Theater Kid by Jeffrey Seller
Theater Kid: A Broadway Memoir needs to be available in every high school and college library to uplift, give courage and instill hope in each young person, encouraging them to strive for their dreams. At that vulnerable time of life, many struggle with doubt, fear and all too often bullying simply for being different. This powerful work of nonfiction is both life-affirming and utterly captivating. The reader is given an all-access backstage pass to the New York theater world.
Author Jeffrey Seller has achieved astonishing success as a Broadway producer of some of the most innovative American musicals of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. He is the only impresario in Broadway history who has produced two Pulitzer Prize-winning musical plays: Rent and Hamilton. He has been honored with four Tony awards, one each for Rent, Avenue Q, In the Heights and Hamilton.
An Innovative Producer and Marketer
In addition to his phenomenal success as a producer, he is credited with inventing the first rush and lottery ticket policies, allowing those who could not otherwise afford expensive Broadway show prices an opportunity to attend live theater. The rush ticket policy was created by Seller and his longtime working partner, Kevin McCollum, during the production of Rent (1996), whereby a certain number of front row tickets would be sold, first-come, first-served, for $20. Unfortunately, the popularity was so overwhelming that people began to sleep on the streets to ensure they got one of these few tickets. Thus was born the first lottery for tickets reserving $20 seats for an underserved community, primarily students, who won drawings shortly before curtain time on the day of the show.
This exceptionally talented and industrious man was not a native New Yorker, a “Nepo baby” born with built-in connections into a wealthy theatrical family dynasty. Seller could accurately be described as “Cinderfella” who succeeded against all possible odds. He was keenly aware from early childhood that he did not fit into his seriously dysfunctional family, whose noisy squabbles rattled the walls of their tiny tarpaper shack of a home in a poor neighborhood north of Detroit derided as “Cardboard Village.” In a handful of early photos, he seems like a canary nestled amidst a clutch of rooks. He was blond, blue-eyed, short in stature and elfin thin. His other family members are all tall, dark and heavyset.
A Humble Upbringing
Born in 1964 in Oak Park, Michigan, Jeffrey was three months old when he was adopted by Mark and Caroline Seller, a boisterously argumentative Jewish couple who already had a daughter by birth, and they would later provide him with a younger brother. Mark, his adoptive father, would disappear for periods of time; divorce would be threatened, followed by uneasy reconciliation. He suffered brain damage from a motorcycle accident, lost his small business, was unsuccessful at keeping jobs and was serially unfaithful to his wife. Caroline was too busy working, cooking and cleaning to be a loving parent. She worked as a pharmacy clerk in a local drugstore that was sold to a chain that offered no benefits. Consequently, the family was without health insurance for several years.
Theater Kid aptly describes his sanctuary, refuge and place of dreams as young Jeffrey became involved in plays and musicals at an early age in school, youth theater and community theater. In fourth grade, he experienced a life-changing epiphany that provided him with a sense of purpose. He auditioned and got a part as a sailor in the chorus in the Temple Israel annual Purim musical play, which he characterized as “a mash-up of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Gilbert and Sullivan and the Old Testament.” It was enough to inspire him to go home and write a play over the weekend, Adventureland. Although it was not performed before an audience, his teacher allowed him to use a classroom as his first workshop with friends as performers. It was his initial experience as playwright, director, actor and producer. A few decades later, upon going solo, it became the name of his production company.
Driven by a Love of the Theater
By the time he was 13, in the eighth grade and studying for his bar mitzvah, he and his father began to venture out to the Fisher Theater in Detroit to see mind-boggling Broadway touring companies perform musicals, including Shenandoah, Pippin, and A Chorus Line. Jeffrey’s dad may have had major deficiencies, but to his credit, willingly drove his theater-obsessed son to auditions, rehearsals and performances. Later when Jeffrey was in college, conflicted about his sexuality and concerned about how to come out to his parents, they were completely loving and accepting. His left-handed father jovially remarked that, “It’s like being a leftie or a rightie.”
Jeffrey was ready and eager to become an independent adult when the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor accepted him with a financial aid package sufficient to allow him to graduate without undue stress. Four years later, the neon lights of Broadway beckoned. This young man was already a workaholic possessing singular dedication. He made friends, found work first as an office assistant, then as a booking agent, scraping by financially by having roommates to share expenses. In 1990, he met Jonathan Larson at an intimate one-night performance of BOHO Days, a rock monologue Jonathan had written, presented in piano and song.
Right Place, Right Time
Call it fate or kismet, but this ultimately led to Jeffrey producing Larson’s creation, Rent, which became the 12th longest-running show on Broadway with countless worldwide productions to follow. As the theater world sadly knows and remembers, Larson died of a misdiagnosed aortic dissection the morning of the first preview performance. His body of work and entire archives were given to the Library of Congress in 2003 by the Larson family. Later, Jeffrey’s friendship with playwright and composer Lin-Manuel Miranda led to In the Heights and Hamilton.
Theater Kid: A Broadway Memoir is a must-read for anyone who has ever skipped class to attend a Wednesday matinee, sat in the nosebleed section unable to afford orchestra seats, auditioned or acted in a show, or simply loves live performances. There really is something magical about “the smell of the greasepaint and the roar of the crowd.” Jeffrey Seller clearly defines the role of producer — with all its risks, uncertainty and rewards — in this most candid of memoirs, full of wit, insight and wildly entertaining anecdotes. From poverty and an uncertain beginning, Seller has impressively succeeded both on Broadway and in life.
About Jeffrey Seller:
Jeffrey Seller is one of the most successful American producers of our time. He produced the Tony Award–winning musicals Rent, Avenue Q, In the Heights, and Hamilton. His shows have garnered twenty-two Tony Awards, including four for Best Musical, and his Broadway productions and tours have grossed over $4.6 billion and reached more than 43 million attendees. Jeffrey is the only producer to have mounted two Pulitzer Prize–winning musicals—Hamilton and Rent. He also revolutionized theater accessibility with the $20 ticket lottery for Rent, making theater affordable for all.
