This very affectionate profile is of a disarmingly charming octogenarian Broadway legend that no-one outside of the theater world has ever heard of. Including us. This better-late-than-ever documentary on Leonard Soloway the producer/general manager of over 100 shows that garnered over 40 Tony Awards and 60 Tony Nominations is a sheer delight from the opening credits to the final scenes. There are no show business exposes or in fact much fine detail on Soloway’s personal life, but what we do get is a look at one of the old fashioned gentleman producers that epitomises a golden age that has long past.
At 87 Soloway decides to actually retire and has the movers pack up the Manhattan apartment that he had lived in for over 40 years to his new house in East Hampton. He was bored to death within three months, so sold up and shipped all his belongings back to the city to an apartment one of his many friends had lent him.
Despite a two year marriage to actress Betty Gillette, Soloway was one of the first openly gay men in Broadway management. It was 1950, he was 30 years old and judging by the array of photographs of very handsome men that still adorn his bookcase, he had no shortage of lovers.
His story starts when his mother suggested he go and volunteer at the Cleveland Playhouse. He was 11 years and was totally smitten with the theater, and by the time he was 18 had moved to Off Broadway . His infectious passion for his work and the fact he was more than happy to do it 7 days a week, had him successfully climbing the ladder in no time.
Soloway had a wealth of stories about the stars he produced and managed and who all became his friend. Filmmaker Katy Scroggin interviewed several Broadway legends who were literally tripping over each other to sing his praises and declare their love for him.
There are fascinating stories like the one where he had to ‘sack’ a young Bernadette Peters out of town when her part was cut from the show, it freed her up however and she landed a role in Dames At Sea her first big hit. Now she credits Soloway to making her star. The other tale that stood out and seemed surprising was when Marlene Dietrich summoned him to the theater at 8am one Monday Morning. It was the day of the Opening of her new Show and she wanted her dressing room painted, but to Soloway’s shock she actually wanted to do it herself. And she did. He also shared that this woman who had a reputation for being ‘impossible’ to work with actually brought the whole orchestra dinner, that she had cooked herself, after ever matinee performance.
Of all the ‘difficult’ Broadway people Soloway had to deal with Jerome Robbins was probably one of the worse. He had been pushing his cast of 62 very hard for six months of rehearsals. So one day Soloway stepped in and sent them all home for a break, and when Robbins challenged this, Soloway’s refusal to back down was overheard by a stage hand who spread the news subsequently making Soloway a Broadway hero,
Scroggin’s cameras follow Soloway as he falls in love with the tap dancer Maurice Hines new show out of town, and commits himself to bringing it into New York. He manages to do this and the show opens at the Second Stage Theater to rave reviews, but is so under-financed that Soloway cannot keep it open. It is a rude awakening as he realises that the whole landscape of mounting shows has changed, and that so many of the investors who had supported hmi for years, have now died. However despite his declaration of ‘never again’ it is not too long when Solway starts another out-of-town run for a play that he so desperately wanted to produce.
Broadway producer Manny Azenberg jokes “If you get to a certain age and you are still coherent, then you should a documentary on them” but if anyone deserves for his story to be shared, then it’s definitely Leonard Soloway, the like of which we will never see again
Labels: 2019, Broadway, documentary, Leonard Soloway
