by Martin Kohn
Detroit Free Press
November 22, 2000

Growing up in Oak Park, Jeffrey Seller was not the kid who worried about forgetting his lines in the school show. Seller was the kid who wondered, "Who picked this play? How do you sell tickets? Who designed the logo?"

Well, he might not have known the word "logo," Seller admits, "but in middle school I was already designing them for community theater."

No surprise that Seller grew up to be a theatrical producer in New York after he graduated from the University of Michigan.

Some surprise, though, that one of his earliest ventures, the 1996 musical "Rent," was a phenomenal hit. After 1,900 performances, it's still running on Broadway; the national tour, which comes to the Detroit Opera House on Friday, "will go on until at least the end of 2002."

Seller doesn't know how much money "Rent" has grossed -- the last time it played Detroit, in April 1998, the figure for the Broadway and road companies exceeded $135 million -- but he does know how much profit it has made: "It's more than almost any movie."

It doesn't all go to Seller. Still, professionally speaking, he could take the rest of his life off.

But he won't.

"I don't kick back. I don't world-travel. I go to the office," says Seller, 36. Seller and his coproducer, Kevin McCollum, have been in business together nearly 10 years. "Rent" may be "the show that's paying the bills," but there are other things to do.

"Finding the next show" is top priority, Seller says; another is developing the shows they find. He has two others in the works, both musicals.

"I don't do plays," Seller says. "I don't have a feel for it. I like musicals; I understand how they work." He understands, Seller says, why people sing and when they sing. He doesn't want to give away much about his two fledgling musicals: "One is a special type of thing; it's not exactly a revival . . ."

As for the present, Seller is happy to talk about "Rent" and about his off-Broadway show "De La Guarda," which has been running for 2 1/2 years. It also opened this year in Las Vegas.

"That's the show," Seller says, "where people fly over your head."

The show originated in Buenos Aires; Seller and McCollum first saw it in London and brought it to New York. Its title "sort of" means "guardian angels," Seller says. He calls it "theater that falls from the sky. The audience of 500 people stands for 65 minutes" while the cast performs acrobatic antics above.

Without "Rent," "De La Guarda" wouldn't have flown.

Seller says he can pursue projects that appeal to him, rather than those likely to make the greatest profit. "I can do this newfangled show where people crash out of the sky. Not a lot of people in the live entertainment business have that latitude."

Like the late Jonathan Larson, author-composer of "Rent," Seller is committed to attracting a younger audience to theater. Studies indicate that most theatergoers are middle-aged but, he says, "50 percent of the audience for 'Rent' is under 35. That was Jonathan's dream. It's very rewarding to fulfill it."

Toward that end, Seller and McCollum started charging $20 for seats in the first two rows at each "Rent" performance. That way, "the most passionate get the best seats," instead of the most wealthy. But if rich folks want to line up two hours before show time in hopes of snagging a $20 seat, there's nothing to dissuade them.