Producer Rocco Landesman Nominated As Next NEA Chairman

The New York Times is reporting that theatrical producer and race-track aficionado, Rocco Landesman, who brought hits like "Big River," "Angels in America" and "The Producers" to Broadway, has been nominated as the next chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.

The White House revealed the nomination earlier today, and official announcement is expected tomorrow, Wednesday, May, 13th. The news ends months of speculation about who would be selected to lead the nation's largest and most important arts organization explains The Times.

The White House declined to discuss the appointment before the announcement. Mr. Landesman, whose appointment must be confirmed by Congress, also declined to comment to the paper. To read the full Times article on the nomination click here.

Landesman grew up in St. Louis, where his father and uncle owned the Crystal Palace cabaret, giving young Rocco an early intro to stars like Barbra Streisand, Mike Nichols and Lenny Bruce. With a doctorate from the Yale School of Drama in hand, Landesman taught at the school for a spell, owned a handful of racehorses, and ran a small hedge fund before teaming up with the production company Dodger Theatricals. With Dodger, Landesman co-produced the retro musical Pump Boys and Dinettes in 1982 and the Tony-winning Big River in 1985. In 1987, he became president at Jujamcyn Theaters, the owner of five Broadway venues (the St. James, the Eugene O'Neill, the Al Hirschfeld, the Walter Kerr and the August Wilson) and the third-biggest Broadway theater owner behind the Shubert and Nederlander organizations.

The play that established Jujamcyn as a force to be reckoned with was David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly, which took home the Tony for Best Play in 1988. Over the next decade and a half, Landesman produced dozens of plays and musicals under the Jujamcyn banner, including hits like 42nd Street, City of Angels, Angels in America, Grease, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Kiss Me, Kate, Proof, Urinetown, and Tony Kushner's Caroline, or Change.

Following the death of Jujamcyn's chairman Jim Binger in 2005, Landesman bought the chain for a reported $30 million. Today, fellow Broadway producers Tom Viertel and Paul Libin also own a small stake in the company, and creative decisions are handled by Jujamcyn's artistic director, Jack Viertel, Tom's brother. Since the acquisition, Landesman has managed an extremely favorable hit/flop ratio, putting on successes like John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, Sweet Charity, Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, Jersey Boys, Grey Gardens, and Curtains. Jujamcyn's Eugene O'Neill Theater hosted the mega-hit Spring Awakening, which swept the Tonys in 2007, winning the Tony for Best Musical and six other statuettes.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is a United States federally funded and donation assisted program that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current chairman is the poet and former CEO Dana Gioia and it has its offices in the Old Post Office building, in Washington, D.C.

Photo Credit: BWW-Staff