Adam Epstein, a producer for Hair Spray, died at the age of 49.
Adam passed away today at Adventist Health Hospital in Glendale, Arizona. He had been sick with brain cancer for a short time.
The Hollywood Reporter was the first to write about it.
Amadeus and The Crucible were brought back to life by him, and The Wedding Singer and Cry-Baby were turned into movies.
Adam got sick while filming his 2021 podcast, Dirty Moderate With Adam Epstein.
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When he worked with Margo Lion as a co-producer on the first Broadway show of Hairspray in 2002, he was only 28 years old.
Harvey Fierstein played Edna Turnblad in the first show.
More than 2,600 performances of Hairspray took place between 2005 and 2009.
He won eight of the thirteen Tony awards that were given to him for his work in Hairspray, including Best Musical.
Adam won 12 Tonys and was nominated 46 times over the course of his career.
People who worked with Adam wrote tributes to him after he died.
“Adam was the youngest producer I had ever worked with when we met on Hairspray,” said two-time Tony-winning choreographer Jerry Mitchell in a statement.
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“I will always be thankful for all the help, support, and care he gave all of us.”
A tribute to him was also left by John Waters, who turned Hairspray into a movie in 1988.
“What little boy wants to be a producer when he grows up?” “Well, Adam did,” he answered.
“That’s what gives him so much confidence.” He has known what he wants to do his whole life.
“Adam and I had a hit together with Hairspray and a flop together with Cry-Baby, and he was just as excited about both. “A cheerleader for his shows like no one else,” John said.
Find out more about Adam.
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Adam was born in Miami Beach, Florida, on September 7, 1974.
His mother was a social worker and his father worked in radiology.
While he was at Miami Country Day School, Adam was in musicals like “The Wiz” and “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
It was at New York University that the producer got his bachelor’s degree in political science.
He moved to London and lived there for a few years after high school. Then he came back to the US to get a master’s degree in American Studies from Brown University.
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Adam then became a political commentator on Fox News and an extra teacher at New York University.
He then moved to Broadway in 1997 and worked on The Life as an intern, casting assistant, and production associate.
He became a producer on the revival of Arthur Miller’s play “A View From the Bridge” in just one year. Allison Janney and Anthony LaPaglia played in the show.
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Bonnie and Marc, Adam’s brother Brett, Logan, his sister Logan, his nieces Hazel, Sophie, and Lucy, and his nephew Oliver will all miss him.