Alan Safier
Encyclopedia
Alan Safier is an American stage, television, and voice-over
actor, as well as a singer and recording artist, who is currently touring the United States as George Burns
in the one-man show Say Goodnight Gracie
by Rupert Holmes
.
. He has two older brothers, Howard and Dennis. At the age of 12, he began writing a newspaper that covered events on his small suburban street, Tolland Road, in Shaker Heights; the monthly newspaper lasted for one-and-a-half years. He wrote a sports column for the school newspaper at Byron Junior High
, was co-editor for the Mayfield High newspaper, and was a contributing editor for the Ohio University
's The Post
in Athens, Ohio
.
His first stage appearance was at the age of nine in an adaptation of Dr. Seuss
's Bartholomew and the Oobleck
. He continued acting in junior high, high school, teen theatre, summer stock, and community theatre productions, including a mounting of Michael Weller
's Moonchildren
at the renowned Cleveland multi-racial theatre Karamu House
.
in another play called Say Goodnight, Gracie, this one written by Ralph Pape
, directed by Austin Pendleton
, and about neither George nor Gracie. In 1982 he was cast in the 30th anniversary revival of New Faces of 1952
, taking on the role originated by Ronny Graham
, which included emceeing the show, doing a Truman Capote
take-off (as "Mr. Kaput"), and performing in a comedy sketch written in the early 1950s by a young Mel Brooks
. (Toward the end of the run, Eartha Kitt
, who was in the 1952 Broadway
production, joined the cast and re-created her original role.)
While living and working in New York in the 1970s/80s, he studied with legendary acting teacher Wynn Handman
and with Academy Award-winning actress Beatrice Straight
. Some of his other New York and regional theatre credits include Steve Martin
's The Underpants
, the off-Broadway comedy revue Scrambled Feet, Littlechap in Stop the World, I Want to Get Off, Bluntschli in George Bernard Shaw
’s Arms & the Man, and Gratiano in The Merchant of Venice
(in which he co-starred with legendary Group Theatre actor Morris Carnovsky
).
Recently, he had a six-month run as Herb Schwartz in the comedy-drama The Last Schwartz at The Zephyr Theatre in Hollywood. Other California credits include the homeless Vietnam veteran Lou in Steve Tesich
’s The Speed of Darkness
, Michael in the L.A. premiere of The Men from the Boys (Mart Crowley
's sequel to The Boys in the Band
), Stephen in Dealer's Choice by Patrick Marber
, Frenchy in Clifford Odets
's Rocket to the Moon, and Buddy Fidler in City of Angels
.
In the fall of 2008, he earned the role of George Burns in the Tony
-nominated Say Goodnight Gracie (the one-man show that starred Frank Gorshin
on Broadway), and continues performing it in theaters and performing arts centers all across the U.S. In addition to Burns, Safier has played several famous and infamous persons in his stage career: Albert Einstein
in the world-premiere musical The Smartest Man in the World, John Adams
in 1776
, and Spiro Agnew
in Gore Vidal
's An Evening with Richard M. Nixon. He co-starred as Charles J. Guiteau
in the Los Angeles premiere of Stephen Sondheim
's Assassins
, a production which starred Patrick Cassidy
(the Balladeer in the original New York production).
He recently played the title role, Sganarelle, in Sheldon Harnick
's new musicalization of the classic Moliere
farce, The Doctor in Spite of Himself at the Inge Festival Theatre.
, Days of Our Lives
, Generations. His most recent prime-time guest-star appearance was on The Wizards of Waverly Place.
He teaches voice-over workshops at theatre festivals and universities across the country, and is the author of the play My Father’s Voice as well as several published short stories.
Since 2003, he has been a frequent guest artist at the annual William Inge Theatre Festival in Independence, Kansas
. His CD of standards from the 1930s and 1940s, Alan Safier Sings the Songs of George & Gracie's Heyday, was released in February 2011.
He is currently adapting Charles Dickens
's A Christmas Carol
into a one-actor musical called Humbug! with words and music by Harnick and Michel Legrand
, which is scheduled to begin touring in November 2012.
Voice-over
Voice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...
actor, as well as a singer and recording artist, who is currently touring the United States as George Burns
George Burns
George Burns , born Nathan Birnbaum, was an American comedian, actor, and writer.He was one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, film, radio, television and movies, with and without his wife, Gracie Allen. His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became...
in the one-man show Say Goodnight Gracie
Say Goodnight, Gracie
Say Goodnight Gracie is a one-man play by Rupert Holmes.Adapted from the reminiscences of George Burns, the multimedia presentation traces the comedian-raconteur's life from his childhood on the Lower East Side of Manhattan to his early career in vaudeville to his momentous meeting and subsequent...
by Rupert Holmes
Rupert Holmes
Rupert Holmes is an American-British composer, singer-songwriter, musician and author of plays, novels and stories. He is best known for his number one pop hit "Escape " and the song "Him", which reached the number 6 position on the Hot 100 U.S. pop chart in 1980...
.
Early life
Alan Michael Safier was born in Cleveland to Martha (née Wolk; 1913–2007), a homemaker, and Samuel Safier (1910–1965), a pharmacistPharmacist
Pharmacists are allied health professionals who practice in pharmacy, the field of health sciences focusing on safe and effective medication use...
. He has two older brothers, Howard and Dennis. At the age of 12, he began writing a newspaper that covered events on his small suburban street, Tolland Road, in Shaker Heights; the monthly newspaper lasted for one-and-a-half years. He wrote a sports column for the school newspaper at Byron Junior High
Shaker Heights Middle School
Shaker Heights Middle School is located in Shaker Heights, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, and is part of the Shaker Heights City School District. Being the sole public middle school in the district, it serves about 900 students in grades seven and eight....
, was co-editor for the Mayfield High newspaper, and was a contributing editor for the Ohio University
Ohio University
Ohio University is a public university located in the Midwestern United States in Athens, Ohio, situated on an campus...
's The Post
The Post (Ohio newspaper)
The Post is a student-run newspaper in Athens, Ohio, that covers Ohio University and Athens County. It publishes five days a week while the university is in session and distributes 14,000 copies. Though it operates from a university building, the paper remains editorially independent...
in Athens, Ohio
Athens, Ohio
Athens is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Athens County, Ohio, United States. It is located along the Hocking River in the southeastern part of Ohio. A historic college town, Athens is home to Ohio University and is the principal city of the Athens, Ohio Micropolitan Statistical Area. ...
.
His first stage appearance was at the age of nine in an adaptation of Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss
Theodor Seuss Geisel was an American writer, poet, and cartoonist most widely known for his children's books written under the pen names Dr. Seuss, Theo LeSieg and, in one case, Rosetta Stone....
's Bartholomew and the Oobleck
Bartholomew and the Oobleck
Bartholomew and the Oobleck is a 1949 book by Dr. Seuss . It follows the adventures of a young boy named Bartholomew, who must rescue his kingdom from a sticky substance called "oobleck". The book is a sequel of sorts to The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins...
. He continued acting in junior high, high school, teen theatre, summer stock, and community theatre productions, including a mounting of Michael Weller
Michael Weller
Michael Weller is a Brooklyn-based playwright who is best known for his plays Moonchildren and Loose Ends. Weller is one of the founders of the Cherry Lane Theatre's acclaimed Mentor Project, which pairs pre-eminent playwrights with emerging playwrights for a season-long mentorship...
's Moonchildren
Moonchildren
Moonchildren is a play by Brooklyn-based playwright Michael Weller. The play chronicles a year in the life of the "moonchildren" referred to in the title: eight college students living communally together in an off-campus attic in the mid 1960s.-Performances:The work was first performed in 1971...
at the renowned Cleveland multi-racial theatre Karamu House
Karamu House
Karamu House in the Fairfax neighborhood on the east side of Cleveland, Ohio, is the oldest African-American theater in the United States. Many of Langston Hughes's plays were developed and premièred at the theater.-History:...
.
Acting career
After receiving an MFA in Acting at Ohio University, Alan Safier debuted off-BroadwayOff-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
in another play called Say Goodnight, Gracie, this one written by Ralph Pape
Ralph Pape
Ralph Pape is an American playwright best known for Say Goodnight, Gracie , Soap Opera and Hearts Beating Faster .-Theater:...
, directed by Austin Pendleton
Austin Pendleton
Austin Pendleton is an American film, television, and stage actor, a playwright, and a theatre director and instructor.-Life and career:...
, and about neither George nor Gracie. In 1982 he was cast in the 30th anniversary revival of New Faces of 1952
New Faces of 1952
New Faces of 1952 is a musical revue with songs and comedy skits. It ran on Broadway for nearly a year in 1952 and was then made into a motion picture in 1954...
, taking on the role originated by Ronny Graham
Ronny Graham
Ronny Graham was an American actor and theatre director, composer, lyricist, and writer.Graham was born Ronald Montcrief Stringer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second of five children born to vaudeville performers Florence and Thomas Graham Stringer . Graham...
, which included emceeing the show, doing a Truman Capote
Truman Capote
Truman Streckfus Persons , known as Truman Capote , was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and the true crime novel In Cold Blood , which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At...
take-off (as "Mr. Kaput"), and performing in a comedy sketch written in the early 1950s by a young Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
. (Toward the end of the run, Eartha Kitt
Eartha Kitt
Eartha Mae Kitt was an American singer, actress, and cabaret star. She was perhaps best known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 hit recordings of "C'est Si Bon" and the enduring Christmas novelty smash "Santa Baby." Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the...
, who was in the 1952 Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
production, joined the cast and re-created her original role.)
While living and working in New York in the 1970s/80s, he studied with legendary acting teacher Wynn Handman
Wynn Handman
Wynn Handman, is the Artistic Director of The American Place Theatre, which he co-founded with Sidney Lanier and Michael Tolan in 1963. His role in the theatre has been to seek out, encourage, train, and present new and exciting writing and acting talent and to develop and produce new plays by...
and with Academy Award-winning actress Beatrice Straight
Beatrice Straight
Beatrice Whitney Straight was an American theatre, film, and television actress. Hers remains the shortest acting performance in a film to win an Oscar. In her winning role in the 1976 film Network, she was on screen for five minutes and forty seconds, the shortest time ever for the winner of the...
. Some of his other New York and regional theatre credits include Steve Martin
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn "Steve" Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer....
's The Underpants
The Underpants
The Underpants is the most recent adaptation of the 1910 German farce Die Hose by playwright Carl Sternheim. The adaptation was written by Steve Martin...
, the off-Broadway comedy revue Scrambled Feet, Littlechap in Stop the World, I Want to Get Off, Bluntschli in George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
’s Arms & the Man, and Gratiano in The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic...
(in which he co-starred with legendary Group Theatre actor Morris Carnovsky
Morris Carnovsky
Morris Carnovsky was an American stage and film actor born in St. Louis, Missouri. He worked briefly in the Yiddish theatre before attending Washington University in St. Louis...
).
Recently, he had a six-month run as Herb Schwartz in the comedy-drama The Last Schwartz at The Zephyr Theatre in Hollywood. Other California credits include the homeless Vietnam veteran Lou in Steve Tesich
Steve Tesich
Stojan Steve Tesich was a Serbian-American screenwriter, playwright and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1979 for the movie Breaking Away.-Career:...
’s The Speed of Darkness
The Speed of Darkness (play)
The Speed of Darkness is a play written by Steve Tesich.-Productions:The play received its world premiere at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, with Bill Raymond as Joe, Stephen Lang as Lou, and Lee Guthrie as Anne....
, Michael in the L.A. premiere of The Men from the Boys (Mart Crowley
Mart Crowley
Mart Crowley is an American playwright.Crowley was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi. After graduating from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. in 1957, Crowley headed west to Hollywood, where he worked for a number of television production companies before meeting Natalie Wood on...
's sequel to The Boys in the Band
The Boys in the Band
The Boys in the Band is a 1970 American drama film directed by William Friedkin. The screenplay by Mart Crowley is based on his Off Broadway play of the same title, Crowley penned a sequel to the play years later entitled The Men From The Boys...
), Stephen in Dealer's Choice by Patrick Marber
Patrick Marber
Patrick Albert Crispin Marber is an English comedian, playwright, director, puppeteer, actor and screenwriter.-Early life and education:...
, Frenchy in Clifford Odets
Clifford Odets
Clifford Odets was an American playwright, screenwriter, socialist, and social protester.-Early life:Odets was born in Philadelphia to Romanian- and Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, Louis Odets and Esther Geisinger, and raised in Philadelphia and the Bronx, New York. He dropped out of high...
's Rocket to the Moon, and Buddy Fidler in City of Angels
City of Angels (musical)
City of Angels is a musical comedy with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by David Zippel, and book by Larry Gelbart. The musical weaves together two plots, the "real" world of a writer trying to turn his book into a screenplay, and the "reel" world of the fictional film.-Productions:City of Angels...
.
In the fall of 2008, he earned the role of George Burns in the Tony
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
-nominated Say Goodnight Gracie (the one-man show that starred Frank Gorshin
Frank Gorshin
Frank John Gorshin, Jr. was an American actor and comedian. He was perhaps best known as an impressionist, with many guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show...
on Broadway), and continues performing it in theaters and performing arts centers all across the U.S. In addition to Burns, Safier has played several famous and infamous persons in his stage career: Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
in the world-premiere musical The Smartest Man in the World, John Adams
John Adams
John Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...
in 1776
1776 (musical)
1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The story is based on the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence...
, and Spiro Agnew
Spiro Agnew
Spiro Theodore Agnew was the 39th Vice President of the United States , serving under President Richard Nixon, and the 55th Governor of Maryland...
in Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal
Gore Vidal is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. His third novel, The City and the Pillar , outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality...
's An Evening with Richard M. Nixon. He co-starred as Charles J. Guiteau
Charles J. Guiteau
Charles Julius Guiteau was an American lawyer who assassinated U.S. President James A. Garfield. He was executed by hanging.- Background :...
in the Los Angeles premiere of Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
's Assassins
Assassins (musical)
Assassins is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by John Weidman, based on an idea by Charles Gilbert, Jr. It uses the premise of a murderous carnival game to produce a revue-style portrayal of men and women who attempted to assassinate Presidents of the United States...
, a production which starred Patrick Cassidy
Patrick Cassidy (actor)
Patrick Cassidy is an American actor best known for his roles in musical theatre and television.-Personal life:...
(the Balladeer in the original New York production).
He recently played the title role, Sganarelle, in Sheldon Harnick
Sheldon Harnick
Sheldon Harnick is an American lyricist best known for his collaborations with composer Jerry Bock on hit musicals such as Fiddler on the Roof....
's new musicalization of the classic Moliere
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
farce, The Doctor in Spite of Himself at the Inge Festival Theatre.
Other accomplishments
Safier may be familiar to audiences for hundreds of voice-overs (notably as the Kibbles 'n Bits dog, and the voice of TurboTax). He has appeared on the daytime dramas PassionsPassions
Passions is an American television soap opera which aired on NBC from July 5, 1999 to September 7, 2007 and on The 101 Network from September 17, 2007 to August 7, 2008....
, Days of Our Lives
Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...
, Generations. His most recent prime-time guest-star appearance was on The Wizards of Waverly Place.
He teaches voice-over workshops at theatre festivals and universities across the country, and is the author of the play My Father’s Voice as well as several published short stories.
Since 2003, he has been a frequent guest artist at the annual William Inge Theatre Festival in Independence, Kansas
Independence, Kansas
Independence is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 9,483.-Geography:...
. His CD of standards from the 1930s and 1940s, Alan Safier Sings the Songs of George & Gracie's Heyday, was released in February 2011.
He is currently adapting Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
's A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens first published by Chapman & Hall on 17 December 1843. The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge's ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation after the supernatural visits of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of...
into a one-actor musical called Humbug! with words and music by Harnick and Michel Legrand
Michel Legrand
Michel Jean Legrand is a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist...
, which is scheduled to begin touring in November 2012.