My New Production, Peter and The StarCatcher, Co-Produced by Disney

Exciting news: my latest endeavor as a Broadway producer includes Peter and the StarCatcher, which will be co-produced with Disney. Like Wicked, Rick Elice’s fantastical play is based on Pulitzer Prize winning humorist’s Dave Barry‘s book, Peter and the StarCatcher, a wildly popular bestseller by Hyperion/Disney.  It’s the semi-irreverent prequel to the beloved children’s classic, Peter Pan, that provides the backstory of Peter Pan and Captain Hook. Roger Rees and Alex Timbers direct the production, in which 12 actors play scores of vibrant characters.  Nancy Nagel Gibbs from Wicked is General Manager, and the cast includes Christian Borle, who’s also currently starring in NBC’s Smash!

“SENSATIONAL!
Showbiz at its most brazenly infectious.”
Ben Brantley, The New York Times


World Business Forum 2012

Announcing that Mark Thompson, Jack Welch, Jim Collins, Richard Branson and many more will be featured at Radio City Music Hall, NYC, for the Oct. 3 World Business Forum. You can register here.


Opening of Stick Fly

Musical theater (and specifically Broadway) has always been one of my biggest passions, and now I’m taking part in it from the other side: as a producer.

My first venture is Stick Fly, co-produced by the amazing Alicia Keys. As Broadway.com summarizes, the story follows the LeVays, an affluent African American family who come together to spend a weekend at their stately Martha’s Vineyard mansion. The adult sons, aspiring novelist Kent and golden boy plastic surgeon Flip, have each brought their respective ladies (one black and one white) to meet the parents. Food, drink and Trivial Pursuit tangle with class, race and identity politics in this contemporary comedy of manners.

It opens this Thursday. And if you’re in NYC in the coming months, come check it out!

Smule and Khush Join Forces

Smule, the awesome music iPhone/iPad app company, has just acquired Khush, the folks behind LaDiDa–you sing, it generates a beat–and Songify–you sing/talk/make noise and it turns the sound into a song.

I love these folks because they’re leading a social movement to bring the world closer together through social music. Everyone can share the gift and that’s why I’m a founding advisor and investor.

You can read their official press release here, and also watch this very funny video on the acquisition, put together by Smule co-founders Ge Wang and Jeff Smith, and Kush co-founders, Parag Chordia and Parna Gupta. They aptly titled it “Smush”:

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

So grateful for friends like you! Check out today’s news from The New York Times on the awesome iPhone app company, Smule.

I’m a board member and investor, and so excited to announce that they now have over 15 million customers online.

What if there was a machine that made you musical? Well, the Times says our founders, Ge Wang, Jeff Smith, and their amazing team did it!