Be Our Guest with David Armstrong

David Armstrong is an American stage director, writer, producer, lecturer, educator and choreographer. He is best known for his work at The 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle where from 2000 to 2018 he served as the Producing Artistic Director and later as the Executive Producer and Artistic Director, and where he is currently the Artistic Director Emeritus. He also currently serves on the faculty of the University of Washington School Of Drama where he teaches a course entitled: The Broadway Musical -How Immigrants, Jews, Queers and African-Americans Invented America's Signature Art Form. On Broadway he directed the musical Scandalous!: The Life And Trials Of Aimee Semple McPherson starring Carolee Carmello who received a Tony nomination for her performance. He also directed this show’s pre-Broadway production at The 5th Avenue Theatre under the title Saving Aimee. Other acclaimed 5th Avenue Theatre productions include Candide, Sweeney Todd, HAIR, A Little Night Music, Company, Hello, Dolly!, Oliver!, Anything Goes, MAME, Pippin, The Secret Garden, Vanities, White Christmas, The Rocky Horror Show, Yankee Doodle Dandy!, Holiday Inn, A Room With A View, Jaques Brel Is Alive… and Paint Your Wagon as well as concert productions of Gentleman Prefer Blondes, Hairspray and Titanic. Under his leadership The 5th Avenue grew to become one of the nation’s leading musical theater companies, especially with regards to the development and production of new work. During his tenure The 5th produced full productions of 19 new musicals, nine of which subsequently transferred to Broadway, and two of which received the TONY Award for Best Musical (Hairspray and Memphis). Mr. Armstrong’s direction and choreography have been seen on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in Los Angeles and at many leading regional theaters including DC’s Shakespeare Theatre Company, Paper Mill Playhouse, The Kennedy Center, Seattle’s ACT Theater, Ordway Center, Houston’s TUTS, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Dallas Summer Musicals, Cincinnati Playhouse, St. Louis Rep, Cohoes Music Hall, Pittsburg CLO, and Ford’s Theater.  In 2018 he directed Shaw’s Arms And The Man for the Seattle Shakespeare Company. Mr. Armstrong’s awards include the Puget Sound Business Journal’s 2016 “Outstanding Voice” Award, the Puget Sound Association of Phi Beta Kappa’s 2018 Humanities Achievement Award, and in honor of his 18 years as Executive Producer and Artistic Director of The 5th Avenue Theatre, Mayor Jenny A. Durkan proclaimed June 26, 2018 to be “David Armstrong Day” in the city of Seattle. ​ In the spring of 2019 he joined the faculty of The University of Washington School of Drama to teach a new course called The Broadway Musical: How Immigrants, Queers, Jews and African-Americans Invented America's Signature Art Form, which he will teach again in during spring quarter of 2020.