Fox Stalks Broadway Henhouse, Naming Isaac Robert Hurwitz Senior VP For Theater

UPDATE, 12:10 P.M.: Adds quote from Kevin McCollum, below.

After a two-year courtship, Fox Stage Productions has officially hired New York Music Theatre Festival founder Isaac Robert Hurwitz as SVP, reporting to Bob Cohen, who oversees the division of 20th Century Fox. Hurwitz will pursue development and production of plays and musicals based on the Fox film catalog. He’s been consulting with the division since it was established in June 2013.

“Isaac is a uniquely talented and respected member of the Broadway community,” said Cohen. “We couldn’t be more grateful for his expertise in establishing and growing our Broadway business.” Fox Stage is actively developing several shows, including musical adaptations of Mrs. Doubtfire, The Devil Wears Prada and Diary Of A Wimpy Kid.

Earlier, Fox lined up Broadway producer Kevin McCollum (Rent, Something Rotten!, Hand To God), filmmaker John Davis (I, Robot; Dr. Doolittle) and former Paramount producer Tom McGrath (stage productions of White Christmas, Footloose) to develop shows. The move followed the march back to Broadway of film studios in the wake of Disney’s success with The Lion King and Aladdin, Universal with Wicked and such upcoming shows as Misery (co-produced by Warner Bros. and starring Bruce Willis in his Broadway debut).

“We’ve had a great relationship and look forward to developing these shows,” McCollum told Deadline in a brief interview Tuesday afternoon.

Hurwitz co-founded the New York Musical Theatre Festival  in 2004 and was executive director and producer for 10 years, offering debuts of some 350 new musicals. He also has had a long affiliation with New York City Center’s acclaimed Encores! series, where he was music associate for three seasons, and co-produced the commercial productions of Anthony Rapp’s Without You at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London and at the Panasonic Theatre in Toronto.