October 22, 2008
Mostly Theater
Roger S. Berlind
Active Broadway Producer
Minutes of the Sixth Meeting of the 67th Year
President George Hanson called to order the 125 attending members of the Old Guard of Princeton for the sixth meeting of the 67th year at 10:15 AM at the Friend Center. Don Edwards read the Invocation. Claire Jacobus read the minutes of the previous week’s program.
President Hanson introduced the following guests: Rose Bonini, guest Of Bill Bonini; Peggy Dodge, guest of David Dodge; Peggy Fulmer, guest of Tom Fulmer; Jeanne Katen, guest of Dick Katen; Marilyn Middlebrook, guest of Bob Middlebrook; and Flora Varrin, guest of Bob Varrin.
Gerry Berkelhammer made several announcements and provided directions related to the alternate meeting venues for the next two weeks and announced that the reception scheduled for November 5 would be postponed until November 12 when the meeting will be back at Friend.
Ted Bolster introduced our speaker, Roger S. Berlind. Mr. Berlind graduated from Princeton in 1952, spent two years in the army, and after a year and a half as an unsuccessful songwriter, went into the world of finance as an apprentice with Eastman Dillon on Wall Street. In 1960, he and several friends founded what eventually became the successful firm of Cogan, Berlind, Weil, and Levitt. In the mid 1970’s, Mr. Berlind left the world of finance to become an assistant to Richard Rodgers, launching the beginning of his career as a successful Broadway producer.
Mr. Berlind has produced over 50 productions on Broadway, including plays and musicals, both original productions and revivals, and has received 14 Tony Awards, the most recent one being for The History Boysin 2006. His first big success was Amadeus in 1980; his current big success is Gypsy. Despite the intense demands of his life as a producer, Mr. Berlind has remained close to his Alma Mater, serving as Vice-President and President of the Class of 1952, as an Alumni Trustee, and establishing a Professorship in the Humanities, currently occupied by Joyce Carol Oates. He was also the principal donor of the Rodger Berlind Theater, named in his honor.
Mr. Berlind began his presentation, which was entitled “Mostly Theater,” by expanding on some of the biographical background that was provided by Joe Bolster in his introduction, and in doing so, displayed a delightful, deadpan sense of humor and humility. He acknowledged that he had two careers, one in finance and one in theater, but suggested that since we would probably no longer be interested in finance given the current situation in the financial world, he would go straight to theater, suggesting that how he got to theater was an interesting subject that he would cover briefly.
He began his talk starting after his graduation from Princeton saying that he had learned the hard way in the past few weeks from his current production of a musical called Thirteen played by thirteen year olds playing thirteen year olds that nobody is interested in life before adulthood because nobody has been coming to the show.
After graduating from Princeton, Roger went into the army, served in the Counter Intelligence Core (CIC) and talked a superior into letting him make a movie about how the CIC works in Berlin, a movie, he pointed out, that he was clearly qualified to make because he had a photography course at the CIC School. He made this movie with no help, wrote the script, shot the film, edited it, and managed to finish it shortly before he got out of the army. The movie was a huge success because the cast on screen were the agents that had been told to cooperate with him in the making of the movie, and they loved seeing themselves on screen. After he left the army, he tried to get a copy of the film because he wanted to use it to get into some aspect of the entertainment business, couldn’t because it was classified secret, and suspects now that it is powder somewhere.
Roger then wrote songs for a year and half unsuccessfully. A friend, who was working on Wall Street, suggested that he take a look at Wall Street. He did so knowing nothing about finance or economics; in fact, he never even had an economics course at Princeton, where he majored in English and studied music and the arts. It took twenty interviews caused by the fact that no company wanted to hire a broken down song writer with no financial background, until he was finally hired by Eastman Dillon, where he stayed for four years before starting his own company with several friends. His company underwent about twenty name changes as they acquired other companies, some of which were the very companies that had denied him employment.
He left finance in 1975 and started producing, which is when he met his hero Richard Rodgers and worked as his assistant on the show Rex. The show was a failure but he learned a lot about how not to produce and has been a producer ever since, a profession which he describes as “great fun.”
He confirmed that he had won 14 Tony Awards out of 50 shows, but indicated that some of those shows didn’t ever recoup their investments while some others that were reviled by the critics became big hits, showing that there is no correlation between these recognitions in the theater business and what the consequences might be economically. He shared that he only produces what appeals to him instinctively and that he could not begin to guess what the economic consequences of a show would be. Instead, he produces whatever is the most appealing to him.
Berlind acknowledged that he knew people like to hear funny things but said that he couldn’t really think of anything funny to say. Instead, he said theater is a serious and difficult business filled with people who work very hard. He went on to say that the theater is in deep trouble today, partially because of the economic environment; the cost of production keeps going up and the cost of tickets is going up proportionally. This situation is felt in the economic return on the shows that are produced, but even more importantly, it’s harder and harder to raise money to produce new shows because people are not inclined to make an investment in theater any more than they are in any other investment today.
He believes that the theater scene in New York is looking very “iffy” for the next year or so and indicated that several shows that were scheduled to come in this season have already cancelled. Except for hits that were sold out before the economic climate turned so sour and are sold out for a year or two in advance, he predicts it’s going to be a difficult year.
Mr. Berlind went on to say that he could get into more detail about his pathway to being a producer but indicated he would rather answer questions. Although he offered to answer questions about either the financial part of his life or about the theater, 28 of the 29 questions which followed were related to the theater. The content of the theater questions ranged from the role of a producer, to how the Berlind Theater came into being, to how he initiates a project, to the role of the critics, to his opinion on the future of Broadway.
In answering these and other questions, Roger provided some enlightening information about what goes on in the life of a producer, specifically how he personally operates and makes decisions as a producer, his perspective on specific productions, actors, directors, and the state of theater currently and in the future.
In describing the role of a producer, Mr. Berlind likened a producer to the CEO of a corporation. The producer starts from scratch, first gets the rights to produce a show, then hires a director, a cast, a general manger who does the bookkeeping, press agents, an ad agency, and attorneys; and over a long period of time, a producer puts together a production that he hopes approximates what he thought he as going to get when he started the process.
When asked about how the Berlind Theater came into being and what it meant to him, Mr. Berlind responded that the Berlind Theater was his proudest production, noting it can’t be put out of business by a critic. He explained that after conversations with students who identified the need for a professional theater, it occurred to him that the professional theater operation at McCarter needed a second stage, and thus, the Berlind Theater grew out of student conversations and the tremendous support from the McCarter Board of Trustees and the Board of Trustees of the University. He acknowledged that the Berlind Theater has worked like a gem for McCarter, the University, and the community.
In responding to the question of how he initiates a project, specifically whether he goes after a play or whether the play goes after him, Mr. Berlind indicated that it works both ways; however, he noted that some producers are more aggressive about bringing a show to Broadway but indicated that he is less and less aggressive because he thinks that the economic model to create a success is more and more questionable. He shared that he has nothing planned for the future and that he could live very happily without doing another show. In fact, he indicated unless there is a compelling reason to produce another show he won’t.
Finally, in responding to the last question of what he sees for the future of theater, Mr. Berlind referred to an article that he wrote in 1985 describing the bleak situation on Broadway in which he quoted Oscar Hammerstein, who had written thirty years before the statement, “The theater is dying; the theater is dying, the theater is practically dead.” Mr. Berlind believed in 1985 that this time it was true; the theater was definitely dying, the conditions were horrifying and many theatrical houses were closing. He admitted that at that time he thought the world was coming to an end. He concluded his presentation, however, with the recognition that somehow theater survives even on Broadway and with his dead pan prediction that it will survive because “there are greater and greater fools coming to put on shows.” I suspect that if Berlind’s humor is meant to predict that there will be more producers like him, it is a prognostication that will be wholeheartedly welcome!
The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 AM.
Respectfully submitted,
Marcia E. Bossart
President Hanson introduced the following guests: Rose Bonini, guest Of Bill Bonini; Peggy Dodge, guest of David Dodge; Peggy Fulmer, guest of Tom Fulmer; Jeanne Katen, guest of Dick Katen; Marilyn Middlebrook, guest of Bob Middlebrook; and Flora Varrin, guest of Bob Varrin.
Gerry Berkelhammer made several announcements and provided directions related to the alternate meeting venues for the next two weeks and announced that the reception scheduled for November 5 would be postponed until November 12 when the meeting will be back at Friend.
Ted Bolster introduced our speaker, Roger S. Berlind. Mr. Berlind graduated from Princeton in 1952, spent two years in the army, and after a year and a half as an unsuccessful songwriter, went into the world of finance as an apprentice with Eastman Dillon on Wall Street. In 1960, he and several friends founded what eventually became the successful firm of Cogan, Berlind, Weil, and Levitt. In the mid 1970’s, Mr. Berlind left the world of finance to become an assistant to Richard Rodgers, launching the beginning of his career as a successful Broadway producer.
Mr. Berlind has produced over 50 productions on Broadway, including plays and musicals, both original productions and revivals, and has received 14 Tony Awards, the most recent one being for The History Boysin 2006. His first big success was Amadeus in 1980; his current big success is Gypsy. Despite the intense demands of his life as a producer, Mr. Berlind has remained close to his Alma Mater, serving as Vice-President and President of the Class of 1952, as an Alumni Trustee, and establishing a Professorship in the Humanities, currently occupied by Joyce Carol Oates. He was also the principal donor of the Rodger Berlind Theater, named in his honor.
Mr. Berlind began his presentation, which was entitled “Mostly Theater,” by expanding on some of the biographical background that was provided by Joe Bolster in his introduction, and in doing so, displayed a delightful, deadpan sense of humor and humility. He acknowledged that he had two careers, one in finance and one in theater, but suggested that since we would probably no longer be interested in finance given the current situation in the financial world, he would go straight to theater, suggesting that how he got to theater was an interesting subject that he would cover briefly.
He began his talk starting after his graduation from Princeton saying that he had learned the hard way in the past few weeks from his current production of a musical called Thirteen played by thirteen year olds playing thirteen year olds that nobody is interested in life before adulthood because nobody has been coming to the show.
After graduating from Princeton, Roger went into the army, served in the Counter Intelligence Core (CIC) and talked a superior into letting him make a movie about how the CIC works in Berlin, a movie, he pointed out, that he was clearly qualified to make because he had a photography course at the CIC School. He made this movie with no help, wrote the script, shot the film, edited it, and managed to finish it shortly before he got out of the army. The movie was a huge success because the cast on screen were the agents that had been told to cooperate with him in the making of the movie, and they loved seeing themselves on screen. After he left the army, he tried to get a copy of the film because he wanted to use it to get into some aspect of the entertainment business, couldn’t because it was classified secret, and suspects now that it is powder somewhere.
Roger then wrote songs for a year and half unsuccessfully. A friend, who was working on Wall Street, suggested that he take a look at Wall Street. He did so knowing nothing about finance or economics; in fact, he never even had an economics course at Princeton, where he majored in English and studied music and the arts. It took twenty interviews caused by the fact that no company wanted to hire a broken down song writer with no financial background, until he was finally hired by Eastman Dillon, where he stayed for four years before starting his own company with several friends. His company underwent about twenty name changes as they acquired other companies, some of which were the very companies that had denied him employment.
He left finance in 1975 and started producing, which is when he met his hero Richard Rodgers and worked as his assistant on the show Rex. The show was a failure but he learned a lot about how not to produce and has been a producer ever since, a profession which he describes as “great fun.”
He confirmed that he had won 14 Tony Awards out of 50 shows, but indicated that some of those shows didn’t ever recoup their investments while some others that were reviled by the critics became big hits, showing that there is no correlation between these recognitions in the theater business and what the consequences might be economically. He shared that he only produces what appeals to him instinctively and that he could not begin to guess what the economic consequences of a show would be. Instead, he produces whatever is the most appealing to him.
Berlind acknowledged that he knew people like to hear funny things but said that he couldn’t really think of anything funny to say. Instead, he said theater is a serious and difficult business filled with people who work very hard. He went on to say that the theater is in deep trouble today, partially because of the economic environment; the cost of production keeps going up and the cost of tickets is going up proportionally. This situation is felt in the economic return on the shows that are produced, but even more importantly, it’s harder and harder to raise money to produce new shows because people are not inclined to make an investment in theater any more than they are in any other investment today.
He believes that the theater scene in New York is looking very “iffy” for the next year or so and indicated that several shows that were scheduled to come in this season have already cancelled. Except for hits that were sold out before the economic climate turned so sour and are sold out for a year or two in advance, he predicts it’s going to be a difficult year.
Mr. Berlind went on to say that he could get into more detail about his pathway to being a producer but indicated he would rather answer questions. Although he offered to answer questions about either the financial part of his life or about the theater, 28 of the 29 questions which followed were related to the theater. The content of the theater questions ranged from the role of a producer, to how the Berlind Theater came into being, to how he initiates a project, to the role of the critics, to his opinion on the future of Broadway.
In answering these and other questions, Roger provided some enlightening information about what goes on in the life of a producer, specifically how he personally operates and makes decisions as a producer, his perspective on specific productions, actors, directors, and the state of theater currently and in the future.
In describing the role of a producer, Mr. Berlind likened a producer to the CEO of a corporation. The producer starts from scratch, first gets the rights to produce a show, then hires a director, a cast, a general manger who does the bookkeeping, press agents, an ad agency, and attorneys; and over a long period of time, a producer puts together a production that he hopes approximates what he thought he as going to get when he started the process.
When asked about how the Berlind Theater came into being and what it meant to him, Mr. Berlind responded that the Berlind Theater was his proudest production, noting it can’t be put out of business by a critic. He explained that after conversations with students who identified the need for a professional theater, it occurred to him that the professional theater operation at McCarter needed a second stage, and thus, the Berlind Theater grew out of student conversations and the tremendous support from the McCarter Board of Trustees and the Board of Trustees of the University. He acknowledged that the Berlind Theater has worked like a gem for McCarter, the University, and the community.
In responding to the question of how he initiates a project, specifically whether he goes after a play or whether the play goes after him, Mr. Berlind indicated that it works both ways; however, he noted that some producers are more aggressive about bringing a show to Broadway but indicated that he is less and less aggressive because he thinks that the economic model to create a success is more and more questionable. He shared that he has nothing planned for the future and that he could live very happily without doing another show. In fact, he indicated unless there is a compelling reason to produce another show he won’t.
Finally, in responding to the last question of what he sees for the future of theater, Mr. Berlind referred to an article that he wrote in 1985 describing the bleak situation on Broadway in which he quoted Oscar Hammerstein, who had written thirty years before the statement, “The theater is dying; the theater is dying, the theater is practically dead.” Mr. Berlind believed in 1985 that this time it was true; the theater was definitely dying, the conditions were horrifying and many theatrical houses were closing. He admitted that at that time he thought the world was coming to an end. He concluded his presentation, however, with the recognition that somehow theater survives even on Broadway and with his dead pan prediction that it will survive because “there are greater and greater fools coming to put on shows.” I suspect that if Berlind’s humor is meant to predict that there will be more producers like him, it is a prognostication that will be wholeheartedly welcome!
The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 AM.
Respectfully submitted,
Marcia E. Bossart