Who

One of the biggest Broadway producers in the city and the man behind The Producers and Hairspray, Frankel heads up the theatrical production company that bears his name.

Backstory

Brooklyn-born Frankel has been interested in the theater for as long as he can remember. As a kid he attended Broadway shows with his parents (such as the original 1956 production of My Fair Lady, starring Julie Andrews), and as a teen he worked as a lighting operator in the nightclub of a Catskills resort hotel. Frankel went on to Brooklyn College, and after graduation moved to Ethiopia for two years as a member of the Peace Corps. He returned to New York in 1970, landing his first job in theater as a carpenter and stage manager at the LaMaMa Experimental Theatre Club, eventually becoming the managing director of Circle Repertory Company. Determined to work for himself, in 1985 he formed Richard Frankel Productions, taking on three partners—Marc Routh, Tom Viertel and Steven Baruch—soon after. Their first collaboration was the Broadway run of Penn & Teller, the rights to which Frankel owned via the Circle Repertory Company. In the two decades since, Richard Frankel Productions has been responsible for a list of Broadway mega-hits as long as your arm. The company has also branched out geographically, and now puts on shows in Las Vegas, London, and Asia.

Of note

As part of the team behind The Producers, Frankel helped usher in the era of exorbitantly high ticket prices—top seats were listed at $480, a gambit intended to ward off scalpers (it wasn't bad for publicity, or for RFP's coffers, either). The company's backed a slew of other successes over the years, including Driving Miss Daisy; Tony Kushner's Angels in America; Terrence McNally's Frankie and Johnny in the Clair De Lune; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; Smoky Joe's Café; Swing!; the Marc Shaiman-directed Hairspray; Little Shop of Horrors; and Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd. Up next for RFP: They're working on a musical based on the Coen brothers' flick The Hudsucker Proxy.

Trophy case

Frankel and his partners have won 33 Tonys, 4 Grammys, 40 Drama Desk Awards, and a pair of Pulitzers over the years. The company also proudly notes on its website that their shows have been featured in New York Times crossword puzzles 10 times.

Personal

Frankel is married to playwright Kathleen Clark; their children include Liz, Clark, and Joshua. The Frankels live in Leonia, New Jersey.