Frank Corsaro

Frank Corsaro (December 22, 1924 – November 11, 2017) was a New York-born stage director, actor, and librettist recognized as one of the leading figures in American opera and theatre direction. He was educated at De Witt Clinton High School in New York City and went on to build a career that spanned Broadway, opera houses, and film.

Corsaro's Broadway career began in the early 1950s, when he appeared as a performer in productions including The Taming of the Shrew, The Merchant of Venice, and Mrs. McThing, with credits running from 1951 to 1953. He later returned to Broadway as a director, staging The Night of the Iguana in 1961.

His operatic directing debut came in 1958 at the New York City Opera, where he staged Carlisle Floyd's Susannah. That production, featuring Phyllis Curtin, Norman Treigle, and Richard Cassilly, was selected to represent the company at the Brussels World's Fair the same year. Corsaro became a central figure at the City Opera, directing a wide range of productions there, among them Prokofiev's The Fiery Angel, Verdi's La traviata with Patricia Brooks and Plácido Domingo, Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Robert Ward's The Crucible featuring Chester Ludgin, Gounod's Faust with Beverly Sills and Treigle, Borodin's Prince Igor, Janáček's The Makropulos Affair with Maralin Niska, Lee Hoiby's Summer and Smoke, Cherubini's Médée in its Italian version, Korngold's Die tote Stadt with Carol Neblett, Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen in designs by Maurice Sendak, and Bizet's Carmen.

Corsaro directed the world premieres of two additional Floyd operas: Of Mice and Men in 1970 and Flower and Hawk in 1972. He also directed the premiere of Thomas Pasatieri's The Seagull. In 1984, he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera conducting Handel's Rinaldo, a production that starred Marilyn Horne and Samuel Ramey. As a librettist, Corsaro wrote texts for Stephen Paulus's Heloise and Abelard and Pasatieri's Frau Margot.

Beyond the stage, Corsaro appeared on screen as Hector Jonas opposite Joanne Woodward in the 1968 film Rachel, Rachel, directed by Paul Newman. In 1988, he was appointed head of the Actors Studio. He also authored the book Maverick, published by Vanguard Press in 1978. Corsaro died on November 11, 2017, in Suwanee, Georgia.