Jason Graae (pronounced "grah" or "graw", but not "gray") (born May )
is an American musical theater actor, best known for his musical
theater performances but with a varied career spanning Broadway,
opera, television and film. He has won four Bistro Awards, two Ovation
Awards, two New York Nightlife Awards, the Theatre Bay Area Award for
Best Actor in a Musical and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Joel
Hirschhorn Award for Outstanding Achievement in Musical Theatre.Though
he was born in Chicago, Graae was educated in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at
Edison Preparatory School where he played the oboe, acted in plays,
and sang in the chorus. He appeared in a production of the musical
George M! in the seventh grade. Following his passion for music, Graae
went to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, hoping to become a
concert oboist, but did not like his instructor's approach. He
transferred to the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music only to have his
previous instructor move there as well. Taking this as "a sign from
the musical gods", he pursued a career in musical theatre instead. He
graduated in with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in musical theatre from the
now-merged University of Cincinnati â€" College-Conservatory of
Music.His mother was a dancer in Broadway musicals who moved to Europe
after marrying his father; they fled from the Nazis in World War II
and returned to the United States. His father was also musical,
playing cello in a symphony outside Chicago in his spare time (while
working as a scientist), and his sister is a classical pianist.
Graae's first agent urged him to change his surname to "Grey" but he
refused, wanting to honour his Danish father. He described Victor
Borge, who came to America on the same boat as his father as both fled
the invasion of Denmark, as his main inspiration. In , his mother
moved from Tulsa to Los Angeles to live with Graae and his partner. In
an interview he said that "life has indeed upheaved as I know it....
We're thinking of starting a new sitcom called 'Two Gays, a Dog and an
Old Lady.'" Graae came out to his mother in , an experience recalled
in his two-hander production The Prince and the Showboy with Faith
Prince.
is an American musical theater actor, best known for his musical
theater performances but with a varied career spanning Broadway,
opera, television and film. He has won four Bistro Awards, two Ovation
Awards, two New York Nightlife Awards, the Theatre Bay Area Award for
Best Actor in a Musical and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Joel
Hirschhorn Award for Outstanding Achievement in Musical Theatre.Though
he was born in Chicago, Graae was educated in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at
Edison Preparatory School where he played the oboe, acted in plays,
and sang in the chorus. He appeared in a production of the musical
George M! in the seventh grade. Following his passion for music, Graae
went to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, hoping to become a
concert oboist, but did not like his instructor's approach. He
transferred to the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music only to have his
previous instructor move there as well. Taking this as "a sign from
the musical gods", he pursued a career in musical theatre instead. He
graduated in with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in musical theatre from the
now-merged University of Cincinnati â€" College-Conservatory of
Music.His mother was a dancer in Broadway musicals who moved to Europe
after marrying his father; they fled from the Nazis in World War II
and returned to the United States. His father was also musical,
playing cello in a symphony outside Chicago in his spare time (while
working as a scientist), and his sister is a classical pianist.
Graae's first agent urged him to change his surname to "Grey" but he
refused, wanting to honour his Danish father. He described Victor
Borge, who came to America on the same boat as his father as both fled
the invasion of Denmark, as his main inspiration. In , his mother
moved from Tulsa to Los Angeles to live with Graae and his partner. In
an interview he said that "life has indeed upheaved as I know it....
We're thinking of starting a new sitcom called 'Two Gays, a Dog and an
Old Lady.'" Graae came out to his mother in , an experience recalled
in his two-hander production The Prince and the Showboy with Faith
Prince.
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