JOHN FROST
The Gordon/Frost Organisation
John Frost began in the business at the age of 16 as a dresser for J.C. Williamson on their production of Mame. He has worked his way up the showbiz ladder and in 1983 he joined forces with the late Ashley Gordon to form the Gordon/Frost Organisation. Together they negotiated the lease for Sydney’s Footbridge Theatre, where they successfully produced a range of shows including, Jerry’s Girls, Night Mother, The Venetian Twins and Women Behind Bars!. The company then moved into large scale musicals such as Big River, The King and I, South Pacific, Hello Dolly!, The Secret Garden, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Cabaret and Crazy for You.
He co-produced Sir Peter Hall’s acclaimed productions of Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband starring Googie Withers and John McCallum and Lady Windermere’s Fan starring Vanessa Redgrave and Joely Richardson at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London.
In 1998 John Frost joined forces with Sports and Entertainment Limited (SEL) to produce Grease – The Arena Spectacular! The production broke all box office records for an arena event in Australia. His production of The King and I on Broadway won the coveted Tony Award® for Best Revival of a Musical as well as the Drama Desk and New York Outer Critics Circle Award. The King and I toured the UK after playing two years at the London Palladium. With SEL, John Frost also produced the Tony Award-winning play Art starring Tom Conti; The Main Event, The Sound of Music starring Lisa McCune, Annie with Anthony Warlow, Man of La Mancha, The Wizard of Oz, Footloose, the much awaited The Producers - The New Mel Brooks Musical and Grease starring John Farnham.
In 2006 John Frost produced the national tours of the National Theatre of Great Britain’s celebrated production of An Inspector Calls, the Broadway musical theatre icon Mandy Patinkin and Hollywood and cabaret legend Debbie Reynolds. John Frost is one of the producers of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and is also currently co-producing The Phantom of the Opera with The Really Useful Company Asia Pacific. He is the Australian co-producer of WICKED - currently playing at the Regent Theatre, Melbourne.
He is represented on Broadway with the musical Hairspray for which he won his second Tony Award. John has also been the recipient of two Mo Awards and a Sydney Critics’ Circle Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999 from GLUGS.
In the 1999 Australia Day Honours, John was awarded an OAM for his contribution to the Arts.
