Who

Viertel is the creative director of Rocco Landesman's Jujamycn theater chain, and the little brother of big-time Broadway producer Tom Viertel.

Backstory

Viertel comes from a family with a long history in theater—his grandfather built theaters like the Mark Hellinger (which has since become the Times Square Church), his father was a playwright, and his brother is Tom Viertel, a partner in the Broadway powerhouse Richard Frankel Productions. After Harvard, Jack moved to California, working as a theater critic for a free weekly, then for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. He transitioned from writing about theater to working in the biz when he was appointed dramaturg of the storied Mark Taper Forum in LA in 1985. Two years later, Rocco Landesman—who was familiar with Viertel because of an earlier (negative) review he'd written of his musical Big River—hired him as creative director of Jujamcyn, the third biggest Broadway theater chain. In 1988, Viertel cemented his own reputation in the industry—as well as Jujamycn's—by bringing David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly to Jujamycn.

Of note

While the Jujamcyn theaters have inevitably played home to several duds over the years (King Hedley II, The Civil War) they've also staged many of the biggest Broadway hits of the past decade including The Full Monty; Proof; The Producers; John Patrick Shanley's Doubt; Tony Kushner's Caroline, or Change; Sweet Charity; Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd; Jersey Boys; and Curtains.

In 2001, Viertel made an ill-fated foray into libretto-writing, writing the book for Time and Again, a musical produced by his brother Tom; Times critic Ben Brantley called the result "static and passionless." The same year he added another job to his resume, replacing Kathleen Marshall to become artistic director of non-profit Encores!, which puts on three vintage musicals a season. He now spends roughly twelve weeks of the year at Encores! and 40 at Jujamcyn.

Currently Jujamcyn's Eugene O'Neill Theater is hosting the uber-successful Spring Awakening, which nabbed the Tony for Best Musical in 2007. Meanwhile, through his Encores! gig, Viertel has helped stage a number of well-received, limited-run musical revivals in recent years, including a production of The Apple Tree starring Kristin Chenoweth.

Personal

Jack and his wife, Linda, have two grown children, Josh and Daisy. They live in Tarrytown.