Interview: Jen Sandler, The Producing Power Behind Some of 54 Below's Biggest Shows

There are those who think of cabaret as a singer in a spotlight, performing their songs while a pianist, maybe a drummer, and a bass player back them up. And those people would be right - that is cabaret, or, at least, it is a version of cabaret. It's a version that is relatively easy to put together because the number of creatives involved can all get into a room around one table and put the art together. There's another side of cabaret, though, that involves a lot of different people, a lot of different artists, and a lot of different tasks. That is when a captain is required - somebody with a vision who is there to guide everyone in their goals and guide the project up to the stage with a team mission statement in place.

Enter Jen Sandler.

Ms. Sandler is one of the fine producers who help Feinstein's/54 Below to create the group shows for which the nightclub is so popular. Handling the artistic visions of reunion concerts, new work presentations, and special events, Jen Sandler is the hub of many an event, keeping all the balls in the air, the bottom line in her eyesight, and the artistic personalities all on the same page.

Back in January, just before Ms. Sandler was entering an impressively busy time in her calendar, she and I got on the phone for a chat about the work of a cabaret producer. Finally transcribed and ready to share with Broadway World Cabaret readers, we have an opportunity to include some video clips from some of her shows, along with the upcoming club dates for the industrious impresario... really industrious, as we count down the days to spring and more and more Jen Sandler projects blossom and bloom.

This interview has been edited for space and content.

Jen Sandler, welcome to Broadway World.

Thank you!

You are one of the most industrious producers in the business - how many shows do you have coming up this month (at the time of this interview January)?

At 54 Below, I have three this month. And then I have one - just Valentine's - for next month.

Put a picture in my head of the journey to becoming a producer of cabaret and concert. How do you decide that that's your thing?

I'm not just in cabaret, I also do commercial producing, I do musical theater, I do a little bit of everything, and I think it's really important to not do one. I think what's so (unique) about cabaret is how specific you have to be - that you need to know exactly what your idea is and how to make it happen. There has to be some kind of niche there, almost, to make people want to come and sit there and pay their drink minimum and pay their ticket, (that will) make it exciting with the people they're gonna see.

How did you get your start?

At 54 Below? Jen Tepper, who's the amazing Director of Programming at 54, has been my mentor since... I'm 30 now, so when I got out of college she became my mentor. I had started in fundraising and development for theater, and after my first year out, I realized that I really liked raising money, but I also wanted to have a creative say. I was like, "I think I want to be a producer, I should ask Jen Tepper for a meeting." And I did. And she goes, "That's a great idea, come work at 54 Below, you can assist me on whatever shows you want to work on. Just tell me the show and I'll make it happen." This was the summer of 2015, and I said, "The CRY BABY concert that you're doing, I loved that show on the Tonys, I'd love to work on that." She set me up with Shoshana Feinstein, who used to be one of the big cabaret producers, for that show; then I said, "I really like Newsies," and I ended up assisting Shoshana on that show. Shoshana has this amazing YouTube channel, Famous in New York, that is synonymous with the best cabaret at 54 Below and every venue in the city. She realized about four or five years ago that she really wanted to focus on just filming and maybe she would produce once or twice a year. I came in and filled that void because she had taught me so much, and the first thing I produced for 54 Below was The Search For Elle Woods Reunion Concert. I laugh because how do you come from that after? That was an insane event.

As a producer in the cabaret concert industry, what is it that you do to get the show from concept to concert?

Oh my god, it depends on the show. I think every show starts out as an idea, or someone telling me "Why has this not happened yet?" Mel Brooks, for example: Ben Caplan, who has Musical Directed with me for about four years now, his dad said to me, "Why haven't you done a Mel Brooks show yet?" And I said, "You're right, why haven't we?" It starts out with conversations like that. One of the best stories I have is Alexandra Silber, who I do the I WISH series with, made a tweet, about three years ago, where she goes, "Hey Jen Tepper, I want there to be a show where Broadway actors get to live out their dreams or goals that never happened for any reason." I saw that and was like, "I'm an original programming producer at the 54 Below, let's make this happen." She's now one of my good friends - next week is our sixth or seventh edition of the series now, and it's going great. It all happened as a Tweet. It's all about people coming to me and having an idea, and figuring out what is the theme.

Once you have the theme in place, what's the next step to creating the show?

I think it's finding the right people. Every show is different - I think it's finding what is exciting to people, what will get people (especially right now of all times) what will people want to come out of their home to see, what will give them joy? What will excite them? What is important?

What do you do to keep yourself up on what's fresh and new?

Well, I'm a producer. I am also the Associate Artistic Director at New York Theatre Barn, so I think being up on all the new work, seeing every show on and off-Broadway, knowing who is an exciting performer right now, being on Instagram, being on Twitter; you have to know what is going on at all times, who's not in town, who's in town.

With 54 Below behind every show that you produce, do you concern yourself with any of the financial aspects of producing?

No, I do.

How does that work?

So this isn't with everyone, but I'm an original programming producer at 54 Below, so 54 Below gives you a budget, you have to produce your show within that budget. I have a spreadsheet of every show I work on with what the budget is, what I'm paying performers, what I'm paying the band, what I'm paying for the video, the rehearsal space. It's balancing that budget and making it work for every show. There are some shows where you have a starry show like Mel Brooks, where it's two shows - you have a lot more to pay. You have a show like I WISH that's smaller, cause that's one show... it's making every show feel like you spent a million bucks on it, even if you didn't

The creative decisions - do you sit in on those as they're happening, or do the directors and the musical directors have their meetings and then bring the results to you?

I'm an incredibly hands-on producer. I am involved with every decision and I always work with music directors that want to be that way too. I think every show I work on, it's me sitting hand-in-hand with the music director, figuring out what makes sense. I want to work with people who want to be creatively there and want to be about excited about what we're planning with their musical director.

What excites you, creatively?

Something that isn't normal, something that isn't easy to produce, something that takes a lot of work and is exciting, though, and rewarding in the end. I don't just want to do some easy concert where people can see whatever they want and there's a piano, and that's that. I want there to be "stuff" there, I want people to talk, I want there to be a host. I want it to be something exciting.

I've seen you at the shows and you're an interesting audience member to watch because you're so invested. There's clearly a great deal of passion behind the projects that you create. Where does that come from?

I think that everyone that works in theater is doing it because it's what they want to do more than anything. You only want to work in theater if there's nothing you want to do more; and everyone that works in theater, we do it because we love it. It's not just a hobby for us, it's a life. I love producing shows and I love (that) everyone that I work with becomes a friend. I love watching them work.

Put a picture in my head of your introduction to theater.

I didn't even have one moment, honestly. I'm from a town in Bergen County, New Jersey, which is 20 minutes from Midtown Manhattan. It was one of those towns where theater was always what people did. In elementary school we had to be in a musical from third to fifth grade - you couldn't get out of it. I think I was always that kid that wanted to be in theater. I have no memory of ever wanting to do anything else.

Off the top of your head, what is one of the most exciting, unexpected things that happened during one of your concerts?

Oh! Well, the obvious answer... I knew this was happening for months: I produced my friend Brynn William's concert back in September. She had her big solo show and she asked me to produce it, and about a month after she asked me, her mother called me and she goes, "Gerald is going to propose at the end of this concert." And I go "Really?!" She goes, "Yes, she'll never expect it, he's not that kind of guy." For months (I think the whole summer,) me and Ben Caplan (our music director) planned out this entire proposal. We knew her encore was going to be her big number from 13, and we planned that we would turn off her mic, he would interrupt her, she would never expect it. I think that was the craziest night of cabaret producing of my life. I knew it was happening, I didn't know would it work out? Would it not? I think that moment when he popped up by the bar, and everything worked out, and she was so shocked - you would never expect that to happen in a cabaret show. It just was one of my most rewarding moments.

As a producer, I'm sure that you're continually looking for ways to grow the art form in the industry. What do you think could happen in cabaret and concert to push the art form forward?

I think we just need to keep doing more than just the norm. We need to keep having exciting ideas and doing things that are scary and turning things on its head.

What do you find scary?

The idea of someone singing a song that they don't think they should be singing, which is kind of part of I WISH - the idea that you're not in your comfort zone. I know a lot of performers that are in Broadway shows and I say, "Do you want to do a solo show?" And they're like, "I can't do that, that's too nervous, that's me being me, I'm not playing a character." It doesn't have to be scary.

You had a good strong mentor in Jen Tepper. Is there a chance that your future would feature you mentoring some producers into their light?

I'm already doing it. Yeah!

How are you enjoying the mentor relationship?

I think it's something I started doing during the pandemic. It's really rewarding to have someone who is excited about it and wants to learn, and I think it's important.

Speaking of the pandemic, how did you keep your creative juices flowing during the shutdown?

I also work at New York Theater Barn and we took our entire programming online, and we have a new work series that we turned into a virtual series and produced close to fifty installments.

New York Theatre Barn website HERE.

You are industrious.

It was over a hundred writers. It's honestly one of the things I'm most proud of.

Your parents must be real proud of you.

They love the theater too, so I think it's something we really share. And my cousin is a critic. I think the theater is really in my family's blood.

How many shows do you have planned out for the year?

I have things booked now until July.

Is there any room in your calendar in your life right now for the element of surprise?

Sure! I think you never know! Things pop up, but right now I have at least one show every month until July.

When are you going to produce the Jen Sandler solo show?

Never.

That answer came out fast.

(Laughing heartily) I'm not a performer. I was a performer until about halfway through college and, you know, everyone in theater that is not a performer now was a performer at one point. I feel like I give this talk to kids a lot that you'll know that there are performers, directors, and stage managers, maybe writers, and that's it. You never get taught about the other side of that. You could be a press rep, you could be a producer, you could be a lighting designer, you could be a dresser, and we need more of that earlier so people can be exposed and know what's available to them. I have the most utter respect for my friends that are performers - I can never do what they do. And they say the same thing to me. I can't do what they do, and they can't do what I do.

Jen Sandler will produce these upcoming shows:

March 21st at 9:45 pm: New Musical! Fly More Than You Fall in Concert

March 27th at 9:45 pm: I Wish: The Roles That Could Have Been

April 4th at 9:30 pm: New Musical! Millennials Are Killing Musicals in Concert

April 28th at 9:30 pm: New Writers at 54! Janine McGuire & Arri Lawton Simon's Borders

May 6th at 9:30 pm: 54 Celebrates French Woods

May 16th at 9:30 pm: Another Opening, Another Debut! Broadway Debuts of the 2021 - 2022 Season

July 14th at 9:30 pm: Aged Out: Current AND Former Broadway Kids Take the Stage

August 5th at 9:30 pm: Joriah Kwane: [Black Boy Joy]Ful Noise

For information and reservations visit the 54 Below website HERE.