Scholarship Programs Launched at Duke University and Hartt School in Memory of Kevin Gray

"The Kevin Gray Musical Theater Award Endowment Fund" at Duke University and "The Kevin Gray Memorial Scholarship Award" at the Hartt School at the University of Hartford have been created to provide financial support to promising students as they pursue training in musical theater. Any level of contribution will help guarantee that this type of educational experience is made available to students who choose to follow in Kevin's footsteps as they attend one of these two institutions.

Donations to Hartt can be made electronically by logging onto https://www.anchoronline.org/anchorfund or by mailing a check to: University of Hartford, Office of Institutional Advancement, 200 Bloomfield Avenue, West Hartford, CT 06117. (Please note: Electronic donating requires that you choose Other for the designation and putting The Kevin Gray Memorial Scholarship Award in the blank space provided).

Donations to Duke can be made electronically by logging onto: https://www.gifts.duke.edu/ or by mailing a check to the University directly, in accordance with 'instructions on giving' provided on a second website: http://dukeforward.duke.edu/ways-to-give/. (Please note: Electronic donating requires checking 'add an unlisted designation' highlighted in blue beneath the list of existing funds and typing The Kevin Gray Musical Theater Award Endowment Fund in the blank box that drops down.)

Gray, who passed away in February 2013, most recently starred as Scar in the National Tour of Disney's The Lion King, directed by Julie Taymor. Before that, Mr. Gray toured the United Kingdom as The King in The King and I, reprising his role from the Broadway revival of Rogers and Hammerstein's classic, in which he became only the third actor in history to play the role on Broadway. Gray starred as Pontius Pilate in the Broadway revival of Jesus Christ Superstar and starred in Harold Prince's production of Showboat, as Gaylord Ravenal. He toured as the star of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Music of the Night, and appeared as The Engineer in the Los Angeles and Toronto productions of Miss Saigon, receiving the Dora Mavor Moore (Canada's Tony Award) and Los Angeles Dramalogue awards for his performances. He appears on The Complete Miss Saigon, recorded in London. He was the youngest actor to play the title role in The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway and on the U.S. National Tour, receiving The Carbonelle Award for his performance as The Phantom. Before that, he played Raoul in Phantom of the Opera on Broadway and created the role of Valentin opposite John Rubinstein in the world premiere of the musical Kiss of the Spider Woman.

Kevin first came to the attention of New York audiences for his portrayal of Kayama in the 1985 revival of Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures, and subsequently was seen on Broadway as The Prince in Chu Chem and Off-Broadway in The Knife, written and directed by David Hare, and starring Mandy Patinkin and Mary Elizabeth Mastroantonio, and The Death of Garcia Lorca, directed by Carlos Jimenez, both at The New York Shakespeare Festival. In addition, he appeared Off-Broadway in The Young Playwright's Festival at Playwright's Horizons, and as Dominique in The Baker's Wife at the York Theatre, directed by Stephen Schwartz. He appeared in the pre-Broadway revival of Night of the Iguana starring Jean Moreau, Michael Moriarity, Eileen Brennan, and Roy Dotrice, and in Romance Language at the Mark Taper Forum with Frances Conroy, Concetta Tomei, and John Vickery. Other Regional credits include The Real Thingat The Portland Stage Company, Irma La Douce at The Goodspeed Opera House, and The Tempest, Macbeth, All's Well That Ends Well, and Richard III at The Boston Shakespeare Company. Mr. Gray also created the title roles in Dracula The Covenant at the Stonington Opera House, written by Mr. Gray and his wife Dodie Pettit, and Billie Brown's Colorados, directed by Paul Giovanni at The Mount Gretna Playhouse.