Theater News

Quick Wit: Jordan Roth

The producer of The Donkey Show has a mid-spring evening’s chat with Christina D’Angelo.

24-year-old Jordan Roth has begun his commercial producing career on a high note with the critical smash hit The Donkey Show, a knee-slapping, foot-stomping, tongue-in-someone-else’s-cheek disco club retelling of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, currently playing Off-Broadway at Club El Flamingo. Roth, who is also the son of producer extraordinaire Daryl Roth, has had quite a journeyman career, whether as assistant director to Michael Wilson for the Off-Broadway play Defying Gravity or serving as Assistant General Manager for New York Stage and Film. As an actor, Roth appeared in the feature film I Think I Do and in the Off-Broadway play The Man Who Was Peter Pan.

A summa cum laude graduate of Princeton University, where he received degrees in philosophy and theater, Roth serves on the Board of Trustees of the Horace Mann School, is a member of the Steering Committee of the Young Patrons of Lincoln Center Theater, and is a board member of Project 400 Theater Group, which developed The Donkey Show. Future plans include additional productions of The Donkey Show in Las Vegas, London, and Germany, as well as several new “hybrid” experiences that combine theater and nightlife.

What is your favorite line from a film?

I have two: “You nuked my brother: You took him from geek status to king status to no status” from Can’t Buy Me Love. And, “We’ve got a lot in common: we’re both good lookers, we both clean houses and we’re both not Chinese” from Johnny Dangerously.

What are your three favorite films?

Terms of Endearment, Silence of the Lambs, and Johnny Dangerously.

What is the first thing you reach for in the morning?

The clicker, so I can watch NY1.

If you were a shade of nail polish what would you be called?

Irony.

What is your favorite cocktail?

I’m not much of a drinker, but my favorite beverage is D.C. (Diet Coke) from the can, poured in a glass of ice.

What is the most important thing in your refrigerator?

Ketchup for my egg-white omelet that I eat every morning for breakfast and grapes.

What is the best neighborhood in New York City?

The Meat Packing District.

Who is one of the most important actresses living today?

Jodie Foster.

Who are your favorite artists?

Robert Mapplethorpe is my favorite visual artist and my favorite writer is Toni Morrison–especially her novel, The Bluest Eye.

What is the most important thing about Easter?

Without a doubt that would have to be Peeps but you have to know how to eat them: first the ears (if they’re Bunnies), then the head and finally the body. In London though I just discovered “Fru-Mellos”–a fat-free flavored Jello-like marshmallow treat and they’re excellent.

If you could wake up possessing a skill that you now do not have, what would that be?

Immediate Anxiety Control.

What is your favorite disco tune?

“Never Knew Love Like This Before,” by Stephanie Mills.

What is in your CD player right now?

Nancy Griffith, Cirque du Soleil’s “O”, Macie Gray, and Everything But the Girl.

Spring or Autumn?

Autumn.

Morning or Night?

Night.

Bonus Question: Name three women governors, past or present.

Ann Richards from Texas, Christine Whitman from New Jersey, and Madeleine Kunin from New Hampshire.

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The Donkey Show

Closed: December 28, 2005