'Hamilton' producer Jeffrey Seller brings it home to Detroit

"Hamilton" opens in Detroit this week, 4½ years after it launched on Broadway.

Or, in political terms, a lifetime ago.

Back in 2015, the mega-hit musical felt in step with an America that was moving closer to the ideals set forth by the founding fathers, who included Alexander Hamilton, the immigrant orphan of the title.

"I absolutely believe that 'Hamilton' was a beautiful manifestation of all the progress we made in the Obama era," says Jeffrey Seller, the suburban Detroit native and acclaimed producer of "Hamilton" and also "In the Heights," "Avenue Q" and "Rent."

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Now, it's 2019, and the rancor of the Trump era is adding urgency to, well, everything. These days, according to Seller, "Hamilton" is even more essential "because 'Hamilton' shows us how unique is our democracy, how special it is. And it celebrates its greatest qualities and reminds us why it’s so important to our everyday lives."

In case you've just been teleported to Earth from a faraway galaxy: "Hamilton" is the cultural phenomenon created by Lin-Manuel Miranda that won 11 Tonys and continues to sell out at Manhattan's Richard Rodgers Theatre after roughly 1,500 performances and $500 million in Broadway gross earnings to date.

"Hamilton" broke the mold for musicals by combining an eclectic mix of rap, R&B, soul, pop and Tin Pan Alley into the same irresistible score and casting people of color to play Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and other white figures who forged a new country that espoused equality and yet was mired in the original sin of slavery.

Overstating the show's impact as a critical and commercial success is nearly impossible. "Hamilton" has spawned a hit cast album, a "Hamilton Mixtape" album with other artists, a "Hamilton: The Revolution" book, a host of "Hamilton" merchandise, a PBS special, and a new interactive "Hamilton: The Exhibition" opening in April in Chicago.

And to satisfy the demand not met by the Broadway production, there are "Hamilton" companies in Chicago and London and an additional three touring companies.

Seller, the lead producer, who has been called "The C.E.O. of 'Hamilton,' Inc." by the New York Times, has been a part of the musical's journey since Miranda first shared the idea with him a decade ago, 

It has been a meteoric rise for a child of Oak Park, Michigan, with theater dreams. As he told the Times, he remembers the impact of seeing Mandy Patinkin and Patti LuPone sing a song from "Evita" on the Tony Awards (an award he himself has gone on to win five times so far). He went to the library the next day to get the album. 

Seller's earliest credits include appearing in fourth grade in a play at West Bloomfield's Temple Israel that used music from "South Pacific" and "H.M.S. Pinafore" to tell the story of Purim. Not long afterward, he wrote his own stage play. He later acted with Royal Oak's Stagecrafters troupe and at Oak Park High School.

Some of his fondest memories of growing up in metro Detroit are of seeing shows at the Fisher Theatre. When he talks about Detroit theater, it's with the authority of a scholar and the enthusiasm of a fan.

“Detroit is integral to theater in America, to Broadway theater in America and touring theater in America. Detroit has a very rich history of hosting Broadway musicals from 'Oklahoma' and 'South Pacific' in the '40s to 'Fiddler on the Roof' and 'Hello, Dolly!' in the ‘60s. ... I’ve said it many times, I was enriched by being able to see so many Broadway musicals on tour at the Fisher Theatre when I was growing up in the late '70s and early '80s."

The University of Michigan alum majored in political science — "I can say theater is my vocation, and politics in my avocation," he once said — but remained tied to the theater while in college through acting, directing and writing for the Michigan Daily student newspaper and the Ann Arbor News. After graduating in spring 1986, he got a one-way ticket to New York City and never looked back.

Seller has always retained that sense of being a kid from Oak Park who had to work his way up the ladder. He has become an advocate for audiences through his pioneering of discounted Broadway rush tickets and his current policy of selling low-cost "Hamilton" tickets via an online lottery, which will provide 40 seats at $10 each for every performance in Detroit.

Another initiative in which he had a key role? The Hamilton Education Program, which provides tens of thousands of high school students in Title I schools with a chance to study about the history covered in the musical and to see "Hamilton." It's coming to Detroit.

Seller has remained loyal to his Midwest roots, mostly in ways that give back to his favorite causes. Ask him whether "Hamilton" is in Detroit largely because of him, and he avoids the braggadocio of many big-league producers. Instead, he says simply, "If I was not the head producer of 'Hamilton,' 'Hamilton' would still be coming to Detroit, although because I am the producer of 'Hamilton,' it might be playing in Detroit sooner than it otherwise would have.”

In recent years, Seller came home in 2015 for a Stagecrafters 60th Anniversary Diamond Jubilee fundraising event. He returned in 2016 for the annual Detroit Homecoming event, where he received the 2016 Creative Many Governor’s Arts Award “for bringing to life compelling theater the world embraces and making Michigan proud of its native son.”

In January, the announcement came that Seller had donated $1 million to Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit. The contribution was made through the Seller-Lehrer Foundation in New York, which he started with his partner of more than two decades, photographer and documentarian Josh Lehrer.

"I believe that art has a unique ability to imbue young people with spirit and skills that will enable them to become great citizens and great contributors to society," says Seller of his mega-generosity to the local troupe. "The reason I’m so enthusiastic about Mosaic is because they’re creating great young minds and citizens, kids who go out and make a mark in the arts, but also maybe the sciences or in education or in politics, in many different ways."

Seller plans to attend a March 28 event at the Fisher Theatre for L!FE Leaders Inc., a nonprofit started by Amy Nederlander of the famous theater family to help Detroit middle school and high school students to find their voices, establish goals and forge paths to success. It will include a performance of “Hamilton” and a conversation with the cast and others involved with the show.

Also expected to be there is U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, one of many Democrats that Seller has supported since the 2016 presidential election, which he refers to as "the tragedy of '16, I make no bones about it." He says he made a commitment to helping to flip U.S. congressional seats from red to blue during the 2018 midterms, and he'll continue his efforts to change a political climate that he believes has thrown America into reverse on vital issues like civil rights and voting rights.

Does Seller ever wonder if being a kid from Detroit, far away from the capitals of entertainment, actually was a key to reaching his dreams?

Is it better to strive for impossible goals — sort of what an ambitious guy named Hamilton did centuries ago — than to have them easily accessible?

Seller has thought about this before. "To what degree can we attribute our success to the passion with which we sought it out as children? There’s no question that my passion for it and my direction toward it were unstoppable. Looking back, it now feels that it was the perfect scenario to get me where I am today ... which is sitting at my desk in my Broadway office, where I’ve made my hobby into my career."

Says Seller, “I think it kept me very appreciative and I still am. I still go, 'Oh my gosh, am I still working on Broadway? Do I really have a show running at the Richard Rodgers Theatre? I do'! It still moves me when I walk down 46th Street and I see the marquee of the show that I produced. I produced a Broadway musical. Wow!”

Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds: 313-222-6427 or jhinds@freepress.com.

'Hamilton'

Runs Tuesday through April 21

Fisher Theatre, 3011 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit 

Tickets are available through ticketmaster.com or at the Fisher Theatre box office. There will be an online "Hamilton" lottery for $10 tickets for 40 seats at each performance.

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