Theatre & dance / Business & brands
Jeffrey Seller
born 1964
· theatrical producer
Broadway producer from Oak Park, Michigan, behind Rent, Avenue Q, In the Heights and Hamilton, who invented Broadway's rush and lottery tickets.
- Born
Oak Park, Michigan
age 61- Detroit years
- 1964–1980s
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Seller was born in 1964 at Sinai Hospital in the Detroit area and was adopted three months later by a Jewish family in suburban Oak Park, where he grew up. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1986 and moved to New York, working as a publicist and booking agent before turning to producing. With his partner Kevin McCollum he produced three Tony Award-winning best musicals: Rent (1996), Avenue Q (2003) and In the Heights (2008). To keep Rent affordable for young audiences they created Broadway's first rush-ticket policy, with front-row seats for $20, and then its first lottery when people began sleeping on the sidewalk. After the partnership ended in 2012 he produced Sting's The Last Ship and Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton (2015), one of the most successful musicals in history.
Highlights
- Produced Rent, Avenue Q and In the Heights, all Tony-winning best musicals
- Lead producer of Hamilton (2015)
- Created Broadway's first rush-ticket and lottery policies
- University of Michigan graduate, 1986