Tony-Winning Director Bartlett Sher Shares Industry Wisdom with Students

Acclaimed director of 'Dolly: An Original Musical' offers candid insights on theatrical career paths and creative process

Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher, whose acclaimed production of Aaron Sorkin's "To Kill a Mockingbird" is the best-selling American play in Broadway history, recently visited with students to share insights from his remarkable Broadway career ahead of this summer's world premiere of "Dolly: An Original Musical" at the Fisher Center. 

Sher, whose productions have been nominated for over 90 Tony Awards, has directed numerous Broadway and West End productions including "My Fair Lady," "Oslo," "Fiddler on the Roof," "The King and I" and "The Light in the Piazza." A resident director at Lincoln Center Theater since 2008, he recently directed "Camelot" and has also ventured into film with his Emmy-nominated adaptation of "Oslo" for HBO. 

The candid conversation with Belmont students offered insights into Sher's career journey, creative process and his approach to directing the upcoming Dolly Parton biographical musical, which will premiere at Belmont's Fisher Center in July 2025. 

What was your path to becoming a Broadway director? 

"I directed my first show on Broadway when I was in my 40s," Sher shared with students, making an argument for emerging slowly into the work. "There’s this thought that you have to get it right immediately, and you put a lot of pressure on yourself. I didn't do that," he said. 

He detailed his unconventional journey, which began not as a theater major but as an English student who wrote a play in college. "When I left college, I convinced my high school to let me run the drama department at 23 years old, and I taught English. I had 150 students, and I was doing two productions a year –– sometimes three. I had no idea how to direct." 

Sher’s career developed through various theaters and projects starting from these humble beginnings.

When Sher directed "The Light in the Piazza" on Broadway, he was in his early 40s and was running a theater in Seattle. "All these things you're hearing described are like, halfway through. Does that make sense? Because I do think one of the biggest, hardest things is all the pressure I'm guessing you might put on yourself." 

How would you define the role of a director? 

Sher made an essential distinction between creative and interpretive arts. "There's a difference between a creative and an interpretive art," he explained. "A creative artist is someone like a painter or a composer. They're making something new. An interpretive artist, which I would consider a director, requires a pre-existing reality in the form of a text or score to interpret it into something. They're very, very different things." 

What advice would you give to students pursuing a career in directing? 

Sher emphasized that aspiring directors need the freedom to explore their craft. "Stay out of debt," he advised, explaining that "to be an active, moving, working artist, you need as much freedom from limitations as possible." 

Rather than immediately focusing on New York or big productions, he encouraged students to create opportunities. "Find an abandoned warehouse in downtown Nashville. Get all of your friends together and put on some insane, wild piece of theater and build that, make something. And people will come and find you." 

He stressed the importance of practical experience and collaboration. "You're too young for us to go, 'Oh, I see, you're a genius, you're going to help me make this thing better.' It's not going to happen that way. It will happen through effort and work, making and practicing; actually doing it." 

Sher also emphasized the importance of seeking out diverse influences and mentors throughout one's career. 

What inspires your work as a director? 

When asked about his creative influences, Sher cited an unexpected early experience. "I grew up in San Francisco... At 11 years old, my brothers took me to a Grateful Dead concert," he recalled. "There I was, watching all this stuff, and I thought, 'Oh, the world's really interesting.' I was very influenced. I thought, 'this is what it means to be creative,' because all they did as a band was explore and make whatever. And every show was different." 

Sher parallels Dolly Parton's artistic approach: "The thing about Dolly is, she changes it all the time, because she can't help but be an artist.” 

Sher cautioned against creating work “just to be rich and famous," calling these "venal, unnecessary values." He noted that Parton herself exemplifies this perspective. "I'm saying this from being around Dolly. She does not care about that stuff. She cares about the work, making it and changing it.”  

How do you approach working on "Dolly: An Original Musical"? 

Sher discussed the unique challenges of directing a biographical musical as Sher prepares for the world premiere of "Dolly: An Original Musical" at Belmont's Fisher Center this summer. 

"I've not done a bio musical," he noted. "So, the narrative is not built on a person's life because a person has a lot of different parts of their life. We have to push this thing into a larger shape; that is the task… building something that reflects the many pieces of her life." 

Working closely with Parton herself on the project has been a dynamic process, with the artist actively involved in ongoing creative decisions.  

The musical will feature three actresses portraying Dolly at different stages of her life, following her journey from age nine through the present. "The Dolly I'm seeing is somebody who's coming to a reckoning of all of these parts of who she is, and that's interesting to explore," Sher said. 

What advice do you have for performers preparing for auditions? 

For the many musical theater students in attendance, Sher offered practical advice on auditioning. "An audition is itself an art form. You use the material you're given to explore the piece with richness and the best way you know how.” 

He emphasized that performers should focus on the work itself rather than trying to impress. "In an audition, you are not being evaluated on, ‘are you good or bad?’” he said. “Explore the work, do this stuff, and then if you're fitting into what they're looking for, that will be great." 

Sher encouraged students to be authentic in auditions rather than trying to guess what directors want. "If you’re trying to do the thing that makes them see you, that's not so good... If you sing it, great, amazing. But me telling you to sing it great is not going to help you... Acting is like being inside of it, making decisions. I like active stuff. I like people to explore."