impresario (im-pruh-SAR-ee-o) noun

   1. An organizer, promoter, or manager of public entertainments, such as
      a ballet, opera, concert, or theater company.

   2. Any manager or director.

[From Italian impresario (one who undertakes a business), from impresa
(undertaking), from imprendere (to undertake).]

   "Even on Broadway, few stars have crashed as spectacularly as Garth
   Drabinsky, the impresario behind Ragtime, theatreland's highest-grossing
   show."
   From Riches to Ragtime, The Economist (London), Aug 15, 1998.

"All the world's a stage, / And the men and women merely players: / They
have their exits and their entrances; / And one man in his time plays
many parts." So wrote our friend Bill Shakespeare some 400 years ago in
one of his most profound observations on human condition. Yet, we often
treat this life as if we really are the people we're playing. Imagine how
few troubles we might have if we remember it's only a role we are playing.
All we need to do is to play it as best we can and then gracefully exit
the stage.                                                         -Anu


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Pronunciation:
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