Frank Corsaro (born
December 22,
1924, in
New York City) is one of America's foremost stage directors of opera and theatre. His Broadway productions include
The Night of the Iguana (with
Bette Davis, 1961).
Corsaro made his operatic directing debut at the
New York City Opera in 1958, with a staging of
Carlisle Floyd's
Susannah. It was this production that the company took to the Brussels World's Fair that year, starring
Phyllis Curtin,
Norman Treigle and
Richard Cassilly. He was to become one of the City Opera's leading directors, creating such important productions as
The Fiery Angel (of
Prokofiev),
La traviata (with Patricia Brooks and
Plácido Domingo),
Madama Butterfly,
The Crucible (featuring
Chester Ludgin),
Faust (with
Beverly Sills and Treigle),
Prince Igor (of
Borodin),
The Makropulos Case (with Maralin Niska),
Summer and Smoke (of
Lee Hoiby),
Médée (in the Italian version),
Die tote Stadt (with
Carol Neblett),
The Cunning Little Vixen (in designs by
Maurice Sendak) and
Carmen.
Corsaro directed the world premieres of two of Floyd's later operas,
Of Mice and Men (1970) and
Flower and Hawk (1972). He made his
Metropolitan Opera debut in 1984, with
Handel's
Rinaldo, starring
Marilyn Horne and
Samuel Ramey.