AUGUST 25 • 2022 | 75

investors with many production 
responsibilities.
“I grew up in Brooklyn in a 
relatively poor environment, 
and my escape in life was 
going to the movies,
” said the 
producer, who made his way 
up to serving as chairman and 
president of the Film Society of 
Lincoln Center.
“When I grew older, my 
mother took me to the theater, 
and that’s where I learned you 
can actually create these worlds. 
What you learn in theater is 
that you take this stage and do 
anything with it. 
“
As I became more successful, 
I went to a lot of shows and got 
to know the theater business. 
They would call me and ask if I 
wanted to invest in a show, and 
I was only too happy to do that.
”
As Furman’s investments 
grew, he added his creative 
voice and people listened. 

Important to mapping out 16 
Tony Award-winning plays and 
musicals, he has been closely 
tied to Moulin Rouge!, The 
Ferryman, The Color Purple 
and Dear Evan Hansen among 
many successes with travels to 
Michigan. 
While making arrangements 
for Leopoldstadt, he has seven 
productions currently being 
staged in New York.
Among Furman’s 
responsibilities for the new 
production have been raising 
money, budgeting, booking 
the theater and seeing that a 
large New York cast worked 
under the direction of Patrick 
Marber, also a playwright and 
screenwriter who directed 
Stoppard’s script of Travesties in 
2018. 
Furman’s move to Michigan 
came after marrying Marjorie 
Fisher, the daughter of the late 

Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher. 
The couple met in 2014, after he 
lost his first wife to cancer, and 
they each brought two grown 
children into their blended 
family.
“Michigan has been a great 
surprise to me,
” Furman said. 
“I’m not a Midwesterner at all. 
I didn’t know the ethos or the 
nature of the people until I met 
Margie and learned how nice 
these people are. 
“I learned some of my best 
friends in New York were born 
in Ohio, Michigan and Iowa. 
I’ve become a big Blue fan 
because Margie is a professor 
at the university, and we tend 
to go to some of the games that 
Michigan plays. 
“When our friends come to 
Michigan, they stay with us, and 
we take them to our favorite 
places, such as Greenfield 
Village, Cranbrook and the 

Detroit Zoo. I’m a big baseball 
fan, and we have a box at 
Comerica Park, Margie’s father’s 
original box, in the first row 
behind the dugout. When the 
game is done, I love Buddy’s 
Pizza.
”
As September approaches, 
Furman is thinking about 
audiences’ reactions to 
Leopoldstadt and its future in 
the United States.
“We’re selling many tickets 
and keeping the run open-
ended,
” Furman said. “The 
need for a tour, I believe, will 
diminish because of the large 
cast and because audiences find 
themselves in New York.
” 

Details
Leopoldstadt tickets 
are available online at 
Telecharge.com or by 
calling (212) 239-6200.

