"Eight months after his partner’s death shocked Broadway, Peter Neufeld has opted to quit the business. The move effectively dissolves Gatchell & Neufeld, Ltd., the producing and general management firm that rose in the 1970s and ’80s to unsurpassed preeminence in operating the complex, often unwieldy machinery of the modern mega-musical.

Though he shared his partner's reputation for honesty and integrity, Neufeld is in his personal style Gatchell's opposite, preferring sweat suits over tuxedos and caring little for the spotlight. As one producer aptly put it, “In a sea of barracudas, he’s a dolphin. He’s a conservative fiscal manager with integrity and compassion, and he gives the most encouraging hug on Broadway.”
—Jeremy Gerard, Variety, March 1994


Brooklyn born and raised, Peter fell in love at age seven when his mother took him to his first Broadway musical and the curtain rose on the original company of—Oklahoma!. His story takes us through his “maturing years” at the College of William and Mary, where his passion for the theater was reinforced. Here he established enduring friendships and “learned that it was kind of okay for the theater to be important to me.”

He returned to New York, where he eventually formed a business partnership with R. Tyler Gatchell, Jr. Their firm handled many of the most important shows of the 1970s and ’80s, including No, No, Nanette; Jesus Christ Superstar; Annie; Sweeney Todd; Evita; and Cats, to name a few. As the years unfolded Peter worked with theatrical royalty: from Claudette Colbert and Ruby Keeler to Cherry Jones and Patti LuPone; Mike Nichols and Ed Harris to Janet Leigh and Jack Cassidy; Ethel Merman, Linda Lavin and Alfred Drake to Noël Coward, Lynn Fontanne, and Madeline Kahn, Judith Ivey, Martin Charnin, and many, many more—always with a wry smile and a twinkle in his eye.

Peter’s memoir is also the touching story of a man wrestling with his sexuality while working in the Broadway theater. After Tyler’s death he found his interest in the business side waning. A new path led him closer to “the heart of the Broadway community,” a perfect footnote to the career of a man initially drawn to the stage by its spirit of mutual support. That gift for personal connection—along with integrity, warmth, humor, and an insistence on doing his job right— made him one of the most beloved and respected members of his profession. It also makes his memoir a saga of glamorous stars, laughter, soaring successes and humbling failures, keen insights into the world of theater, even a special Tony award. Peter’s story is the inspirational tale of a man in pursuit of a lifelong passion.