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James Smith

John Karr

PART 410 History of Musical Theatre

Friday April 7th 2017

Joel Greys Impact to the World of Music Theatre

Joel Grey, an acclaimed performer, was born on April 11th, 1932 in Cleveland, Ohio

to father Mickey Katz and mother Goldie Epstein. He started acting at a young age, and

later goes on to be an award-winning career. Since then he has won an Academy Award and

Tony Award for his role as the Emcee in both the stage and film versions of Kander and

Ebbs Cabaret, and reprised the role on Broadway over twenty years later. He is the father

of two children, Jennifer Grey (the star of Dirty Dancing), and James, a chef. He has starred

in over eleven Broadway shows, and has been appearing consistently on film and television

since 1956. His outstanding career has made him a one of a kind performer in the musical

theatre community.

Joel Grey (born Joel David Katz) started acting when he was the young age of nine

years old at the Cleveland Playhouse. He joined the Curtain Pullers children theatre

program which really changed his life. In 1941, Joel appeared in Paul Osborns On

Borrowed Time as his first lead role. From then, Joel was inspired to make acting part of his

career. Mickey Katz, Joels father was a Jewish comedian and musician. Katz created a

Yiddish-English comedy record where he sold 10,000 copies in New York City in only
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three days. After his success he ended up created a show called Borscht Capades. The

show was very successful touring around America in nightclubs, but once it reached

Broadway in 1951 it became a fail as a show that was very similar was playing down the

street. In the beginning stages of Katz show, Joel Grey wanted to be a part of it somehow.

He did not know how as he didnt know how to sing or dance. Joels aunt ended up giving

him a very popular Yiddish song that was a popular hit in New York at the time. The song

had millions of words, and a tempo that was very fast. Grey had no clue what he was saying

but the audiences loved him. He was no longer known as just an actor, but now a song-and-

dance man.

Greys career was looking blue. He was replacing stars such as Anthony Newly and

Tommy Steele in Broadway musicals such as, Stop the World I Want to Get Off, Come

Blow Your Horn, and Half a Sixpence. He did not want be known as a replacement anymore

and was about to give up his career. This all changed when he received a call from Hal

Prince in 1965. Hal knew Joel Grey from him playing Littlechap in Stop the World I Want

to Get Off, when it was touring around America. Hal was interested in his performance and

wanted to see him in this new musical he was directing. The musical was adapted from The

Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood. This new musical was called Cabaret. This new

musical had music by John Kander, and lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Joe Masteroff. A

week later Joel showed up at a rehearsal where they were doing the first playing of the

score for the cast. Hal wanted Joel to play the Emcee, who was the Master of Ceremonies

of the Cabaret. However, this character was something that Joel would never do before. The

Emcee had five songs, and absolutely no dialogue. But Hal wanted Joel to play him, and

that is exactly what he did. His dazzling performance of the Emcee, won him a Tony Award
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in Best Leading Actor in a Musical. In fact, Cabaret won eight Tony awards at the 1967

Tony Awards. Just to mention a few, it won Best Musical, Best Direction, and Best Original

Score. Despite Cabarets successful run, Joel was only with the Emcee for less than a year

before going on to originate the role of George M. Cohan in George M!.

George M! was about the Father of Musical Theatre comedy himself, George M.

Cohan. Music and Lyrics were written by Cohan himself. Joel Grey starred as the lead

when he was 33 years old, and he was truly terrified to step into the shoes of Cohan. Not

only that, the stage musical was based off the 1942 movie, Yankee Doodle Dandy. In the

movie, James Cagney played George M. Cohan. Cohan and Cagney were phenomenal tap

dancers. This made Grey nervous to step into the shoes of the original song and dance man.

Grey did not know anything about tap dancing. But Joel is a very hard worker and he was

determined to do this part justice. He worked with an expert tap dancer every day for 2

hours doing very complicated choreography. Joel did not have a choice whether or not do

this, he had to do it to earn his name on top of the marquee. Even when the show finally

opened at the Palace Theatre in 1968, Grey would go downstairs underneath the stage

before his entrance for his first big number, All Aboard Broadway, and he would practice

his tap solo. There was not a single show where he did not practice tap dancing before

going on. He was so determined to be perfect. George M! was a special show for Grey as

he met one of his lifelong friends, Bernadette Peters who made her Broadway Debut. Joel

ended up receiving a Tony nomination for the role of George M. Cohan in 1969. However,

he lost to Jerry Orbach for his portrayal of Chuck Baxter in Promises, Promises. At this

time, nothing could stop Grey as he was about to make his career sky rocket.
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It was in 1971 when Bob Fosse wanted to direct and choreograph the film

adaptation of Cabaret. The film would have new songs by Kander and Ebb that werent

featured in the Broadway musical. Also, the final script for the movie was not based less on

Joe Masteroffs stage book but based more on the stories by Christopher Isherwood. The

producers hired Liza Minnelli to play the part of Sally Bowles, and of course Joel Grey had

the opportunity to reprise the role of the Emcee. However, Bob Fosse did not want Grey to

be the part of the Emcee. Fosse did not want anyone from the Original Broadway cast but

he was given the choice to either walk from the production or let Grey be the Emcee. Fosse

was rude to Grey during the rehearsal period. Fosse wanted to take control of the role of the

Emcee, but Grey knew the role inside and out, and he did not want to change anything. The

tense relationship between Fosse and Grey did not get in the way of the movie critics when

the movie was released in 1972. It won eight Academy Awards at the 45th Academy Awards

in 1973. Some of the awards included, Best Supporting Actor for Joel Grey, Best Director

for Bob Fosse, and Best Actress for Liza Minnelli.

After, his success with the film Cabaret, Grey went back to Broadway to star as

Charley in Goodtime Charley (1975). He was nominated for a Tony for the Leading Actor

in a Musical, but lost to John Cullum. He was nominated for another Tony award for his

role in The Grand Tour (1979). However, he lost to Len Cariou who played Sweeney Todd

in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. In 1987, Grey was offered another

chance to reprise his role of the Emcee in Broadways revival of Cabaret. Since then Joel

has been seen on Broadway as Amos Hart in Chicago (1996), the Wizard of Oz in Wicked

(2003), Moonface Martin in the revival of Anything Goes (2011) with Sutton Foster, and

most recently Firs in the Cherry Orchard (2016).

Not only has Grey made an impact on the stage, but he has also worked behind the

camera in many movies and television shows. He is always looking ways to advance his

career to become a stronger performer which makes him a Broadway classic. He has

performed on the Great White Way, he has performed behind the camera, and he has

recently directed a play on Broadway called The Normal Heart. Greys work ethic is truly

inspiring as he has been working for many years. He was just honoured the Oscar

Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre in December 2016 for

his contribution to Broadway history.

For 85 years, Joel Grey has touched many lives from a young age when he

performed at the Cleveland Playhouse to Broadway. He has had a successful career from

the stage to film making a name for himself. Grey is also one of eight people to win a Tony

Award and an Academy Award for the same role. Joel Grey had a dream when he was nine

years old one day to be an actor. Joel has surpassed his dream which makes him one of

Broadways greatest male performer and an inspiration to young actors around the world.
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Work Cited

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Grey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfPIfS74cYw

http://www.clevelandplayhouse.com/about/history

http://variety.com/2016/film/features/joel-grey-borscht-capades-1201698721/