Abe Jacob to Be Inducted into Theater Hall of Fame

The pioneering Broadway sound designer Abe Jacob is to join a lineup of Broadway royalty when he will be inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in November.

This year's inductees include playwrights Lynn Nottage and Suzan-Lori Parks; actors Christine Ebersole, Bill Irwin, and Mandy Patinkin; and director Frank Galati. The playwright Ntozake Shange will be also posthumously inducted.

Beginning with a gig as sound consultant to the original Broadway production of Hair (1967), for decades Jacob was associated with a string of blockbuster hits. They include Pippin (1973); the famous Public Theater revival of Much Ado About Nothing, starring Sam Waterston and Kathleen Widdoes; Chicago (1975); A Chorus Line (1975); Beatlemania (1977): the Liza Minnelli vehicle The Act (1977); Bob Fosse's Dancin' (1978); Evita (1979); and Woman of the Year (starring Lauren Bacall, 1981). His Off-Broadway credits include National Lampoon's Lemmings (1973), which helped launch the careers of John Belushi, Chevy Chase, and Christopher Guest.

Away from the theatre, Jacob designed the sound system for the legendary Monterey Pop Festival, starring Simon and Garfunkel, Cass Elliot, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney, in addition to mixing for The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Three Dog Night, Carole King, James Taylor, The Mamas and the Papas, Bette Midler, Shirley Bassey, and Peter, Paul, and Mary. He was also president of Electric Lady Studios, the famous recording venue in Greenwich Village and served as audio consultant at Lincoln Center's New York State Theater, later renamed the David H. Koch Theater.

Founded in 1970, the Theater Hall of Fame is in the Gershwin Theatre. Inductees must have at least 25 years' experience in theatre and have five major productions; other criteria include a leadership position Off Broadway or pioneer status in the regional theatre. Inductees are voted upon by former inductees and members of the American Theater Critics Association.