Alumni Award Honoree Advises Students: “You’ve Got to Find Your Life”

Theatrical Producer Thomas M. Viertel ’59 entertained Choate students, faculty, and staff with stories of Broadway shows on April 9 when he received the 2024 Choate Rosemary Hall Alumni Award. The award recognizes alumni whose outstanding professional achievements have brought prestige to the School. Alex D. Curtis, Head of School, presented the award at School Meeting and said Viertel’s time at Choate foreshadowed his Broadway career.  

A gifted and prolific theatrical producer, Viertel has produced more than 70 plays and musicals on and off Broadway, in London, and on tour. He and his partners have contributed to some of the most iconic shows over the past 35 years, including: the original Broadway productions of “The Producers,” “Hairspray,” “Young Frankenstein,” “Smokey Joe’s Café,” “Angels in America,” Penn &Teller; revivals of “Gypsy,” “A Little Night Music,” “SweeneyTodd,” “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “Damn Yankees”; and the first-ever Broadway revivals of “The Sound of Music” and “Little Shop of Horrors”—just to name a few. Viertel’s shows have received numerous awards, including two Pulitzer Prizes, four Grammy Awards, and two Olivier Awards for Best Musicals. His eight Tony Awards include wins in all four “Best” categories–play, musical, revival of a play, and revival of a musical.  

Viertel served on Choate’s Board of Trustees from 2004 to 2014 and has served on the boards of numerous prominent organizations.  

Viertel urged Choate students to take an active approach to what they want to accomplish and said the spirit of exploration he learned at Choate (then The Choate School) was the foundation for his own search to find his life. While at Choate he embraced theater arts, taking on significant roles such as the murderer in “Dial M for Murder,” and the compelling character of Captain Queeg in “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.” After graduating from Harvard, he worked in real estate for 20 years –an experience he said was pleasant but lacked passion--before fortuitously seeing Penn and Teller perform in Los Angeles and asking them if they wanted to move their comedy-magic act to New York. The ensuing partnership began his transition back to theater and has lasted 40 years.  

Viertel told students, “What you love will take you to places you never dreamed you would go.” After School Meeting he spent time with students interested in theater arts.