The Producer's Perspective Podcast with Ken Davenport

Latest Episodes:

136 - Carl Pasbjerg Oct 29, 2017

Show notes

Carl Pasbjerg is a director and manager. He is also the head of Alchemy Production Group along with senior General Managers, Marshall Purdy and Abbie Strassler, and Associate General Manager, Lauren Tucker. He has worked as a manager or producer on many shows, including Jekyll & Hyde, Guys and Dolls, Memphis, First Date, Doctor Zhivago, In Transit, and Come From Away

You’ll get an inside peek at his Broadway playbook in this podcast when the GM (and Producer of Come From Away) talks about:

The difference between managing Broadway shows today versus twenty years ago (and it goes beyond just not having to use a “map”).
Accountability . . . why he prides himself on it, and why it’s necessary.
The first thing he does when he builds a budget (and you should too).
When there’s a big storm brewing, what he has to do.
The “new” out-of-town tryouts . . . how to get the most out of them.

Keep up with me: @KenDavenportBway

www.theproducersperspective.com

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135 - Kyle Jarrow Oct 22, 2017

Show notes

Kyle Jarrow is a writer and rock musician. His writing career began in theater, winning an Obie Award in 2004 for A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant, a satirical musical about L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. His theatrical writing has been noted for its macabre humor and frequent incorporation of pop music. His first feature film was 2010 Sundance Film Festival NEXT selection Armless. He is the creator and executive producer of the military drama TV series Valor. Kyle wrote the book for SpongeBob SquarePants, The Broadway Musical for which he was nominated for a Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Association Award. He is also a singer, songwriter, and keyboardist for the theatrical rock band Sky-Pony, a collaboration with his wife Lauren Worsham.

It’s one thing to write for different mediums, it’s another to achieve success in each one of those mediums. I wanted to find out what his secret sauce was.

Listen to hear him share the ingredients to that sauce as well as:

How he got the job for SpongeBob (a process different than most musicals).
What a bookwriter’s job really is, and how that changes with different collaborators.
Why he wrote A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant, and how that got him into some trouble.
How an idea informs what medium you should write it for.
Just how the heck he keeps all these projects straight . . . and makes them successful!

Keep up with me: @KenDavenportBway

www.theproducersperspective.com

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134 - Pat Cook Oct 15, 2017

Show notes

Pat Cook is a musical theatre composer, actor, and author, as well as the Director of Musical Theatre and Jazz for Broadcast Music, Inc. He worked for many years in his early career as an actor, appearing on Broadway in A Mother’s Kisses, in the National Tour of 1776, and Off-Broadway in Dark of the Moon and Early Morning. As a composer, he wrote the score for The Mandrake, and incidental music for Romeo and Juliet and As You Like It at Equity Library Theatre.

I don’t think there’s anyone on the planet that has worked with so many musical theater writers, which is why I wanted Pat on my podcast, to share his wisdom on what it takes to make a great musical.

He shared that, and then some, including:

How and why he went from actor to writer.
What makes a great musical theater writer, versus just a great writer.
The most important thing that writers should do when they are writing a musical, and it doesn’t involve writing at all.
Can any idea be a musical?
The best way to collaborate with your co-writer.

Keep up with me: @KenDavenportBway

www.theproducersperspective.com

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133 - Jonathan Rand Oct 08, 2017

Show notes

Jonathan Rand is among the most popular contemporary playwrights writing today, his stage plays having been performed over 23,000 times in theaters across 65 countries. According to an independent survey of American schools, his one-act comedy Check Please was the #1 most-produced short play every season for the last 15 years. A four-time Heideman Award finalist, his work is published by Random House, Stage Partners, Playscripts, Smith & Kraus, Dramatics magazine, and Macmilllan. He also served as CEO and co-founder of Playscripts, a publishing and performance licensing company for new stage plays and musicals.

I’m not going to reveal all the secrets to how he built his career in this preamble to the podcast, so if you want the full story, you’ve got to listen in and hear Jonathan talk about:

How entering a contest kicked-off his writing career.
How a couple lines of HTML and ZERO expectations changed his life.
What high schools are looking for when they decide to license a play.
The day he founded Playscripts and why (the most successful artists I know have great business skills – and this is one of the best examples in our industry).
How plays are discovered by the subsidiary market, how that’s going to change, and what you can do to get your stuff noticed.

Keep up with me: @KenDavenportBway

www.theproducersperspective.com

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132 - David Korins Oct 01, 2017

Show notes

David Korins is a creative director and principal designer of his creative firm. He has been awarded an Emmy, Lortel Award, an Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Design, two Drama Desk Awards, three Henry Hewes Design Awards, and three Tony Award nominations. His theatrical work includes Hamilton (Tony nomination), War Paint (Tony nomination), Dear Evan Hansen, Bandstand, Misery, Motown, Bring It On, Lombardi, and Passing Strange. He won an Emmy award for his production design work on Grease: Live!. He has designed concert stages for Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, Kanye West, Mariah Carey, and Andrea Boccelli.

Because David has watched and interpreted great drama for so many different mediums, he can offer some very unique insights, including . . .

Why a designer is like a therapist and a midwife and . . . THIS.
How the evolution of Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen were oh so different, but with the same sensational results.
The key to success while a show is in previews.
The big question he asks of himself whenever he designs a set . . . and that you MUST ask on your shows.
The #1 skill that a designer needs.

Keep up with me: @KenDavenportBway

www.theproducersperspective.com

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131 - Kelly Leonard Sep 24, 2017

Show notes

Kelly Leonard is an author, public speaker and theater producer. He is the Executive Vice President of The Second City and The President of Second City Theatricals. He has overseen productions with notable performers such as Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Adam McKay, Seth Meyers, Rachel Dratch, Amy Poehler, Jason Sudeikis, Keegan Michael Key, and Amy Sedaris. In 2015, Leonard's first book "Yes And", co-written with Tom Yorton, was published.

Listen to Kelly and I improv some Q&As on all subjects such as:

What improv is great at . . . and where it fails.
Is a dramatic improv possible? (Hear what happened when he tried one.)
How improv has changed in the era of Political Correctness.
The art of writing . . . FAST! And how to do it well.
Why improv is being studied by academics and what it could mean for society’s future.

Keep up with me: @KenDavenportBway

www.theproducersperspective.com

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130 - Michael Passaro Sep 17, 2017

Show notes

Michael Passaro is a production stage manager. He has stage managed well over 100 shows, such as Evita, A Steady Rain, Impressionism, White Christmas, Phantom, Les Misérables, History Boys, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Chicago, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Cabaret, Pippin, Carousel, and Angels in America.

When you’ve watched the development of so many shows from the PSM chair, you learn stuff that no one can teach in a classroom, or on a blog, which is why I was thrilled to sit down with Michael and let him share his wisdom on topics like . . .

What the primary responsibility of a PSM actually is (can you guess?).
The role of the Stage Manager in the creative development process.
The advice he got (that he has on a piece of paper) that he can see every day that he passes on to his students . . . and now you.
The best thing to learn if you want to be a Stage Manager.
How saying “Yes” to a job he didn’t have a clue how to do led him to his successful career.

Keep up with me: @KenDavenportBway

www.theproducersperspective.com

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129 - Tom Kitt Sep 10, 2017

Show notes

Tom Kitt is a composer, conductor, orchestrator, and musician. For his score for the musical Next to Normal, he shared the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama with Brian Yorkey. He has also won a Tony Award and Outer Critics Circle Award, and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for American Idiot and Everyday Rapture. Other theatrical works include High Fidelity, If/Then, Bring It On, Freaky Friday (musical), 13, and From Up Here. He has also worked on projects outside of theater including the arrangements for multiple Green Day albums, Penny Dreadful, and Pitch Perfect 2.

Tom Kitt’s story could be a movie. This podcast with Tom is like the DVD commentary on that movie. We had a frank conversation about his journey including:

How to choose an idea to turn into a musical.
How a “10 Minute Musical” exercise at BMI changed his life, and how you can use the same exercise.
What he went through after High Fidelity closed quickly, and how he got back to work.
Why he isn’t on social media. (Artists, take heed!)
What he has learned from working with Green Day, Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles and so many pop-rock writers.

Keep up with me: @KenDavenportBway

www.theproducersperspective.com

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128 - Chris Jones Sep 03, 2017

Show notes

Chris Jones is a British-American journalist and academic. He is the chief theater critic and Sunday culture columnist of the Chicago Tribune. Jones started his career as a critic in the 1980s by contributing film reviews, interviews, and reports for WCBE-FM in Columbus, Ohio. In 2014, he also became the director of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Critics Institute. Jones appears live on the news broadcast of CBS-2 Chicago as a weekly theater critic. In 2016, the New York Times cited Jones as an important reason that Broadway shows try-out in Chicago, noting the role his reviews have played in helping producers improve productions for New York runs.

If you’ve ever gotten a bad review (which means everyone who has ever worked in this business), then you’ve probably dreamed about what the theater would be like without critics. Tune in and hear Chris chat about:

The THREE words he has taped to his computer to remind him to do every time he writes a review.
His role as an “Out-Of-Town” expert and the biggest issue he sees with developing shows (writers take heed!).
What New York can learn from the Chicago theater scene and vice-versa.
How he deals with “Critic Fatigue.”
The role of the audience in the writer’s process (Ooooh, I loved his thoughts on this!).

Keep up with me: @KenDavenportBway

www.theproducersperspective.com

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127 – Chazz Palminteri Aug 27, 2017

Show notes

Chazz Palminteri is an actor, screenwriter, producer and playwright. He is best known for his Academy Award-nominated role for Best Supporting Actor in Bullets over Broadway, the 1993 film A Bronx Tale, based on his play of the same name, Special Agent Dave Kujan in The Usual Suspects, Primo Sidone in Analyze This and his recurring role as Shorty in Modern Family. He is the author and once was the sole-performer for A Bronx Tale, an autobiographical story based on his childhood and the basis for the film and Broadway show.

Listen to this inspiring podcast and hear A Chazz Tale, along with:

How he had to talk a mob guy out of taking out a guy he was understudying.
Why he turned down an offer for one MILLION dollars for the rights to his story.
What his show, Rocky, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding have in common . . . and more importantly, WHY.
How his undiagnosed dyslexia forced him to learn in a different way, and why that helped his storytelling.
Why A Bronx Tale works, no matter what medium it’s in (play, film, musical) and why that’s important for YOUR project.

Chazz is not just the American Dream. He’s the Broadway Dream.

Keep up with me: @KenDavenportBway

www.theproducersperspective.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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