Saturday, April 18, 2026

Theater Kid by Jeffery Seller

 


Theater Kid is a newly published theatre memoir and Jeffery Seller is the almost perfect person to write this show business miracle story. He was adopted, ping ponged between a hard-working mother and a mentally unstable philandering father, and was gay. Although his early sexual awakenings were unrecognized, salvation came in the form of a love for the theatre and a literal worship of musicals. This culminated in a deep desire to make theatre happen.  

He goes to New York after graduating from the University of Michigan and gets a job in a booking agency. From there, he learns show business from the bottom up, finds boyfriends in spite of the scourge of AIDS, and ultimately captures the golden ring by producing Rent. That opens the floodgates of success and he follows up with Tony Awards for Hamilton, In the  Heights, and Avenue Q.

Yes, all this, can be in your future too, but little time is spent on reminding the myriads of wannabees that Broadway Roulette, like all gambling operations, produces far more losers than winners.   

4 out of five

 

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