He has worked his way up the showbiz ladder: Wardrobe Master, Stage Manager, Company Manager and now Producer. In 1983 he joined forces 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 Joes 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 London.
In 1998 John Frost joined forces with James Erskine of 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 coveted Tony Award for ‘Best Revival of a Musical’ as well as the Drama Desk and New York Outer Critics Circle Award. The King and I is touring the UK after playing two years at the London Palladium. 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.
The Sound of Music starring Lisa McCune was followed by Annie with Anthony Warlow, Man of La Mancha, The Wizard of Oz and Footloose.
2004/5 saw John co-produce around Australia, the much awaited The Producers - The New Mel Brooks Musical. 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 is currently represented on Broadway with the Smash Hit musical Hairspray for which he won his second Tony Award.
Since January 2006 John has produced the national tours of the National Theatre of Great Britain’s celebrated production of An Inspector Calls, the Broadway musical theatre icon Mandy Patinkin and Hollywood and cabaret legend Debbie Reynolds.
John Frost is currently one of the producers of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert which is playing at the Lyric Theatre in Sydney.
In 2007 – The Gordon/Frost Organisation in partnership with the Really Useful Company Asia Pacific Pty Ltd will present the award-winning production of The Phantom of the Opera starring Anthony Warlow which opens on July 28th at the Princess Theatre in Melbourne before embarking on a national tour.
In the 1999 Australia Day Honours, John was awarded an OAM for his contribution to the Arts.