#479: Jeffrey Seller // Broadway Producer

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Award-winning and prolific Broadway producer Jeffrey Seller has finally made it to the podcast! Jeffery has produced <em>Rent</em>, <em>Avenue Q,</em> <em>In the Heights</em>, <em>Hamilton</em>, <em>The Cher Show,</em> and revivals of <em>West Side Story</em> and <em>Sweeney Todd</em>, just to name a few. Altogether his shows (currently) have 22 Tony Awards, and he's the only Broadway producer to have put up two Pulitzer Prize winning musicals: <em>Hamilton</em> and <em>Rent</em>.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Jeffrey is the author of <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Theater-Kid/Jeffrey-Seller/9781668064184"> Theater Kid: A Broadway Memoir</a>, which the New York Times describes as "a combination coming-of-age and rags-to-riches story that is unsparing in its description of his colorfully challenged-and-challenging father, unabashed in its description of his sexual awakening, and packed with behind-the-scenes detail, especially about the birth of Rent." Not to mention the audiobook is voiced by a stellar cast of Broadway voices, and talking about them gives Jeffrey an idea *in real time *during our recording. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In our hour-long conversation, Jeffrey expands on his experience producing <em>Rent</em> with Jonathan Larson, including an emotional retelling of what it was like working on the show after Jonathan's tragic and unexpected death. He also discusses working with Lin-Manuel Miranda on <em>In the Heights</em> and <em>Hamilton</em>, expounds on <em>Hamilton</em>'s social and political responsibilities (rejecting the current administration's hostile takeover of The Kennedy Center, for example), discusses ways around Broadway's current ticket prices, and candidly opens up about Andrew Lippa's <em>The Wild Party</em> and <em>The Last Ship</em> with Sting in never-before-heard specificity. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Plus, Baz Luhrmann's <em>La Boheme</em>, the power of writing a letter to get what you want, and how when it  comes down to it... it's all about making shows with your friends. </span></p> <p><strong><a href="https://www.instagram.com/jseller/">Jeffrey Seller on Instagram</a></strong></p> <p><strong><a href="http://jeffreyseller.com">JeffreySeller.com</a></strong></p> <p>///</p> <p><a href="https://gillianwithag.com/"><strong>Gillian's Website</strong></a></p> <p><strong><a href="https://twitter.com/TheHamilcast" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Hamilcast on Twitter</a></strong></p> <p><strong><a href="https://www.instagram.com/thehamilcast/?hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Hamilcast on Instagram</a></strong></p> <p><strong><a href="https://www.patreon.com/TheHamilcast" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Join the Patreon Peeps</a></strong></p>