 to 1986 he produced and hosted "Anything Goes," an award-winning radio series celebrating the American musical theater past, present and future for WBAI-FM in New York and National Public Radio. A graduate of Dartmouth College, Mr. Lazarus apprenticed with the Royal Shakespeare Company in England.
