About
Ryan began his theater career as a production assistant on Elton John & Tim Rice’s Aida, and counts himself very lucky to have been personal assistant to Mel Brooks and Tom Meehan on The Producers; assistant director of The Boy From Oz starring Hugh Jackman, and assistant to Tony Award-winning producer David Binder on the 2007 High Line Festival curated by David Bowie, and 33 Variations starring Jane Fonda.
In the summer of 2008, Ryan discovered A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder during a chance phone call and spent five years shepherding the show to Broadway. In 2014 the musical took home four Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Director, and Best Book.
In 2009 he created Break Out in Song, a flash-mob video series with over 500,000 views, which brought musical theatre to the streets of New York. He has been producing and developing independently since. Commissions and workshops include The Everleigh by Storm Large, James Beaton, and Rinne Groff with the Public Theater; and an all-female workshop of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying in collaboration with London’s Royal Central School.
In 2018 he co-produced the Tony Award-winning play Network starring Bryan Cranston and is currently a co-producer on the National’s West End production of The Ocean at the End of the Lane (Oct 2021-Apr 2022).
In development: a theatrical adaptation of Dian Fossey's book Gorillas in the Mist with Tony-nominated director Liesl Tommy (Eclipsed), writer Chinoyerem Odimba (Princess and the Hustler), and puppet designs by the Jim Henson Creature Shop and Mervyn Millar (Circus 1903; My Neighbor Totoro). Upcoming: Gloria the Musical — a femme fatale adaptation of Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera using the iconic 80s singer, Laura Branigan’s song catalog.
