Cuban Theater Digital Archive

Randy Barceló

Director, costume designer, set designer, makeup designer, author / playwright

Randy Barceló was born in Havana, Cuba in 1946. At the age of fourteen he left his native country of Cuba through Operation Peter Pan and came to the United States. In 1965 he moved to New York City in search of new horizons. He began his artistic career as a dancer and was soon enthralled by the world of costume and set design. To further enhance his knowledge towards the subject he joined Lester Polakov´s School of Design. Barceló soon became the costume designer for several prestigious companies in the world of entertainment: theater, dance and opera. His Broadway career began at age twenty-four while working on the costume designs for the musical Lenny, directed by Tom O´Horgan, and continued to prosper from then on. In 1972 he became the first Latino to be nomimated for a Tony Award for his designs in Jesus Christ Superstar. His art is not limited to costume design; he also was a set designer, painter and choreographer among others. Barceló was a multifaceted artist. His love for art was instilled in him at an early age by his parents, both of whom were architects. His life was abruptly cut short at the age of forty-eight by cancer. Before his untimely death in December of 1994, he was able to complete the costume designs for ¡Si Señor! ¡Es mi Son! presented by Ballet Hispánico in New York City. Randy Barceló’s collection of work has been exhibited in several prestigious museums in the United States, including the Cooper Hewitt Museum and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The greater part of his costume designs are currently in the Cuban Heritage Collection at the University of Miami.

Notes: +

    The Randy Barceló Foundation is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to promote the various art fields, specifically the plastic arts. The Foundation was created in 1996 to commemorate the memory of Randy Barceló and to encourage young talent. The foundation rewards this new talent with awards and scholarships. (Fundación)

Written texts: +

Productions: +

Bibliography: +

Secondary: +


Author: Ana María González (2008-02-14, 2017)





blog comments powered by Disqus