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When I came back to Florida in 1979 Zev Buffman was THE theatre man here--he
brought some great stars in great plays to The Parker Playhouse and
other cities--he is now bringing "Agatha Christie's BBC Murders" which I
will be going to see at the press showing on Wednesday Evening--hope he
is there so I can say "Tahnk You"
Ruth Eckerd Hall chooses veteran promoter Zev Buffman as new president
By John Fleming, Times Performing Arts Critic
Â
Zev Buffman, 81, is returning to Florida to become president and CEO of Ruth Eckerd Hall. He starts in January. |  |
[Ruth Eckerd Hall] |
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They say you can't go home again, but don't tell that to Zev Buffman.
The veteran show business promoter, who brought touring Broadway to
Florida in the 1970s and '80s, has been named president and CEO of Ruth Eckerd Hall.
"Every eight years or so I seem to have a terrible desire or a need to reinvent myself," said Buffman, who was based in South Florida for more than 25 years. "So here I am coming all reinvented to Ruth Eckerd Hall. It is coming home again, and I hope it works."
Buffman, 81, whose resume includes production credits for more than 40 Broadway shows and 100 national tours, will begin work at the Clearwater hall in January. He succeeds Robert Freedman, who held the post for 13 years and announced his retirement in April.
Since
2003, Buffman has been president and CEO of the RiverPark Center in
Owensboro, Ky., a city of 57,000, southwest of Louisville. With a
1,500-seat auditorium, its 2011-12 season includes a Broadway series
with one-night stands of My Fair Lady, The Color Purple and three other musicals, the Winter Wonderland ice-skating festival and a mystery writers' festival.
Buffman was once a powerhouse in Florida theater, though he spelled his last
name B-u-f-m-a-n in those days. (The spelling change is "a great but
long story," he said, involving a bet he lost with his wife of 49 years,
Vilma.)
He started his
career as a producer at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami. He
promoted touring Broadway series at half a dozen Florida venues,
including the Broadway in the Sunshine series at Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg and a series at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, now the Straz Center, in Tampa. In 1988, he sold his Florida operation to Pace
Theatrical Group, which eventually morphed into what is now Broadway
Across America.
"Zev just keeps rolling along," said
Charles Cinnamon, a press agent in Miami who worked with Buffman for
many years. "He's full of ideas, loaded with energy, makes a huge
commitment to everything he does — and delivers the goods. Nobody
understands the industry like him. He really is a driving force."
In 1981, Buffman made a splash when he persuaded Elizabeth Taylor to make her Broadway debut in The Little Foxes. Two years later he masterminded a Broadway reunion of Taylor and her ex-husband, Richard Burton, in Private Lives. Other Broadway productions included Dustin Hoffman in Jimmy Shine (1968), Muhammed Ali in the musical Buck White (1969) and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1982).
Outside of the performing arts, Buffman had a hand in founding the Miami Heat and was the NBA team's first
general partner. "One of the crowning achievements of my lifetime," he
said.
Buffman was one of 67 candidates for the Ruth Eckerd job. He identified a dozen priorities for the hall, which seats about
2,100. At the top was renovation of the Capitol Theatre in downtown Clearwater,
which has been run by the hall. "Restoration of theaters is something
I've done before," he said. "They take a special treatment. I really
want to be part of the growth of the downtown and work with the city."
Other
priorities include instituting vocational training in technical theater
(lighting, sound, set and costume design and construction) at the
Marcia P. Hoffman Performing Arts Institute, which is part of the hall;
and enhancing the Broadway series. He is well aware of competition from
the highly successful Broadway series at the Straz and the ambitions of new management at the Mahaffey.
"How
we deal with the other colleagues around the bay will hopefully be done
like peace in the Middle East and we will reach it eventually," he
said. "That's what I do. I am a very good mediator. I do things with
smiles and giving people options that maybe they didn't think about and
can work for the whole. We are in the same business and if we work
together we can do better."
Buffman also warned about the economy. "We have to steel ourselves to what's
coming in the next two, three years," he said. "The industry is going to
change enormously. We're going to do what people have to do in very
serious recessions."
The irony is not lost on Buffman that he is 15 years older than the man he is replacing, Freedman. "The
80s are the new 60s," he said, laughing, in a phone interview from
Kentucky. "It's all a question of energy and passion. Retirement is
totally out of the question. I take great care of myself. The number
means nothing to me, and it never has. As long as God keeps me healthy,
I'll be there just cranking away and leaving people behind me."
John Fleming can be reached at fleming@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8716.
. FAST FACTS
Zev Buffman
• Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, where his father owned movie theaters.
• Moved to the United States as an exchange student in Los Angeles and got work as an actor in the 1950s, playing small parts (credited as Zeev Bufman) in movies such as The Prodigal with Lana Turner and The Ten Commandments.
• Helped found Miami Heat and was team's first general partner.
• Producer who persuaded Elizabeth Taylor to make her Broadway debut in The Little Foxes.
• Produced Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1982).