Kevin Wallace

Kevin Gerard Wallace (born Limerick, Ireland on 19 June 1957) was in-house producer with Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group (RUG) from November 1994 until August 2001, where he was responsible for Whistle Down the Wind (Aldwych Theatre), The Beautiful Game (Cambridge Theatre), Closer to Heaven (Arts Theatre), with music and lyrics by The Pet Shop Boys and starring Frances Barber and Paul Keating and Celebration, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 50th Birthday Concert at Royal Albert Hall. He also established productions of The Phantom of the Opera in Belgium, Mexico and Denmark; a US tour of Cats and produced the new production of Sunset Boulevard, starring Faith Brown. Kevin produced the UK tour of Jesus Christ Superstar and, in November 2001, he won an International Emmy as Executive Producer of the film based on that production.

Before joining RUG, he produced The Emperor Jones (Offstage Downstairs) and Our Town starring Alan Alda and Robert Sean Leonard (Shaftesbury Theatre). In January 2002 he re-established Kevin Wallace Limited (KWL), to produce musicals and plays. During 2002, KWL presented the multi-award winning Traverse Theatre/Royal National Theatre production of Gagarin Way at the Arts Theatre (London) and the Abbey Theatre Dublin production of Eden, a new play by Eugene O'Brien (also at the Arts). Directed by Conor McPherson, Eden won both the Irish Times/ESB Award and the Stewart Parker Award for Best New Play.

Most recently Kevin Wallace and Saul Zaentz produced The Lord of the Rings with book and lyrics by Shaun McKenna and Matthew Warchus, and music by A. R. Rahman and Värttinä, collaborating with Christopher Nightingale. The Lord of the Rings played in Toronto, Canada, where the show was nominated for 15 Dora Awards, winning 7, including "Outstanding New Musical" and awards for direction, design and choreography and in London, where it was seen by more than 700,000 people and was nominated for 7 Whatsonstage Theatregoer's Choice Awards in 2007 and 5 Olivier Awards in 2008.

A German language production of The Lord of the Rings will open in Köln (Cologne), Germany in 2009.

Before becoming a producer, Kevin Wallace worked as a stage and television actor in his native Ireland and in Britain, with the Abbey Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), Bristol Old Vic, Liverpool Everyman, Oxford Playhouse, Yorkshire Television and the BBC.

External links

• (official site for London stage production)
• [http://www.derherrderringemusical.de (official site for German stage production)
• [http://www.lotrfans.co.uk Lord of the Rings Stage Show (Produced by Kevin Wallace) Unofficial Fansite