Adam Epstein, a Tony Award-winning producer who helped carry “Hairspray” to Broadway, has died.
Epstein died Tuesday morning at Adventist Well being hospital in Glendale after months of battling a mind tumor, his youthful brother, Brett Epstein, confirmed to The Instances. He was 49.
“He’s any individual who got here by way of this world and lived inside 49 years what any individual might have lived in 100,” Brett Epstein informed The Instances in a telephone name. “He simply had that spirit of being right here earlier than and realizing quite a bit and an incontestable, delusional positivity about every thing. I simply suppose that was his present.”
Brett Epstein mourned the lack of his brother on Fb, writing in a Thursday submit, “I can not think about a world the place I’m residing in it with out him.”
Epstein, a Miami native and alum of New York College and Brown College, started engaged on Broadway within the late ’90s. He produced quite a few exhibits all through his profession however was greatest identified for his work on the Tony-winning adaptation of John Waters’ 1988 movie, “Hairspray.” The musical opened in Seattle in 2002 and made its Broadway debut later that yr. “Hairspray” had a complete of 13 nominations for the 2003 Tony Awards and earned eight prizes — together with the coveted musical prize.
“Hairspray” ran for greater than 2,600 performances by way of 2009, in keeping with the Hollywood Reporter, and in addition impressed a 2007 movie adaptation.
Epstein’s Broadway profession additionally included extra musical variations of movies, together with “Cry-Child” (based mostly on Waters’ 1990 title) and “The Marriage ceremony Singer” (based mostly on the Adam Sandler comedy). He additionally produced “The Life,” “A View From the Bridge” and “Amadeus.” His productions earned 12 Tony Awards and 46 nominations, in keeping with Playbill.
After Broadway, Epstein shifted his consideration to political commentary. He created a YouTube channel, “The Dispatch With Adam Epstein,” in July 2020. A yr later, he additionally launched his “Soiled Reasonable” podcast, which was billed as looking for to advertise “rigorous evaluation and vigorous debate with people on each side of the aisle and past.”
The most recent “Soiled Reasonable” episode went reside Aug. 8 and featured former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander. In Might, Epstein appeared on the podcast of Michael Steele, former Republican Nationwide Committee chairman and MSNBC political analyst.
Brett Epstein informed The Instances his brother “was nearly to interrupt by way of in an entire new profession.”
Adam Keith Epstein was born Sept. 7, 1974. Along with his brother, Epstein is survived by his dad and mom, a sister, a sister-in-law and three nieces and a nephew. A funeral service can be held later this week in his native Florida.
His household requests donations to the UCLA Mind Most cancers Analysis Heart.
