photo by Dirty Sugar Studios
DAVE SOLOMON is an award-winning New York-based writer and director working in both theatre and film.
His latest film, Brenda & Billy (and the Pothos Plant), starring Santino Fontana, Sarah Stiles and Catherine Curtin premiered in June 2023 as an official selection of Tribeca Film Festival and can now be seen in various film festivals worldwide. (more info on Instagram at: @brendaandbillyfilm)
For the stage, Solomon is currently directing and developing the new musical Pump up the Volume, by Jeff Thomson and Jeremy Desmon, based on the 1990 Allan Moyle film starring Christian Slater. He recently directed an industry workshop presentation, featuring Andrew Barth Feldman and Hailey Kilgore, as well as a staged concert presentation at the Adirondack Theatre Festival and a presentation of the first act that premiered in London as part of MTFestUK and received a rave review in The Guardian. He will be directing the world premiere production - which will be announced soon. He had previously directed a developmental workshop of the piece with the Canadian Musical Theatre Project in 2019 (which was also presented at the Winter Garden Theatre in Toronto), as well as a concert version at Joe’s Pub (featuring performers such as Leslie Odom, Jr, Lucas Steele and Nancy Opel) that was featured in Entertainment Weekly and New York Magazine.
Solomon has also been a recurrent Associate Director to Joe Mantello and Scott Ellis, and has worked on twelve Broadway productions including Tootsie, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, 9 to 5, Pal Joey, Sunday in the Park with George, The Ritz, Curtains and Assassins. He was also Scott Ellis’ associate and an Associate Producer on “A Christmas Story Live” for Fox.
Solomon also assisted Oscar-winner Bill Condon on the live-action film version of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and also worked with Condon on the feature film, Mr. Holmes, starring Ian McKellen and Laura Linney. He also served as Condon’s Associate Director on the stage production of Side Show, working alongside the director in developing the revised version of the Henry Krieger musical that played La Jolla Playhouse and The Kennedy Center before arriving on Broadway to critical acclaim.
Solomon most recently directed the Japanese premiere production of Tootsie the Musical that was produced by TOHO Theatrical and stars Ikusaburo Yamazaki. He also directed the first national tour of the Tony-winning Broadway musical; which was a slightly revised and newly conceived production with choreography by Tony-nominated Denis Jones and featuring new material by Robert Horn (Tony Winner, Best Book of a Musical) and David Yazbek, based on the original Broadway production directed by Scott Ellis. It received rave reviews in its two-year run across major cities and theatres throughout the U.S.
As a playwright, his play Margaret and Craig, starring Mario Cantone, has been seen at New York Stage and Film (directed by Tony-nominated Sheryl Kaller), and was part of The New Group’s New Work series; also directed by Kaller and featuring Cantone and Marin Ireland. It has also received developmental readings with Roundabout Theatre Company and New York Theatre Workshop.
Solomon’s other film credits include the award-winning short film photo op, starring Randy Harrison (“Queer as Folk”), Aaron Lazar, Hannah Bos and Lucas Steele, that played over twenty film festivals including Palm Springs International ShortFest and Outfest Los Angeles. It is now available on Amazon Prime and Vimeo. His short film, Cavan, also had a successful, award-winning festival run winning awards for direction and performance. And his feature horror screenplay, Chesterfield Falls, is currently in development.
Other credits include directing an acclaimed production of The Play That Goes Wrong for the historic Le Petit Theatre in New Orleans and serving as the creative director of the unique, experiential winter gala for THE SHED in New York City; conceiving of a ‘Sea Change’ concept that was carried out in a production design by Emmy-winner Jason Ardizzone-West (“Jesus Christ Superstar Live”), with lighting by Aaron Copp, décor design by John Goodman, and featuring appearances by Marina Abramović, Ralph Fiennes and a DJ-set by Questlove; as well as a pop-up photo shoot by Dirty Sugar Studios and tarot card readings on ‘arachnomancy’ cards designed by Tomás Saraceno.
During the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, he directed a unique theatrical-cinematic hybrid production of Adam Gwon’s musical Ordinary Days for the Pittsburgh Playhouse, featuring a production design by Jason Ardizzone-West and new material by Adam Gwon; written exclusively for this production’s dual gender-bending casting which included future Tony-nominated actor Jaquel Spivey (“A Strange Loop”) and Jana Larell Glover (“Six”).
He also directed the critically-acclaimed world premiere of Diana Amsterdam’s new play, The Dodgers, at the Hudson Theatre in Los Angeles (starring Corbin Bleu, Talisa Friedman, Jared Gertner, Asher Grodman, Emma Hunton, and Eric Nelsen) and the theatrical song-cycle You’re Gonna Hate This, with composer Michael Holland and Tony-Winner Lindsay Mendez; that performed at both Joe’s Pub and Feinstein’s/54 Below.
Solomon was the bookwriter for Havana – Palace of Lights, an original musical for Norwegian Cruise Line directed and choreographed by Tony-winner Warren Carlyle and featuring music by Ryan Scott Oliver and two-time Grammy-winner Albita Cantante. As a writer, he has also had works produced or performed at Ars Nova and Developing Artists and has been a resident of SPACE on Ryder Farm.
Other notable directing credits for stage include Same Time, Next Year with John Bolton and Eve Plumb and Marrying Meg, which was one of the eight shows selected by the New York Times as a highlight of that year’s New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF).
Solomon is a graduate of Vassar College and is represented by Michael Finkle (theatre) and Hannah Davis (film) at William Morris Endeavor.