Stage to Page5 Untold Stories of Broadway ProducersHow Thoroughly Modern Millie ended up with a working elevator, a producer 鈥渙riginated鈥� a role in Dear Evan Hansen, an idea for improv became a decade-long hit, and more.
By
Joe Gambino
January 28, 2017
Steven Levenson, Justin Paul, Stacey Mindich, and Benj Pasek
Joseph Marzullo/WENN
At BroadwayCon 2017, Broadway producers John Breglio (A Chorus Line), Ken Davenport (Kinky Boots), Alia Jones-Harvey (Eclipsed), Stewart F. Lane (BroadwayHD), and Stacey Mindich (Dear Evan Hansen) gathered for a panel on the basics of Broadway producing. With such established careers, these theatremakers told some fascinating stories about producing hits throughout the years.
1. Elephants are not meant for the stage, but chickens can be Broadway stars. This isn鈥檛 so much a secret, but it felt important to mention as most producers鈥� faces sunk when they heard moderator Mitch Weiss鈥� anecdote about a director who wanted an elephant in their show (and wanted to make sure that the elephant would be available to start rehearsing by the next day). This, however, was not the only story about a director requesting live animals onstage. Ken Davenport, who is producing the Broadway-bound revival of Once On This Island, mentioned that director Michael Arden is interested in having both a chicken and a goat join his cast. Davenport said that he is excited at the prospect of adding a new element to the show, which was one of the first he saw on Broadway after moving to New York. 鈥淢y job as a producer is to help facilitate the artist鈥檚 vision and to do things that haven鈥檛 been done before,鈥� he said. The point being: Sometimes you鈥檒l get a crazy request that becomes an exciting and manageable challenge (as long as you aren鈥檛 asking for a 12,000-pound animal, that is).
2.Trust your creativity. Money doesn鈥檛 solve everything. When producer Stewart F. Lane was working on Thoroughly Modern Millie, he was asked to purchase a working elevator for the set that would cost $350,000. After agreeing to the request and installing the elevator on the stage, they realized that the show was running over three hours鈥ecause of how long it took for the elevator to go up and down. When the show set out to tour, Lane said, 鈥淲e went back to the lights and the creativity [to see if there was a way to simulate an elevator without purchasing another expensive set piece.鈥� Sometimes a little creativity goes a long way in terms of saving on production costs.
3. Improv skills really come in handy. Sometimes producers find themselves flush with cash and ready to produce the next big Broadway hit. Other times they鈥檒l find themselves in a McDonald鈥檚, hunched over a book on improv, just minutes before the first rehearsal of their next project. Such was the case for Davenport, who 鈥渄idn鈥檛 have a penny鈥� when he got the idea for The Awesome 鈥�80s Prom, which ran Off-Broadway for over a decade. 鈥淭o start producing that show, it cost me [lunch for the cast], a rehearsal studio, and a how-to improv book,鈥� he said. 鈥淎s you walk down the path, you鈥檙e going to need money, but I鈥檓 a firm believer that if you build it, they will come.鈥�
4. Some producers 鈥渙riginate鈥� roles in new shows. In the early readings of Dear Evan Hansen, which took place at the round table in producer Stacey Mindich鈥檚 office, Mindich was often asked to read the role of Heidi Hansen. 鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 let me sing,鈥� she laughed. 鈥淲e actually built both The Bridges of Madison County and Dear Evan Hansen in my office. We didn鈥檛 do anything with actors until we knew we were ready.鈥�
5. Your skills in other areas will absolutely help you in the producing world. 鈥淚 jumped head first into producing,鈥� said Alia Jones-Harvey, who became a producer after working on Wall Street. 鈥淚t was definitely an uphill learning experience, but having some background in raising money [helped a lot].鈥� However, it doesn鈥檛 matter what field you come from. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e coming from a background that you can rely on, then you can find a partner who complements your skill set.鈥� If you鈥檙e interested in producing a show, and the one thing that you鈥檙e certain of is that you love the material it presents, take Jones-Harvey鈥檚 advice: 鈥淓veryone here has taken a different route to becoming a producer. There is no one way, but if you find a show that you truly believe it should be onstage, then you, too, can become a producer.鈥�
