Tom Moore

In the theater, Tom Moore is best known as the director of "'night mother" (with Kathy Bates and Anne Pitoniak) which won the Pulitzer prize, and for which he received his second Tony nomination, and for the original "Grease", which ran for eight years and is one of the longest running shows in the history of Broadway. (Over the years , this production introduced Barry Bostwick, John Travolta, Richard Gere, Peter Gallagher, Greg Evigan, Treat Williams, Patrick Swayzee, Marilu Henner, Adrienne Barbeau, David Paymer, and countless others who now work steadily in theater, film, and television.) He most recently directed the Broadway production of "Moon Over Buffalo", with Carol Burnett . A documentary, "Moon Over Broadway", by Pennebaker-Hegedes, which followed the production from rehearsals to the Broadway opening has been playing in theaters, on television, and on video and DVD. His first Tony nomination was for the direction of the Big Band Musical "Over Here", which brought the Andrews Sisters out of retirement. Other Broadway productions include the critically acclaimed revival of "Once In A Lifetime" (with John Lithgow) at the Circle-in-the Square, "Division Street", "The Octette Bridge Club", and the short-lived, but legendary "Frankenstein". Moore has a long time association with the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles where he directed Feydeau's "A Flea In Her Ear","Division Street", (premiere), "A Month in the Country" by Turgenev, "Wild Oats" (for the Olympic Arts Festival.)"'night Mother", and Ayckbourne's "Henceforward". In Los Angeles, he also directed "Hay Fever", at the Ahmanson Theatre and "Once In A Lifetime" in a special benefit for the Los Angeles Classic Theatre Works where he also directed "The Pentagon Papers". At the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, he directed "Knock Knock", "Hotel Paradiso", "The Little Foxes", and Chekhov's "Three Sisters". Also in San Francisco, he directed "The Boys in Autumn" with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas. He directed "Loot" at the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis: "Once in a Lifetime" at the Arena Stage in Washington D.C. "Our Town" (with Geraldine Fitzgerald as the stage manager), "Hay Fever", and "The Madwoman of Chaillot" at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Mass.: "The Importance of Being Earnest" and "Fallen Angels" at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego: and "Traveller in the Dark" and "'night Mother" at the American Repertory Theatre in Boston. He has directed two productions of Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard", one at the La Jolla Playhouse (with Lynn Redgrave), and the other (with Marsha Mason) was the premiere stage production at the Lensic Center for Performing Arts for Santa Fe Stages. He also directed the Brian Friel adaptation of "A Month in the Country" for Antaeus. Moore's last stage production for the Ahmanson Theatre was "The Royal Family" in Los Angeles, which starred Marian Seldes, Kate Mulgrew, George Irving, and Charles Kimbrough. And he most recently directed "When Something Wonderful Ends" both at the Ojai Playwright's Conference and The Humana Festival. He has also taught and directed at the State University of New York at Buffalo, Brandeis University, and the University of London, England. He was artistic director of the Peterborough Players in New Hampshire, and he has lectured at the Seminar in American Studies in Salzburg, Austria. He directed the National touring companies of "Grease" and "'night Mother", and presented "'night Mother" at the Spoletto Festival in Italy. On film, Moore directed "'night Mother" with Sissy Spacek and Anne Bancroft, and his short film "Journey", made for the American Film Institute won two international film awards. On television, he directed Disney's first original musical for television, "Geppetto", starring Drew Carey and Julia Louis-Dreyfuss. Also on television he directed ER (Emmy nomination), "Mad About You" (Emmy nomination), "L.A. Law" (Emmy nomination), "Huff", "Mismatch", "Gilmore Girls", "Ally McBeal", "Felicity", "Late Line", "Nothing Sacred", "Dharma and Greg", "Suddenly Susan", "Something So Right", "Cybill", "Pride and Joy", "Thirty Something", "The Wonder Years" (The episode "Square Dance" won the Humanitas Prize), "Almost Grown", "Cheers", "Picket Fences", "Civil Wars", "Northern Exposure", "The Class of '96", "Good Company", "Boston Common", "Maybe It's Me", "The Court", the late night "Fridays", and the pilots of "First Years", "50 Minute Man", and "The Flamingo Kid". He also directed the television movies "Maybe Baby" and "Fine Things". He is presently on the executive board of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. Moore was a fellow at the American Film Institute, and he holds a B.A. from Purdue University and an M.F.A. from the Yale University School of Drama. He was also awarded the degree of Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa, by Purdue University. As an avocation, he is also involved with the Circus Arts, and spends as much time as possible on the flying trapeze.