International Producer and Industry Pioneer Toby Simkin Passes Away at 59

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report the passing of international theatre producer Toby Simkin, who died earlier this week in his home in Shanghai. He was 59 years old.

Simkin is perhaps best known for his work in ushering the theatre industry into the internet age in the 1990s, creating the first online ticketing system.

Toby served as President and chief operating officer of Theatre.com Inc., a company he founded as Buy Broadway in 1995, which he started as a way to reach more international ticket buyers for his production of Victor/Victoria. Simkin personally produced the vast majority of online marketing campaigns and websites for over 100 Broadway shows and 50 companies on Broadway and in the West End. 

His many producing credits included: The Female of the Species (West End); I Am My Own Wife (West End, Broadway and USA tour); Death of a Salesman (West End and Broadway); Vanessa Redgrave and Brian Dennehy in Long Day’s Journey into Night (Broadway); Liam Neeson and Laura Linney in The Crucible (Broadway) and Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria (Broadway).

In Asia, his credits included the national tours of 42nd Street (China); Elton John & Tim Rice's AIDA (China), LUMA (China), FAME (China), Jekyll & Hyde (Taiwan) and The Rocky Horror Show (Korea, New Zealand, Singapore).