Perfect Hermany
Jason Graae Sings Jerry Herman
Perfect Hermany pays tribute to 2011’s Kennedy Center Honoree Jerry Herman, the Tony award-winning® Broadway composer and lyricist. Broadway performer Jason Graae pays homage to Herman by singing selections from his classic musicals: Mame, La Cage aux Folles, Hello Dolly!, The Grand Tour, Mack and Mabel, and many more. Graae has starred in musicals both on and Off-Broadway, as well as toured the country alongside Mr. Herman in Hello Jerry!
Jason Graae
The New York Times recently said, "Nowadays, probably no other performer could infuse (that song) with the manic mischief that Jason Graae, a frisky clown with a real tenor, pumped into it..." Jason Graae has starred on and off-Broadway in "A Grand Night For Singing", "Falsettos", "Stardust", "Snoopy!", "Do Black Patent Leather Shows Really Reflect Up?", "Forever Plaid", "Olympus on My Mind", "All in the Timing", "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (Drama Desk Nomination- Best Actor in a Musical)" and many more. Jason made his Metropolitan Opera House debut as featured vocalist in Twyla Tharp's "Everlast" with American Ballet Theatre.
Jason has performed his one-man show all over the country, including Rainbow and Stars and Birdland in NYC, Caramoor Music Festival, Wolf Trap, Feinstein's in L.A., and The Plush Room in San Francisco, to name a few. He has received the New York Nightlife Award, 4 Bistros and was listed in TimeOut NY's Top 10 Cabaret shows of 2006. In Los Angeles, he just won his second L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award - the 2008 Joel Hirschorn Award for Oustanding Achievement in Musical Theatre. He won an Ovation Award for "Forbidden Broadway Y2KLA!", an Artistic Director's Achievement Award for "Fully Committed" and a Santa Barbara Indie Award for "High Button Shoes". Jason originated the role of "Houdini" in the L.A. production of "Ragtime" at the Shubert Theatre. Other L.A. credits include "Marcellus" in "The Music Man " at the Hollywood Bowl, many shows at Reprise!, and "Grand Hotel" and "The Grand Tour" at The Colony.
On television, Jason has appeared on many shows including "Six Feet Under", "Rude Awakening", "Friends", "Frasier", "Sabrina the Teenage Witch", "Living Single", "Caroline in the City", "Providence", etc. On PBS, he was a guest soloist twice with the Boston Pops and once with Marvin Hamlisch and the National Symphony on "Holiday for the Troops at The Kennedy Center" and recently in "Words and Music by Jerry Herman". Movie appearances include the title role in "Sunshine Barry and the Disco Worms" (2008 Toronto and London Film Festivals), Disney's "Home on the Range", "On Edge", "Gepetto", "The Dukes of Hazzard in Hollywood", and the upcoming "Awakening of Spring" (produced by HERE). He has been heard on many cartoons and for five years he was the voice of "Lucky, the Leprechaun" for Lucky Charms Cereal, a balanced part of your complete breakfast.
He made his Los Angeles Opera debut as "Njegus" in "The Merry Widow", repeating the role with Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera and Ne w Orleans Opera. Also with L.A. Opera he was featured as "Offenbach" in "The Grand Duchess" , directed by Garry Marshall. He played "Frosch" in "Die Fledermaus" with Washington National and San Francisco Operas.
Jason has recorded over forty CDs, including original cast albums, concerts, compilations, and his two solo CDs, "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile - Jason Graae Sings Charles Strouse", and "Jason Graae LIVE at The Cinegrill" (Fynsworth Alley).
In 2008, Jason played "Marcellus" in the Bushnell Center's 50th Anniversary production of "The Music Man" with Shirley Jones and Patrick Cassidy, performed and gave master classes at the Yale and St. Louis Cabaret Conferences, toured with ASCAP's Jerry Herman and Company, sang in Cy Coleman and Charles Strouse tributes at the Kennedy Center, sang with Michael Feinstein at Carnegie Hall,and, in L.A., played opposite Constance Towers in "Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks".
People are saying...
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“...Mr. Graae emerges as an irresistible cut-up whose splendid voice is matched by mischievous charisma....”
— Stephen Holden, NY TImes -
“Graae hurrah! Simply put, Jason Graae is one of the best entertainers I have ever seen in my life...a prodigiously talented impish dynamo who can be wildly, wickedly funny one moment and then leave you emotionally stunned the next with the beauty of compelling ballads sung in the purest tenor/baritone imaginable...”
— David Cuthbert, New Orleans Times-Picayune -
“Graae is a Cabaret dynamo -- commit the name to memory!”
— Hap Erstein, Palm Beach Post -
“A Lyric baritone with a radiant tenor extension he uses to seductive effect, Graae had the audience hanging on to his every note.”
— Octavio Roca, Miami Herald -
“His laughs come so fast you have to be careful not to choke on your 2 drink minimum!”
— Chad Jones, Oakland Tribune -
“...It would be easy to put Graae solely in the category of a 'musical clown' except for the deep-felt sincerity and emotion he invests in every number. He levels the audience with...haunting ballads...”
— LA Daily News -
“"...Jason Graae raises versatility to new heights. He's a comic, a character actor and a balladeer... extraordinary range...is a superb comic...magnificent voice!..." ”
— Variety -
“...He is sensational, the elastic grace of a rubber band, the sharp instinctual timing of a comedian and a surprisingly powerful voice...”
— Chicago Sun-Times -
“...The undoubted master of humorous song is Jason Graae, who sings, moves, and mugs his way to definitive renditions, exuberant in support, not at the expense, of his material...”
— New York Magazine -
“...The irrepressible Jason Graae once again shows himself to be in the royal line of Broadway comics...”
— New York Post -
“...The versatile Jason Graae tenderly croons a ballad one minute and then belts out a riotous comedic number the next. Graae pulled it off, but he's just about the only guy around who could do so...”
— Los Angeles Times
