Jérôme Savary

Jérôme Savary (27 June 1942 – 4 March 2013) was an Argentinian-French theater director and actor. His work has democratized and widened the appeal of musical theater in France, drawing together and blending such genres as opera, operetta, and musical comedy.

Savary was born in Buenos Aires; his father was a writer and his mother the daughter of Frank W. Higgins, governor of New York (1905–1907). Savary moved to Paris at a very young age. Here, he studied music under Maurice Martenot, continuing his studies at the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs.

At nineteen, he moved to New York, where he associated with Lenny Bruce, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Count Basie, and Thelonious Monk. In 1962, he returned to Argentina to fulfill his military service requirements. He remained as an illustrator of dictionaries and a cartoonist, contributing to the same magazine as Copi.

In 1965, after returning to Paris, he created the "Compagnie Jérôme Savary", which evolved into "Le Grand Magic Circus" and finally into "Le Grand Magic Circus et ses animaux tristes". His version of Cabaret won awards in France (the Molière, 1987) and Spain (1993). He has remained active, producing such diverse works as La Périchole, Rigoletto, The Barber of Seville, La Légende de Jimmy, Marylin Montreuil, Mistinguett, Irma la Douce, and many other works.

After directing the Centre Dramatique National du Languedoc-Roussillon and the Carrefour Européen du Théâtre du 8e à Lyon, he headed the Théâtre National de Chaillot from 1988 to 2000.