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Garth Drabinsky

Canadian producer and entrepreneur

Garth Drabinsky (born 1949) is a Canadian film and theatrical producer and entrepreneur. In 2009, he was convicted and sentenced to prison for fraud and forgery.2

From Wikipedia’s article on Garth Drabinsky (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Oct 27, 1949.1

About

The sentence was reduced from 7 to 5 years in prison, on appeal to the Ontario Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear a subsequent appeal. In April 2023, a judge dismissed Drabinsky’s defamation lawsuit against American Actor’s Equity for placing him on their ‘Do Not Work’ list, and in July 2024 the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed this dismissal, also dismissing Drabinsky's claim that the union's conduct violated antitrust law. Drabinsky has attempted 3 comebacks all resulting in failure and millions of investor dollars being lost.

From Wikipedia’s article on Garth Drabinsky, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Early life and education

  • Date not recordedUniversity of Toronto3

Drabinsky contracted polio at age 3 and had multiple operations until he was 12. Born to a Jewish family in Toronto, Ontario, Drabinsky graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1973, and was called to the bar in Ontario in 1975.

Drabinsky wrote a textbook, Motion Pictures and the Arts in Canada: The Business and the Law, while attending law school.

From Wikipedia’s article on Garth Drabinsky (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Career

Occupation: businessperson, lawyer, theatrical producer, film producer.5

Film

Entering into the entertainment business in 1978 as an independent commercial film producer (through Tiberius Entertainment Limited, formed with Joel Michaels) and film distributor (through Pan-Canadian Film Distributors Inc., formed with Nat Taylor), Drabinsky produced a series of projects in the 1970s and 1980s. He produced A Broadway Musical, The Disappearance, The Silent Partner, The Changeling, Tribute, The Amateur, Losin' It. However, he stopped producing films due to financial problems at Cineplex.

In April 1979, he and Nat Taylor co-founded Cineplex Theatres, which created a chain of multiplex theatres for the Canadian market. By May 1984, it had acquired the Canadian Odeon Theatre chain, thus becoming Cineplex Odeon and a major player in the industry. It expanded further through the acquisition of several US theatre chains, but he left the company in December 1989.

Other films:

The Gospel of John (2003)

Half Light (2004)

Barrymore (2011)

Read more

Theatre

He leveraged his ownership of the Pantages Theatre in Toronto to form the publicly traded theatre production company, Live Entertainment Corporation of Canada, Inc., also known as Livent. The company expanded, building or refurbishing several theatres, including the Oriental Theatre in Chicago, and entered into management deals with others in Toronto, Vancouver, and New York. It became noted for its productions (which earned a total of 20 Tony Awards out of a total of 71 nominations) of:

Phantom of the Opera (1989 Canadian production)

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1992 Canadian production)

Kiss of the Spider Woman (1992 Canadian production)*

Show Boat (1993 Canadian production)**

Ragtime (1996 original production)

Sunset Boulevard (1995 Canadian production)

Fosse (1999 Broadway production)*

Paradise Square (2022 Broadway production)

After Livent

Beginning in 2002, Drabinsky dabbled for a few years with the Toronto-based film production and direct marketing company, Visual Bible International Inc. (OTCBB: VBII). Although he and Livent co-founder Myron Gottlieb were both purported to be creative consultants to the company, they were instrumental in building VBII's business model and trying to find an American executive to serve as president and CEO to serve as a mouthpiece to Wall Street. They were indeed running the company behind the scenes as fugitives from American prosecutors. One executive who was recruited by the executive search firm Korn Ferry and offered the position, Stuart Hotchkiss, a former Time Inc. executive, declined the job after learning about Drabinsky's and Gottlieb's legal woes and being told by then company chairman and Toronto dentist, Dr. Steven Small, that he would not be able to fire either consultant should the need arise. VBII was put into receivership by an Ontario court in 2005.

Drabinsky remained in the Canadian entertainment industry through Tiberius Entertainment (which later was known as Garth H. Drabinsky Productions). In 2011, it promoted the film Barrymore at the Toronto International Film Festival, based on the play with Christopher Plummer. Drabinsky then partnered with former CBC executive Richard Stursberg to raise funds for two musicals.

In 2022, Drabinsky was the lead producer for the Broadway musical Paradise Square. It began previews at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York City on March 15, 2022, and opened on April 3, 2022 receiving mixed reviews, and earning Drabinsky a Tony Award nomination for Best Musical. On July 11, 2022, it was announced the musical would close on July 17 due to low ticket sales. After several cast members and stage managers spoke out against the working conditions and unpaid benefits, Actors' Equity announced plans to put Drabinsky on the "Do Not Work" list, effectively banning him from producing any future Broadway shows.

From Wikipedia’s article on Garth Drabinsky (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Personal life

  • BornOct 27, 1949, Toronto6
  • CitizenshipCanada7
  • ResidenceToronto8

Awards

  • 1981Golden Screen Award for The Changeling9

Sources

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