Directing Rent would have been enough to make anyone’s career.

But Michael Greif added Next To Normal (another Pulitzer Prize winner) and Dear Evan Hansen to his resume, along with a host of others, putting him in a league all his own.

And what’s incredibly fascinating to me, and one of the reasons I wanted him on my podcast, is that each of these musicals aren’t exactly your typical Broadway musical . . . they had “alternative” subject matter, and not one of ’em had helicopters or were based on Marvel comics.

But Michael found a way to buck the Broadway trend and deliver smash after smash.  Listen to how he does it, as well as . . .

• How he started his career by self-producing his own show.
• What made him decide he wasn’t ready for New York, and why he went to graduate school instead.
• What changed about Dear Evan Hansen since the first reading, and why (spoiler alert: there was an ensemble)
• Why a “small” musical can be more powerful than a “big” one.
• They can’t all be Rent.  What he does when a show doesn’t live up to what he initially hoped.

I first asked Michael to be on the podcast over a year ago.  You’ll soon hear that it was well worth the wait.

Listen to it on iTunes here. (And if you like the podcast, give it a great review while you’re there!)

Download it here.