Richard Jay-Alexander
Encyclopedia
Richard Jay-Alexander has been part of the stage world for over 30 years. He was a dancer, singer and actor in two minor roles on Broadway
and later branched into stage management. He was executive director of the New York office of producer Cameron Mackintosh
. Cameron Mackintosh
is known for productions including Les Misérables
, Cats
, The Phantom of the Opera
and Miss Saigon
Jay-Alexander ran Mackintosh's North American operations for ten years.
His recent directorial credits include the concert versions of Les Miz in 2008 and Guys and Dolls
in August 2009, both at the Hollywood Bowl
. He has also staged concert productions for performers such as Bernadette Peters
, Barbra Streisand
and Bette Midler
.
, a suburb of Syracuse, New York
and is the son of Frank Fernandez, a Certified Public Accountant
(CPA). His love for theatre began in elementary school when he witnessed a local production of Bye Bye Birdie in a school auditorium. He graduated from Solvay High School in 1971 and State University of New York at Oswego
in 1974, where he majored in theatre. After college, he moved to New York City
and shortly after he relocated to San Francisco for a year.
.
Jay-Alexander began his theatrical career in 1977 in the original cast of the Broadway
play Zoot Suit
. In 1981, he was cast in Universal Pictures
production of Zoot Suit
. He also played a minor role in the original Broadway cast of Amadeus which was directed by Sir Peter Hall. During that period he became acquainted with Tommy Tune
who was playing in the production of My One and Only
. Tune later encouraged Jay-Alexander to focus his career on "working behind the scenes."
, Jay-Alexander was asked to be associate director of the Amadeus national tour by Broadway producer, Cameron Mackintosh
, who had originally hired him to write stage reviews. During the 1984 Broadway revival of Oliver!
, he was assistant stage manager and dance captain. By 1985, he was a stage manager for Song and Dance
on Broadway with actress Bernadette Peters
. Both were Mackintosh productions.
Jay-Alexander was associate director and executive producer of original Broadway, touring and Canadian companies of Les Misérables
and he staged more than a dozen productions for the show around the world. He was executive producer for Mackintosh's next "smash-hit" Broadway musical, Miss Saigon
, as well as the executive producer of the Grammy-nominated Five Guys Named Moe
original cast recording.
He was executive director of the New York office of producer, Cameron Mackintosh
, where he ran Mackintosh's North American operations for a decade.
, Johnny Mathis
and Mary Cleere Haran, as well as staging concert productions for performers like Peters, Barbra Streisand
, Ricky Martin
, Russell Watson
, Brian Stokes Mitchell
, Lea Salonga
, Il Divo
and Bette Midler
.
to the Sydney Opera House
. He also has performed at Feinstein's at Loew's Regency Hotel in New York
and The Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan
. He has directed many one-person shows.
Jay-Alexander has also performed in events for several charitable organizations, including BC/EFA, the Actors Fund, the Motion Picture and Television Fund and Make-A-Wish Foundation
.
In 2006, he directed Amy Irving
in an off-Broadway
production of A Safe Harbor for Elizabeth Bishop. That same year, he was on the board of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and managed Barbra Streisand's tour which opened in October 2006, in Philadelphia.
Jay-Alexander directed From Pelham to Park Avenue with the Nunziata Brothers which opened on April 20, 2010, with musical direction by Ben Toth. Toth was also featured as pianist with Jered Egan on bass.
His recent directorial credits include the concert versions of Les Miz in 2008 at the Hollywood Bowl
in Hollywood, California. In August 2009, he directed a concert version of Guys and Dolls
also at the Hollywood Bowl
starring Scott Bakula
(Nathan Detroit), Brian Stokes Mitchell
(Sky Masterson), Ellen Greene
(Miss Adelaide) and Jessica Biel
(Sarah Brown).
In December 2010, Jay-Alexander directed From Broadway With Love at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico
, starring Kaye Ballard
, Donna McKechnie
and Liliane Montevecchi
.
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...
and later branched into stage management. He was executive director of the New York office of producer Cameron Mackintosh
Cameron Mackintosh
Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh is a British theatrical producer notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world" by the New York...
. Cameron Mackintosh
Cameron Mackintosh
Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh is a British theatrical producer notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world" by the New York...
is known for productions including Les Misérables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
, Cats
Cats (musical)
Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot...
, The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)
The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux.The music was composed by Lloyd Webber, and most lyrics were written by Charles Hart, with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. Alan Jay Lerner was an early collaborator,...
and Miss Saigon
Miss Saigon
Miss Saigon is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby, Jr.. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly, and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed romance involving an Asian woman abandoned by her American lover...
Jay-Alexander ran Mackintosh's North American operations for ten years.
His recent directorial credits include the concert versions of Les Miz in 2008 and Guys and Dolls
Guys and Dolls
Guys and Dolls is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" and "Blood Pressure", two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also borrows characters and plot elements from other Runyon stories, most notably...
in August 2009, both at the Hollywood Bowl
Hollywood Bowl
The Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheater in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, United States that is used primarily for music performances...
. He has also staged concert productions for performers such as Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters is an American actress, singer and children's book author from Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Over the course of a career that has spanned five decades, she has starred in musical theatre, films and television, as well as performing in solo concerts and recordings...
, Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
and Bette Midler
Bette Midler
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...
.
Biography
Richard Jay-Alexander was born in SolvaySolvay, New York
Solvay is a village located in Onondaga County, New York, and a suburb of the city of Syracuse. According to the 2000 census, the village had a total population of 6,845...
, a suburb of Syracuse, New York
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
and is the son of Frank Fernandez, a Certified Public Accountant
Certified Public Accountant
Certified Public Accountant is the statutory title of qualified accountants in the United States who have passed the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination and have met additional state education and experience requirements for certification as a CPA...
(CPA). His love for theatre began in elementary school when he witnessed a local production of Bye Bye Birdie in a school auditorium. He graduated from Solvay High School in 1971 and State University of New York at Oswego
State University of New York at Oswego
State University of New York at Oswego, also known as SUNY Oswego and Oswego State, is a public university in the City of Oswego and Town of Oswego, New York, on the shore of Lake Ontario...
in 1974, where he majored in theatre. After college, he moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and shortly after he relocated to San Francisco for a year.
Early career
In the late 1970s, he returned to New York where he honed his singing, dancing and acting skills. He soon found stage work and obtained his Actor's Equity card on a tour of the musical The Me Nobody KnowsThe Me Nobody Knows
The Me Nobody Knows is a musical with music by Gary William Friedman and lyrics by Will Holt. It debuted off-Broadway in 1970 and then transferred to Broadway. It received the Obie Award and a Tony Award nomination for Best Musical...
.
Jay-Alexander began his theatrical career in 1977 in the original cast of the 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...
play Zoot Suit
Zoot Suit (play)
Zoot Suit is a play written by Luis Valdez, featuring incidental music by Daniel Valdez and Lalo Guerrero, the "father of Chicano music." Zoot Suit is a fictionalized version of the real-life Sleepy Lagoon murder trial – when a group of Chicano youths were charged with a murder that they did...
. In 1981, he was cast in Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
production of Zoot Suit
Zoot Suit (film)
Zoot Suit is a 1981 filmed version of the Broadway play Zoot Suit. Both the play and film were written and directed by Luis Valdez. The film stars Daniel Valdez, Edward James Olmos — both reprising their roles from the stage production — and Tyne Daly. Many members of the cast of the...
. He also played a minor role in the original Broadway cast of Amadeus which was directed by Sir Peter Hall. During that period he became acquainted with Tommy Tune
Tommy Tune
Thomas James "Tommy" Tune is an American actor, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer, and choreographer. Over the course of his career, he has won nine Tony Awards and the National Medal of Arts.-Early years:...
who was playing in the production of My One and Only
My One and Only
My One and Only is a musical with a book by Peter Stone and Timothy S. Mayer and music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin.Written to incorporate classic Gershwin tunes from Funny Face and other popular shows into one evening of entertainment, the plot, set in 1927 America, revolves around Capt...
. Tune later encouraged Jay-Alexander to focus his career on "working behind the scenes."
Stage management
During the production of AmadeusAmadeus
Amadeus is a play by Peter Shaffer.It is based on the lives of the composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, highly fictionalized.Amadeus was first performed in 1979...
, Jay-Alexander was asked to be associate director of the Amadeus national tour by Broadway producer, Cameron Mackintosh
Cameron Mackintosh
Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh is a British theatrical producer notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world" by the New York...
, who had originally hired him to write stage reviews. During the 1984 Broadway revival of Oliver!
Oliver!
Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....
, he was assistant stage manager and dance captain. By 1985, he was a stage manager for Song and Dance
Song and Dance
Song and Dance is a musical comprising two acts, one told entirely in "Song" and one entirely in "Dance", tied together by a love story.The first part is Tell Me On A Sunday, with lyrics by Don Black and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, about a young British woman's romantic misadventures in New York...
on Broadway with actress Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters is an American actress, singer and children's book author from Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Over the course of a career that has spanned five decades, she has starred in musical theatre, films and television, as well as performing in solo concerts and recordings...
. Both were Mackintosh productions.
Jay-Alexander was associate director and executive producer of original Broadway, touring and Canadian companies of Les Misérables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
and he staged more than a dozen productions for the show around the world. He was executive producer for Mackintosh's next "smash-hit" Broadway musical, Miss Saigon
Miss Saigon
Miss Saigon is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby, Jr.. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly, and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed romance involving an Asian woman abandoned by her American lover...
, as well as the executive producer of the Grammy-nominated Five Guys Named Moe
Five Guys Named Moe
Five Guys Named Moe is a musical with a book by Clarke Peters and lyrics and music by Louis Jordan and others. The musical originated in the UK in 1990 at Theatre Royal Stratford East, running for over four years in the West End, and then premiering on Broadway in 1992...
original cast recording.
He was executive director of the New York office of producer, Cameron Mackintosh
Cameron Mackintosh
Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh is a British theatrical producer notable for his association with many commercially successful musicals. At the height of his success in 1990, he was described as being "the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world" by the New York...
, where he ran Mackintosh's North American operations for a decade.
Record producer
In recent years, Jay-Alexander has produced recordings for Bernadette PetersBernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters is an American actress, singer and children's book author from Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Over the course of a career that has spanned five decades, she has starred in musical theatre, films and television, as well as performing in solo concerts and recordings...
, Johnny Mathis
Johnny Mathis
John Royce "Johnny" Mathis is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts...
and Mary Cleere Haran, as well as staging concert productions for performers like Peters, Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
, Ricky Martin
Ricky Martin
Enrique "Ricky" Martín Morales , better known as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican and Spanish pop singer and actor who achieved prominence, first as a member of the Latin boy band Menudo, then as a solo artist since 1991.During his career he has sold more than 60 million album copies worldwide...
, Russell Watson
Russell Watson
Russell Watson is an English tenor who has released singles and albums of both operatic-style and pop songs. The self-styled "People's Tenor" had been singing since he was a child, and became known after performing at a working men's club...
, Brian Stokes Mitchell
Brian Stokes Mitchell
Brian Stokes Mitchell is an American stage, film and television actor. A powerful baritone, he has been one of the central leading men of the Broadway theatre since the early 1990s...
, Lea Salonga
Lea Salonga
Lea Salonga-Chien is a mezzo-soprano singer and actress from the Philippines well known for originating the lead role of Kim in the musical Miss Saigon, for which she won the Olivier, Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics and Theatre World awards.She was the first Asian to play the roles of Éponine and...
, Il Divo
Il Divo
Il Divo is a multinational operatic pop vocal group created by music manager, executive, and reality TV star Simon Cowell. Formed in the United Kingdom, they are also signed to Cowell's record label, Syco Music...
and Bette Midler
Bette Midler
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...
.
Recent years
He has traveled the world and worked on stages from Carnegie HallCarnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
to the Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
. He also has performed at Feinstein's at Loew's Regency Hotel in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and The Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
. He has directed many one-person shows.
Jay-Alexander has also performed in events for several charitable organizations, including BC/EFA, the Actors Fund, the Motion Picture and Television Fund and Make-A-Wish Foundation
Make-A-Wish Foundation
The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a 501 non-profit organization founded in the United States that grants wishes to children who have life-threatening medical conditions. The charity now operates in forty-seven countries around the world through thirty-six affiliate offices.The president & CEO of this...
.
In 2006, he directed Amy Irving
Amy Irving
Amy Davis Irving is an American actress, known for her roles in the films Crossing Delancey, The Fury, Carrie, and Yentl as well as acclaimed roles on Broadway and Off-Broadway. She has been nominated for an Academy Award, two Golden Globes, and has won an Obie award...
in an off-Broadway
Off-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...
production of A Safe Harbor for Elizabeth Bishop. That same year, he was on the board of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and managed Barbra Streisand's tour which opened in October 2006, in Philadelphia.
Jay-Alexander directed From Pelham to Park Avenue with the Nunziata Brothers which opened on April 20, 2010, with musical direction by Ben Toth. Toth was also featured as pianist with Jered Egan on bass.
His recent directorial credits include the concert versions of Les Miz in 2008 at the Hollywood Bowl
Hollywood Bowl
The Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheater in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, United States that is used primarily for music performances...
in Hollywood, California. In August 2009, he directed a concert version of Guys and Dolls
Guys and Dolls
Guys and Dolls is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" and "Blood Pressure", two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also borrows characters and plot elements from other Runyon stories, most notably...
also at the Hollywood Bowl
Hollywood Bowl
The Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheater in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, United States that is used primarily for music performances...
starring Scott Bakula
Scott Bakula
Scott Stewart Bakula is an American actor, known for his role as Sam Beckett in the television series Quantum Leap, for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama in 1991 and was nominated for four Emmy Awards. He also had a prominent role as Captain Jonathan...
(Nathan Detroit), Brian Stokes Mitchell
Brian Stokes Mitchell
Brian Stokes Mitchell is an American stage, film and television actor. A powerful baritone, he has been one of the central leading men of the Broadway theatre since the early 1990s...
(Sky Masterson), Ellen Greene
Ellen Greene
Ellen Greene is an American singer and actress. Greene has had a long and varied career as a singer, particularly in cabaret, as an actor and singer in numerous stage productions, particularly musical theatre, as well as having performed in many films – notably Little Shop of Horrors...
(Miss Adelaide) and Jessica Biel
Jessica Biel
Jessica Claire Biel is an American actress, model, and occasional singer. Biel is known for her television role as Mary Camden in the long-running family-drama series 7th Heaven...
(Sarah Brown).
In December 2010, Jay-Alexander directed From Broadway With Love at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
, starring Kaye Ballard
Kaye Ballard
Kaye Ballard is an American musical theatre and television actress, comedienne, and singer.-Life and career:Ballard was born as Catherine Gloria Balotta in Cleveland, Ohio, to an Italian American family, the daughter of Lena and Vincent James Balotta.Ballard established herself as a musical...
, Donna McKechnie
Donna McKechnie
Donna McKechnie is an American musical theater dancer, singer, actress, and choreographer. She is known for her professional and personal relationship with choreographer Michael Bennett, with whom she collaborated on her most noted role, "Cassie" from the musical A Chorus Line, for which she...
and Liliane Montevecchi
Liliane Montevecchi
Liliane Montevecchi is a French actress, dancer, and singer.Montevecchi began her career as a prima ballerina in Roland Petit's dance company...
.
Stage production
- Five Guys Named MoeFive Guys Named MoeFive Guys Named Moe is a musical with a book by Clarke Peters and lyrics and music by Louis Jordan and others. The musical originated in the UK in 1990 at Theatre Royal Stratford East, running for over four years in the West End, and then premiering on Broadway in 1992...
- Associate Director / Executive Producer - 1992 - Miss SaigonMiss SaigonMiss Saigon is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby, Jr.. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly, and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed romance involving an Asian woman abandoned by her American lover...
- Executive Producer - 1991 - Les MisérablesLes Misérables (musical)Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....
- Associate Director / Executive Producer - 1987 - Song and DanceSong and DanceSong and Dance is a musical comprising two acts, one told entirely in "Song" and one entirely in "Dance", tied together by a love story.The first part is Tell Me On A Sunday, with lyrics by Don Black and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, about a young British woman's romantic misadventures in New York...
- Stage manager - 1985 - Oliver!Oliver!Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....
- Assistant stage manager / Dance captain - 1984 - AmadeusAmadeusAmadeus is a play by Peter Shaffer.It is based on the lives of the composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, highly fictionalized.Amadeus was first performed in 1979...
- Assistant stage manager - 1980