Broadway General Managers Frankel and Green Form New Company
By Kenneth Jones
05 Dec 2008
Veteran Broadway general managers Richard Frankel and Laura Green announced the formation of Frankel Green Theatrical Management.
The new general management and consulting services company "will allow their team to provide their services to a wider range of clients than they have previously served while working under the banner of Richard Frankel Productions, which is also a producing entity," according to the Dec. 4 announcement.
"Given how closely Laura and I have been working these many years, we thought a management partnership was the next logical step," said Frankel, "especially given the major role Laura has played in the success of our endeavors and the great respect with which she is held in the theatrical community."
Green added, "We want to be sure that we can work on the widest possible range of management projects while expanding our theatrical consulting activities."
Over the past 15 years, Frankel and Green have served as the general managers for many major productions including Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein (Broadway), Hairspray (Broadway, London and on tour), Gypsy (Broadway), The Producers (Broadway and on tour), The Weir (Broadway), The Sound of Music (Broadway), Smokey Joe's Café (Broadway) and What's Wrong With This Picture? (Broadway).
Although much of Frankel and Green's work to date has been for producing teams that have included Richard Frankel as a producing partner, they have recently expanded their activities to include more productions led by other producers. These productions include the upcoming Bruce Lee: Journey to the West produced by Stuart Oken; Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein, whose lead producer is Robert F.X. Sillerman; and the Off-Broadway '80s rock musical Rock of Ages.
Frankel Green will continue to manage projects produced by the Viertel/Baruch/Routh/Frankel Group, a 23-year partnership.
Their upcoming shows include the Alan Menken-Glenn Slater musical Leap of Faith, a new Stephen Sondheim revue and a musical based upon the film, "The Hudsucker Proxy" directed by Jerry Zaks.
The general management staff and support services at Richard Frankel Productions, many of whom have been working with Frankel and Green for more than ten years, will be part of Frankel Green Theatrical Management, including senior general manager Joe Watson, who has managed all of the North American companies of Stomp for many years and has recently expanded his responsibilities in management and project development; and Leslie Ledbetter, who manages Rock of Ages. Accounting services and support personnel will also be a part of Frankel Green Theatrical Management.
Frankel has been working in the theatre in New York since 1970. He became managing director of Circle Repertory Company in 1981, where he worked on 40 world premieres of plays by authors including Lanford Wilson, David Mamet, A.R. Gurney, Terrence McNally and Sam Shepherd. In 1985 he launched Richard Frankel Productions as a production and general management company with the Off-Broadway production of Penn & Teller that first brought them to national prominence. Together with partners Marc Routh, Tom Viertel and Steve Baruch, they then produced and general managed Driving Miss Daisy, Sills and Company, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, The Cocktail Hour and Love Letters Off-Broadway, on national tour, and in engagements in London, Chicago and San Francisco.
Green came to New York in 1988 from Provincetown, MA, after many years of working with and then serving as president of the board of directors of the Provincetown Theatre Company. She has been with Richard Frankel Productions since 1994; serving as general manager for the Broadway, touring and international productions of Smokey Joe's Cafe, The Sound of Music, The Weir, the national tour of Swing!, The Producers, Hairspray, Young Frankenstein and Gypsy staring Patti LuPone.
Other productions include Sarafina!, Lost in Yonkers, Metro, Breaking Legs, and as producer, Ten Percent Revue. Green's upcoming productions include iSondheim and Leap of Faith, Bruce Lee: Journey to the West and The Hudsucker Proxy. Green is a member of the Broadway League and a current and original member of the League Labor Committee, which provides ongoing labor relations services to the Broadway industry.
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