After helming two star-studded Shakespeares for Los Angeles' Ahmanson Theatre this summer, Sir Peter Hall will join the faculty of Texas' University of Houston School of Theatre this fall.
Founder of Britain's Royal Shakespeare Company, Hall will take the Lyndall F. Wortham Performing Arts Chair left vacant by the February death of director Jose Quintero.
Hall, who joins three-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward Albee and Tony winning Broadway producer Stuart Ostrow at the university, will teach courses on Shakespeare and directing.
The fall of 1999 will also see Hall's revival of Amadeus hit Broadway in October, starring David Suchet and Michael Sheen. Suchet and Sheen starred in a Hall-helmed Amadeus last year at London's Old Vic. The production picked up five Olivier Award nominations during its West End run, including Best Actor for Suchet and Outstanding performance for Sheen.
Hall directed the original production of the play in 1979 at London's National Theatre. That production moved to Broadway and starred Ian McKellen as Salieri and Tim Curry as Mozart. Amadeus won a 1981 Tony Award as Best Play for Shaffer, with the film, by Milos Forman ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"), winning the 1985 Academy Award as Best Picture. The film version starred F. Murray Abraham as Salieri (a role that won him the Academy Award) and Tom Hulce. A two-time Tony Award winner, Hall directed the Royal Shakespeare Company until1968 before directing the Royal National Theatre from 1973-88.
-- By Sean McGrath
