South Florida Has Tony Award Ties

Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, nominated for more Tony Awards than any other Broadway show this season, may use Tolstoy's "War and Peace" as its basis, but it also has roots in South Florida.

Local resident and president of Mazel Musicals, Inc. Lawrence S. Toppall and area investors are among the backers that provided the financial capital to bring the musical starring Josh Groban to Broadway.

Toppall and his South Florida "angels," as theater investors are known, have also been behind the scenes of such Broadway and off-Broadway blockbusters as Beautiful, the Carole King Musical; On Your Feet; Jersey Boys; The Producers; Rocky; Dirty Rotten Scoundrels; Stomp; and Urinetown.

"Without the trust and faith of my South Florida investors, I would never have been doing business on Broadway," said Toppall.

As an independent producer, Toppall co-produced his own Broadway hits including the Tony Award-nominated Say Goodnight, Gracie starring Frank Gorshin, The Gathering with Hal Linden, Looped with Valerie Harper and the dance sensation Burn The Floor. In South Florida, Toppall has presented more than 100 productions at the Kravis Center, FAU Auditorium, Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Aventura Arts & Cultural Center and many other local venues.

His first productions, over 25 years ago, were the Yiddish/English productions of Those Were The Days, The Golden Land, On Second Ave. and Yiddle With A Fiddle. Still keeping that tradition alive, Toppall has presented Catskills On Broadway, Mamaloshen with Mandy Patinkin and many past performances of Dudu Fisher.

Toppall will next be raising capital for a musical based on the life of disco queen Donna Summer that will reunite the Jersey Boys team of Tony-winning director Des MacAnuff and choreographer Sergio Trujillo.

But first, there are the Tony Awards which will be presented June 11 at Radio City Music Hall. He is a member of the Broadway League and a Tony Voter.

Toppall said. "I'm definitely the luckiest guy in the world's riskiest business."