Joe Machota, head of CAA’s theater department, will be recognized with the time-honored Broadway tradition of getting a caricature on the wall at Sardi’s.
Plenty of stars like Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Hugh Jackman have portraits from the famed Broadway watering hole, but Machota’s tribute marks one of the rare times that Sardi’s is celebrating a theatrical agent.
A nearly 20-year veteran of CAA, Machota represents big name talent like Scarlett Johansson, Glen Powell, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain and Lupita Nyong’o. Recently he’s been responsible for stage appearances of Jim Parsons and Zoey Deutch in “Our Town,” Sarah Paulson in “Appropriate,” Eddie Redmayne in “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club,” Sutton Foster in “Once Upon a Mattress,” Nicole Scherzinger in “Sunset Boulevard” and George Clooney in “Good Night, and Good Luck.” And he isn’t just a suit, but a former actor who appeared in the original cast of the Rialto’s “Mamma Mia!”
Richard Baratz, who has drawn the caricature since 1976, creates approximately 20 new portraits a year. They are unveiled and added to the famous wall during a champagne reception attended by friends of the honoree. Machota’s fete will take place on Oct. 17 at 5 p.m.
Machota has been with CAA since 2005 and was tapped as the head of the theater department in 2013, replacing longtime agent George Lane. Machota serves as a CAA board member and helped found the agent’s LGBTQ+ Alliance. He was an “Out 100” honoree in 2022 and sits on the Board of Trustees of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids.
