How Broadway Fell in Love with Celebrity Producers
We’re used to household names gracing Broadway stages. This season alone we’ll see Jeremy Strong in An Enemy of the People, Steve Carell in Uncle Vanya, and Rachel McAdams in Mary Jane. But it isn’t only onstage that A-listers are making themselves at home. Beyond the names splashed across marquees, well-known theatrical outsiders—including, this season, Angelina Jolie (The Outsiders), Hillary Clinton (Suffs), and Paula Abdul and Ludacris (How to Dance in Ohio), among others—are increasingly behind the scenes, as well.
Traditionally, a producer’s job is to act as the CEO of a project, doing everything from raising money to creatively shepherding the show. More recently the army of investors it takes to finance a Broadway production—musicals are said to cost at least $8 million, plays a bit less—has been supplemented by an influx of celebrity co-producers whose fame is assumed to bolster ticket sales or shape the way a show is perceived. Despite running for only three weeks after opening in 2022, Ain’t No Mo’ drew buzz in part because of its starry producers, including Lee Daniels, RuPaul Charles, and Lena Waithe. Candy Spelling has produced shows including MJ The Musical and Moulin Rouge!. With Broadway audience levels down nearly a fifth from pre-pandemic highs, producers today are hoping famous names can sell more tickets.
“We’re seeing it happen because audiences aren’t necessarily coming back in droves,” says Rachel Sussman, who is the lead producer of the new musical Suffs and who helped sign up Clinton and Malala Yousafzai to co-produce. Their names lend the show a sort of gravitas, and they also attract money.
“Because of them, we have brought in a number of new investors who have not been a part of the theater space before,” Sussman says. She declined to say whether the two invested their own money, though she notes they plan to be more involved than typical co-producers; Clinton even offered a creative note about the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.
One show that did make celebrities open up their wallets was Fela!, the musical about the life of Nigerian musician Fela Kuti. When it opened on Broadway in 2009, Jay-Z and Will and Jada Pinkett Smith signed on to co-produce.
“I wasn’t looking to have somebody put their name on it and have no involvement,” says Stephen Hendel, Fela!’s lead producer. “I wanted somebody who believed in the show deeply.” Although the Broadway run didn’t recoup, Hendel maintains that the stars’ names were “very helpful” to ticket sales.
What do the stars get out of it? For a few, Broadway shows offer something not even the finest agent at CAA can: a back door to EGOT status. Both John Legend and Jennifer Hudson became Tony winners by co-producing shows. But some believe the growing list of producers on projects has diminished the last letter in the coveted acronym.
“You walk into half of New York apartments right now and people have four Tony awards,” says one Broadway veteran. “And they haven’t actually done any of the work.”
Not all celebrity producers sit back and wait for a Tony. Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kandi Burruss spent the past few months promoting The Wiz, which is on a national tour before it bows on Broadway.
“I don’t just put my name on the show,” the Grammy-winning songwriter says. “I believe in the project and want to get it out there.”
This story appears in the March 2024 issue of Town & Country. SUBSCRIBE NOW
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