Off Script with Dan Dwyer: Hal Luftig, Producer, "Kinky Boots" and the Upcoming "Children of a Lesser God"

After receiving an MFA in Arts Management from Columbia’s School of the Arts, Hal started his career off-Broadway in downtown Manhattan, working in some of New York’s most storied and venerable theaters. There, he created fertile ground for up-and-coming talents like Eric Bogosian and Charles Busch, in shows like Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll and The Lady in Question.

Soon, Hal began to produce on Broadway, as well. His shows have included Ariel Dorfman’s Death & the Maiden, George Wolf’s Jelly’s Last Jam, Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, the 20th Anniversary production of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart at the Public Theater, the unexpurgated revival of The Diary of Anne Frank, Twyla Tharp and Billy Joel’s Movin’ Out, the work of comic geniuses like Whoopi Goldberg & Kathy Najimi, and Tony Award-winning new musicals like Thoroughly Modern Millie, as well as revivals of delightful classics like Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I and Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun. The artists whose work he has produced have themselves moved on to win their own awards and run important institutions.

Hal has gone on to be one of the leading producers in New York and around the globe. He has won four Tony Awards, including two as lead producer, and two Olivier Award, also as lead producer. In 2016, Hal Luftig received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, SUNY Oneonta.