How the head of a non-profit theater spends his Sundays
Perhaps more young people are tuning in to the Tony awards this weekend thanks to the work of Michael Presser, the founder of Inside Broadwaya non-profit organization that brings Broadway musicals to New York City schools and New York City schoolchildren to Broadway musicals.
What began in the early 1980s as a program offering free tickets for local students to see “Cats” now reaches 75,000 students in 90 schools each year with its own touring productions and educational programs. Current alternate shows include “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” “Sophisticated Ladies,” and “Free to Be… You and Me.”
Mr. Presser, 75, lives in Greenwich Village. Though his organization turns 41 this year, he’s not done marking his final milestone birthday just yet. “Since we are working on a fiscal year, we are still 40 through June 30,” he said. “We’re still celebrating.”
QUIET FORMALITY I’m not a morning person so I absolutely love having the quiet around me in the morning. No TV, no radio, and basically I’d rather stick to the morning papers and spend a good time perusing the day’s news. I never lie around in pajamas or workout clothes. I’m formal.
GREEN SPACE There is a garden connected to my apartment. On Sunday morning it is wonderful to relax here with the newspaper and tea. I am not a coffee drinker. I prefer black tea or green tea. When I get guests from outside New York, they are often fascinated by a garden in the heart of Manhattan. They assume that all New Yorkers live in Times Square. I enjoy the plants very much and I very much enjoy my gardener who takes care of them. I am not a gardener.
ON THE PHONE I do enjoy spending some time in the morning talking on the phone with friends and family from outside New York. It’s a really good time to talk to people who are in different time zones. I prefer to catch up over the phone as it allows for a more direct and personal exchange. I think social media is kind of superficial.
A GREAT HONOR I take a walk through the neighborhood every week. This is something I started doing during the pandemic. At the time I made these walks every day. Even though I’ve been here a long time, I really enjoy Greenwich Village. I think you sometimes take your immediate surroundings for granted. But this particular neighborhood is so rich in history and architecture. It’s a very special part of New York and I actually consider it a great honor to have lived here for a long time.
PHILLY REVIEW I always stop for bagels and lox. It’s kind of a Sunday tradition from my childhood in Philadelphia. When I was a boy, one of my uncles delivered a bag of bagels and lox to our house every Sunday. It was really something to look forward to. So I kind of carry it on as a fond memory. I stop at Sixth Avenue, Murray’s. I take it home and sit outside in the garden. That’s lunch.
MATINEE I think Sunday is the best day of the week to go to the theater, and I’ve always enjoyed attending a matinee. Although I go to a lot of gigs during the week, on Sundays I’m well rested and can concentrate on the gigs, which is sometimes harder to do during the week. I go to Broadway, but also many other kinds of shows, Off Broadway and so on. It’s really great, the wide variety of theater that we have here. It’s a good time to take that in a little bit. I recently saw “Kimberly Akimbo” and a brand new opera at the Metropolitan Opera, “Champion,” and had a great opportunity to catch one of the last performances of “Phantom of the Opera.”
TAKE ME OUT Sunday during baseball season is a good time to head to Yankee Stadium. I always loved baseball as a kid, and then I lost interest in it for quite a while, and it seems I rediscovered it. I think it’s a fascinating game; the strategies, the players who have such unique skills. And in the summer, I think it’s a great experience to be outside at a baseball game. Yankee Stadium is a true New York institution. I’ll take the subway. All New Yorkers take the subway.
FIRM RULE We have a kind of gang of friends who get together on Sunday evenings for dinner in the Westway dinner in Hell’s Kitchen. It gives us a chance to exchange what we’ve been up to this week, especially about the world of the arts. We have many strong and interesting opinions and I always encourage everyone to respect the opinions of others. For example, we regularly talk about who performed at the opera or what they saw this week. We don’t talk about politics. That’s a hard and fast rule. No politics.
TRAVEL RESEARCH After dinner I have free time, and what I generally like to do is plan projects and activities and especially travel that I will be doing in the coming months. Not being a beach person, I almost always plan trips around major cosmopolitan cities. I can find out what theater I’d like to see and research important people I might like to meet in the local arts community.
LAST NIGHT STACK I am an evening person. I can stay up late, until 1am or sometimes later. It gives me some time for personal reading. I’m a big fan of the New York Public Library, which I think is one of the great privileges of living in New York. I always have a stack of books that I got from the library. I prefer biographies and history. One of the great things about the library is that you can borrow a book, and if you don’t like it, you can return it right away.
Sunday Routine readers can follow Inside Broadway on social media at @Inside_Broadway.