Podcast appearances and mentions of marc routh

Tom Viertel has produced a wide range of plays and musicals on and off Broadway, in London and on tour for over 30 years, including Hairspray, The Producers, A Little Night Music, The Encounter, Young Frankenstein, Little Shop of Horrors, The Weir, The Sound of Music, Smokey Joe’s Café, Driving Miss Daisy, and many others. He is a member of the Board of Governors, Government Relations, and Tony Management Committees of The Broadway League and a Trustee of the Equity-League Pension Funds. With his partners, Richard Frankel, Steve Baruch, and Marc Routh, he owns Feinstein’s/54 Below, Broadway’s Supper Club. He is the Executive Director of the Commercial Theater Institute, which provides a comprehensive curriculum in producing for Broadway.  We talked about how producing has changed over the years as well as: What’s wrong with Off Broadway today? And can it be fixed? How to learn from the shows that don’t work. The most important skill a Broadway Producer must have. The advantages of taking small investors and how he built his database. What real estate and Broadway producing have in common. This week's episode is brought to you by Broadway Roulette, the fun and easy way to see a Broadway show. You pick the day and eliminate up to 6 shows you've already seen or don't want to see. Then they send you to a surprise show that fits your criteria. Check it out at: www.broadwayroulette.com. Keep up with me: @KenDavenportBway www.theproducersperspective.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Richard Frankel is a six-time Tony-winning Theatrical Producer and General Manager who has been producing and managing on and off-Broadway since 1970. He has been working in partnership with Tom Viertel, Steve Baruch, and Marc Routh since 1985. In 1985, he formed Richard Frankel Productions and produced Penn & Teller's first off-Broadway show. In 1991, Marc Routh was added as a producing partner and they together produced a string of successful Off-Broadway shows including Driving Miss Daisy, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune and Love Letters. In 1994 Richard Frankel Productions and Marc Routh, along with others, produced Stomp. In 2000, Frankel and his partners were selected by Mel Brooks to serve on the team of producers for The Producers. The musical would go on to break the all-time Tony Awards records by earning twelve awards in 2001, winning the Tony Award in all categories for which it was eligible. In 2012, he and his partners announced plans to build and produce a new cabaret space 54 Below which opened on June 2, 2012. Richard came up through the ranks of Broadway, before winning his six Tonys for shows like The Producers, Hairspray, and Company. And he sat down with me to talk to me about just how he built his company, as well as . . . How he and his partners raised money for their first show in an afternoon. Why he prefers to do things (GM, booking, etc.) in house. How he got Mel Brooks to give him the chance to produce The Producers (and it was a lot easier than you think). Why he prefers small investors to big investors. The origins of the premium ticket and why it’s important to have them. Keep up with me: @KenDavenportBway www.theproducersperspective.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hear from the founding partners of 54 Below. Multiple Tony-winning producers (Hairspray, The Producers) Richard Frankel, Tom Viertel, Marc Routh and Steve Baruch.

Prolific producer Tom Viertel, who with his partners Richard Frankel, Steve Baruch and Marc Routh have been responsible for such shows as "The Producers", "Hairspray", and the John Doyle-directed "Company" and "Sweeney Todd", talks abut producing on Broadway and the pending closing of the long-running "Hairspray". He relates his own theatrical heritage -- his grandfather was a contractor who built the Mark Hellinger Theatre, among many others, and his father was a playwright -- and how he began his own theatrical career as a hobby while working at the family real estate concern. Among the shows he discusses are his first theatrical foray with two magicians he first saw in a 50 seat theatre in Los Angeles -- Penn and Teller; the extraordinary auditions of two now well-known actresses, Donna Murphy and Laura Benanti, for "Song of Singapore" and "The Sound of Music" respectively; the counterintuitive decisions that led him to produce Theatre de Complicite's "Mnemonic" as a commercial production and to revive "Gypsy" with Patti LuPone on Broadway only five years after the prior production; the travails of producing "Smokey Joe's Cafe"; and why in his spare time he's so committed to his volunteer role as chairman of Connecticut's Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. Original air date - October 31, 2008.

Prolific producer Thomas Viertel (winner of a Tony Award for the 2001 revival of The Producers, among others), who with his partners Richard Frankel, Steve Baruch and Marc Routh have been responsible for such shows as The Producers, Hairspray, and the John Doyle-directed Company and Sweeney Todd, talks abut producing on Broadway and the pending closing of the long-running Hairspray. He relates his own theatrical heritage -- his grandfather was a contractor who built the Mark Hellinger Theatre, among many others, and his father was a playwright -- and how he began his own theatrical career as a hobby while working at the family real estate concern. Among the shows he discusses are his first theatrical foray with two magicians he first saw in a 50 seat theatre in Los Angeles -- Penn and Teller; the extraordinary auditions of two now well-known actresses, Donna Murphy and Laura Benanti, for Song of Singapore and The Sound of Music respectively; the counterintuitive decisions that led him to produce Theatre de Complicite's Mnemonic as a commercial production and to revive Gypsy with Patti LuPone on Broadway only five years after the prior production; the travails of producing Smokey Joe's Cafe; and why in his spare time he's so committed to his volunteer role as chairman of Connecticut's Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.

Prolific producer Tom Viertel, who with his partners Richard Frankel, Steve Baruch and Marc Routh have been responsible for such shows as "The Producers", "Hairspray", and the John Doyle-directed "Company" and "Sweeney Todd", talks abut producing on Broadway and the pending closing of the long-running "Hairspray". He relates his own theatrical heritage -- his grandfather was a contractor who built the Mark Hellinger Theatre, among many others, and his father was a playwright -- and how he began his own theatrical career as a hobby while working at the family real estate concern. Among the shows he discusses are his first theatrical foray with two magicians he first saw in a 50 seat theatre in Los Angeles -- Penn and Teller; the extraordinary auditions of two now well-known actresses, Donna Murphy and Laura Benanti, for "Song of Singapore" and "The Sound of Music" respectively; the counterintuitive decisions that led him to produce Theatre de Complicite's "Mnemonic" as a commercial production and to revive "Gypsy" with Patti LuPone on Broadway only five years after the prior production; the travails of producing "Smokey Joe's Cafe"; and why in his spare time he's so committed to his volunteer role as chairman of Connecticut's Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. Original air date - October 31, 2008.

The challenge of producing commercially Off-Broadway is the topic for producers and managers Ken Davenport, Nancy Nagel Gibbs, Marc Routh and Alan Schuster as they consider whether Off-Broadway is, as some of the press would have it, in crisis; reflect on the nature of the work that succeeds in that arena; and place their work in those venues in the context of both the not-for-profit theatre and the world of Broadway.

The challenge of producing commercially Off-Broadway is the topic for producers and managers Ken Davenport, Nancy Nagel Gibbs, Marc Routh (Tony Award for Best Musical for Company and The Norman Conquests) and Alan Schuster as they consider whether Off-Broadway is, as some of the press would have it, in crisis; reflect on the nature of the work that succeeds in that arena; and place their work in those venues in the context of both the not-for-profit theatre and the world of Broadway.