Fraver by Design: Five Decades of Theatre Poster Art from Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Beyond

The Lion King, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George and Deathtrap are just a few of the memorable posters of Frank “Fraver” Verlizzo. They only scratch the surface of the more than 250 window cards Fraver has created over the five decades he has enjoyed as a poster designer and ad man. Fraver by Design: 5 Decades of Theatre Poster Art from Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Beyond is a monograph collection of his career.

Behind each poster in the book is a backstage story of a play or musical, but also of the behind-the-scenes personalities that have populated the Broadway stage since the mid-Seventies.

Joined by BroadwayWorld’s Richard Ridge, as moderator, they will delve into the history of a number of Fraver’s iconic works. Tales that will include such notables as composer Stephen Sondheim, director Harold Prince, legendary stars Angela Lansbury, Bernadette Peters, Mia Farrow, and Frank Langella to name just a few.

Come enjoy an evening of reminiscences and gossip as Broadway insiders Richard Ridge and Frank “Fraver” Verlizzo share their experiences with the audience at the Fairfield Library.  Richard Ridge from BroadwayWorld will be interviewing Frank "Fraver" Verlizzo.
 

ABOUT FRANK FRAVER VERLIZZO

Frank “Fraver” Verlizzo became synonymous with powerful and evocative storytelling through his poster designs. He designed poster art for the original Broadway productions of Disney’s The Lion King; Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, and Sunday in the Park with George; Ira Levin’s Deathtrap; Stephen King’s Misery; and the 50th Anniversary Celebration of Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap in London’s West End.

His ability to capture the essence of a Broadway show in a single image earned him the prestigious Drama Desk Special Award in 1987. Playbill dubbed him, “the theatre poster legend.” A collection of his work: Fraver by Design—Five Decades of Theatre Poster Art from Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Beyond, was published in 2017.

Frank’s been a frequent guest speaker at such venues as The NY Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, The Drama Bookstop; BroadwayCon, Pratt Institute, and Yale University Inspired by his mother, an avid life-long reader, Frank has been a devoted fan of books —specifically murder mysteries. In 2020 he began writing his own mystery series using his career in theatrical advertising as inspiration. The products of that labor are the books of the Retro Broadway Murder Mystery Series.

ABOUT RICHARD RIDGE

Richard Ridge fell in love with the theatre at the age of five when he went through his parents record cabinet and stumbled upon their original cast album collection and the rest is history.He has toured the world as a performer and for the past twenty years he has been the host of the television program Broadway Beat and now, BACKSTAGE WITH RICHARD RIDGE.