Garth Drabinsky

The grand old word impresario – which means “an organizer of public entertainments” – is really the only term that will do the describe the career of Garth Drabinsky.

In 1979 he co-founded Cineplex Corporation, which became Cineplex Odeon Corporation in 1984. Under Mr. Drabinsky’s leadership, the Corporation grew over the next decade from one 18-screen cinema complex at Toronto’s Eaton Centre into a chain of cinemas with some 1,800 screens in 500 locations, including six Canadian provinces, 20 American states and the United Kingdom. While he was the Chairman of Cineplex Odeon Corporation, Mr. Drabinsky was responsible for restoring the Pantages Theatre in Toronto – the home of the long-running Canadian production of The Phantom of the Opera musical – to its original 1920s splendour.

From 1993 to 1998, Mr. Drabinsky was Chairman and CEO of Livent Inc., the publicly-traded commercial live theatre company. Under Mr. Drabinsky’s producing leadership, the corporation’s Broadway productions were nominated for 61 Tony Awards and collectively won 19 Tony Awards. Our own Moses Znaimer once observed of Mr. Drabinsky, “He’s the only guy who makes me feel avuncular.”