Garth H. Drabinsky

Garth H. Drabinsky, born in 1949 in Toronto, Ontario, is a Canadian film and theatrical producer and entrepreneur. He contracted polio at age three and underwent multiple operations through age twelve. Raised in a Jewish family, he earned a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Toronto in 1973 and was called to the Ontario bar in 1975. While still a law student, he authored the textbook Motion Pictures and the Arts in Canada: The Business and the Law.

Drabinsky entered the entertainment industry in 1978, working as an independent commercial film producer through Tiberius Entertainment Limited, a company he formed with Joel Michaels, and as a film distributor through Pan-Canadian Film Distributors Inc., which he co-founded with Nat Taylor. His film producing credits from that period include A Broadway Musical, The Disappearance, The Silent Partner, The Changeling, Tribute, The Amateur, and Losin' It. Financial difficulties at Cineplex eventually led him to cease film production. In April 1979, Drabinsky and Nat Taylor co-founded Cineplex Theatres, building a multiplex cinema chain for the Canadian market. By May 1984, the company had acquired the Canadian Odeon Theatre chain, becoming Cineplex Odeon, and subsequently expanded through the purchase of several American theatre chains. Drabinsky departed from the company in December 1989. Later film credits include The Gospel of John (2003), Half Light (2004), and Barrymore (2011).

Leveraging his ownership of the Pantages Theatre in Toronto, Drabinsky formed the publicly traded theatrical production company Live Entertainment Corporation of Canada, Inc., widely known as Livent. The company built or refurbished multiple theatres, among them the Oriental Theatre in Chicago, and entered into management arrangements with venues in Toronto, Vancouver, and New York. Livent's productions collectively earned 20 Tony Awards from 71 nominations and included the 1989 Canadian production of Phantom of the Opera, the 1992 Canadian productions of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Kiss of the Spider Woman, the 1993 Canadian production of Show Boat, the 1996 original production of Ragtime, the 1995 Canadian production of Sunset Boulevard, and the 1999 Broadway production of Fosse. Drabinsky's Broadway credits include Something Wonderful (1995). His producing work was recognized with Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Musical in 1993 and 1995, and a Tony Award for Best Musical in 1999.

In November 1998, Livent sought bankruptcy protection in both the United States and Canada, declaring a debt of $334 million, which prompted securities regulators in both countries to investigate the company's financial records. On March 25, 2009, Drabinsky and Livent co-founder Myron Gottlieb were found guilty of fraud and forgery in Ontario Superior Court for misstating the company's financial statements between 1993 and 1998. Drabinsky was sentenced to seven years in prison on August 5, 2009. He appealed to the Ontario Court of Appeal, which upheld the convictions but reduced his sentence to five years on September 13, 2011. The Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear a further appeal on March 29, 2012. Drabinsky was initially held at Millhaven Institution for assessment, then transferred in December 2011 to Beaver Creek Institution, a minimum-security facility in Gravenhurst, Ontario. He was released on day parole in February 2013 and granted full parole on January 20, 2014. In 2017, the Ontario Securities Commission permanently banned him from serving as a director or officer of any public company in Ontario, prohibited him from acting as an investment promoter, and restricted his ability to trade securities. On June 25, 2019, legal authorities in New York dismissed all outstanding criminal charges against Drabinsky with prejudice, nearly twenty years after the original accusations related to Livent.

In 2022, Drabinsky served as lead producer for the Broadway musical Paradise Square, which began previews at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on March 15, 2022, and opened on April 3, 2022. The production earned Drabinsky a Tony Award nomination for Best Musical. On July 11, 2022, it was announced that the show would close on July 17 due to low ticket sales. Following complaints from cast members and stage managers regarding working conditions and unpaid benefits, Actors' Equity announced plans to place Drabinsky on its Do Not Work list. In April 2023, a judge dismissed Drabinsky's defamation lawsuit against American Actors' Equity over the listing, and in July 2024 the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that dismissal and also rejected his claim that the union's conduct violated antitrust law.