Tony-winning producer Leonard Soloway died December 11 in Palm Springs. Born May 9, 1928, in Cleveland, Soloway began his theatrical career during his teens, working both onstage and backstage at Cleveland Play House. He graduated from Shaker Heights H.S. and studied acting at Carnegie Tech, but he clashed with his teachers and dropped out, moving to New York in 1947. He soon was hired as assistant stage manager for the ANTA production of Brecht’s Galileo starring Charles Laughton. Though Soloway hoped he might become an actor, as he became more involved behind the scenes, he realized there was more money in producing than in performing. In 1954, he earned his first Off-Broadaway program credit as stage manager for the Henry Street Settlement production of Giraudoux’s Electra.
In 1961, Soloway had his first Broadway program credit as house manager at the 46th Street (now Richard Rodgers) Theatre, then home to the Pulitzer-winning musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Over the next few years, he quickly rose through the ranks, serving as company manager for the revue New Faces of 1962, before landing a long-time gig as theater manager of Broadway’s Lunt Fontanne Theatre in 1965, then home to the musical Skyscraper. He produced his first Broadway show in 1966, the Hal Holbrook solo Mark Twain Tonight!, which you can sample below.
Soloway’s first Broadway musical production was the 1971 revue To Live Another Summer, To Pass Another Winter. Below is the original cast in the opening number, “Son of Man.” In 1973, he added general manager to his resume, serving in that capacity for the 1975 revue Rodgers & Hart and 1976 musical Rockabye Hamlet. He ended the decade with his first Drama Desk nomination and Tony Award win as producer of the 1977 Pulitzer-winning play The Shadow Box.
In the 1980s, Soloway continued as both producer and general manager on numerous shows. He produced the Cole Porter jukebox musical Happy New Year (1980) on Broadway and the Harlequinade Off-Broadway musical Head over Heels (1981). His Broadway general management credits during the decade include the Loesser revue Perfectly Frank (1980), Barbara Cook’s Concert for the Theatre (1987), and the Tony-winning revue Jerome Robbins’ Broadway (1989), which you can watch below at the 1989 Tony Awards.
During the 1990s, he was general manager of the Broadway musicals Those Were the Days (1990), Metro (1992), and The Goodbye Girl (1993) and was producer of the Off-Broadway plays Gross Indecency (1997), which earned him a Lortel Award, and As Bees in Honey Drown (1998), which earned him a Drama Desk nomination, as well as the Broadway play The Beauty Queen of Leenane (1998), which brought him a Tony nomination and Drama Desk win, and the Dame Edna solo The Royal Tour (1999), which brought him a special Tony Award. Below is The Goodbye Girl at the 1993 Tonys.
His productions in the 2000s included Tommy Tune’s Off-Broadway revue White Tie & Tails (2002), the Broadway musical Urban Cowboy (2003), the Off-Broadway musical From My Hometown (2004), and Whoopi Goldberg’s Broadway solo Whoopi (2004), which earned him a Tony nomination. He also served a general manager for the Broadway musicals Hot Feet (2006) and The Story of My Life (2009). His most recent producing credit was the Maurice Hines Off-Broadway revue Tappin’ Thru Life (2015), which brought Soloway a Lortel nomination. His life and career were showcased in the 2019 documentary Leonard Soloway’s Broadway.