About this episode
Award-winning and prolific Broadway producer Jeffrey Seller has finally made it to the podcast! Jeffery has produced Rent , Avenue Q, In the Heights , Hamilton , The Cher Show, and revivals of West Side Story and Sweeney Todd , 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: Hamilton and Rent . Jeffrey is the author of Theater Kid: A Broadway Memoir , 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. In our hour-long conversation, Jeffrey expands on his experience producing Rent 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 In the Heights and Hamilton , expounds on Hamilton '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 The Wild Party and The Last Ship with Sting in never-before-heard specificity. Plus, Baz Luhrmann's La Boheme , 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. Jeffrey Seller on Instagram JeffreySeller.com /// Gillian's Website The Hamilcast on Twitter The Hamilcast on Instagram Join the Patreon Peeps