ABOUT
William Ivey Long is a six time Tony Award winning costume designer. He most recently designed costumes for A Christmas Story, Live! for the FOX Television Network. He also recently designed The Prince of Broadway for legendary director Hal Prince, and the revised stage musical Young Frankenstein in London’s West End for Mel Brooks, having previously designed the original production on Broadway in 2009. Recent Off -Broadway designs include The Portuguese Kid by John Patrick Shanley, and Big Night by Paul Rudnick. He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his work on Grease: Live! for the FOX, and designed the re-imagination of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (starring Laverne Cox and Tim Curry) - also for FOX. He is currently represented on Broadway with A Bronx Tale: The Musical; and Chicago, now in its 22nd year. He recently completed a 4 year elected term as Chairman of the Board for The American Theatre Wing. Mr. Long has designed costumes for over 70 Broadway productions, and has been nominated for 15 Tony Awards.
The Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina is currently presenting an exhibition of Mr. Long’s more recent work, on display through June 3, 2018. For more information, go to www.mintmueum.org The exhibition includes a hard cover catalogue, on sale not only at the Mint Museum, but also at other museum gift shops around the country, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Other Broadway Credits include: On The Twentieth Century, Cabaret (2014 and 1998 revivals), Bullets Over Broadway, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (Tony Award), Big Fish, The Mystery of Edwin Drood; Don’t Dress for Dinner; Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway; Catch Me If You Can, Pal Joey, 9 to 5, Young Frankenstein; Curtains; Grey Gardens (Tony Award); The Producers (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Awards); A Streetcar Named Desire; La Cage Aux Folles; The Boy from Oz; Hairspray (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Awards); Contact (Hewes Award); The Music Man; Annie Get Your Gun; Swing; Smokey Joe’s Café; Crazy for You (Tony, Outer Critics Circle Awards); Guys and Dolls (Drama Desk Award); A Christmas Carol; Six Degrees of Separation; Lend Me a Tenor, (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Awards); Nine (Tony, Drama Desk, Maharam Awards). Recent Off-Broadway productions include The Belle of Amherst with Joely Richardson, Bunty Berman Presents; Lucky Guy and The School for Lies.
Recent dance and opera credits include Paul Taylor’s Open Door , the launch of The Ashley Bouder Project, and The Merry Widow at the Metropolitan Opera starring Renée Fleming and Kelli O’Hara.
He has also designed for such artists as Mick Jagger, Siegfried and Roy, the Pointer Sisters, Joan Rivers, and for choreographers Twyla Tharp, Peter Martins, David Parsons and Susan Stroman.
He serves as Production Designer for North Carolina’s oldest running seasonal outdoor drama, The Lost Colony, which was the 2013 recipient of the Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre. He returns in 2017 for his 47th season with the production.
Mr. Long holds honorary degrees from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, The University of North Carolina at Asheville, and The College of William and Mary. He was the recipient of the Morrison Award (1992), the UNC Chapel Hill Playmakers Award (1994), the National Theatre Conference “Person of the Year” award (2000), the Order of the Long Leaf Pine (2001), the Distinguished Career Award from the Southeastern Theatre Conference (2002), the Raleigh Medal of Arts (2010), and the 2004 North Carolina Award presented by Governor Easley.
He earned an undergraduate degree in history from The College of William and Mary, was a Kress Fellow at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and then earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in stage design from Yale University School of Drama.
Upcoming projects include Tootsie: The Musical and Beetlejuice: The Musical.. The United States Institute of Theatre Technology (USITT) is publishing a monograph of his work in March 2018. He was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2005.
