OBSERVER
Sonia Friedman: an unfailing eye for theatreland gold
The most powerful producer in the West End, and key player on Broadway, is a risk-taker with an artist's eye. No surprise then that she's behind the thrilling new musical, The Book of Mormon.
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FINANCIAL TIMES
‘I don’t want the West End left behind'
Commercial theatre needn’t play safe . . .
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THE STAGE 100, 2013
Following the unexpected commercial success of Jerusalem was always going to be a tricky task, but Sonia Friedman was up to it and in 2012 turned a Shakespeare double bill into one of the West End’s hottest tickets. Mark Rylance was, again, the big draw, taking on the roles of Richard III and Olivia in Twelfth Night, alongside Stephen Fry’s Malvolio. But, Friedman’s output during the year also extended two excellent Alan Ayckbourn revivals (A Chorus of Disapproval and Absent Friends), a touring musical (Legally Blonde) and a star-led revival of Neil Simon’s Sunshine Boys with Danny DeVito and Richard Griffiths. This year, The Book of Mormon musical, an impressive looking revival of Pinter’s Old Times are already in the offing. Sonia Friedman’s name has become a consistent badge of quality on a theatre production.
INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
"Anyone who has enjoyed a straight play in the West End over the past decade, perhaps with some well-judged star casting, will almost certainly have seen something from Sonia Friedman Productions . . . Stylishly dressed in leather trousers and biker jacket, she speaks so much sparky, spiky good sense that I'm torn between continuing the interview and frogmarching her to the DCMS for a meeting with Culture Secretary Maria Miller."
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EVENING STANDARD: THE 1000 MOST INFLUENTIAL LONDONERS 2012
Friedman is a tireless and hugely successful producer with a keen nose for hits yet also an appetite for heavyweight programming. Her forthcoming ventures include a hotly anticipated West End transfer for the much-praised musical The Book of Mormon
TIME OUT
2011: People of the Year;
"A woman in a man's world, Sonia Friedman nevertheless has more courage than any other British commerical producer."
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THE TIMES
"With three Tony Awards on the trot, Friedman is the UK’s most dynamic theatre producer."
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VARIETY
Women’s Impact Report 2011:
“It’s been an active year for Sonia Friedman, one of legit's busiest trans-Atlantic producers...."
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SONIA FRIEDMAN INTERVIEW ON FRONT ROW - BBC RADIO 4
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EVENING STANDARD: THE 1000 MOST INFLUENTIAL LONDONERS 2011
Once based at the National Theatre, the formidably tough-minded Friedman has become a sort of theatrical whirlwind. A prolific producer on both sides of the Atlantic, her recent West End successes have included Much Ado About Nothing and Betrayal. Next up should be the transfer of the Broadway hit musical The Book of Mormon.
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
Sonia features in the list of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Britain: "The West End producer's hits include last year's award-winning Jerusalem and the girl-power musical Legally Blonde, which took more than £2 million in advance sales alone. She's also conquered Broadway: this year's Tony winners La Cage aux Folles, A Little Night Music and A View from the Bridge were all Friedman Productions."
VARIETY
Sonia has been named as one of the "50 pros who experienced an extraordinary year, raised the bar in their discipline and changed perceptions of femmes in the industry".
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NEW YORK TIMES
Sonia Friedman of London, the Producing Whirlwind Juggling Dozens of Shows
Before jetting to Greece for a quick sailing holiday last week the British theater producer Sonia Friedman convened her staff for a meeting titled "Current and Productions in Development." It could have been called "Enough Plays to Fill an Entire Broadway Season."
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VARIETY
With four of her London productions in the running for a collective 13 Olivier Awards and two Broadway transfers likely to figure in the Tony race for play revival, Sonia Friedman might be forgiven for slowing down. But the Brit producer's slate tells another story.
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HARPER'S BAZAAR
Sonia Friedman has been listed as one of the UK's 20 most powerful women in theatre in Harper's Bazaar.
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EVENING STANDARD'S INFLUENTIAL LIST 2008
Valiantly works against the trend by putting on new and very youthful plays in a West End where such things are regarded as risky
THE STAGE
Friedman's reputation has soared in the West End where she is frequently described as the most exciting producer in town
HARPER'S BAZAAR
Sonia Friedman has breathed new life into London's West End
THE STAGE
Phenomenal energy, drive and attention to detail
THE TELEGRAPH
One of London's most prolific producers
EVENING STANDARD
Sonia Friedman listed as one of London's 1000 Most Influential People 2007.
Puts her faith in new plays and presents more of them than any other at a time when the straight play is a dying West End species. This attractive, powerful and ruthless sister of singer Maria Friedman makes cunning use of stars and, now working for herself, is to try her hand at musicals.
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VARIETY, DAVID BENEDICT
One of the U.K.’s most prolific legit producers, Friedman is immensely shrewd at the tricky business of juggling personal taste and box office potential. Over the past 18 months, her Sonia Friedman Prods. has presented 14 shows in London and on Broadway, nabbing eight Olivier nominations and four Tony nominations. Her London hits of Tom Stoppard's “Rock ‘n’ Roll” and “Boeing-Boeing” are Broadway-bound for the 2007-08 season. A rare and defiant commercial supporter of new writing -- a risky economic prospect -- she has around two dozen projects in development, only a few of which are new musicals. “Plays remain paramount in the repertoire of this company,” she says.
TIME OUT
Friedman is the uncrowned queen of Theatre Land who is responsible for a string of hits in the West End and on Broadway - with commercial theatre in her hands there's hope for the West End yet...
MARK SHENTON, THE STAGE AND SUNDAY EXPRESS
She's a force of nature and of nurture, in terms of bringing projects to fruition...
THE GUARDIAN PROFILE ON SONIA FRIEDMAN
I don't think there will ever be a theatre project that will be big enough, this is a woman who needs an empire...
GUARDIAN, LYN GARDNER (on Faith Healer)
Its success marks the arrival of producer Sonia Friedman as a force on Broadway. Moving in on Broadway was a natural step for Friedman, who has become uncrowned queen of the West End over the past six years.
GUARDIAN, MICHAEL BILLINGTON
The most urgent need is for dynamic young producers to succeed the senior generation. Only two have made their mark in recent years: the admirable Sonia Friedman.
THEATREGOER
There is little Sonia Friedman can't pull off...
NICHOLAS DE JONGH, EVENING STANDARD
Miss Friedman is not the old style producer - she is shrewd, adventurous, and young!
SUNDAY TIMES CULTURE - SIMON FANSHAWE INTERVIEW
The guiding light of the process is Sonia Friedman, the prodigious producer who has just earned four Tony nominations for Brian Friel?s Faith Healer, on Broadway, as well as stunning reviews for a new London production of Michael Frayn's Donkeys' Years. Despite the accolades for these revivals, though, she has a kind of demented enthusiasm for new writing.
TIME OUT
As soon as she's got one of your plays in hand you know for certain it is going to happen...
DAILY TELEGRAPH, CHARLES SPENCER
Sonia Friedman has reached the very peak of her theatrical field