What 1,200 Books Taught Me About Producing Broadway

Before there was a stage, there was a desk. Before there were Tony Awards, there were red pens, manuscript margins, and the particular satisfaction of finding the sentence that wasn't working and fixing it.

I started proofreading to support myself as an actor. What began as a side job became a genuine second career, eventually growing into editing and copyediting work for some of the largest publishers in the country: Random House, Simon & Schuster, John Wiley & Sons, St. Martin's Press, Oxford University Press, Workman Publishing, Kensington Publishing. Over the years, I touched more than 1,200 titles.

Producing Broadway shows and editing books look like entirely different worlds. One happens on a stage in front of thousands of people. The other happens silently, alone, with a manuscript and a pencil. But the instinct underneath both is identical: does this story work, and if not, what does it need?

Structure is structure, whether it's on a page or a stage

When I edit a manuscript, I'm not just checking grammar. I'm asking whether the pacing holds, whether the reader's attention will drift, whether the ending earns what came before it. Those are the exact same questions I ask when I'm evaluating a script for Broadway production. A musical that drags in the second act has the same problem as a novel that loses momentum at the 200-page mark. The diagnosis is identical even though the medicine looks different.

Editors and producers do the same invisible work

Nobody buys a ticket because of the editor, and most audiences never think about who shaped a script before it reached the stage. That's by design. Good editing, like good producing, is invisible when it works. You only notice it when it's missing.

This is something I talk about often when I'm speaking to business audiences about creativity and leadership. The best work in any creative field is usually shaped by people whose names the audience never learns. Learning to be comfortable in that role, doing essential work without needing credit for it, is one of the most valuable lessons either career taught me.

Why I never stopped editing

People sometimes ask why I kept editing books once Broadway became successful. The honest answer is that I never wanted to choose. Editing keeps me sharp in a way that producing doesn't. It's solitary where producing is collaborative. It's quiet where producing is loud. Having both in my life has made me better at each one.