Frank Marino, Broadway Stage Manager, Dies at 70

By Robert Simonson
26 Mar 2009

Frank Marino, a stage manager who worked on dozens of Broadway productions, died March 24, his partner, actor Bill McIntyre, said. The cause was a heart attack. He was 70.

Mr. Marino's final Broadway credit as a production manager was the 1996 revival of Tartuffe, the last of a long line of shows that began with 1971's Lenny, on which he began as the understudy of various small roles, then became first assistant stage manager as well as an assistant to the costume designer.

He graduated to assistant stage manager on 1971's Jesus Christ Superstar — like Lenny, directed by Tom O'Horgan — then to production stage manager on 1973's Warp. His other credits include Jumpers, Children of a Lesser God, I Ought to Be in Pictures, Execution of Justice, the 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls, the 1995 revival of Holiday, the 1996 revival of Bus Stop, Big and Laughter on the 23rd Floor. He worked on The Phantom of the Opera from 1990 to 1999, neither seeing the long-running show's beginning or its end. He retired in the late '80s.

Frank Marino was born in Pittsburgh, PA, in 1939, and was raised in Grand Rapids, MI. He did some acting on a community theatre level before transferring his energies to stage management.