A Mother’s Story

Alice Burdick Schweiger | Special to the Jewish News

C

Daveed Diggs (far left) and Lin-Manuel Miranda (far right) in Hamilton

between love and the glamorous
world of Hollywood. A Cirque du
Soleil theatrical, it has a cast of 38
and stars Jeremy Kushnier. At the
Lyric Theatre. (800) 982-2787.
The Humans takes place dur-
ing a family Thanksgiving dinner.
The father is a janitor living in
Scranton, Pa., and his family cele-
brates the holiday at the daughter’s
New York City pre-war duplex
apartment. As darkness falls, mys-
terious things happen and family
tensions rise. Directed by Joe
Mantello, the associate director is
David Perlow. The play has six
Tony nominations and closes July
24. At the Helen Hayes Theatre.
(212) 239-6200.
Tuck Everlasting, based on
Natalie Babbitt’s beloved book of
the same name, takes the audi-
ence on an unforgettable journey
about love, family and living life to
the fullest. Orchestrations by John
Clancy and musical supervision
by Ron Berman. The Broadhurst
Theatre. (212) 239-6200.
Waitress stars Jessie Mueller as

a waitress and expert pie maker in
a small town and a loveless mar-
riage. Pregnant, Jenna fears she
may have to abandon the dream
of opening her own pie shop until
a baking contest and a handsome,
new-to-town doctor offers her a
tempting recipe for happiness.
Written by Adrienne Shelly, who
was murdered in New York City
in 2006. The show earned four
Tony nominations. At the Brooks
Atkinson Theatre. (877) 250-2929.

OFFBROADWAY
Indecent, penned by Pulitzer
Prize-winning playwright Paula
Vogel, is co-created with Rebecca
Taichman and inspired by
Sholem Asch’s Yiddish play God
of Vengeance. A love story of two
women, God of Vengeance was con-
troversial when it was performed
in 1923. Some Jews thought it was
a determining work of Jewish cul-
ture and others felt it was disloyal.
Indecent charts the history of the
artists who risked their careers and
lives to perform in this provoca-

tive play. Music composed by Lisa
Gutkin (Klezmatics) and Aaron
Halva. The play runs through June
12. At the Vineyard Theatre. (212)
353-0303.
Out of the Mouths of Babes,
written by Israel Horovitz, is a
comedy about four women arriv-
ing in Paris for the funeral of a
100-year-old man who loved each
of them — sometimes simultane-
ously. The women share his apart-
ment, secrets and a dead cat. Stars
Estelle Parsons and Judith Ivy. At
the Cherry Lane Theatre. (866)
811-4111.
Himself and Nora tells about
the country girl from Galway
whose burning sexuality and
wit inspired the genius of James
Joyce. This musical reveals the
private life of one of modern
literature’s most controversial
figures and illustrates the untold
story of Joyce’s lifelong love.
Jonathan Brielle is the writer/
composer. The show opens June
6. At the Minetta Lane Theatre.
(800) 745-3000.

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Gabriel Byrne and Jessica Lange in Long Day’s Journey Into Night

aroline Seller is the mother
of the man behind one of
the biggest cultural phenomena
in America.
Her son, Jeffrey Seller, is the
lead producer of Hamilton, the
hip-hop musical about Alexander
Hamilton, which is hailed as the
biggest mega-hit in the history
of Broadway, not to mention the
toughest ticket to obtain. It just
earned 16 Tony nominations —
the most ever for any show on
the New York stage.
“I have always been very proud
of Jeffrey because he’s always
been a terrific person, but what
he has accomplished is beyond,”
says Seller, a 1957 Mumford High
graduate who lives in Farmington
Hills. “Here I am, one person —
how did I get to be the mother of
someone who is so well-known,
so successful? It’s amazing — he
will call me and tell me he was
just at the White House.”
Not in their wildest dreams did
Jeffrey or his mom ever predict
the frenzy over Hamilton. “We
certainly never anticipated this,
but when the show was still Off-
Broadway, moving to Broadway,
the New York Times called it ‘the
musical of the decade’ and now
people are calling it the best
musical of all time. The last time I
was in New York, I walked by the
theater and hundreds of people
were waiting in lines just to sign
up for the lottery for a ticket.”
Tickets to Hamilton are nearly
impossible to get — though the
face value for a ticket is $67 to
$477 (and sold out for a year),
tickets are selling on market sites
up to several thousand dollars.
It’s been reported that the show
is averaging more than $500,000
in profit every week.
It’s not surprising that many
people ask Caroline to get them
tickets. “But I can’t — unless it’s
close family or friends, and even
then it’s hard,” she says, adding
that she’s been fortunate enough
to see the show three times so
far.
The power of the show reaches
beyond Broadway — the U.S.
Treasury Secretary was going to
replace Alexander Hamilton’s pic-
ture with Harriet Tubman’s on the
$10 bill, but because of the popu-
larity of the show, they replaced
Andrew Jackson on the front of
the $20 bill instead. (Jackson’s
face is on the back of the bill.)
Feeling strongly that kids
should see the show — especially
those who can’t afford to pay for

a ticket — Jeffrey lets school-age
students come for $10. “He has
always wanted young people to
become interested in musical
theater, and when Rent opened
he was the first person to make
the front row $20 so people who
couldn’t afford to see it would be
able to.”
Jeffrey, 51 and born and raised
in Oak Park, has had a passion
for theater practically his whole
life. “Jeffrey was always self-
motivated, loved musical theater
and made the right choices,” his

Jeffrey Seller and Caroline Seller
at the opening of Avenue Q

mom says. “He went from being
in the Purim play at Temple Israel,
where he had his bar mitzvah,
to school musicals in Oak Park,
theaters in Detroit, shows at U-M,
where he went to college, and
directing community theaters in
Ann Arbor.”
He first found fame when he
produced Rent with then-busi-
ness partner Kevin McCollum.
At the time, Rent was a ground-
breaking musical — and went
on to win a Tony for Best Musical
before running on Broadway for
12 years. Jeffrey met Lin-Manuel
Miranda (creator, composer and
star of Hamilton) when he and
McCollum produced his show In
The Heights, which won four Tony
Awards, including Best Musical.
Seller and his partner of 19
years, Josh Lehrer, a photog-
rapher, have two children — a
13-year-old daughter (who
recently had a bat mitzvah) and
12-year-old son. Jeffrey will be
at the Tony Awards and, if all the
predictions are accurate, he will
be seen on stage accepting the
award for Best Musical.
And his mom, as she has
with all of Jeffrey’s other Tony-
nominated shows, will be sitting
in the audience.

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June 2 • 2016

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