Mike Baldassari - Theatrical Lighting Designer
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MIKE BALDASSARI co-designed the Broadway hit revival of CABARET, for which he received Tony and Drama Desk Award Nominations and received the Entertainment Design Award. Also on Broadway (and DVD), AS LONG AS WE BOTH SHALL LAUGH. City Center’s Encore Series; TENDERLOIN directed by Walter Bobbie. Off-Broadway credits: BARE, JEWTOPIA, SAVION GLOVER DOWNTOWN. National tours: RING OF FIRE, (the music of Johnny Cash), MAN OF La MANCHA, THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES, FAME, SPIDER-MAN LIVE! GREASE, SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, Yeston’s PHANTOM, SAVION GLOVER –FOOTNOTES (Scenery and Lighting), THE KING & I, DIAL "M" FOR MURDER, TOMMY TUNE MOONLIGHTING.
Recent designs include the world premieres of “13” at The Mark Taper Forum in LA, and “NERDS://A Musical Software Satire” at The Philadelphia Theatre Company.
His work has been seen in more than twenty countries, including multiple European productions of Disney’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and BLAST II for Japan.
He designed the world première of Tennessee William’s ONE ARM, adapted and directed by Moisés Kaufman for Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company.
Mike received an Emmy Award nomination for the Lighting Direction of GARTH BROOKS LIVE FROM CENTRAL PARK.
In the music arena, he was the Production Designer for ALICE IN CHAINS’ reunion tour in 2006 and designed their tour with Velvet Revolver in 2007. He is designing Neil Young's CHROME DREAM Tour this year and was the Lighting Director for Neil's HARVEST MOON Tour. He has also designed shows or tours for: Jerry Cantrell, Mos Def, John Mellencamp, Jonathan Butler, and Kurt Bestor for four seasons. Television designs: MTV’s SPANKIN’ NEW MUSIC, VH-1's EIGHT-TRACK FLASHBACK, concerts for the CBS mini-series SHAKE, RATTLE & ROLL. In 2000 he was the Lighting Consultant to Vice President Al Gore for the Presidential Debates. He has also designed pre-taped skits for SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE.
He recently designed a live action tour for the new PBS kid's show DITTY DOODLE WORKS.
Yearly, he designs two Multi-media productions for CBS Television, one televised from Carnegie Hall (featuring acts like The Who, Mariah Carey, and Faith Hill) and one at The Bellagio in Las Vegas. Twice in 2005 he completed the design and coordination of over a dozen simultaneous Multi-Media productions for SANOFI-AVENTIS in Las Vegas, including an arena performance by Sheryl Crow.
Some of Mike's creations can be found among the Signature Series Gobo Collection from Rosco. Also for Rosco, Mike created "Baldassari Blue" (R-381) which debuted on Neil Young's Chrome Dream II tour, as well as six other colors, including "Rust" and "Copper-Tone". Some of the City Theatrical Catalog products that Mike had a hand in creating include the "Stacker Tophat" (for which Mike is listed on the Patent) and the "Broadway Music Stand Lite".
Mike's best production, along with his wife Arlene, is their daughter Sophia. They reside in Hoboken, New Jersey (you gotta problem with that?).
