John Frost - Gordon Frost Organisation

John is the managing director of the Gordon Frost Organisation.

Born in Adelaide, he began in showbusiness at 16 as a dresser for JC Williamson on their production of  Mame. Since then he has worked his way up the showbiz ladder: wardrobe master, stage manager, company manager and now producer.

In 1983 he teamed up with the late Ashley Gordon to form the Gordon/Frost Organisation. Together they negotiated the lease for Sydney’s Footbridge Theatre, where they successfully produced a range of shows including Jerry’s Girls, Night Mother, The Venetian Twins and Women Behind Bars. The company then moved into large-scale musicals such as Big River, The King and I, South Pacific, Hello, Dolly!, The Secret Garden, Smokey Joe’s Café, Cabaret and Crazy for You. He co-produced Sir Peter Hall’s acclaimed productions of Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband starring Googie Withers and
John McCallum, and Lady Windermere’s Fan starring Vanessa Redgrave and Joely Richardson at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket.

In 1998 John Frost joined forces with Sports and Entertainment Limited (SEL) to produce Grease - The Arena Spectacular! The production broke all box office records for an arena event in Australia. His production of The King and I on Broadway won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical as well as the Drama Desk and New York Outer Critics’ Circle Awards.

John has also been the recipient of two Mo Awards and a Sydney Critics’ Circle Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999 from GLUGS. In 1999 John Frost and SEL presented The Main Event, which toured to critical acclaim and huge box office success. This was followed by a production of the Tony Award-winning play Art starring Tom Conti. A hugely successful production of The Sound of Music starring  Lisa McCune was followed by Annie with Anthony Warlow, Man of La Mancha, The Wizard of Oz and Footloose.

In 2004-05 John co-produced around Australia The Producers. This highly acclaimed production garnered five Helpmann Awards including Best Musical for 2005. In the same year John also co-presented an arena production of Grease starring John Farnham. John was represented on Broadway with the smash hit musical Hairspray for which he won his second Tony Award.

Since 2006, he has produced the national tours of the NT’s celebrated production of An Inspector Calls, the Broadway theatre icon Mandy Patinkin and Hollywood and cabaret legend Debbie Reynolds. He is in partnership with The Really Useful Company Asia Pacific and is presenting The Phantom of the Opera in Australia starring Anthony Warlow.

In 2008 John Frost, with USA producers Marc Platt, Universal Pictures, the Araca Group, Jon B Platt and  David Stone, produced the Australian premiere production of the musical phenomenon Wicked.

John is currently producing the Australian tour of the hit musical Chicago. In the 1999 Australia Day Honours, John was awarded an OAM for his contribution to the arts.