Rick Steiner

Richard Harris Steiner (November 8, 1946 – November 3, 2016) was a five-time Tony Award-winning Broadway producer, whose hits included The Producers, Hairspray, and Jersey Boys.

Biography Steiner was born in Cincinnati, to Philip Steiner, a founder of Kenner Products, and Desirée (Harris) Steiner. Desirée Steiner was the daughter of Desirée Lazard, a Broadway actress, and Harry Harris, a former boxer known as the Human Hairpin. The two met in 1906 when she was appearing as Tessy Tarrytown in George M. Cohan's "Forty-Five Minutes From Broadway," at the New Amsterdam Theater; he was the theater's manager. Steiner had one brother, Corky.

Steiner acted in community theater productions as a child. He attended Camp Thunderbird in Bemidji, Minn., where he met fellow camper Rocco Landesman, who would become his business partner in later years. Steiner graduated from Walnut Hills High School in Cincinnati, and went on to earn a BA in economics from the University of Wisconsin in 1968, of Cincinnati. Steiner was also a part-owner of the Cincinnati Reds, and one of the original investors in the Chi-Chi's restaurant chain, buying stock when he was just in fourth grade.

Steiner was a board member of the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati, and the Cincinnati School for Creative and Performing Arts.

At his death, Steiner was working on a musical adaptation of the movie "Bull Durham."

Credits

Musicals Big River (1985) Into the Woods (1987) The Secret Garden (1991) Smokey Joe's Cafe (1995) The Producers (2001) Hairspray (2002) Jersey Boys (2005) The Times They Are a-Changin' (2006) The Wedding Singer (2006) Honeymoon in Vegas (2015)

Plays Topdog/Underdog (2002) August: Osage County (2007)