Robert Callely

A native of Wyoming, Callely’s first paying job in the theatre was in 1968 as assistant to legendary talent and literary agent, Gloria Safier.  In 1970 he became casting director for Music Fair Enterprises, which presented plays and musicals on Broadway, tour, and in its five 2,000-seat theaters-in-the-round on the East Coast. Between 1972 and 1976, as director of the theatrical division for Music Fairs, he oversaw the production of nearly 50 plays and musicals in Music Fairs’ theatres and on tour, plus scores of concerts.  The productions included “Lorelei” with Carol Channing, “No, No Nanette” with Ruby Keeler, “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum” and “Fiddler On The Roof “with Zero Mostel, “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” with Tammy Grimes, “Damn Yankees” with Gwen Verdon, “Applause” with Eva Gabor, “Man of La Mancha” with Howard Keel, plus “Godspell”, “Grease”, “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris”. The concerts starred Charles Aznavour, Liberace, Johnny Carson, Lena Horne, Tony Bennett, Sonny & Cher, Tom Jones, Joan Rivers, Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick, Joan Rivers, Sammy Davis, Jr., Ethel Merman, Peggy Lee and Frankie Vallee & The Four Seasons. As an independent producer Callely presented tours of “Mame” (1976) and “Gypsy” (1977-78) both starring Lansbury. He produced numerous fundraising events starring Dolly Parton, Harry Belafonte, Bob Hope, Debbie Reynolds, Michael Feinstein, etc. Between 1998-06, he was managing director of HB Playwrights Theatre, founded by Uta Hagen, and oversaw production of 21 full-length and 70 one-act plays, and conceived and produced the historic staged reading of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” starring Hagen, Jonathan Pryce, Mia Farrow and Matthew Broderick at the Majestic Theatre that Ben Brantley hailed in the NY Times as “the year’s most dazzling evening in theatre.” Before HB, he served as executive director of the American Theatre Wing; managing director of the Theatre Development Fund; and assistant director of the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting. He has been a member of the Tony Management, Administration and Nominating Committees. In 2008 he became personal manager for Angela Lansbury and was involved with the acclaimed 2013 Australian production of “Driving Miss Daisy” starring her and James Earl Jones, plus the 2014 London revival of “Blithe Spirit” for which she won an Olivier Award. In 2019 he conceived and helped organize the enormously successful staged reading of “The Importance of Being Earnest” with Lansbury as Lady Bracknell, as a fundraiser for the Roundabout Theatre Company.  The author of three plays including “On A Stool At The End Of The Bar”, presented at 59E59 Theatres; a collection of children’s stories, over seventy short stories, a novel, “Stick Horse – A Wyoming Story” and a travel journal, “Toward a Time of Goodness/The Opening of Sripuram”, published in India in 2007, and reprinted over 20 times. His profile of Angela Lansbury, “Speaking of Great Performances” was published by Playbill. He has served on the boards of numerous not-for-profit organizations.