Ted Chapin will step down this month as president and chief creative officer of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization after 40 years in the role.
Chapin was hired by the Rodgers and Hammerstein families and took on the role of managing their collective and respective copyrights. In his tenure, he oversaw major Broadway and West End revivals of musicals including “South Pacific,” “The King and I,” “Oklahoma!” and “Carousel.” He leaves the position as his current contract expires.
His role will be taken over by staff at Concord Theatricals, which acquired the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization in 2017, through its purchase of Dutch publisher Imagem. Chief Theatricals Executive Sean Patrick Flahaven will lead first-class production of the works and Imogen Lloyd Webber, senior vice president of marketing and communications, will continue to oversee the Rodgers and Hammerstein brand.
Chapin also approved new productions using Rodgers and Hammerstein material, including “Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella,” and television productions such as “The Sound of Music Live!” on NBC and “Cinderella,” starring Whitney Houston and Brandy, on ABC. Chapin also represented clients such as Irving Berlin and shepherded the production of “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas.”
“It’s astonishing to me just how fast time passes when you love what you do. I can’t help but feel that, over the course of our time together, this incredible organization and I have helped each other grow and flourish in ways that could never have been anticipated 40 years ago,” Chapin said in the press release.
A longtime fixture in the theater industry, Chapin will continue in his roles as co-chair of the American Theatre Wing, chairman of the Kurt Weill Foundation and a board member for New York City Center — where he co-founded the Encores! Series — and Goodspeed Musicals.
