André Ptaszynski died in July 2020 and is much missed by all his colleagues at Matilda The Musical and The RSC.
As producer or lead co-producer, André won Best Musical Olivier or Standard Awards for five different shows over one 10-year period, including one revival. He subsequently won a further two Olivier Best Musical Awards, one as producer (Groundhog Day), one as executive producer (Matilda The Musical). He produced more than 50 shows in London, New York and on tour. With his company, Pola Jones, he produced a number of comedy series for the BBC including winning a Montreux Bronze Rose for Steve Moffat’s Joking Apart. For many years he was the promoter for a wide range of comic talent from Dave Allen, Victoria Wood and Rowan Atkinson to Eddie Izzard and The League of Gentlemen.
André was Chief Executive of the Really Useful Group from 2005 to 2011 and for the last 18 years until 2019 he programmed Andrew Lloyd Webber’s West End theatres including the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and The London Palladium. He was on the board of the National Theatre for nine years as well as on the board of the Society of London Theatre (also ex-President), Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts and the Bowness Theatre Festival in the Lake District. In 2016, with Matthew Warchus, he produced Tim Minchin’s new musical Groundhog Day at the Old Vic and on Broadway.