Tony award-winning producer Stewart Lane said his education in theater began when he would spend countless Sundays at his childhood home in Great Neck reading reviews to learn about the industry.
“Growing up in Great Neck, reading Sunday’s New York Times was a big deal,” Lane said. “I would read every review on how they constructed a review and how they judge it and really anything I could get. That’s how you learned or, I guess, acquired knowledge of the business.”
Originally born in New York City, Lane moved with his parents to Great Neck when he was 8 years old.
Lane said when he was 11 years old, his best friend invited him to go into the city and watch his father perform in a play.
When they arrived, he said, he was amazed to learn his friend’s father was Sid Caesar, a well-known comic actor and writer.
“Here’s the father of sketch comedy and he’s my next door neighbor,” Lane said. “I knew he had something to do in theater but I didn’t know who he was.”
After the show, he said, his friend took him backstage to see his father.
It was there, Lane said, that he realized he wanted to pursue a future in the theater industry.
“They were all laughing and having a great time,” he said. “He had a home away from home and I said, ‘I want this.’”
Lane said after that day he began taking drama and speech classes, including some in Great Neck.
He said it was while he was attending Great Neck North High School when he realized the effects theater could have on social change.
A classmate, Lane said, had invited him to perform in his rendition of Martin Duberman’s “In White America,” a play about the experience of black people during the Civil Rights Movement.
“I didn’t know how to relate to it myself,” he said. “I was so awaken by it that I saw this was the way to make social change.”
Lane said the feeling stuck with him through his career.
In March 2014, his book, “Black Broadway: African Americans on the Great White Way,” which focuses on the history of influences, struggles and successes of African-Americans in the theater industry, was published.
Although the book was published two years ago, he said he has always tried to use theater as a method for social change throughout his career.
“In the plays I’ve done over the years, they made me feel that there is change and the world is slowly coming around,” Lane said. “Artistry is the way to do that and do something positive.”
On March 4, he delivered a lecture at Temple Emanuel of Great Neck on the subject of “Black Broadway.”
Before coming on to the scene as a producer, Lane spent his years after graduation from Boston University trying to make a name for himself performing in plays, productions and some commercials.
When he reached his late 20s, he said, he decided he wanted to pursue theater production rather than acting.
“I needed something more because I didn’t want to be 40 years old wondering ‘what if,’” Lane said. “I didn’t want any regrets.”
Since the late ‘70s, he has produced more than 60 plays and movies.
Lane said of all the talented people he has worked with and of all the works he produced, his “crowning achievement” was winning his first Tony award in 1984 for “Best Musical” with “La Cage aux Folles”
“For the first time, my existence was justified and I made the right choices,” he said. “You doubt yourself and wonder, but now I look back and I wouldn’t change a thing.”
After winning the award, Lane said he wondered what to do next.
The answer was simple, he said, “I had to go out and win more!”
Lane went on to win three more “Best Musical” Tony awards for “The Will Rogers Follies” in 1991, “Thoroughly Modern Millie” in 2002 and “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” in 2014.
He also won a “Best Theatrical Event” Tony Award for “Jay Johnson: The Two and Only” in 2006 and a “Best Play” Tony Award for “War Horse” in 2011.
While Lane said he enjoys the traditional aspects of live theater, he realizes that internet-streaming has become a popular tool for entertainment-seekers.
In October 2015, Lane and his wife, Bonnie Comley, launched BroadwayHD.com, a streaming service which he calls “the Netflix of Broadway shows.”
“My wife and I were looking at this for a while but the culmination of the cultural and technological changes aligned so perfectly that now was the move,” Lane said. “There’s been this kind of dance between the media and live theater looking for ways to make it work.”
He also said BroadwayHD aimed to bring Broadway to those who wanted the theater experience in their own home.
“It will never replace the experience of a Broadway show,” Lane said. “But if you can’t get to Broadway, you can get to BroadwayHD.”
Now living in New York City with his wife and five kids, he said he will always remember his Great Neck upbringing.
“Great Neck was a terrific community to grow up in,” Lane said. “It was the right time and right place for me.”
