‘Expensive Evan Hansen’ Producer Was 62 – The Hollywood Reporter

Steve Fickinger, who acquired a Tony Award for producing the blockbuster musical Expensive Evan Hansen after serving to carry Newsies and The Lion King to Broadway as a Disney govt, has died. He was 62.

Fickinger died all of the sudden Friday at his residence in Laguna Seaside, his niece Jessica Roy introduced.

As director of artistic improvement for Walt Disney Function Animation, Fickinger labored on Mulan, Tarzan and Lilo & Sew, then served as vp artistic improvement for the Disney Theatrical Group, the place he supervised the launch of a half-dozen Broadway reveals, together with The Lion King and Aida.

Fickinger additionally oversaw the Tony-winning manufacturing of Newsies, the nationwide tour of Excessive Faculty Musical and the long-running Broadway manufacturing of Aladdin.

Following twenty years at Disney, he exited in 2013 and created FickStern Productions, and its first endeavor, Expensive Evan Hansen, opened on Broadway in 2016 en path to accumulating six Tonys, together with greatest musical.

The youngest of 5 kids, Steven Thomas Fickinger was born in Chicago in 1960. He attended New Trier Excessive Faculty West, the place he acted on stage with future Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, after which UCLA.

After school, he spent a number of years in New York Metropolis as a stage actor earlier than returning to the West Coast, the place he landed at Disney.

Fickinger additionally was the manager producer of Rock of Ages at The Bourbon Room in Hollywood. The present starred Nick Cordero, who died after a grueling battle with COVID-19 in July 2020 at age 41.

Fickinger’s upcoming initiatives included Dwell on the Crescendo Membership: An Night With Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Pearl Bailey, written and directed by Seret Scott and produced by Deniece Williams, his niece stated.

He was concerned in charities together with the AIDS Stroll, the Los Angeles Meals Mission and the Race to Erase MS.

Survivors additionally embrace his siblings, Joan, Jan, Michael and Emily. A funeral shall be held in Chicago, with a memorial service in Los Angeles.