B’way giant Jimmy dead
A true titan
NEW YORK, July 27, (Agencies): James M. Nederlander, who took over the fledgling Nederlander Organization from his father and built it into one of the largest producers of live entertainment and a dominant national theater chain that includes nine Broadway houses, has died. He was 94.
“The world has lost one of its great impresarios”, said his son, James L. Nederlander, who confirmed his father died on Monday. A cause was not disclosed. Known as Jimmy, the elder Nederlander produced or coproduced more than 100 shows including “Annie”, “Copenhagen”, “The Will Rogers Follies”, “Les Liaisons Dangereuses”, “La Cage aux Folles”, “Nine”, “Noises Off” and “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby”.
Nederlander famously rejected anyone who claimed to have a rational way to predict which shows would be hits as opposed to flops. “Nobody can,” he would say. “I trust my gut.”
He won a dozen Tony Awards as a producer or co-producer — including a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2004 — and has presented operas, ballets, concerts and artists ranging from Rudolf Nureyev to Frank Sinatra to U2.
Great
Condolences were quick to arrive. Theater icon Andrew Lloyd Webber tweeted: “Farewell Jimmy, truly the end of a great theatrical era”. Kate Shindle, the president of the Actors Equity Association union wrote: “RIP to a true titan”.
The Nederlander Organization is one of three big theater chains on Broadway. The Shubert Organization owns 16 theaters outright, and Jujamcyn Theaters owns five. Nederlander’s stable is bigger than its rivals once its theaters nationwide and in London are added to the mix.
One of Nederlander’s most lucrative business collaborations is with the Walt Disney Co, which started in 1994 when Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” opened at the Palace Theatre. Since then, “Aida”, “Tarzan”, “The Little Mermaid” and “Newsies” all found a home at a Nederlander house. Nederlander’s Minskoff Theatre is the home of Disney’s “The Lion King”.
Founded by David T. Nederlander, the Nederlander Organization began in 1912 with the purchase of a 99year lease on the old Detroit Opera House. In 1939, the then-17-year-old Jimmy left school to join the family business — sweeping the lobby, working as an usher and a stagehand and selling tickets in the box office.
Reopened
By 1943, Jimmy Nederlander was in New York City as a serviceman in the Army Air Forces and worked as box-office treasurer for a production of Moss Hart’s “Winged Victory”. In 1964, his father bought the Palace Theatre, a historic vaudeville house that had gone into decline. After a two-year renovation, Nederlander’s reopened the Palace with Bob Fosse’s production of “Sweet Charity”, starring Gwen Verdon. After his father died in 1967, Nederlander took over running the family business.
In addition to the Palace, Nederlander’s eight other Broadway venues in New York are the Brooks Atkinson, Gershwin, Lunt-Fontanne, Marquis, Minskoff, Nederlander, Richard Rodgers and Neil Simon theaters.
Outside New York, its venues include the Auditorium and Bank of America theatres, the Broadway Playhouse, Cadillac Palace and Oriental theatres, all in Chicago; the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles; and the Adelphi, Aldwych and Dominion theatres in London.
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Joe Napolitano, the TV director known for his work on “Quantum Leap” and “The xfiles”, passed away on July 23 in Los Angeles after losing his battle with cancer. He was 67.
Napolitano’s career in directing and producing spanned over thirtyfour years and his television credits numbered over forty episodes of prime time dramas, including “Picket Fences”, “Northern Exposure” “E.R.”, and “Boston Public”.
He directed 12 episodes of “Quantum Leap” between 1990 and 1992, four episodes of “JAG” between 1995 and 1997 and two episodes of “The xfiles” series in 1993 and 1994.
In addition to television, Joe served as first assistant director on such classic Hollywood films as “Scarface”, “Parenthood”, “Throw Momma From the Train”, “The Fisher King”, “The Untouchables”, “Body Double”, “Blow Out”, and “The Pope of Greenwich Village”.