Rocco Landesman

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Rocco Landesman (born July 20, 1947) is a Broadway theatre producer. In August 2009 he became chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Landesman was born and raised in St. Louis, MO, got his undergraduate education at Colby College and The University of Wisconsin, and earned a doctorate in Dramatic Literature at the Yale School of Drama. At the completion of his course work he stayed at the school for 4 years as an Assistant Professor. In 1977 he left to start a private investment fund, which he ran until his appointment as President of Jujamcyn in 1987. In 2005 he purchased the company. Before and after joining Jujamcyn, Rocco has continued to produce Broadway shows, the most notable of which are "Big River" (1985 Tony, Best Musical), "Angels In America," and "The Producers" (2001 Tony, Best Musical).

Rocco Landesman's biggest passions are theater, baseball, horse racing and country music. On any given day he will insist that one of these is the perfect expression of American culture. His company, Jujamcyn Theaters, owns 5 Broadway theaters, and at one time or another Rocco has owned 3 minor league baseball teams, various racehorses of dubious value and a collection of Roger Miller long playing records. His career has been a hybrid of commercial, philanthropic, and purely artistic engagements. He has continued his relationship with the Yale School of Drama and Yale Rep, returning to teach there over the years. He has been active on numerous boards, including the Municipal Art Society, the Times Square Alliance, and The Educational Foundation of America. Landesman has also spoken at forums and writing numerous articles (mostly in the New York Times arts section), focusing mainly on the problematic relationship between the commercial and not-for-profit sectors of the American theater.

In May 2009 U.S. President Barack Obama nominated Landesman to become the next chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.^[1][2] His appointment was confirmed in August.^[3]

Speaking of his boss in a keynote address to Grantmakers in the Arts in October, 2009, Landesman made the following widely commented upon comparison. "This is the first president that actually writes his own books since Teddy Roosevelt and arguably the first to write them really well since Lincoln. If you accept the premise, and I do, that the United States is the most powerful country in the world, then Barack Obama is the most powerful writer since Julius Caesar. That has to be good for American artists."^[4]

Landesman is married to Debby Landesman, formerly the Executive Director of the Levi Strauss Foundation and currently a philanthropic advisor to corporations and foundations. Two of his sons are journalists working in New York. His third son, Dodge Landesman, is a high school student, and is running for New York City Council's 2nd district seat in 2009.

References

External links

• [1]

Landesman, Rocco. "What Price Success At Lincoln Center." The New York Times 11 Dec. 1988: Sect. 2, Pg. 7.

• [2]

Landesman, Rocco. "Broadway: Devil or Angel for Nonprofit Theater?; A Vital Movement Has Lost Its Way." The New York Times 4 June 2000: Sect. 2, Pg. 10.

• [3]

Owen, David. "Betting on Broadway." The New Yorker 13 Jun. 1994: 60-73. Site registration required for full viewing.

• [4]

Rothstein, Mervyn. "How a High Roller Bets on Broadway." The New York Times 3 Jun. 1990: Sect. 2, Pg. 5.

• [5]

Landesman, Rocco. "Roger Miller: King of Rhyme, Remembering the 'Jerome Corn of the American Musical.'" The New York Times 20 Jul. 2003: Sect. 2, Pg. 20-21.

• [6]

Napoleon, Davi. "Mr Landesman Goes to Washington." The Faster Times, Davi Napoleon's Theater Talk.