Winner of more Tony Awards than another other LD, Jules Fisher returns as creative consultant for the Broadway Lighting Master Classes (BLMC) faculty, where he will present will present his personal approach to stage lighting at the opening of the classes on Monday, May 18 at NYU, as well as discuss the lighting of 9 to 5 on May 20, which the classes will attend as part of the program.
“In analyzing what I have been doing for the last 50 years, I have discovered what drives and compels my designs,” says Fisher. “There are numerous definitions of stage lighting to discuss that all contribute to holding on to this evanescent craft. I will try to communicate why the theatre and light is still magical for me.”
Creative consultant for the BLMC since its debut 15 years ago, Fisher has designed the lighting for more than 150 Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, as well as film, ballet, opera, television, and rock-and-roll concert tours. He has garnered eight Tony Awards, a record in this category, for Pippin (1972), Dancin’ (1978), Ulysses in Nighttown (1973), Grand Hotel (1990), The Will Rogers Follies (1991), Jelly’s Last Jam (1992), Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk (1996), and Assassins (2004), the latter five collaborations with his long-time partner Peggy Eisenhauer, also on the faculty.
Fisher began working with Eisenhauer 23 years ago on Bob Fosse’s Big Deal. Most recently, they designed lighting for the new musical 9 to 5 and the relighting of Le Rêve at The Wynn in Las Vegas. Fisher’s extensive theatre credits include Caroline, Or Change, Jane Eyre, Ragtime, Gypsy, The Ritz, and Assassins. His credits as a producer include The Rink, the award-winning Lenny, Bob Fosse’s Dancin', and Dangerous Games. Fisher and Eisenhauer’s theatrical lighting designs, in collaboration with cinematographer Dion Beebe, on the film Chicago were honored with a 2003 Academy Award nomination for Cinematography. Other recent performance lighting can be seen in the films Dreamgirls, Chicago, The Producers, Stepford Wives, Marci "X," and School of Rock, and Fisher can be seen as himself lighting a show in Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz. Fisher and Eisenhauer’s studio, Third Eye, conceives and designs lighting for all forms of entertainment.
The Broadway Lighting Master Classes will be held May 18 to 20 at NYU’s Skirball Center For The Performing Arts and includes a ticket to attend9 to 5 The Musical on Broadway, with lighting by Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, additional lighting for Broadway by Ken Posner, and images by Peter Nigrini. All four designers will engage in a discussion of the lighting for 9 to 5 as it evolved from Los Angeles to Broadway.
Check out full Broadway Lighting Master Classes course information here.