630. On Broadway, Nobody Knows Nothing

A hit like Hamilton can come from nowhere while a sure bet can lose $20 million in a flash. We speak with some of the biggest producers in the game — Sonia Friedman, Jeffrey Seller, Hal Luftig — and learn that there is only one guarantee: the theater owners always win. (Part two of a three-part series.)

SOURCES:Debby Buchholz • , managing director of La Jolla Playhouse. Sonia Friedman • , Broadway producer. Rocco Landesman • , Broadway producer, former owner of Jujamcyn Theaters, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. Hal Luftig • , Broadway producer. Luis Miranda Jr. • , political strategist, founding president of the Hispanic Federation, the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, Viva Broadway, and The Public Theater. Michael Rushton • , professor of arts administration at Indiana University. Jeffrey Seller • , Broadway producer. Richard Winkler • , Broadway producer. Stacy Wolf • , professor of theater at Princeton University.

RESOURCES:Theater Kid: A Broadway Memoir, • by Jeffrey Seller (2025). Relentless: My Story of the Latino Spirit That Is Transforming America, • by Luis Miranda Jr. (2024). Beyond Broadway: The Pleasure and Promise of Musical Theatre Across America, • by Stacy Wolf (2019). • " ‘Hamilton’ Inc.: The Path to a Billion-Dollar Broadway Show • ," by Michael Paulson and David Gelles (New York Times, • 2016). • " On the Performing Arts: The Anatomy of Their Economic Problems • ," by W.J. Baumol and W.G. Bowen (The American Economic Review, • 1965).

EXTRAS: • “ How to Make the Coolest Show on Broadway • ,” by Freakonomics Radio • (2024). • “ You Can Make a Killing, but Not a Living • ,” by Freakonomics Radio • (2024).

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