William W. Becker D'64, T'65
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"…you can still lose a lot of money in a very short period of time."
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The Smell of Greasepaint, the Roar of Business
It hasn't been for the glamour, says Bill Becker. As a Tony Award–winning producer, Becker has had a major hand in bringing Private Lives to the stage with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Pippin, Annie, the Bolshoi Ballet, and Les Misérables, among many others. But instead of glamour, he has been drawn by the business. "I love the business of business," he says. "The subject matter is not as important as the process itself. I've enjoyed working with characters in the trucking business, and I got a lot of kicks working with real-estate guys, who are real cowboys. I enjoy interacting with risk takers, and I enjoy being a risk taker."
The theater business is cut out for that kind of pleasure. "There's virtually no way to predict a success on a stage," he says. "You can dump $10 million, open a Broadway show, and no matter how wonderful it might be, you can still lose a lot of money in a very short period of time."
With all that, he has co-produced three major hits—Urinetown: The Musical and the 2002 revival of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods (both Tony winners in several categories) and Neil Simon's The Dinner Party—and one certified flop: Good Vibrations, which closed after poor reviews. "There's an extraordinary thrill in being in a theater filled to capacity with an enthusiastic crowd watching a live performance…and knowing you were able to accomplish that," he says.
As a student at Dartmouth and Tuck (where he merely attended plays), his coursework helped inform "the way I look at the issues I deal with on a day-to-day basis," he says. After Harvard Law School, he joined his father's firm, where he represented the trucking industry, real-estate developers, and, ultimately, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He became the center's general counsel in the early 1990s, and it ballooned from about 30 percent of his practice to 85 percent by the end of the decade. Along the way, he developed a strong working relationship with its president, Lawrence Wilker, and oversaw construction of a $400 million expansion.
In 2001, both men quit their jobs to go into business together, forming TheatreDreams, Inc., a theatrical production and theater management company. "We were both in our late fifties with probably one great adventure left. So why not do something on our own?" he says. "We were no longer bringing up children, and both of our wives were very supportive of our trying something new." In fact, Joan Alper and Jill Wilker—both experienced businesswomen—joined the effort as creative partners.
They co-produced the four Broadway shows and, in 2004, pulled off a major coup: the purchase of The Chicago Theatre, the 1920s landmark in the heart of the Loop. In 2005, they assumed programming and operations management of the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, viewed on TV by a billion people every year for the Academy Awards.
Becker spends three days a week on a plane ("Southwest Airlines is my corporate jet") and calls Park City, Utah, his home. "There's a 1,000-foot hill behind my house, and sometimes my best decisions are made going up or down that hill. I don't have any fixed plan for what to do tomorrow, much less for the next 20 years." But one thing is assured: constant change. "New experiences are essential to creating a richness in life and enjoying it."
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