classnotes | Profile
Like Leo Bloom – no, not the character in James Joyce’s Ulysses, the one in Mel Brooks’ film The Producers – Ben Feldman has harbored a secret desire “to be a producer with a hit show on Broadway.” On June 9, his desire was brought to fruition as he earned his first Tony Award for the hit musical revival Pippin. There was “Magic to Do” in bringing this imaginative revival to Broadway. It garnered 10 Tony nominations and won “Best Musical Revival”; “Best Director”; “Best Actress”, and “Best Featured Actress in a Musical.” Ben, a founding member of Beigelman, Feldman, Golinski, Reedy & Senouf, an entertainment and corporate law firm, put together a consortium of 15 veteran and new Broadway investors to help get the production from Cambridge, Mass., to Broadway, where it is playing to sold-out houses at the Music Box Theatre and breaking the box office records for that 82-year-old venue week after week. Last summer, while the production was still in rehearsal at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, two of the lead producers, Ben’s clients Howard and Janet Kagan, invited him to attend a reading. Says Ben, “I was flattered that Howard and Janet allowed me to get involved. From the very first number, I knew it would be a commercial success. Pippin, a hugely popular hit in 1972, had not been back to Broadway in 40 years, so that lessened the risk of its failure. But beyond that, it was a brilliant reinterpretation of the original show – not just a carbon copy of the original.” The new production features choreography in the style of Bob Fosse and includes a collaboration with the spectacular Montreal circus troupe, 7 Fingers of the Hand. Ben, who has procured funding to a lesser (and uncredited) extent on other shows, including Peter Morgan’s 2007 play Frost/Nixon, has a sixth sense for new talent and has been tapped to serve on the boards of directors for Ars Nova, the Chase Brock Experience and the Hourglass Group.
The Producer Ben Feldman ’86
For Ben, a three-year boarding student from Worcester, Mass., his love of theater was nurtured throughout his Choate career. “I was a cast member in numerous Choate productions under the direction of the incomparable Paul Tines,” he recalls. Those included The Golden Fleece, the operetta Trial by Jury, The Real Inspector Hound, Grease, Side By Side By Sondheim and the role of Merlin in the 1985 production of Camelot. Outside of theater, there was something equally magical and engaging about his presence. Said former house adviser Zachary Goodyear, “There is no one at Choate – in the classroom, the newsroom, the Green Room, or in any room – who gives as much as Benji. He is pure joy to be with, a human energy field whose voltage charges us daily.”
A National Merit Semifinalist, Cum Laude member, Gold Key officer, Secretary of the Student Council, and Managing Editor of The News – Ben did it all and did it well. And after five terms in history, his teacher said, “Ben is quite simply the finest history student that I’ve worked with.” Ben holds fond memories of his Choate teachers and advisers, including Zack and Julie Goodyear, Lolly Hand, John Connelly, and Suzy Stevens, who said of Ben, “He was the selfappointed Pauline Kael of the class; always ready to interpret, analyze, and refute.” At Yale, he majored in English and was on the Board of The Dramat, the second oldest college theatre association in the country. Later, at New York University’s School of Law, he earned his J.D. Ben has served as production counsel for both feature films and documentary films, from Kissing Jessica Stein to the recent Rabbit Hole. He has brought a number of documentaries to the Sundance Film Festival; some favorites include Southern Comfort (which won the coveted Grand Jury Prize) and Earth Days (a Sundance closing night film). And on Broadway he was production counsel for Memphis The Musical, which won the 2010 Tony Award for “Best Musical,” and was thanked by his writer clients when they won for Urinetown. And now his producing credit for Pippin. No doubt his recent success has whetted his appetite to produce more. Says Ben, “I see myself as a wannabe entrepreneur.” He has also had success in trading stocks and has “shorted the Australian dollar, turning a nice profit.” While being a producer is a far cry from “lunch at Sardi’s every day,” Ben says of the less glamorous side of the business, “I’ve learned in high stakes situations to get along with people, to remain even–keeled and just send love to everyone. My own private ego, my insecurities, my eccentricities – these are just a huge waste of time, especially to others who are trying to accomplish something.” Lorraine S. Connelly is Editor of the Bulletin.