Theodore S. Chapin Will Be Honored With the Floria V. Lasky Award

The directors of The Jerome Robbins Foundation today announced that Theodore S. Chapin, President and Chief Creative Officer of The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization: A Concord Company, will be honored with the Floria V. Lasky Award in recognition of his invaluable contributions to the cultural landscape of New York City.

Ellen Sorrin, a director of The Jerome Robbins Foundation, said "Floria was a force of nature, all for the benefit of her belief that culture was the key to a meaningful and balanced life. Her entire career was devoted to successfully representing her clients; to furthering learning by her involvement with Hunter College, among other institutions; and to advocating for theater, literature, dance and music."

The Floria V. Lasky Award, presented by The Jerome Robbins Foundation, is given in honor of one of the most influential and successful entertainment attorneys in the world of dance, theater, literature and music. Ms. Lasky's daughters, Emily Altman, President of The Frederick Loewe Foundation, and Dara Altman, Chief Administrative Officer and Executive Vice President at Sirius XM Radio, will present the award to Mr. Chapin at a private reception on Friday, April 17, in New York City.

"I loved Floria", said Mr. Chapin. "She was tough, that was clear, and I, in my Rodgers & Hammerstein role, often represented the 'other side.' She always reminded me of her victories in the past, but was always smart, and knew her clients well. The moment she said, 'I think you'd better speak directly to Jerry about that...' was when I knew we were kindred spirits. I am more than honored to be given an award that's named for her."

Past recipients of the Floria V. Lasky Award include Jody Arnhold, Cora Cahan, Oskar Eustis, Gina Gibney, Karen Brooks Hopkins, Joseph V. Melillo, and New York City Center.

Ted Chapin, President and Chief Creative Officer, The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization: A Concord Company, was chosen by the Rodgers and Hammerstein families to run their office. He expanded it into the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, which continues to be responsible for management of the copyrights created by Richard Rodgers and/or Oscar Hammerstein II. That brought him into working with Floria Lasky, an experience he found utterly fascinating.

On Ted's watch, there have been new major productions of their musicals on Broadway (eight Tony Awards for Best Revival so far - Oklahoma!, On Your Toes, Carousel, Show Boat, Annie Get Your Gun, South Pacific, and The King and I - twice!), in London, and around the world. He brought in the representation of other extraordinary musical artists including Irving Berlin.

In addition to revivals, he has encouraged new Broadway productions, among them Irving Berlin's White

Christmas, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella, State Fair, A Grand Night for Singing, and Holiday Inn, and major highly rated television productions The Sound of Music Live! on NBC and the multi-racial Cinderella with Whitney Houston on ABC.

Ted was the co-founder of the Encores! series at New York City Center, chairman of the American Theater Wing, and has been a host and interviewer on many television shows, including three seasons of NJTV's American Songbook at NJPAC, and Working in the Theater and Careers in the Theater for the Wing. He appears in various documentary films on the musical theater. He was the producer
of the 2018 and 2019 seasons of the 92nd Street Y's Lyrics and Lyricists series. His first program was the well-received Jonathan Groff in the Bobby Darin Songbook.

In 2003 his book "Everything Was Possible: The Birth of the Musical Follies" based on his experience as the production assistant on the original Broadway production of the Sondheim/Prince musical, was published by Knopf. It won both an ASCAP/Deems Taylor Award and a Special Jury Prize for Distinguished Achievement by the Theatre Library Association. It is currently in print by Applause Books.

Currently he serves on several boards including New York City Center, The American Theater Wing, Goodspeed Musicals, and the Kurt Weill Foundation, where he serves as Chairman. He is an Emeritus Trustee of Connecticut College. He has been on panels of the National Endowment for the Arts, served as a judge several times for the Lotte Lenya Competition, was a speaker at the initial Kent Presents,

and has been a guest lecturer at many universities including Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Duke, Pace, Belmont, Lawrence, and NYU. He has been honored with the UJA Excellence in Theater Award, the Leonard Harris Award from City Center, and awards from TDF, the Fred and Adele Astaire Awards, CSC, Symphony Space, and the Astoria Performing Arts Center.

His career began as production assistant for the Broadway productions of Follies, The Rothschilds, and The Unknown Soldier and His Wife, and as associate to director Alan Arkin on the original Broadway production of Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys and the CBS-TV production of Twigs with Carol Burnett. He was also, odd though it may sound, the musical director for Gertrude Stein and Virgil

Thomson's Four Saints in Three Acts mounted by The National Theatre of the Deaf.

The Floria V. Lasky Award is given in tribute to one of the most influential and successful entertainment attorneys in the world of dance, theater, literature, and music. Floria Lasky entered Hunter College at the age of 14. After graduating first in her class from New York University law school in 1945, she joined the law firm of Fitelson & Mayers, where she stayed for the next 62 years, eventually becoming a partner. A master negotiator, she was a leader in the field of entertainment law. For more than fifty years, she represented Jerome Robbins, and she continued to serve as president of The Jerome Robbins Foundation and trustee of The Robbins Rights Trust until she passed away in 2007.

The Jerome Robbins Foundation. Jerome Robbins established the Foundation in 1958 with the intent to support dance, theater, and their associative arts. The Foundation supports dance and theater companies, presenting organizations, the Jerome Robbins Dance Division at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and created initiatives such as the Floria V. Lasky Symposium and Project Springboard: Developing Dance Musicals to support the field of the performing arts and the issues challenging its mission to remain an integral part of life in our ever-changing times. The Jerome Robbins Foundation is led by Christopher Pennington (Executive Director), Allen Greenberg and Ellen Sorrin.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos

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