Kenneth D. Greenblatt has announced his retirement as chairman of GFour Productions. His son and fellow Tony winner Seth Greenleaf, who previously started GFour’s Broadway division while serving as the company’s artistic director, will now run the company as CEO and president.
Over the course of Greenblatt’s career with GFour, the company has won multiple Tony Awards and produced dozens of shows on Broadway, including “Nine,” “La Cage Aux Folles” and “Zorba the Greek.” More recently, the company co-produced the 2024 Tony-winning Best Play “Stereophonic” as well as last season’s “Dead Outlaw” and “Glengarry Glen Ross.” Off-Broadway, the company is the lead producer of “Slam Frank.”
Greenblatt first entered the world of theater as a producer in 1981 at the invitation of a friend who wanted him to invest in the then-nascent musical “Nine.” Greenblatt agreed, on the condition that he could attend evening rehearsals. After the lead producers unexpectedly pulled out, Greenblatt stepped in and raised the remaining funds. The musical would go on to win five Tonys in 1982, including Best Musical.
Over the course of his career, Greenblatt collaborated with the likes of Jason Alexander, Fred Ebb, Jerry Herman, John Kander, Liza Minnelli, Mike Nichols, Mike Ockrent, Hal Prince, Chita Rivera, Susan Stroman, Tommy Tune and Maury Yeston.
“David Shire and I actually owe our careers to Ken,” Tony-winning lyricist and director Richard Maltby Jr. said in a statement. “We were having trouble convincing people that audiences would love ‘Baby,’ a show about how lives are changed by the advent of a child. We played the show for Kenny, and he fell in love. He saw what we were trying to do and gave us what we needed.”
“He’s a terrific guy and a heck of a producer,” James L. Nederlander, president and CEO of the Nederlander Organization, said in a statement. “All of us at the Nederlander Organization wish him the very best on his well-deserved retirement, and I thank him personally for his many years of friendship.”
Since joining the company, Greenleaf has worked with his father to produce more than 40 plays and musicals together and won four Tony Awards himself. GFour Productions was originally founded by Greenblatt and his wife, Sandi, and Alan and Kathi Glist.
Greenleaf now leads GFour alongside CFO Maureen Portlock, director of operations and production Kim Simari, associate director of operations and production Lauren Schwartz, director of sales and marketing Ashley Dinges, associate director of sales and marketing Alyssa Holland, marketing coordinator Erica Gerold and director of casting Karie Koppel.
