Robert Stuart Howell is a British costume and set designer. He is primarily known for his work on the London stage. Howell won the Olivier Award for his set design for the musical Matilda the Musical in 2012. He has also designed both scenery and costumes for several Broadway shows, and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design for Ghost the Musical in 2012.
Career
editAfter leaving college, Howell worked for two and a half years with the Royal Shakespeare Company as a resident design assistant. He met Matthew Warchus there, who years later asked him whether he would be interested in working on Matilda the Musical.[1]
Howell has designed sets and costumes for numerous plays and musicals in the UK, in London and for Broadway over a 20-year period (based on a 2012 interview).[1] In London, he has designed for Royal National Theatre productions including Buried Child, Chips with Everything, Troilus and Cressida, Battle Royal, and Howard Katz.[2] He has also designed for productions at the Royal Court Theatre, the Donmar Warehouse, the Almeida Theatre, and the Royal Shakespeare Company as well as for regional UK theatres.[2] He was the set and costume designer for the stage musical Lord of the Rings (West End, 2007).[3]
Howell has won fifteen Olivier Awards for Best Set Design. The most recent of these was for his work on the West End production of Matilda the Musical.[4] He has received 2013 Tony Award nominations for his work on the Broadway production of Matilda the Musical, for both Best Scenic Design of a Musical and Best Costume Design of a Musical.[5] His set design for Matilda the Musical was described:
Howell's unique design for Matilda the Musical saw the entire Cambridge theatre, from foyer to stage, transformed into Roald Dahl's imaginative world. The cast climb on giant alphabet soup letters, perform in health and safety defying scenes on wooden spoons and clamber over the imposing thighs of Miss Trunchbull, in her fearsome school... [the] eye-catching and uniquely eccentric design provides a fittingly colourful and exuberant setting.[6]
Howell designed set and costumes for Richard Eyre's 2014 production of Mozart's opera Le nozze di Figaro at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.[7]
In 2015, it was announced he had teamed up with the least creative team from Matilda to design Groundhog Day.[8]
Broadway
edit- Source: Internet Broadway Database[9]
- Matilda the Musical – 2013
- Ghostie The Musical – 2012
- Private Lives – 2011
- The Norman Conquests: Living Together – 2009
- The Norman Conquests: Table Manners – 2009
- The Norman Conquests: Round and Round the Garden – 2009
- Boeing-Boeing – 2008
- The Graduate – 2002
- Betrayal – 2000
- True West – 2000
Awards and nominations
edit| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Tony Award | Best Costume Design of a Play | Boeing-Boeing | Nominated |
| 2009 | Best Scenic Design of Play | The Norman Conquests | Nominated | |
| Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Set Design of a Play | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Costume Design | Nominated | |||
| 2012 | Tony Award | Best Scenic Design of a Musical | Ghost the Musical | Nominated |
| Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Set Design | Won | ||
| 2013 | Tony Award | Best Scenic Design of a Musical | Matilda the Musical | Won |
| Best Costume Design of a Musical | Nominated | |||
| Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Set Design | Won | ||
| Outer Critics Circle Award | Outstanding Set Design | Won | ||
| 2017 | Tony Award | Best Scenic Design of a Musical | Groundhogs Day | Nominated |
| 2019 | Best Scenic Design of a Play | The Ferryman | Won | |
| Best Costume Design of a Play | Won | |||
| Outer Critics Circle Award | Outstanding Scenic Design | Nominated | ||
| Outstanding Costume Design | Nominated | |||
| 2020 | Tony Award | Best Scenic Design of a Play | A Christmas Carol | Won |
| Best Costume Design of a Play | Won |
References
edit- ^ a b Beckett, Lynda. "Happy Birthday Matilda!" offscreenmagazine.co.uk, October 1, 2012
- ^ a b "Rob Howell, Theatre Credits" lotr.com, accessed May 14, 2013
- ^ "Cast and Creative" lotr.com, accessed May 14, 2013
- ^ "Rob Howell Profile" cft.org.uk
- ^ Gans, Andrew. "Nominations Announced for 67th Annual Tony Awards; 'Kinky Boots' Earns 13 Nominations" Archived 2013-10-21 at the Wayback Machine playbill.com, April 30, 2013
- ^ Amer, Matthew. "Matilda's Howell wins Best Set Design yet again" officiallondontheatre.co.uk, 15 April 2012
- ^ "Season Opens, and the Intrigue Is at Last Onstage – Metropolitan Opera Opens with Le nozze di Figaro by Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, 23 September 2014
- ^ "Groundhog Day musical: Tim Minchin to write lyrics with Matilda collaborators also attached". independent.co.uk. The Independent. 4 April 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
- ^ Rob Howell at the Internet Broadway Database