Interview: Theatre Life with Robert Diamond

Today’s subject Robert Diamond is living his theatre life holding one of the most important jobs you could have in the theatre industry. He is the founder and CEO of the premiere site for theatre. You might have heard of it. Actually, you’re on it now if you are reding this. That’s right, Robert Diamond is the mastermind behind Broadway World.

For the past 23 years Broadway World has been bringing you all things theatre from all over the world. The site has made semi- household names out of such theatre luminaries as Richie Ridge, Jennifer Ashley Tepper, Michael Dale, Jenna Tessa Fox and one aging journalist in DC among many.

With a website this big, there has to be a strong but gentle giant guiding everything. Robert Diamond has no ego. He is fantastic at solving problems. He is a true leader in every sense of the word.

Robert is also the owner of Wisdom Digital Media, an award-winning leading design company for entertainment and technology web sites. In his previous life, he held an executive position for the world's leading publisher of technology magazines, web sites and conferences and, as a result, was named among the "Top thirty magazine industry executives under the age of 30" by FOLIO Magazine.

It’s always interesting to hear about the genesis of things. Read on to see how one particular musical that involves a masked man, a foggy boat ride and a crashing chandelier helped shape what was to come for Robert.

Robert Diamond is one of the most passionate people working in the industry today. He’s definitely one of the biggest reasons Broadway World continues to thrive. Everything that you choose to read on this website is a show of support for Robert’s continuing vision that hopefully will be around for many years to come. With cuts in arts coverage from many publications, Robert Diamond and his Broadway World team are filling an unwanted void.

He is truly living his theatre life to the fullest and then some.

Growing up, would you say you were a theatre kid?

I wasn’t a theatre kid until a bit later in life than many in our field...in that it wasn’t until high school. I never had any performing talent, nor aspirations in that field, but once I fell in love with it, I just had to find a place in the world (no pun intended). 

Where did you go to school and was your major in theatre?

I went to Syracuse University, majoring in Information Management and Technology, a school of which I’m a proud alum. 

It is semi-well-known that you are a huge fan of The Phantom of the Opera. How many times have you seen the show over the years, and why does that particular show speak to you so much?

Definitely nowhere up there on the leaderboard, and primarily in recent years when I’ve been lucky enough to be ‘in the room’ for some of its special nights, anniversaries and even its closing performance on Broadway. 

The show was my ‘gateway’ into musical theatre, and I wouldn’t be doing everything I am now if the show didn’t come into my life. Or, more accurately, if my parents didn’t both take me to see the show and then introduce me afterwards to the original cast recording with Michael Crawford. Luckily, they then did everything they could to nurture my growing fandom.  

How did the idea for Broadway World come about?

Broadway World came about at the intersection of two passions of mine – theatre, and technology. At the time, I was working a full-time job at a tech publishing company, running their web and IT departments while seeing as much theatre as I could. 

During that time in the early 2000s, I was spending as much time as possible on all of the existing theatre sites and outlets. While doing that, my brain started going into overdrive with ideas for a site that could have greater depth, while also using as much of the latest tech as humanly possible. 

How long was it before you realized that Broadway World was going to be as big as it is now?

Yesterday? While I’m a growth-oriented individual, the site wasn’t launched with any great goals or targets... it was simply a desire to create a platform for the industry and for its fans to have a place to congregate. That’s both how it started, and something we collectively try to keep in mind every day. 

When you started BroadwayWorld, did you ever imagine it would grow to be the premier website for theatre?

Not at all, and when I hear a compliment like that it just inspires me to work harder to live up to it. 

What are some of the biggest changes the site has gone through over the last 23 years?

I don’t think there’s a week that’s gone by where something on the site hasn’t changed, and we’re always tinkering with both big and small projects. Over the last couple of decades, I’m very proud of the way we embraced (then new) technologies like being the first to market with audio, video, social media, apps and more all the way through our current attempts to harness the useful parts of AI for our staff, readers and contributors.  

What are you most proud of in terms of BroadwayWorld’s accomplishments and where would you like to see the website in another 10 years?

I’m probably most proud that we’re still here, because for everyone on the team it’s been 2+ decades of hard work to make that happen. Along with that, I’m most proud of the areas in which we’ve had a hands-on impact, from changing lives with our Next on Stage student competition, all the way through the large and small theatres that thank us for everything from Stage Mag to our free listings that are helping them fill seats and keep entertaining and engaging audiences. 

Ten years from now, I’d like us to still be doing that in even bigger and better ways than we are now!

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