Morris Gilbert

Prolific and versatile are two descriptors that perfectly capture the five-decade trajectory of someone who today is by right the dean of this activity in our country: Morris Gilbert.

Prolific, first, because for 50 years, since he began his activities with Los hijos de Kennedy, there hasn’t been a week without a production or several simultaneously with his distinctive hallmark: quality.

His productions total nearly 150 in Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Israel, and soon the United Kingdom; and they have accumulated more than 55,000 performances.

And versatile because these productions encompass all genres, formats, nationalities, themes, and styles, allowing the audience to applaud both grand musicals and intimate monologues, passionate melodramas, frenzied Mexican or foreign comedies, award-winning worldwide, or unpublished works that have become enormous successes both artistically and commercially.

In 1997, he established a partnership with OCESA, with which he mounted around fifty chamber works; and as a resident theatrical producer at OCESA, he has been a key figure for seasons in Mexico of musicals such as The Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Fiddler on the Roof, Bésame Mucho, The Producers, Beauty and the Beast, Mamma Mia!, Peter Pan, Mary Poppins, Wicked, The Lion King, Sweet Charity, Les Misérables (two different productions), Jesus Christ Superstar, Hoy no me puedo levantar, The Producers, The Full Monty, Man of La Mancha, Chicago (two different productions), Aladdin, and Anastasia.

In addition to those musicals, he produced Hello Dolly! and Man of La Mancha together with Tina Galindo and Claudio Carrera.

With a policy of supporting and prioritizing talent above any other consideration, many stars have emerged from his ranks who are now succeeding on stages in Mexico and around the world; not only among actors but in many areas of production as well. Mr. Gilbert is deeply proud of this policy.

Alongside his work with OCESA, he operates his own company, MejorTeatro, with which he currently programs activities at the Nuevo Teatro Libanés, where Dos locas de Remate, Atrapados, and the timeless Defending the Caveman and The Vagina Monologues are currently successful. At the Centro Cultural San Ángel, TOC TOC has a historic run of over 14 years.

Morris begins the celebrations of his half-century as an associate producer alongside his colleague Julieta González with the new staging of The Lion King, which OCESA will bring back to our country in 2025; and with CLUE, The Game of Suspicion, a production entirely designed in our country with the central aim of entertaining... after all, the word "play" is used in English for both theatre and games.

Yes, Morris Gilbert celebrates today his 50 years of playing, grandly and seriously, in theatre, at MejorTeatro!