74 | AUGUST 25 • 2022
ARTS&LIFE
THEATER
T
here’s a Michigan con-
nection to the upcom-
ing Broadway run of
Tom Stoppard’s latest play,
Leopoldstadt, this title taken
from the historical name of a
Jewish section of
Vienna and in con-
sideration of the
playwright’s family
history tied to the
story.
Roy Furman,
married to
University of Michigan faculty
member Marjorie Fisher in
2015 and spending part of the
year in Detroit’s Birmingham
suburb, is a stage producer who
offered to join British producer
Sonia Friedman in bringing the
play to New York.
The drama, which received
the Olivier Award (British
Tony) in 2020, starts running
Sept. 14 and officially opens
Oct. 2 at the Longacre Theatre.
It is not a Holocaust play, but
the Holocaust enters into the
telling of the Merz family.
Stoppard’s 19th play on
Broadway is by the author of
four Best Play Tony Awards,
the largest number given to one
playwright.
“It’s a forever story that needs
to be told, and it’s told beautiful-
ly by a master storyteller,
” said
Furman, a Harvard Law School
graduate who practiced law,
moved into finance and then
entered theater production. “It’s
simply a great play, and I’m very
excited about it.
“I saw it in London just
before COVID, and I went at
once to meet with the London
producer. After some discus-
sions, we agreed that I would
partner with her. As our third
producer, we added Lorne
Michaels, creator and executive
producer of Saturday Night
Live.”
The play, which begins at
the end of the 19th century
and ends in the middle of the
20th century, moves from the
pogroms of Eastern Europe
through successes in Vienna,
where there is a rise and fall of
the Jewish population.
“
Although there will not
be performances on Rosh
Hashanah, we think the time
of the High Holidays will be a
good time to reveal this story,
”
said Furman, who attends ser-
vices at the Central Synagogue
in New York City, where he
has an apartment in addition
to Florida and Michigan resi-
dences.
“This is an ensemble piece,
and the star is really writer Tom
Stoppard. It has a cast of 38
people including youngsters.
My hope is that it becomes a
fixture in New York, and I’m
positive this will go on many
months.
”
A LOVE OF THEATER
Furman worked his way up in
production, which he defines at
three levels he has fulfilled —
investors, investors with limited
production responsibilities and
Michigan producer Roy Furman
brings Leopoldstadt to the
New York stage this September.
Roy
Furman
SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Some of the Leopoldstadt cast
visited the Neue Galerie to immerse
and educate themselves on early
20th-century German and Austrian
art and design as they prepare for
this deeply moving play.
CARRINGTON SPIRES