Richard Jay-Alexander - Page 2

I'm happy to confess that this piece was a total, happy accident.

Jay is an enormous fan of Broadway and all its denizens and has done many Broadway Cast Albums, but he has also worked with every great star of our time in every category of music.

Anyone who knows Mary-Mitchell Campbell knows her passion for music and certainly, by now, knows of her passion for ASTEP - Artists Striving To End Poverty, of which she is the Founder and Executive Director.

Who could ever forget Liz Callaway stopping the show cold with a simple plaintive Maltby and Shire song called "The Story Goes On" back in 1983 in the Broadway production of BABY? Or, of course, Stephen Sondheim's MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG? Or her Grizabella? Or any of the amazing albums she has made over the years, either solo or with her sister Ann Hampton Callaway?

Lee Roy Reams = Broadway. It's really that simple. Or as Phil Geoffrey Bond, from 54 Below, likes to call this show: BROADWAY 101, and I would Certainly concur. If you have nothing to do tonight, get yourself to the Hottest venue in town, where Sunday Nights have become a "hot ticket" To see some some of the best talent around, doing all sorts of shows.

DRAMA HIGH is a million dollar title if ever there was one. It sounds like an emotionally-charged film or a soap opera-ish TV series, but it's a fascinating new book which delivers all of the above and more.

Saying the name ANN-MARGRET is like an instant Rorschach Test or Word Association game and it's no wonder, as this woman who came to America from another country (Sweden) has surely achieved what is perceived as 'The American Dream' with a uniquely unparalleled career.

Tonight, as the curtain rises at the (770 seat) Alliance Theatre, in Atlanta, this will be the center of the Universe for Barry and Bruce. This musical is, and has been, their baby for a long time, while waiting for this moment.

And this Monday, May 20th, John Bantay will do his farewell SPIN as he leaves to continue pursuing his career and becomes a stage manager at the long-running musical, Avenue Q. Speaking to John Bantay, I, of course, was curious as to what his favorite video clips have been over the years. He was reticent to put them in 'Top 10' format because, to him, he considers them all number 1's. So here's his hit list, in no particular order:

Three-time Tony winning director Jack O'Brien's memoir 'Jack Be Nimble: The Accidental Education of an Unintentional Director' will be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux on June 18, 2013. For Jack O'Brien, there's nothing like a first encounter with a great performer, nothing like the sound of an audience bursting into applause. In short, there's nothing like the theater. In the special interview below, director Richard Jay-Alexander chats with his friend about what fans can expect from the new book. Check it out below!