Cy Feuer

When Cy Feuer graduated from Juilliard in 1932, he never imagined he would become one of the greatest Broadway producers of all time. But this past March, at age 92, Mr. Feuer received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Theater at the 2003 Tony Awards.

Cy Feuer's long list of accomplishments in producing, directing, and writing makes it easy to understand why he has earned the title of the "last great Broadway showman." It started in 1948 with the musical, Where's Charley?. Then came Guys and Dolls, The Boyfriend, Silk Stockings, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. He also produced the film versions of Cabaret and A Chorus Line.

As a young kid growing up in Brooklyn, Feuer was never interested in theater, even though his father owned a Yiddish theater on the Lower East Side. His mother encouraged him to play the trumpet, and he eventually studied with Max Schlossberg at Juilliard in the early 1930s. Feuer recalls his time at Juilliard as a mixture of joy and perspiration—"joyful perspiration, really." He worked as hard as anyone else, but in the long run, he questioned his natural ability on trumpet, deciding he was "less talented but more ambitious than the other kids."

After Juilliard, Feuer picked up some regular gigs at Radio City Music Hall, then began touring with a big band across California. When the band left Los Angeles to continue the tour, Feuer decided to stay behind, feeling a sudden sense of liberation from "actually seeing the sky."

In L.A., he began arranging and composing for films, eventually becoming music director at Republic Pictures. During World War II he was executive officer of the Air Corps Film Division, making training films and screening combat footage for the Pentagon. After some time in Europe, Feuer moved back to Los Angeles and met his soon-to-be business partner, Ernie Martin, at a cocktail party.

Feuer and Martin shared a passion for theater, and both realized that their hearts were back in New York and on Broadway. "Back then, everybody was going West—all of the talent in the world was going to Hollywood. That's when we said, 'Let's go the other way. There will be a lot less competition.' We actually went against the grain and came to New York.'" Feuer realized that he preferred the "people" factor of theater as opposed to film. It was "more personalthe actors, the audience."

In New York, Feuer and Martin produced five consecutive hit musicals from the late 1940s to the 1970s, recalling those days as the "Golden Age" of the American musical. "When we were on Broadway, it was like a little store. We would collect some money and put on a show. It was very simple." Feuer and Martin perfected the art of "good cop, bad cop" in producing a show: "Ernie would come up with the good ideas for a show, and my job was to ferret it out and make it happen."

Feuer has no secret recipe for success, affirming that "attention to detail, perfectionism and a healthy desire to get things exactly right" are good qualities for anyone. By nature an optimist, he was "on fire with ambition," someone who didn't "follow the expected rules or play the predictable game for the sake of ease or expectations."

Feuer reiterates the importance of having energy in life—learning to cultivate it in yourself and recognizing it in others. "Not only is it fundamental in evaluating the theater, for writers and actors, but it also applies to everything in life." His additional recommendation to a young artist: "Make a true evaluation of your talent, if possible. It can be difficult because you are so full of dreams and desires, but having a healthy self-evaluation is very important."

Feuer's recent book, I Got The Show Right Here: The Amazing, True Story of How an Obscure Brooklyn Horn Player Became the Last Great Broadway Showman, holds many stories of his life's adventures, including what it was like to work with artists like Ray Bolger, Liza Minnelli, George Kaufman, Julie Andrews, Cole Porter, Bob Fosse, and Frank Loesser, to name a few. It is a must-read for anyone interested in show business. Feuer and his wife, Posey, have enjoyed a long, happy marriage; they have two children and two grandchildren, and live on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

—Lauren McMinn