The Shubert Organization

[jo]

Hugh Jackman Broadway shows have always been shown in a Shubert Theatre, except for The River.

It started with The Boy from Oz, from which he developed ties with the late Chairman/President of the Shubert Organization, Gerald Schoenfeld.

TBFO (Imperial), A Steady Rain (Schoenfeld), Back On Broadway ( Broadhurst), and the new revival of The Music Man ( Winter Garden).

During one show at Madison Square Garden for TheManTheMusicTheShow, Hugh welcomed the Shubert Organization Chairman/President Phil Smith.

Phil Smith is now retiring from the Shubert Organization.



variety.com/2020/legit/news/shubert-organization-philip-j-smith-broadway-1234642761/


These are the theatres which are part of the Shubert Organization --

shubert.nyc/theatres/

[mamaleh]

Smith only just retired at a pretty advanced age--88, wasn't it? I'm sure Hugh will miss his presence from the theater scene. Maybe he'll quasi stay on as emeritus or as a sometime consultant....?

I think the theater choice for THE RIVER might have been up to Sonia Freeman, the producer, and of course what theaters were then available. Could be no Shubert house was available at the time.

Ellen

[jo]

Phil Smith will become Chairman Emeritus.

I wonder how the Shubert Organization will cope this year where there is a possibility of NO-Broadway for the rest of the year?


Jo

[jo]

Hugh wrote the foreword to the book by Gerry Schoenfeld, as completed by his wife, Pat.


onstageandbackstage.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/jackman/

Hugh Jackman Writes About Gerald Schoenfeld in Mr. Broadway


The following is an excerpt from Mr. Broadway: The Inside Story of the Shuberts, the Shows, and the Stars by the late Gerald Schoenfeld. This is the foreword, written by Hugh Jackman.


Jackman and Schoenfeld, photo as printed in the book Mr. Broadway

When people meet me, usually their lasting impression is of my wife . . . after all, she is in my opinion far funnier, more interesting, and definitely sexier! The type of person who turns heads in whichever room she is in. . . .Well, I have to say my first memory of meeting Mr. Schoenfeld was a little similar. It was at a fancy London hotel off Hyde Park, I was with my good friends Ben Gannon and Robert Fox, the producers of The Boy from Oz, and we were going to tell him of our plan to bring the show to Broadway. It was around six p.m., and Mr. Schoenfeld had plans to go to the theater, so we were going to shake hands before they went to the show.

I was surprised when we went into the hotel that we went straight up to the room. I thought we might have met in the lobby, but no . . . Jerry was always authentic and down-to-earth, and—as I would say to him later during our decade of friendship—he was to me an honorary Australian . . . a man of old-fashioned values, where a handshake was stronger than any contract.

Jerry welcomed us not as the titan of Broadway, as he had been described to me, but in a very warm, genial, and up-front way. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Schoenfeld.” “Please call me Jerry. . . .Very nice to meet you, You”—Jerry always pronounced my name without the H… like a lot of genuine New Yorkers!—then straightaway said, “So . . . I know you are in movies, so are you really coming to Broadway with this show or what?”

Jerry always was to the point, and for the next ten years would say to me something similar: “Enough of all this movie shit, when are you coming home—when are you coming back to Broadway?” I told him yes, we shook hands . . . apparently that was it, it was done, then barely two minutes into our meeting, Pat came into the room wearing her bathrobe: “Jerry, have you seen my. . .”And I can’t remember the rest of the conversation. I immediately remembered I was in someone’s hotel room, and Pat didn’t blink an eyelid.We shook hands, I apologized for being there, and she told us to sit and relax, and I wondered how often things like this might have happened. For Pat it all seemed very normal. And like my wife, as big a personality as Jerry was, Pat somehow had that ability to turn heads effortlessly.

From that moment I knew we were going to be friends. I liked them both instantly, and very soon after, like would turn to love. Pat and Jerry invited me and my family to spend weekends with them upstate, we would go to the theater together, to restaurants, and all along I had that feeling that Jerry was not like a king but more like a father and brother all rolled into one.

The year I spent on Broadway doing The Boy from Oz was one of the greatest years of my life, with so many extraordinary memories. But one of my lasting impressions is the visits I would get from Jerry. Sometimes it would be just before I went onstage: “You,” Jerry in a very loud stage whisper would say, “I need to talk to you about something.” “Jerry, I am just about to go onstage.” “I know—it won’t take a second”. . . always made me laugh. But then, during the last song of the show, “Once Before I Go”, two to three times a week I would look out to the wings and there Jerry would be, a lover of the theater and one of the greatest supporters I have ever had. He told me how much he loved the show. . .maybe it was the resonance of the show’s themes of someone living their dreams, someone living life to the full, of having no regrets of the road traveled. And to me that was Jerry. Right up to his death Jerry was working . . .well, not that it was work to him. The theater was his domain, his church, his home. Talking to me about shows, sending me possible scripts for new shows, revivals . . . whatever.

The last night of Jerry’s life, Pat and he came to the premiere of my movie Australia. He came and grabbed me after the movie was over, upset that Pat thought it not a good idea to go to the after party, and said, “Very good, You . . . now enough of this movie business, when are you coming back home . . . to Broadway?” It would be only nine months later, in a show called A Steady Rain, with Daniel Craig . . . a fourteen-week run, and in which theater? The Schoenfeld, of course!

I can’t wait to read this book. I knew Jerry for only ten years. He changed my life in so many ways; now it is really time for me to learn about the other seventy years. Thank you, Pat, for making this book happen . . . and secretly I will always picture you working on it … in your bathrobe!

[mamaleh]

I was lucky enough to be present at the AUSTRALIA premiere at the Ziegfeld Theater. A fellow Hugh fan and I were also fortunate enough to be able to chat with Hugh--and his dad--after the film. As they made their way towards the rear of the orchestra section, Hugh noticed us and graciously introduced us to his dad Chris. Both were so charming and friendly--what a topper to that fabulous evening.

Afterwards, as I began to take the stairs down to the designated exit, I noticed Jerry and Pat Schoenfeld on the same stairway. He was walking very slowly, and I thought he looked very pale, as I remarked to my husband. I was saddened to learn that he passed away only hours later. I'm really glad HJ had forged a lasting relationship with the Schoenfelds.

Ellen

[jo]

Thanks for sharing, Ellen.

That bond between Hugh and Mr.Broadway ( as Jerry Schoenfeld was sometimes called, although some also give Hugh that moniker ) -- was unexpected given the disparity in age ...and Hugh coming more from a movie background when he first came to Broadway. I do recall that the last revival project he was persuading Hugh to take on was STOP THE WORLD, I WANT TO GET OFF. But Hugh had many options and that did not prosper.

Jo

[jo]

[jo]

I think he was more lowkey than his predecessor at the Shubert Organization, Gerald Schonfeld. But his life seemed one of full dedication to and love of the theatre and Broadway.

abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/philip-smith-led-shubert-organization-dies-89-75282032

NEW YORK -- Philip J. Smith, who rose from box office treasurer at the Imperial Theatre on Broadway to chairman and co-CEO of the theatrical giant Shubert Organization, has died from complications from COVID-19, according to his daughters. He was 89.

In a career that spanned 63 years, Smith worked in every department of the Shubert Organization and was named general manager of all Shubert Theatres in 1964. The Shubert Organization owns and operates 17 Broadway theatres and six off-Broadway venues.

Smith “influenced every aspect of the professional theatre and earned the respect and admiration of everyone from the stage doormen to the greatest performers and creative talents of our time,” Robert E. Wankel, chairman and CEO of The Shubert Organization, said in a statement.

Smith would assume the role of president, and in 2008, he was named chairman and co-CEO alongside Robert E. Wankel. Smith retired in June 2020 and also stepped down as chairman of The Shubert Foundation, the company’s nonprofit arm.

In 2011, Smith was honored with a special Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in recognition of his contributions to the theater industry. “We may live in smartphones and iPads, but nothing will ever replace the magic of Broadway. I’m so proud to be a part of it,” he said at the time.

Smith was promoted to Shubert vice president in 1969, a post he held for 15 years. One of his most important innovations was the introduction of credit cards as a method of buying show tickets. He was also instrumental in the establishment of the Times Square TKTS discount ticket booth. He helped decide what Broadway-goers would see, sometimes produced shows and often invested in them, negotiated labor contracts and maintained the aging theaters.

“It’s never boring here,” he told Playbill in 2005. “I come in here in the morning, and I have no idea what’s going to happen in the course of the day. It can just change, turn around, spin off in any number of directions. And that’s the way my entire life in the theatre has been.

When he was inducted in the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2015, Tony Award-winner Bernadette Peters was chosen to honor Smith. “It’s no secret you have always been head-over-heels in love with Broadway. You share the excitement we all feel about putting on a show. You have a magic touch that makes all of us feel nurtured and protected,” she wrote.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, he was the eldest son of Irish immigrants. Smith was an usher at a Brooklyn movie theater in high school and not long after became head usher, overseeing 28 staffers.

He became assistant manager of the Palace Theatre on Broadway, where he met Judy Garland. One Sunday night, she called him, upset that she didn’t have any whiskey to serve backstage visitors.

All liquor stores were closed, but a quick-thinking Smith went to a tavern across the street and convinced the bar tender to loan him several bottles.

At 26, he landed a job in the box office of the Imperial Theatre. He recalled in his Tony speech that it was 1957 and the show there was “The Most Happy Fella” by Frank Loesser.

He would soon impress Shubert lawyer Bernie Jacobs. “They both had a sense of honesty and fairness in a business that did not lack for shady characters,” according to “Razzle Dazzle,” by Michael Riedel.

He is survived by his daughters, Linda and Jennifer.

[jo]

Michael Riedel shares stories about Phil Smith --

broadwaynews.com/2021/01/19/remembering-philip-j-smith-a-behind-the-scenes-broadway-power-player/?AID=EML005000016&cm_mmc=The-Scoop-_-affiliate-_-email-_-EML005000016&cm_mmca1=newsletter&cm_lm=[e-mail]&cluid=[e-mail]&utm_source=delivra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20210126%20The%20Scoop&utm_id=40787208&dlv-emuid=dcde176d-54fc-4514-9326-c0a8311c43ca&dlv-mlid=40787208