Craig Zadan

Craig Zadan was an American producer, director, and writer.

Zadan helped engineer a revival of Broadway musicals on television with live broadcasts of The Sound of Music, Peter Pan, Hairspray, and The Wiz.

With his producing partner, Neil Meron, their productions received 14 Primetime Emmy Award nominations.

Their first big success was a 1993 production of Gypsy for CBS, starring Bette Midler.

The success of Gypsy led them to ABC, where they produced Annie (1997), with Kathy Bates and Alan Cumming, and Cinderella (1999), with Brandy Norwood in the title role and Whitney Houston as the fairy godmother.

Zadan and Meron also produced the Academy Awards telecast from 2013 to 2016.

Their last major show together was a live version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical Jesus Chris Superstar, which was broadcast on Easter Sunday 2018. Starring John Legend and Sara Bareilles, it was staged as a concert before an audience at the Marcy Armory in Brooklyn, New York.

Zadan died August 20, 2018, in Los Angeles, California. He was 69.