Alison Fraser
Encyclopedia
Alison Fraser is an American
actress and singer who has appeared in concert at such venues as Carnegie Hall
, The White House, Town Hall, The Brooklyn Botanic Garden
, The Tisch Center for the Arts
, The Folger Shakespeare Library
, The Wilma, The Emelin, Joe's Pub
and Symphony space
.
Fraser is a two time Tony Award
nominee for The Secret Garden
and Romance/Romance
,
a Drama Desk Award
nominee for The Secret Garden
, and a Carbonell Awards
winner for Romance/Romance
.
She played "Tessie Tura" in the New York City Center
and Broadway productions of "Gypsy
" starring Patti LuPone
under the direction of the legendary Arthur Laurents
.
She was the first ever recipient of Philadelphia's Barrymore Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of "The Blonde" in Marion Adler, Scott Wentworth and Craig Boehmler’s film noir musical, Gunmetal Blues under the direction of Jiri Zizka. She reprised the role of "The Blonde" in Gunmetal Blues opposite Patrick Quinn
at the George Street Playhouse. She returned there to play "Diana" in Lend Me a Tenor
, directed by David Saint.
She was the original "Trina" (Marvin's ex-wife) in William Finn's March of the Falsettos
and In Trousers (Playwrights Horizons). She also did vocal orchestrations for both shows. She played "Miss Drumgoole" in Todd Rundgren
's adaptation of Joe Orton
's Up Against It (New York Shakespeare Festival), "Uta" in Charles Busch
and Rusty Magee
's The Green Heart (Manhattan Theatre Club), "Connie"/"Petula"/"Brenda" in Beehive at the Village Gate, and "Marion Ames" in Swingtime Canteen. In 1988, she appeared on Broadway in Romance/Romance, a musical starring herself and Quantum Leap star, Scott Bakula
. She received a Tony nomination for her roles Josefine/Monica. In 1991, she starred in The Secret Garden as Martha, earning another Tony Nomination. The show also featured Mandy Patinkin
, Daisy Eagan
and Rebecca Luker
.
Fraser has appeared as the flamboyant but clueless "Babs Caplan" on the award-winning Children's Television Workshop series, Between the Lions
on PBS. She has appeared on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and Third Watch
.
Her feature films include "Commentary", Jack and His Friends, Me and Him, Mixing Nia, In the Blood, and The Thing About My Folks
. She can also be seen in the Bright Eyes music video for their song, First Day of My Life, directed by her Secret Garden co-star, John Cameron Mitchell
. She authored an interview with Anthony Newley
which was published in Time Out. Fraser also was a background voice in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV
.
She has made two solo albums, A New York Romance and Men In My Life.
In 2009, Arthur Laurents
cast Fraser in an original play, Come Back, Come Back, Wherever You Are which premiered at the George Street Playhouse. The play was directed by Laurents himself and featured Tony-winning actress, Shirley Knight
.
In 2010, playwright and performer, Charles Busch cast Fraser in his new comedy, The Divine Sister, a play which satirized the cinematic portrayel of nuns. Fraser played Sister Walburga. David Ives and Walter Bobbie then cast her as Arsinoe in "The School For Lies" at Classic Stage Company.
She graduated Summa Cum Laude in spring 2010 from Fordham University
, where she also teaches a musical theatre class.
Ms. Fraser divides her time between Manhattan and Pennsylvania, with her son Nathaniel Fraser "Nat" Magee (born 1990); she is the widow of composer and performer Benjamin Rush "Rusty" Magee
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actress and singer who has appeared in concert at such venues as Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
, The White House, Town Hall, The Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Brooklyn Botanic Garden is a botanical garden in the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown Heights, and Park Slope neighborhoods, the garden includes a number of specialty "gardens within the Garden," plant collections, and the Steinhardt Conservatory,...
, The Tisch Center for the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts is one of the 15 schools that make up New York University ....
, The Folger Shakespeare Library
Folger Shakespeare Library
The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare materials from the early modern period...
, The Wilma, The Emelin, Joe's Pub
Joe's Pub
Joe's Pub at Public Theater is a nightclub that hosts live performances regularly. The venue, which is a non-profit operation, is located at 425 Lafayette Street near Astor Place in Manhattan, New York City...
and Symphony space
Symphony Space
Symphony Space is a multi-disciplinary performing arts organization at 2537 Broadway on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Performances take place in the 760-seat Peter Jay Sharp Theatre or the 160-seat Leonard Nimoy Thalia theater. Programs include music, dance, theater, film, and literary readings...
.
Fraser is a two time Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nominee for The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden (musical)
The Secret Garden is a musical based on the 1911 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The musical's book and lyrics are by Marsha Norman, with music by Lucy Simon...
and Romance/Romance
Romance/Romance
Romance/Romance is a musical with a book and lyrics by Barry Harman and music by Keith Herrmann.The show is composed of two acts linked only by the common theme of love and one song performed in both acts...
,
a Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
nominee for The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden (musical)
The Secret Garden is a musical based on the 1911 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The musical's book and lyrics are by Marsha Norman, with music by Lucy Simon...
, and a Carbonell Awards
Carbonell Awards
The Carbonell Awards recognize excellent theater in the South Florida region of the United States annually. The awards are named after the sculptor Manuel Carbonell, who designed the bronze and marble award that is given to the winners. Voting is conducted by three panels of ten members each...
winner for Romance/Romance
Romance/Romance
Romance/Romance is a musical with a book and lyrics by Barry Harman and music by Keith Herrmann.The show is composed of two acts linked only by the common theme of love and one song performed in both acts...
.
She played "Tessie Tura" in the New York City Center
New York City Center
New York City Center is a 2,750-seat Moorish Revival theater located at 131 West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues in Manhattan, New York City. It is one block south of Carnegie Hall...
and Broadway productions of "Gypsy
Gypsy: A Musical Fable
Gypsy is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Gypsy is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, the famous striptease artist, and focuses on her mother, Rose, whose name has become synonymous with "the ultimate show business...
" starring Patti LuPone
Patti LuPone
Patti Ann LuPone is an American singer and actress, known for her Tony Award-winning performances as Eva Perón in the 1979 stage musical Evita and as Madame Rose in the 2008 Broadway revival of Gypsy, and for her Olivier Award-winning performance as Fantine in the original London cast of Les...
under the direction of the legendary Arthur Laurents
Arthur Laurents
Arthur Laurents was an American playwright, stage director and screenwriter.After writing scripts for radio shows after college and then training films for the U.S...
.
She was the first ever recipient of Philadelphia's Barrymore Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of "The Blonde" in Marion Adler, Scott Wentworth and Craig Boehmler’s film noir musical, Gunmetal Blues under the direction of Jiri Zizka. She reprised the role of "The Blonde" in Gunmetal Blues opposite Patrick Quinn
Patrick Quinn
Patrick Dominic Quinn was an American actor and a former president of the Actors' Equity Association. Quinn's father was a mortician....
at the George Street Playhouse. She returned there to play "Diana" in Lend Me a Tenor
Lend Me a Tenor
Lend Me a Tenor is a comedy by Ken Ludwig. The play was produced on both the West End and Broadway . Although it received seven Tony Award nominations, it won only one, for Best Actor. A Broadway revival opened in 2010. Lend Me a Tenor has been translated into sixteen languages and produced in...
, directed by David Saint.
She was the original "Trina" (Marvin's ex-wife) in William Finn's March of the Falsettos
March of the Falsettos
March of the Falsettos is a musical with a book, lyrics, and music by William Finn.A sequel to In Trousers, the one-acter continues the story of Marvin and his journey in search of self-understanding, inner peace, and a life with a "happily ever after" ending...
and In Trousers (Playwrights Horizons). She also did vocal orchestrations for both shows. She played "Miss Drumgoole" in Todd Rundgren
Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings...
's adaptation of Joe Orton
Joe Orton
John Kingsley Orton was an English playwright.In a short but prolific career lasting from 1964 until his death, he shocked, outraged and amused audiences with his scandalous black comedies...
's Up Against It (New York Shakespeare Festival), "Uta" in Charles Busch
Charles Busch
Charles Louis Busch is an American actor, screenwriter, playwright and female impersonator, known for his appearances on stage in his own camp style plays and in film and television. He wrote The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, which was a success on Broadway.-Early life:Busch was born in 1954 and...
and Rusty Magee
Rusty Magee
Benjamin Rush "Rusty" Magee was an accomplished composer and lyricist for theatre, television, and film and commercials.-Childhood and Education:...
's The Green Heart (Manhattan Theatre Club), "Connie"/"Petula"/"Brenda" in Beehive at the Village Gate, and "Marion Ames" in Swingtime Canteen. In 1988, she appeared on Broadway in Romance/Romance, a musical starring herself and Quantum Leap star, Scott Bakula
Scott Bakula
Scott Stewart Bakula is an American actor, known for his role as Sam Beckett in the television series Quantum Leap, for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama in 1991 and was nominated for four Emmy Awards. He also had a prominent role as Captain Jonathan...
. She received a Tony nomination for her roles Josefine/Monica. In 1991, she starred in The Secret Garden as Martha, earning another Tony Nomination. The show also featured Mandy Patinkin
Mandy Patinkin
Mandel Bruce "Mandy" Patinkin is an award-winning American actor of stage and screen and a tenor vocalist. He is a noted interpreter of the musical works of Stephen Sondheim, and is best-known for his work in musical theatre, originating iconic roles such as Georges Seurat in Sunday in the Park...
, Daisy Eagan
Daisy Eagan
Daisy Eagan is an American actress.In 1991 she won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for playing Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden...
and Rebecca Luker
Rebecca Luker
Rebecca Luker is an American musical theatre actress and soprano who has appeared in several prominent Broadway productions.-Life and career:...
.
Fraser has appeared as the flamboyant but clueless "Babs Caplan" on the award-winning Children's Television Workshop series, Between the Lions
Between the Lions
Between the Lions is a PBS Kids' puppet show designed to promote reading. The show is a co-production between WGBH in Boston and Sirius Thinking, Ltd., in New York City, in association with Mississippi Public Broadcasting, in Mississippi. The show has won seven Daytime Emmy awards between 2001 and...
on PBS. She has appeared on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and Third Watch
Third Watch
Third Watch is an American television drama series which first aired on NBC from 1999 to 2005 for a total of 132 episodes, broadcast in 6 seasons of 22 episodes each....
.
Her feature films include "Commentary", Jack and His Friends, Me and Him, Mixing Nia, In the Blood, and The Thing About My Folks
The Thing About My Folks
The Thing About My Folks is a 2005 American drama film directed by Raymond De Felitta. The screenplay by Paul Reiser focuses on the effect a terminal illness has on the marriage of an aging couple and their adult children.-Plot:...
. She can also be seen in the Bright Eyes music video for their song, First Day of My Life, directed by her Secret Garden co-star, John Cameron Mitchell
John Cameron Mitchell
John Cameron Mitchell is an American writer, actor, and director. He is best known for his motion pictures Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Shortbus and Rabbit Hole.- Early life:...
. She authored an interview with Anthony Newley
Anthony Newley
Anthony George Newley was an English actor, singer and songwriter. He enjoyed success as a performer in such diverse fields as rock and roll and stage and screen acting.-Early life:...
which was published in Time Out. Fraser also was a background voice in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV
Grand Theft Auto IV
Grand Theft Auto IV is a 2008 open world action video game published by Rockstar Games, and developed by British games developer Rockstar North. It has been released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video game consoles, and for the Windows operating system...
.
She has made two solo albums, A New York Romance and Men In My Life.
In 2009, Arthur Laurents
Arthur Laurents
Arthur Laurents was an American playwright, stage director and screenwriter.After writing scripts for radio shows after college and then training films for the U.S...
cast Fraser in an original play, Come Back, Come Back, Wherever You Are which premiered at the George Street Playhouse. The play was directed by Laurents himself and featured Tony-winning actress, Shirley Knight
Shirley Knight
Shirley Enola Knight is an American stage, film and television actress. She has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, in 1960 for The Dark at the Top of the Stairs and in 1962 for Sweet Bird of Youth....
.
In 2010, playwright and performer, Charles Busch cast Fraser in his new comedy, The Divine Sister, a play which satirized the cinematic portrayel of nuns. Fraser played Sister Walburga. David Ives and Walter Bobbie then cast her as Arsinoe in "The School For Lies" at Classic Stage Company.
She graduated Summa Cum Laude in spring 2010 from Fordham University
Fordham University
Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
, where she also teaches a musical theatre class.
Ms. Fraser divides her time between Manhattan and Pennsylvania, with her son Nathaniel Fraser "Nat" Magee (born 1990); she is the widow of composer and performer Benjamin Rush "Rusty" Magee
Rusty Magee
Benjamin Rush "Rusty" Magee was an accomplished composer and lyricist for theatre, television, and film and commercials.-Childhood and Education:...
.
Additional theatre credits
- In TrousersIn TrousersIn Trousers is a musical, first produced in 1979, with a book, lyrics, and music by William Finn.The one-acter centers on Marvin, who has an unnamed wife and a son, Jason...
- March of the FalsettosMarch of the FalsettosMarch of the Falsettos is a musical with a book, lyrics, and music by William Finn.A sequel to In Trousers, the one-acter continues the story of Marvin and his journey in search of self-understanding, inner peace, and a life with a "happily ever after" ending...
- FalsettosFalsettosFalsettos is a musical with a book by James Lapine and William Finn and music and lyrics by Finn, comprising March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland, the last two in a trio of one-act off-Broadway plays focusing on Marvin, his ex-wife Trina, his psychiatrist Mendel, his son Jason, and his gay...
- Lady In The DarkLady in the DarkLady in the Dark is a musical with music by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and book and direction by Moss Hart. It was produced by Sam Harris. The protagonist, Liza Elliott, is the unhappy female editor of a fashion magazine, Allure, who is undergoing psychoanalysis...
- Lips Together, Teeth ApartLips Together, Teeth ApartLips Together, Teeth Apart is a 1991 play by American playwright Terrence McNally.-Plot:A gay community in Fire Island provides an unlikely setting for two straight couples spending the Fourth of July weekend in a house inherited by Sally from her brother who died of AIDS. Through monologues...
- Lend Me a TenorLend Me a TenorLend Me a Tenor is a comedy by Ken Ludwig. The play was produced on both the West End and Broadway . Although it received seven Tony Award nominations, it won only one, for Best Actor. A Broadway revival opened in 2010. Lend Me a Tenor has been translated into sixteen languages and produced in...
- TartuffeTartuffeTartuffe is a comedy by Molière. It is one of his most famous plays.-History:Molière wrote Tartuffe in 1664...
- The Mystery of Edwin DroodThe Mystery of Edwin Drood (musical)Drood is a musical based on the unfinished Charles Dickens novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood. It is written by Rupert Holmes, and was the first Broadway musical with multiple endings . Holmes received Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Original Score...
- Up Against It
- The Green Heart
- Beehive
- Honk!
- Prodigal
- Lizzie Borden
- Dedication or The Stuff of Dreams
- High School MusicalHigh School MusicalHigh School Musical is a 2006 American television film, first in the High School Musical film franchise. Upon its release on January 20, 2006, it became the most successful film that Disney Channel Original Movie ever produced, with a television sequel High School Musical 2 released in 2007 and...
- A Quarrel of Sparrows
- Gypsy
- Come Back, Come Back, Wherever You Are
- The Divine Sister
- Archy and Mehitabel
- Love, Loss, and What I Wore