GABRIEL BARRE is an internationally acclaimed director whose work includes the off-Broadway production of The Wild Party by Andrew Lippa at the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York City which was nominated for numerous awards, including five Outer Critics Circle Awards and thirteen Drama Desk Awards, both including Best Direction of a Musical and for which he won the Calloway Award for Best Direction. He directed the US national tour of Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s, Cinderella, starring Eartha Kitt, which toured the country for three years, as well as subsequent productions at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey, the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine and the North Carolina Theatre in Raleigh. He also directed the national tour of Pippin, which originated at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut and played throughout the US and Canada. Other original off-Broadway credits include: Almost, Maine at the Daryl Roth Theatre, Summer of ’42 at the Variety Arts Theatre, Honky Tonk Highway at Don’t Tell Mama (winner of a MAC Award and Bistro Award for Best Review) Stars in Your Eyes at the Cherry Lane Theatre and john & jen at the Lamb’s Theatre. Concert work includes the American Songbook Series at Lincoln Center three years in a row and a number of Musical by the Year concerts at Town Hall. His regional credits include the world premieres of Tom Jones (winner of Independent Reviewers of New England Award for Best Direction) and the world premiere production of Memphis, both at the North Shore Music Theatre in Boston. He also directed Memphis at Theatreworks in Palo Alto, CA where it was the winner of the San Francisco Bay Area Critics Association Award for Best Direction. Other new works include Stand By Your Man, a new musical about Tammy Wynette, which played at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville for two years and Time After Time at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. At the Goodspeed Opera House, he directed the revivals of Sweeney Todd (winner of four Connecticut Critics Circle Awards including Best Musical and Best Direction of a Musical), Finian’s Rainbow (nominated for five Connecticut Critics Circle Awards), the new musical, Houdini, which he remounted at the Marriott-Lincolnshire Theatre in Chicago, the revival of King of Hearts, as well as many other new musicals including Fanny Hill, Dorian and Frank Wildhorn’s, Camille Claudel, starring Linda Eder. He directed the critically acclaimed productions of Private Lives at the Seattle Repertory Theatre, and Hay Fever and Pericles at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. Meanwhile, in Europe and Asia, he directed the world premiere of another Frank Wildhorn musical, Carmen, now in it’s third sold out year in Prague, Czech Republic at the Karlin Theatre, where he also mounted a large scale revival of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. Gabe has recently returned from directing the world premiere of the new musical, Tears of Heaven (nominated for eight Musical Awards including Best Direction) in Seoul, South Korea and is in pre-production for the musical, Monkey King, to open later this year in Beijing, China.
As an actor, Gabriel Barre was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his performance in Starmites (recently released on CD) and won a Bistro Award as an original cast member in Forever Plaid. Other New York performing credits include – Broadway: Ragtime (final Toronto workshop), Ain’t Broadway Grand, Rags, Anna Karenina, Barnum (first national tour); Off-Broadway: Return to the Forbidden Planet, The Petrified Prince at the Public Theatre, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, which he also provided the musical staging for, A Fine and Private Place, which he also directed, as well as numerous productions at the Roundabout Theatre, Mirror Repertory Company, Lamb’s Theatre, Playwright’s Horizons, Jewish Repertory Theatre, INTAR, York Theatre and LaMama E.T.C. His film credits include: The Amazing Floydini (Lead), The Gurneyman (Lead), Luggage of the Gods (Lead), Girl 6, Quiz Show, Summer of Sam, The Road to Wellville and Stardust Memories. And, on television he has appeared on “Law & Order”, “Fame”, “Kate & Allie”, Nickelodeon, and a number of programs on PBS.