Andy Propst (March 7, 1965 – September 6, 2021) was an arts journalist, theater critic, and writer living in Peachtree City, Georgia.
Early work as a critic
In 1998, he founded what would become one of the Internet's first major theater portals for theater news, reviews and production listings online, AmericanTheaterWeb.com. It was a site that predated[1] and inspired such sites as TheaterMania[2] and BroadwayWorld.com.[3]
The uniqueness of the site and its pioneering nature for the theater community attracted remarkable press coverage, including a feature in The New York Times.[4]
Expanding outlets
Propst continued to run the site through 2009, even as he began to write reviews and features for print publications, including Backstage, The Village Voice,[5]TimeOut NY, and The Sondheim Review.[6] He and AmericanTheaterWeb also became affiliated with XM Satellite Radio's XM 28 On Broadway Channel, and for four years, he provided daily "Broadway and Beyond" reports and served as a deejay for the channel with programs airing Monday-Friday.[7]
In 2009, he joined the staff of TheaterMania, writing news and reviews, and providing ongoing coverage of theater music available digitally and on disc.[8] He also served as Senior Editor when the site launched its iPad magazine app in 2011,[9] a position he retained until 2013. He subsequently contributed to Huffington Post,[10] and served as a writer for Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight Records.[11]
Other affiliations
In addition to his writing, Propst served for three consecutive years as a nominator for the Drama Desk Awards (2005-2007[12][13][14]) and was secretary and judge for three years for The Village Voice's Obie Awards (2009-2011[15][16][17] ).
Propst is an alum of the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center's National Critics Institute[18] and has returned to the program to serve as a mentor to young critics since 2008.[19] He has also been a reader[20] for and mentor at the organization's National Music Theater Conference.
Propst returned to reviewing for AmericanTheaterWeb.com and for the 2015-2016 season, once again served as a member of the Drama Desk Awards' Nomimnating Committee.[21]
Work as a writer
His first book, You Fascinate Me So: The Life and Times of Cy Coleman, was published in April 2015 by Applause Books.[22]Oxford University Press will release his second book, They Made Us Happy: The Musicals and Movies of Betty Comden and Adolph Green, in March 2019.[23] He is currently at work on The 100 Most Important People in Musical Theater History for Rowman & Littlefield.
In early 2013, Propst provided the liner notes for two-time Tony Award winner Patti LuPone's CD Far Away Places.[24] Since then he has written notes for three CDs from Harbinger Records, including Barnum Backer's Audition[25] and A Jazzman's Broadway.
