Alumni Spotlight JEFFREY RICHARDS ’62 Jeffrey Richards is one of the leading producers of plays and musicals on Broadway, in London’s West End, and around the world. He’s won countless awards and accolades for his work including eight Tony Awards. An interview with Jen Ziplow, Assistant Director of Development and Alumni Relations, and Sarah Woods, Director of Communications; article by Jen Ziplow. Jen Ziplow: We’d love to learn more about what you’ve
done in your time since Allen-Stevenson.
Lamplighter: ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT Lamplighter
Jeffrey Richards: Well, I left Allen-Stevenson in the Fourth
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Grade. I went to Riverdale Country School for high school, then to Wesleyan University for my undergraduate degree. Following that, I went to Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. I didn’t really go into journalism, but I did write for a small syndicate called the Pop Scene Service and interviewed personalities. At the same time, I began a career in public relations and established my own firm, which lasted for over 40 years, through my recent production of Significant Other. I’ve been producing plays since 1995. My first production was The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr Abridged, and my first Broadway production was Gore Vidal’s The Best Man. I’ve presented approximately 50 or so productions on Broadway since then. When I was a public relations representative, I did PR for the longest running comedy thriller, Death Trap, as well as Me and My Girl, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Talley’s Folly, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Two Trains Running, The Piano Lesson, the original production of Glengarry Glen Ross…among many others. Suffice to say, I did a lot of press over a 40-year period. I represented theaters like The Circle Rep and The American Place Theatre, which originated The Women’s Project, as well as Hudson Guild and the American Jewish Theater, all of which are gone now.
JZ: What made you switch from public relations to play
productions?
JR: I went to see a show in London that I really liked. I came back to the U.S. and thought it was perfect for Broadway but couldn’t interest any of the producers I worked with. They performed the show at Princeton University, so I invited an agent I knew, along with a few producers, and we all trekked down to see The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr Abridged. The agent said he was going to sign the writer of the play, but the
producers I brought said they didn’t want to do it. They told me ‘if you love it so much, why don’t you produce it?’ And that’s exactly what I did—it was my first production! It was exciting and intimidating to raise funding for an off-Broadway show. We eventually recouped and made a very small profit. I was very fortunate it turned out positively for me. Then I did three off-Broadway plays and won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Never the Sinner, about Leopold and Loeb. I had an idea in 1998, with two other producers, to do a series of political plays in the 1999-2000 season. I suggested four plays: Advice and Consent, State of the Union, The Gang’s All Here, and Gore Vidal’s The Best Man. We were going to do four performances of each at the Promenade Theater, but my partners thought there wasn’t any money in it, and they were right. But I couldn’t get The Best Man out of my mind, so I took the plunge and produced it on Broadway. It was my first Broadway show.
JZ: Did your mom also work in the world
of Theater?
JR: She was a press agent and then she was a manager in the theater. When I started out as a press agent, ironically, the first two shows that I did were the revivals of Don Juan In Hell and The Pajama Game, which she had been on as a press agent. I eventually got the rights to The Pajama Game 33 years later and brought it to the Roundabout Theater with Harry Connick and Kelli O’Hara. She was one of the early General Managers on Broadway too.
JZ: Is that how you fell in love with the theater? JR: I would say yes. I would go to see everything when I was young, so consequently, I became hooked.
JZ: Do you have any favorite productions or plays that
you’ve seen?
JR: Well, that’s a difficult question. It’s like asking a parent who’s your favorite child. I love all the plays that I’ve done— the successes and the failures. I’ve had a pretty good track record, all things considered, but it can be difficult. I’ve done
