Richard Jay-Alexander

Richard Jay-Alexander, born May 24, 1953, is an American performer, director, producer, and writer whose career has encompassed Broadway performance, large-scale theatrical production, concert direction, and television. One of five children, he was born to a mother from Havana, Cuba and a Spanish-American father. His professional name resulted from a union requirement, as another performer already held his birth name.

Jay-Alexander entered the Broadway world in 1977 as a production assistant on the revival of Porgy and Bess, produced by Sherwin M. Goldman and the Houston Grand Opera. He also worked as a production assistant on the pre-Broadway tryout of Nefertiti, which starred Andrea Marcovicci and was directed by Jack O'Brien. His performing credits on Broadway span 1979 to 1980 and include Amadeus and Zoot Suit.

He subsequently spent twelve years as Executive Director of the North American Flagship Headquarters of Cameron Mackintosh Inc., overseeing productions that included Les Misérables, Cats, The Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Five Guys Named Moe, Oliver!, and Putting It Together. During that period he directed the original Canadian production of Les Misérables in Toronto with an all-Canadian cast, along with its subsequent Canadian tour, and staged a bilingual Montreal production that performed five performances per week in French and three in English, produced by Cameron Mackintosh and Ed and David Mirvish. By the summer of 2013, when he directed a production at The Muny in St. Louis, Missouri, he had staged eleven productions of the musical since 1987.

As a director, Jay-Alexander has worked across a wide range of venues and formats. Concert direction credits include the 2008 Hollywood Bowl concert version of Les Misérables and the 2009 Hollywood Bowl concert version of Guys and Dolls. He directed Kristin Chenoweth in My Love Letter to Broadway in 2016 and For The Girls in 2020, and helmed Kristin Chenoweth: The Dames of Broadway... All of 'em!!! for Live From Lincoln Center in 2013. He also directed Bernadette Peters in a one-night-only concert at the Minskoff Theatre benefitting Broadway Barks and Broadway Cares, and the concert Bernadette Peters Live from Royal Festival Hall appeared on PBS. A 2019 production of Porgy and Bess for the South Florida Symphony added to his operatic credits.

His work with Barbra Streisand is documented across several DVD and broadcast projects, including Streisand: 2006 Tour, Barbra Streisand: One Night Only at The Village Vanguard, Barbra Streisand: Back to Brooklyn, and Barbra: The Music, The Mem'ries, The Magic on Netflix. PBS audiences have also seen his productions featuring Il Volo, Russell Watson, Lea Salonga, Natalie Cole, and Hayley Westenra. Norm Lewis: Who Am I? appeared on Live From Lincoln Center in 2015, and in 2018 Jay-Alexander co-produced the Norm Lewis Christmas Album with Lewis; the two have presented an annual Christmas concert run at Feinstein's 54 Below since 2015.

His theatrical directing credits include the 2009 production of I Do! I Do! starring Paige Davis and Patrick Page at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre, the 2002 gay-themed play The Nature of the Beach by David Sexton, and the 2005 world premiere English translation of A Safe Harbor for Elizabeth Bishop, written by Brazil's Marta Góes and starring Amy Irving. That production originated at the New York Stage and Film Summer Program at Vassar College and transferred to Primary Stages in New York City in spring 2006. In Las Vegas, he directed Storm at the Mandalay Bay and the reboot of Donny and Marie at the Flamingo Hotel and Showroom. In 2011 he directed Deborah Voigt, Voigt Lessons, a theatrical piece written by Terrence McNally and originally developed by Voigt, McNally, and director Francesca Zambello. In 2017 he directed an evening honoring Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt upon their receipt of the Oscar Hammerstein II Award at the York Theatre Company.

From 2013 to 2018, Jay-Alexander directed the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame La Musa Awards, founded by Desmond Child and Rudy Amado Pérez. He also brought Desmond Child back to the stage after a thirty-year absence, debuting a show at Feinstein's 54 Below that was later filmed for PBS as part of The Kate Series in Connecticut. For several years he has directed the Chaplin Awards for Film at Lincoln Center, an annual event that has honored Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford, Rob Reiner, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, Spike Lee, Viola Davis, Jeff Bridges, and the event's 50th Anniversary Gala.

Jay-Alexander has contributed lyrics to projects for Disney Records and authored liner notes for cast recording reissues including Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris and four titles from the Stephen Sondheim Columbia Masterworks/Sony catalog: Merrily We Roll Along, Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Sunday in the Park with George. He has written for BroadwayWorld.com, where his interview series All Eyes On featured conversations with Angela Lansbury, Josh Groban, Sir Ian McKellen, Rose Marie, Bob Avian, Ann-Margret, and Barry Manilow. He has served as camp director for Kristin Chenoweth's Broadway Bootcamp and teaches workshops and master classes in support of young talent.

A long-standing board member of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Jay-Alexander has directed benefits for that organization as well as for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of South Florida, The Actors Fund, the National Asian Artists Project, Broadway Dreams, and the Motion Picture and Television Fund in Hollywood. His television appearances include Luann and Sonja: Welcome to Crappie Lake, The Real Housewives of New York City, The Real Housewives of Miami, and two appearances as a bartender on Watch What Happens Live. He also appeared as a consultant on CNBC Money Court alongside Bethenny Frankel and Kevin O'Leary, addressing Broadway-related topics.