Bio
Dean Bryant is an award-winning director and writer.
He was Associate Director for Melbourne Theatre Company from 2016 to 2019, credited for his work on Torch the Place, Kiss of the Spider Woman, The Lady in the Van, An Ideal Husband, Wild, Vivid White, Born Yesterday, Skylight, I’ll Eat You Last, and Next to Normal.
For Hayes Theatre Company he directed Assassins, Sweet Charity (Helpmann Award) and Little Shop of Horrors (Sydney Theatre Award), all of which consequently toured.
For Opera Australia he has directed Two Weddings, One Bride, and Anything Goes (co-production with GFO). Other directing credits include: The Skin of Our Teeth (VCA); Once We Lived Here (London season); DreamSong (Theatre Works); Straight (Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre); The Last Five Years (Stables); and five other musicals for The Production Company.
Recently directing credits include: Hubris & Humiliation (Sydney Theatre Company), Merrily We Roll Along (Hayes Theatre Company), and Fun Home (co-production for STC and MTC) which won him Best Director of a Musical at the Sydney Theatre Awards.
Alongside composer Mathew Frank, Bryant wrote the Green Room Award-winning musicals Prodigal and Once We Lived Here, Virgins: A Musical Threesome, The Silver Donkey, and an Amy Winehouse musical for Channel 10’s Mr & Mrs Murder. The pair also collaborated on a musical adaptation of My Brilliant Career, the cast recording of which can be found on Spotify and iTunes. He has created numerous award-winning cabarets, including the Christie Whelan-Browne triumph Britney Spears: The Cabaret.
He has also created verbatim pieces Gaybies (Midsumma, Darlinghurst Theatre Company) and Well, That Happened for Melbourne Theatre Company. He is Worldwide Associate Director of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert – The Musical and is a graduate of WAAPA.
AWARDS
| 2021 | Sydney Theatre Award | Best Direction of a Musical | Fun Home |
| 2018 | Helpmann Award Nomination | Best Direction of a Musical | Assassins |
| 2016 | Sydney Theatre Award Nomination | Best Direction of a Musical | Little Shop of Horrors |
| 2016 | Helpmann Award | Best Direction of a Musical | Sweet Charity |
| 2016 | Adelaide Fringe Festival Awards | Best Cabaret | In Vogue/Sweet Dreams |
| 2016 | Green Room Award | Best Original Score | Prodigal |
| 2016 | Green Room Award | Music Theatre – New Australian Musical | Once We Lived Here |
| 2016 | Sydney Theatre Award Nomination | Best Cabaret | I’m Every Woman |
| 2016 | Sunday Telegraph | Best Cabaret (writer/director) | I’m Every Woman |
| 2016 | Helpmann Award Nomination | Best Director of a Musical | Anything Goes |
| 2016 | Helpmann Award Nomination | Best Director of a Musical | The Last Five Years |
| 2016 | Sydney Theatre Award Nomination | Best Direction – Independent Production | Little Shop of Horrors |
| 2016 | Green Room Award Nomination | Best Director of a Musical | The Last Five Years |
| 2016 | Green Room Award Nomination | Best Director of a Musical | Virgins |
| 2016 | Green Room Award Nomination | Best New Work | Virgins |
| 2016 | Green Room Award Nomination | Direction | The Producers |
| 2016 | Green Room Award Nomination | Best Director of a Musical | Prodigal |
| 2016 | Green Room Award Nomination | Best Cabaret | Britney Spears: The Cabaret |
| 2016 | Sydney Theatre Award Nomination | Best Cabaret | Newley Discovered |
| 2016 | AWGIE Award Nomination | Best Musical | Jumpin’ the Q |
| 2016 | Green Room Award Nomination | Music Theatre – Direction | Prodigal |
| 2016 | Green Room Award Nomination | Director | Britney Spears: The Cabaret |
| 2016 | Sydney Theatre Award Nomination | Newly Discovered | I’m Every Woman |
| 2016 | Sydney Critics’ Award Nomination | Best Cabaret | Britney Spears: The Cabaret |
Reviews
"This is one of the most exciting musical theatre productions I’ve seen in a long time: a show given fresh life and raw, gritty currency by a superb creative team and cast." - Sweet Charity
Scene and Heard
"Under Dean Bryant's direction, Sweet Charity becomes something real; something palpable"
The Australian
"But under the green thumbs of director Dean Bryant ... responsible for a red hot Sweet Charity two years ago – Little Shop of Horrors looks more like a department store. Everywhere you look, there's something you want to take home."
Sydney Morning Herald
" ... they’ve done it again. … a production that consistently rocks, surprises and thrills. This is the Little Shop of Horrors for today: much like Audrey II, it’s overwhelmingly, dazzlingly and terrifyingly alive."
Daily Review
"It's a production that could happily grace the stage of any city in the world, and is likely to be the most enjoyable and entertaining night at the theatre you'll have this year." - I'll Eat You Last
The Age
“Bryant directs with a humanity-first approach, illuminating Law’s richly drawn characters and letting them shine" - Torch the Place
The Guardian
"Dean Bryant's brilliantly crafted production... The wonderful vision that captivated audiences retains its energy and connection in the larger Playhouse space."
Assassins
Broadway World
"Bryant’s production... handles extraordinarily difficult material with ease... absolutely breathtaking."
Daily Review
"Bryant’s Assassins as “a stunningly inventive production in which every single element comes together brilliantly” and it’s even slicker at its new venue, while still retaining the gritty edge that made it work at the Hayes."
Limelight
"Director Dean Bryant handles the play’s precipitous sliding into surreality with a kind of gleeful candour." ★★★★
Time Out
"...five gold stars, Dean Bryant" - Anything Goes
Stage Whispers