Broadway producer Jeffrey Seller, from ‘RENT’ to ‘Hamilton’

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The 2026 Tony Award nominees were announced this week, with numerous nominations for the musicals Lost Boys, Schmigadoon, and the revival of ragtime. Our guest today was a key behind-the-scenes figure in two Broadway mega hits, Rent and Hamilton. Each won a Pulitzer Prize for drama and multiple Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Our guest, Jeffrey Seller, produced Rent with his business partner. Seller's own company produced Hamilton.

He also was a producer of Lynn Manuel Miranda's first musical, In the Heights, as well as the satirical adult puppet musical, Avenue Q, and the revival of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, starring Josh Groben. You might assume, since his skills include raising money to produce shows, that he's from money, but he's most definitely not. His family was often broke or close to it. He grew up in a neighborhood outside Detroit that was nicknamed Cardboard Village because the houses were so cheap and shoddy. Seller is the author of the memoir Theatre Kid.

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