情色空间

Growing up in Port Washington on Long Island, Scandalios always enjoyed singing and performing, but he found his passion for theater the first time he heard the soundtrack to Evita. 鈥淚 became obsessed,鈥� he says. If he closes his eyes, he can instantly transport himself back to being a teen, swept up by the music.

At the same time, he says, 鈥淏eing good at math in our house was a prerequisite to breathing.鈥� His father was a computer programmer turned banker, and his mother was a high school math teacher鈥攂oth the children of Greek immigrants and very practical. They struck a deal with their son. If he got a business degree first, they would then pay for any acting program he got accepted to. The compromise seemed fair enough to Scandalios, who was just beginning his college search.

Getting a peek at Gasson Hall down Linden Lane was enough to make him fall for Boston College. During his years in business school, he couldn鈥檛 quite shake his theater aspirations and got involved with the Boston College Theatre Department. He even starred as Tony in West Side Story his senior year. Summer breaks in Port Washington were spent balancing banking jobs with putting on shows with Harbor Theater Company, which he cofounded in 1984 as away to give young adults like himself acting opportunities.

But the looming deadline of graduation was catching up with him. He got into the Chase Bank training program鈥攈is father was a Chase executive, although Scandalios never worked under him鈥攁nd his future seemed set. That is, until a Chase colleague of his father鈥檚 called him up one day and 鈥減roceeded to scream at me for what felt like an eternity, but was probably only about three minutes of expletives,鈥� Scandalios says wryly.

The gist was this: He knew about the young man鈥檚 passion for theater and was adamant that people like him and Scandalios鈥檚 father shouldn鈥檛 work their whole lives just to see their children not follow their dreams. 鈥淗e said to me, 鈥榊ou have to go try this. If you don鈥檛 do it now, you鈥檙e never going to do it,鈥欌�� Scandalios continues. 鈥淚 was at that age where there鈥檚 this push and pull of finding my own identity. If my father had said it to me, I would have never taken the advice.鈥�

He did take the advice, leaving Boston College unemployed but with a stack of resumes he sent to every New York theater organization he could think of, ending up at the Nederlander Organization before the summer was out. The company is the owner and operator of more than 30 venues across the US and England, and a prolific producer on Broadway. It鈥檚 also a family business, a theatrical dynasty started in 1912 with the purchase of a 99-year lease on the Detroit Opera House by David T. Nederlander.

David鈥檚 son, James M. Nederlander, also went into show business, heading to New York City and purchasing the Palace Theatre in 1965. The organization is now one of the world鈥檚 largest privately held entertainment companies and owns the second most Broadway theaters. Their tenants include wildly popular productions like Hamilton and The Lion King. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a small industry with an outsized impact,鈥� Scandalios says. We鈥檙e sitting in the Nederlander boardroom, overlooking Times Square. Music and sirens punctuate the conversation and brightly colored LEDs reflect off the framed Tony Award nomination certificates that cover the walls.听

Despite the balancing act of his daily schedule, Scandalios is extremely generous with what free time he has, volunteering with his church and nonprofits like , which advocates for and protects the rights of LGBTQ+ parents and their children. It鈥檚 an immensely personal cause鈥攈e and his late husband Ric Swezey had their two children via surrogacy in 2007. Swezey passed away in a tragic accident when the couple鈥檚 twins were only nine. Accepting the for his humanitarian work, Scandalios said that it was the joy of holding the twins that moved him and Swezey to get involved with Family Equality.

鈥淓very child deserves the right to grow up in a loving home,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he idea that [anyone] would want to deny people the ability to form families and raise children鈥攖ake in foster children and adopt children鈥攊t鈥檚 unfathomable to me.鈥� His children, now teens, have shown no interest in the industry that has profoundly shaped Scandalios鈥檚 life, but he doesn鈥檛 mind. 鈥淢y parents let me follow my pathway. That鈥檚 what I want for my kids,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檓 going to spend zero time trying to convince them. It has to come from within or it doesn鈥檛 have longevity.鈥�

A few blocks away sits the , sheathed in protective scaffolding. It has played host to everyone from the Marx Brothers to Ethel Merman to Liza Minnelli in its century-plus of operation. With Times Square rents at a premium, the theater is being carefully raised 30 feet as part of a $2.5 billion redevelopment project. It鈥檚 a major engineering feat for a city landmark that was once a vaudeville house and then a movie theater. Now it is evolving once again. When complete, the building encasing the theater will include retail space, a hotel, and an outdoor stage, all to entice Broadway patrons to stay awhile.

After Covid-19 shut down Broadway for 18 months, the industry is still climbing back to its pre-pandemic output, Scandalios says. With the scores of retirees and remote workers that have left New York City since 2020, he鈥檚 also seeing a decade of audience demographic shifts compressed into just a few years. New Broadway shows typically take seven years to develop, he explains, 鈥渂ut we don鈥檛 have seven years of time to adjust. Gen X and the millennials are the core of the theater audience [now], so that鈥檚 where our storytelling needs to focus.鈥�