Margo Lion

Margo Allison Lion (October 13, 1944 – January 24, 2020) was a producer for plays and musicals both on Broadway and off-Broadway, known for her role in producing the stage and screen hit Hairspray. Combined, the works Lion produced won 20 Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize.

Early life and theater career Lion was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the daughter of Gloria (Amburgh) and Albert Lion, whose company Lion Brothers produced embroidered emblems. She was of German Jewish heritage. She graduated from George Washington University. She worked for Senators Daniel B. Brewster of Maryland and Robert F. Kennedy before becoming a teacher at the Town School in New York. The musical was nominated for 11 Tony Awards and won three. It ran for 569 performances. and Perestroika followed by the 1995 production of Seven Guitars. Angels in America: Millennium Approaches won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

In 1997, Lion produced Triumph of Love, based on a 1732 comedy by Pierre de Marivaux. It closed after 85 performances. She recruited Marc Shaiman, a Hollywood film composer, for the musical's score. Four years later, in August 2002, the musical Hairspray premiered on Broadway and became an immediate commercial and critical hit.

Following Hairspray, Lion produced the Broadway productions Caroline, or Change (2004), The Wedding Singer (2006), and Radio Golf (2007) as well as Harlem Song at The Apollo. Lion also garnered a Tony Award for Elaine Stritch at Liberty. as well as musical adaptations of Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding, and Like Water for Chocolate.

Lion was an adjunct professor at the Tisch School of the Arts of New York University. She also served as Co-Chair to President Barack Obama's Arts Policy Committee during the 2008 Presidential Election and was appointed in 2009 as Co-Chair of President's Committee on the Humanities and the Arts.

She died on January 24, 2020, in Manhattan after a brain aneurysm. She was 75 years old.