Claybourne Elder | |
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 Elder in 2013 | |
| Born | April 21, 1982 Springville, Utah, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Brigham Young University University of Utah |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, singer, writer |
| Television | The Carrie Diaries , The Gilded Age |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
Claybourne Elder (born April 21, 1982 [1] ) is an American actor, singer, and writer who is best known for his work on television and on Broadway.
Elder is from Springville, Utah. His mother is a schoolteacher and father a carpenter, and he is the youngest of eight siblings. At an early age he played violin in the school orchestra. [2] Elder studied acting at the Moscow Klasse Centre in Russia before attending Brigham Young University and the University of Utah. He earned a degree in dramaturgy and directing from The University of Utah. [3]
Elder received rave reviews [4] and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award [5] for Outstanding Leading Actor in A Play for originating the role of "Ollie Olson" in One Arm directed by Moisés Kaufman. He was nominated for a 2015 Lucille Lortel Award [6] for Outstanding Leading Actor in a Musical for Allegro at Classic Stage. [7] He originated the roles of "Buck Barrow" in Bonnie & Clyde , [8] "Hollis Bessemer" in Stephen Sondheim's Road Show [9] and "Michael Victor" [10] in Venice . [11]
He played the Soldier/Alex and understudied Jake Gyllenhaal in the Broadway revival of Sunday in the Park with George , which opened in February 2017. [12] He also played the role in the concert performances in October 2016 at New York City Center. [13]
Elder can be heard on the cast recordings of Bonnie & Clyde, Road Show,Venice and Sunday in the Park with George.
Elder guest-starred as Pete O'Malley in the second season of The CW's The Carrie Diaries . [14]
Regionally, Elder played George in Sunday in the Park with George at the Signature Theatre, Arlington, Virginia, in 2014. [15]
On Broadway, Elder played the role of Andy in the 2021 revival of Stephen Sondheim's musical Company . [16]
Elder played Gaston in the 2023 production of Beauty and the Beast at The Muny. [17]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Blue Moon | Young Man | (Short film) |
| 2013 | Grand Theft Auto V | The Local Population (voice-role) | (Video Game) |
| 2014 | It Could Be Worse (Series) | Actor | (web TV Series), 1 episode: "Uncharted Territory" |
| The Carrie Diaries | Pete | (TV Series), 4 episodes: "Date Expectations", "Hungry Like the Wolf", "This Is the Time" and "Run to You" | |
| 2016 | According to My Mother | Hot Actor Dude | (Short) |
| Flatbush Luck | Derrick | (Film) | |
| 2019 | FBI | Jim Russo | (TV Series), 1 episode: "Crossroads" |
| 2020 | Netuser | Jack | (Short) |
| 2021 | Bad Cupid | Henry | (Film) |
| Small Minds | Cameron Glass | (Short film in post-production) | |
| 2022–present | The Gilded Age | John Adams | (TV Series), 9 episodes |
Elder and director Eric Rosen were married on July 28, 2012, in New York State. [18] In 2017, they had a son through surrogacy. [19]
In 2022, many news outlets [20] [21] [22] reported a human interest story about Elder. In 2007, as a 23-year-old aspiring actor visiting New York City, he was in the standing-room section of the Broadway musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee when a stranger approached him, noted his obvious enthusiasm for theater, gave him $200, and told him to spend it the next night on a ticket to a revival of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street . Elder did see that show and considered it—and the stranger's kindness—to be the factors that helped him decide to move to New York and pursue acting. By 2022 Elder was starring on Broadway in a different Sondheim revival, Company , alongside Patti LuPone, one of the stars of the Sweeney Todd production that so affected the course of Elder's career; at the same time, Elder was also starring in the HBO series The Gilded Age with Michael Cerveris, who had played the title role in that Sweeney Todd revival. Elder was reunited with Mark Howell, the stranger who had given him the money, and "paid forward" the favor by buying strangers tickets to Company. In July 2022, Elder retold this story on an episode of the WBEZ radio program This American Life that examined acts of kindness from strangers. [23]
Stephen Joshua Sondheim was an American composer and lyricist. Regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th-century musical theater, he is credited with reinventing the American musical. With his frequent collaborators Harold Prince and James Lapine, Sondheim's Broadway musicals tackled unexpected themes that ranged beyond the genre's traditional subjects, while addressing darker elements of the human experience. His music and lyrics are tinged with complexity, sophistication, and ambivalence about various aspects of life.
Company is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth. The original 1970 production was nominated for a record-setting 14 Tony Awards, winning six. Company was among the first book musicals to deal with contemporary dating, marriage, and divorce, and is a notable example of a concept musical lacking a linear plot. In a series of vignettes, Company follows bachelor Bobby interacting with his married friends, who throw a party for his 35th birthday.
James Elliot Lapine is an American stage director, playwright, screenwriter, and librettist. He has won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical three times, for Into the Woods, Falsettos, and Passion. He has frequently collaborated with Stephen Sondheim and William Finn.
George Hearn is an American actor and bass-baritone singer, primarily in Broadway musical theatre.
Hugh Panaro is an American actor and singer. He is best known for his work in Broadway stage musicals, most well known for his role in The Phantom of the Opera being in over 2,000 performances in the Broadway production.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, also known as Sweeney Todd is a 1979 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. It is based on the 1970 play Sweeney Todd by Christopher Bond. The character of Sweeney Todd first appeared in a Victorian penny dreadful titled The String of Pearls.
Michael Cerveris Jr. is an American actor, singer, and guitarist. He has performed in many stage musicals and plays, including several Stephen Sondheim musicals: Assassins, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Sunday in the Park with George, Road Show, and Passion. In 2004, Cerveris won the Tony Award as Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Assassins as John Wilkes Booth. In 2015, he won his second Tony Award as Best Actor in a Musical for Fun Home as Bruce Bechdel.
Robert Cuccioli is an American actor and singer. He is best known for originating the lead dual title roles in the musical Jekyll & Hyde, for which he received a Tony Award nomination and won the Joseph Jefferson Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Drama Desk Award, and the Fany Award for outstanding actor in a musical.
Alexander Cesare Gemignani is a Broadway actor, tenor, musician, and conductor. He was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance in Carousel and a Drama Desk Award for his performance in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Robert Westenberg is an American stage actor and singer, acting teacher, and professor. He received a Tony Award nomination for his performance in the original Broadway cast of Into the Woods.
Emily Skinner, also known as Emily Scott Skinner, is a Tony-nominated American actress and singer. She has played leading roles in 11 Broadway productions including New York, New York, Prince of Broadway, The Cher Show, Side Show, Jekyll & Hyde, James Joyce's The Dead, The Full Monty, Dinner at Eight, Billy Elliot, as well as the Actor's Fund Broadway concerts of Dreamgirls and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. She has sung on concert stages around the world and on numerous recordings.
Norm Lewis is an American actor and baritone singer. He has appeared on Broadway and in London'sWest End, film, television, recordings and regional theatre. He’s also noted for his wide vocal range. Lewis was the second African-American actor after Robert Guillaume to perform in the title role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera and the first one to do so in the Broadway production. In 2023, he reprised the role in the show's sequel, Love Never Dies, in the West End.
Jordan Gelber is an American actor and singer. He has performed on Broadway in the musical Avenue Q, in All My Sons and in Elf the Musical, among other shows. He has also performed in many off-Broadway productions. He has a recurring role in the CBS TV show Elementary and in other television shows.
Annaleigh Ashford is an American actress, singer, and dancer. Her early roles on Broadway include in the musicals Wicked (2007), Legally Blonde (2007), and Hair (2010). She received the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for playing Essie Carmichael in You Can't Take It With You (2014–2015). Her other Tony-nominated roles include Lauren in Kinky Boots (2013) and Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2023). She also starred in the Broadway revival of Sunday in the Park with George (2017).
Erin Ashley Mackey is an American stage actress and singer, known for playing the role of Glinda in the Chicago, Los Angeles, Broadway, and Second National Tour productions of the musical Wicked. She was also a double in 1998's The Parent Trap.
Sunday in the Park with George is a 1984 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It was inspired by the French pointillist painter Georges Seurat's painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. The plot revolves around George, a fictionalized version of Seurat, who immerses himself deeply in painting his masterpiece, and his great-grandson, a conflicted and cynical contemporary artist. The Broadway production opened in 1984.
Sondheim on Sondheim is a musical revue consisting of music and lyrics written by Stephen Sondheim for his many shows. It is conceived and directed by James Lapine. The revue had a limited run on Broadway in 2010.
Telly Leung is an American actor, director, singer and songwriter. He is known for his work in musical theatre on Broadway and for his role as Wes, a member of the Dalton Academy Warblers on the Fox comedy-drama series Glee. In 2011, he starred in the Broadway revival of Godspell at the Circle in the Square Theatre.
Gaetano John Matarazzo III is an American actor. He began his career on the Broadway stage as Benjamin in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (2011–12) and as Gavroche in Les Misérables (2014–15). Matarazzo gained recognition for playing Dustin Henderson in the Netflix science-fiction-horror drama series Stranger Things (2016–present). He also hosted the Netflix show Prank Encounters (2019–2021). In 2022, he co-starred in the coming-of-age comedy film Honor Society and voiced Boris the Dragon on the animated fantasy comedy film My Father's Dragon.
Jeanna de Waal is a British stage actress and singer. She is known for playing the title role of Princess Diana in the 2021 Broadway show Diana: The Musical, which was also released on Netflix. The musical received mostly negative reviews from critics and widespread notoriety, winning five Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Actress for de Waal. De Waal was also nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical for the same role.
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