07/20/2018
In a mufti-faceted career in the theater spanning five decades, Sidney Eden, with his internationally-acclaimed production starring Ben Gazzara, revived and restored Eugene ONeill's Hughie to the canon of great American plays, garnering raves from Hollywood to London before landing on Broadway to great praise (Tony nomination). Eden established major theaters in San Francisco (Burlingame Music Theater with Herb Rogers and the Hyatt Corp.) and Chicago (First Chicago Center), the first first-run theater in the Loop in over 40 years, he has produced and presented national tours of A Raisin In The Sun, starring Claudia McNeil, Raymond St. Jacques, Gloria Foster, Gail Fisher and Al Freeman, Jr., When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?, starring playwright Mark Medoff, as well as Hughie starring Gazzara, in major cities throughout the U.S. and Canada. Eden's career began with the legendary Kicks & Co., written by Oscar Brown, Jr., directed by Lorraine Hansberry and Vinnette Carroll, with a remarkable cast headed by Burgess Meredith with Nichelle Nichols, Robert Guillame, Alvin Ailey, Mercedes Ellington and AI Freeman, Jr. among others, for which Eden was Co-Producer, Production Supervisor and chief money-raiser.
As a director, throughout decades of summer and winter stock Eden has staged revivals of You Can't Take It With You, starring Edgar Bergen, Guys And Dolls, starring Alan Aida and High Button Shoes, starring Larry Parks and Betty Garrett, among 50 professional productions at theaters such as the Cleveland Playhouse, Chicago's Goodman Theater and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
As an actor he appeared on and off Broadway in Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been?; starring Liza Minelli (Tammy Grimes, Barbara Baxley, Frances Sternhagen, Dina Merrill, Louise Lasser, et, al.) created the role of Leonard Poefty in Julian (Lenny) Barry's Sitcom at the St. Nicholas Theater Co. (Mamet, Macy, & Schacter, Artistic Directors) and played opposite such stars as Martha Raye, Kaye Ballard, Hugh O'Brian, Dom DeLuise, Crag Stevens, Bob Crane among others at major theaters in the U. S. and Canada, is seen in the cult classic film Spook Who Sat By The Door, directed by Ivan Dixon, Neil Simon's Chapter One, directed by Herbert Ross, was featured in Showtime's filmed presentation of Jay Broad's A Conflict Of Interest, starring Barnard Hughes, Ed Binns and Roland Winters, directed by Jose Ferrer, (as well as the Showtime filming of Are You Now, etc.), and has appeared on most soaps and in voice-overs and on-camera for countless commercials for decades.
As a playwright, Eden's George Jean Nathan In R***e was presented at the Goodman Theater Stage 2, his Atlantic City Lost ran Off-Off Broadway in '86, '87 and his Mencken, Nathan And God was presented at the SSD&C Workshop at the Bruno Walter Theater at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
Eden has written on numerous occasions for the Village Voice and was full-time TV critic for Broadway Magazine on TEMPO-NBC-TV national cable network, covering the entire '87, '88 season.
A student of Jose Ferrer, Jose Quintero and John Cassavettes, Eden is much in demand as an acting coach and teacher and his Acting For Non-Actors has been a hit with both serious pros and those who only use the course far therapy.
With a 2,000 song repetoire he has specilized in recent years on cabaret and recordings, singing and playing the best of Cole Porter, Gershwin, Arlen, Berlin and Kern, among o
