While a professional theatre training pipeline has been established in the United States over the last 25 years, many of theatre’s most beloved legends actually enter the industry in circuitous ways. For three-time Tony Award-winning director Jack O'Brien (now at the helm of The Roommate on Broadway with Patti LuPone and Mia Farrow), it all started in a fraternity house on campus at the University of Michigan.
“Pledges had to go to fraternity and sorority houses at dinner time and sell tickets for this theatre company that was coming to Ann Arbor as our resident group,” O’Brien chuckles. The theatre in question: The APA Repertory Company. "If I ever had an epiphany of sorts in my life, this was it. I had seen a lot of theatre, I had studied, sort of accidentally, at Michigan. I had a pretty good singing voice. I did a musical comedy. And then I saw this company, and they were incandescent.”
Utterly besotted with every aspect of the APA Rep, O’Brien thrust himself into the mix by doing any odd job they could think of, from walking dogs to picking up groceries. When the company left Michigan, he went with it, and in time, he wore down founding artistic director Ellis Rabb to become its associate assistant director. “Ellis loved telling people, years later, that, ‘I really didn't like him much at the beginning.’ But,” O’Brien shrugs, ”I persevered.” The APA Rep produced a number of shows on Broadway, including the 1967 You Can't Take It With You, O'Brien's Broadway debut.
Throughout his career, O'Brien has experienced the highest of highs (sweeping the Tonys in 2003 with Hairspray), and his fare share of lows (his 1972 original musical, The Selling of the President, closed three days after opening night). After all, a 60 year career can't always be wine and roses. "You’re as fond, maybe even fonder, of the failures than you are of the successes. Because failure teaches you what you don’t know, success just feels good.”
To see O’Brien disclose the secrets of his successful career, including his sparring match with a 105-year-old George Abbott, how he helped produce Into the Woods, and the latest update on the Hairspray revival, check out his full interview above.
Known primarily as a director, O’Brien has also written the book for a handful of musicals, led the immensely influential Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, and even dabbled in lyric writing. He also recently won the 2024 Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement. With a sweeping range of iconic Broadway credits—including Hairspray, Shucked, The Full Monty, Into the Woods, and Damn Yankees—fans may be surprised by the show he would most like to revive.
“This made my reputation," he said, referring to the 1976 Broadway revival of Porgy and Bess. "The Houston Grand Opera wanted to do the uncut Porgy and Bess, something Gershwin himself never heard. It was always cut, before it was ever even produced. I was the last person hired for this revival, and the whitest person you've ever seen in your life.” O’Brien traces the cover of the Playbill with his index finger, a small smile returning to his face. “The first day of rehearsals, I assembled these beautiful, gorgeous singers, and I said, ‘I'm not sure I even belong here. I don't. I know that this is about a community, and I'm not a member of your community. You'll have to help me, if you'll tell me when I'm right and when I'm wrong, we will be okay.’ They were gobsmacked, no one had ever asked their opinions, they just told them. If I have any validity as a director today, it's because of those people who taught me honesty, who taught me compassion, and who answered my questions from their heart.”
Currently, O'Brien is doing double duty as he brings The Roommate starring Patti LuPone and Mia Farrow to Broadway, and prepares the corny musical comedy Shucked for tour (following a well-received Broadway run).
"Shucked is the single funniest show I've ever done," O'Brien slaps the table, bursting with vigor. "There are 178 laughs in that show. I counted them. It didn't matter who showed up. It didn't matter who said them. 178 laughs. That's a good night out! And The Roommate...It reminds me of why I'm still doing this. On the first day of rehearsal, I said to Patti, 'Has it occurred to you that the last time you and I met in a rehearsal hall was 50 years ago?' How lucky we are to still be here."
