Howard Panter (#293) - November, 2010

Published: Nov. 10, 2010, 1:26 p.m.

Called "the most powerful man in English theatre" by "The Stage", co-CEO (with his wife, Rosemary Squire) and creative director of the Ambassador Theatre Group, Howard Panter, talks about the impact of his company's recent purchase of the Live Nation venues in the UK (giving the company 40 theatres and 400,000 seats a week to sell) and how he sees the company being "vertically integrated," not unlike the way in which, he says, Shakespeare worked. He talks about his own early love of theatre and being drawn to the visual and physical aspects initially, as a result of what was later diagnosed as mild dyslexia which rendered him a problematic student; how he managed to do, at one point of another, just about every job in theatre except for acting; his transition from stage manager, director and set builder into theatrical impresario; the differences he sees between producing in England, Australia and on Broadway, notably in regards to theatre ownership, unions and critics; how he happened into becoming the caretaker of "The Rocky Horror Show" for the past 21 years, and the network of theatres he hopes to forge internationally in the coming years that would allow productions to play for several years without ever needing to set down on Broadway. Original air date - November 10, 2010.