Mel Howard has produced and staged over 150 plays, musical comedies and music and dance shows around the world.
After founding the literary cabaret ‘La Contrescarpe’ in Paris in 1957, and producing and directing plays by avant-garde writers (Dubillard, Arrabal, Ionesco, Obaldia), he returned to the United States where he produced the Living Theatre, the Comédie Française, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Maurice Béjart, Rudolf Nureyev, and experimental dance troupes from across the world (Japan, Peru, Cambodia, Senegal, Morocco, Israel, Georgia...).
During a career spent between Paris and New York he brought, most notably, Martha Graham to the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. In the United States he created the Afro-Asian Festival and conceived and produced the shows Africa Oye, 1000 ans de Jazz, and staged Anthologia de la Zarzuela with Placido Domingo.
He brought Broadway to Paris with West Side Story, Hello Dolly, 42nd Street and Chorus Line, at the Théâtre de Châtelet, as well as Cats at the Théâtre de Paris, which won the Molière Award for Best Musical in 1989.
He has produced many Broadway shows, notably Flamenco Puro, Tango Argentino (nominated for 3 Tony Awards), Black and Blue (nominated for 13 Tony Awards), Wonderhouse and Tango Pasión.
He created Tango Pasión which, 16 years after it first began, continues to tour in some of the world’s most prestigious theatres.
Mel Howard also wrote the show Wild Woman Blues featuring Linda Hopkins, and has twice brought it to Paris.
He is about to produce a new dance show – Rock the Ballet – and has written a musical comedy about Mistinguett entitled La Guerre des Plumes.
