Francis Jue | |
---|---|
Born | San Francisco, California, U.S. | September 29, 1963
Awards | 2 Obie Awards 2 Lortel Awards Elliot Norton Award |
Francis Jue (born September 29, 1963) is an American actor and singer. Jue is known for his performances on Broadway, in national tours, Off-Broadway and in regional theatre, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area and at The Muny in St. Louis. His roles in plays and musicals range from Shakespeare to Rodgers and Hammerstein to David Henry Hwang. He is also known for his recurring role on the TV series Madam Secretary (2014–2019).
Jue's Broadway credits include Pacific Overtures (1984; 2004), M. Butterfly (1989) and Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002), in which he created the role of Bun Foo. Among his acting awards are an Obie Award and a Lortel Award for his role in Yellow Face at the Public Theater (2008), a Dramalogue Award in Kiss of the Spider Woman at TheateWorks (1997), an Elliot Norton Award in Miss Saigon at North Shore Music Theatre (2013), another Obie Award for Wild Goose Dreams at the Public (2018) and a second Lortel Award in Cambodian Rock Band at the Signature Theatre (2020). He has been nominated for three Drama Desk Awards (one in 2008 and two in 2020). He has also appeared in film and in other television roles.
Jue was born in San Francisco, California, the sixth of nine children of Chinese Americans Frank (an engineer for the U.S. Navy) and Jennie Jue. He grew up in the Richmond District of San Francisco and attended high school at St. Ignatius College Preparatory, taking part in the school's drama program. [1] He received his B.A. degree at Yale University. [2]
Jue first appeared in New York in 1984 in a production of Pacific Overtures as the boy in the tree and the Dutch Admiral. He appeared in a California production of the same musical in 1988, [3] and later, he appeared in the show on Broadway as the Dutch Admiral and Madam (2004–05). [4] He also appeared on Broadway in the original Broadway production of M. Butterfly , where he understudied the title character, Song Liling, and Comrade Chin (1989–90), also acted as understudy for these characters in the first national tour (1990–91); he then starred as Song Liling in the second national tour (1991–92). [5] In the original Broadway production of Thoroughly Modern Millie , he created the role of Bun Foo (2002–04). [6]
Jue's Off-Broadway credits include Dr. Mendel in the 2006 National Asian American Theater Festival's revival of William Finn's Falsettoland ; numerous roles with the New York Shakespeare Festival in Hamlet , King Lear , The Tragedy of Richard II , Pericles, Prince of Tyre , Timon of Athens and The Winter's Tale ; Dream True: My Life with Vernon Dixon (Vineyard Theatre); [1] Oscar in Chay Yew's A Language of Their Own (2005); [7] the father in Kevin So's musical, Victor Woo: The Average Asian American; [1] and Vice-Principal Huang in No Foreigners Beyond This Point, by Warren Leight (2005). [8]
He won the 2008 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actor [9] and a 2008 Obie Award for his performance in David Henry Hwang's Yellow Face at the Public Theater. [10] He was also nominated for a 2008 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play. [11] Of this role, writer Lia Chang observed: "Jue distinguishes himself as Hwang's father, Henry Y. Hwang. ... Jue's moving and heartfelt portrayal ... has been earning [him] rave reviews." [1] Jue has said, "For me, Hwang's work has been a seminal part of being Asian-American in this culture. It's about feeling alienated in your own country." [12] In 2009, after recovering from a back injury sustained in a 15-foot fall during rehearsals for a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, [13] Jue appeared in Coraline with MCC Theater at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in the role of Father. [14] [15] He returned to the Public Theater in 2011 as Sir Nathaniel in Love's Labor's Lost . [16]
In early 2014, Jue played the title character's father off-Broadway in Signature Theatre Company's premiere of Hwang's Kung Fu. [17] He appeared in The World of Extreme Happiness, a play by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, that premiered at Goodman Theatre in Chicago in September and October 2014 and reopened at Manhattan Theatre Club in New York City in February and March 2015. [18] In between these two runs, with York Theatre Company in December 2014, he appeared in My Favorite Year . [19] From October to December 2018, Jue appeared in Wild Goose Dreams, a new play by Hansol Jung, at the Public Theater, [20] receiving another Obie Award for his performance. [21]
In 2019, Jue reprised his role in Soft Power at the Public Theater beginning in September 2019. [22] In 2020, he played Duik in Lauren Yee's Cambodian Rock Band at Signature Theatre. [23] Jue was nominated for 2020 Drama Desk Awards and Lucille Lortel Awards for both roles; [24] he won the Lortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play for the latter role. [25] He was also nominated for the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical for his role in Soft Power, [26] and the show's cast album was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. [27] In 2021 Jue starred in the documentary theatre piece Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 produced by Signature Theatre Company at the Pershing Square Signature Center in New York. [28] The production won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Revival, and the cast was nominated for the Lortel Award for Outstanding Ensemble. [29] Jue created the role of Howard in Audible Theater's Good Enemy, by Yilong Liu, at the Minetta Lane Theatre in October and November 2022. [30]
Jue has also appeared widely in regional theatre as Jeffrey in A Song for a Nisei Fisherman at Asian American Theatre Company (1988); the title character in M Butterfly at Hippodrome Theatre (1992), TheatreWorks in California (1992, 2007), Arizona Theatre Company (1993) and Vineyard Playhouse (1994); the MC in Cabaret at Cider Mill Playhouse (1993) and TheatreWorks (1996, Bay Area Critics Circle Award), Sacramento Music Theatre (1998); Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream at Arizona Theatre Company (1995); Amanuensis and Geronte in The Illusion at Arizona Theatre Company (1997, winning a ZONI award); Molina in Kiss of the Spider Woman at TheateWorks (1997, Dramalogue Award); [1] Thomas in A Question of Mercy at Magic Theatre (1998); Mike, Ronald and Skunk in As Bees in Honey Drown and the title character in Amadeus , both at TheatreWorks (1999); [31] The Parsi Man in Just So at North Shore Music Theatre (2001); Skeets Miller in Floyd Collins at TheatreWorks (2001); Hua in Red at Wilma Theatre (2003) and TheatreWorks (2004; "Jue ... is utterly convincing. He is self-righteous, stern and yet completely sympathetic."); [32] the narrator in Into the Woods , which he also choreographed, at TheatreWorks (2006, Bay Area Critics Circle Award; "Jue ... shows his amazing physical acting talent. ... He has a true theatrical voice when doing the splendid narration of the story."); [33] the King in The King and I at American Music Theatre of San Jose (2006) and Carousel Dinner Theatre (2008); [34] and Mr. Oji in Philip Kan Gotanda's After the War at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco (2007). [1]
At The Muny in St. Louis, he starred in the title roles of The King and I (2006) and Peter Pan in 2007 [35] and as The Engineer in Miss Saigon in 2008. [36] In 2009, he reprised his role in Yellow Face at Theatreworks. [37] In 2010, Jue played Smokey in Damn Yankees at The Muny. [38] That fall, he starred as Dr. Givings in The Actors Theatre production of In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) in Phoenix, Arizona (for which he won a ZONI award). [39] [40] In 2011, he was back at The Muny as Sebastian in The Little Mermaid . CBS St. Louis wrote: "The consummate acting, dancing and singing skills of Francis Jue as Sebastian are a joy to experience." [41] [42] In early 2012, he appeared in The Winter's Tale at Yale Repertory Theatre [43] [44] and returned to The Muny that summer in Thoroughly Modern Millie (this time as Ching Ho) [45] and Kassim in Aladdin. [46] Later in the year, Jue created two roles in You for Me for You, a new play by Mia Chung, debuted at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. [47]
Jue appeared as Salvatore "Sally" Camatoy in a stage adaptation of Paper Dolls , by Philip Himberg, at the Tricycle Theatre in London from 28 February 2013 to 13 April 2013. The Daily Telegraph wrote: "Jue gives a haunting performance as Sally". [48] The Times commented, "At [the musical's] heart is the relationship (which repeatedly made me cry) between Chaim ... and the wonderful Francis Jue as Salvatore – 'Sally'." [49] In June, he appeared at the New Haven International Arts Festival in the musical Stuck Elevator, with music by Byron Au Yong and a libretto by Aaron Jafferis, directed by Chay Yew about a delivery man trapped in a Bronx elevator for 81 hours. [50] In November, Jue returned to North Shore and to the role of the Engineer in Miss Saigon. A review in The Boston Globe commented: "Jue delivers an indelible portrait of a Mephistophelean hustler who doesn’t so much walk as slither, a cannily corrupt survivor adept at switching allegiances. ... Jue excels in one of the show’s best numbers, "The American Dream". [51] Jue won an Elliot Norton Award for his performance [52] and was nominated for an IRNE Award. [53]
In October 2015, Jue created several roles, including the father, in a new comic play, Tiger Style! by Mike Lew at Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia. [54] "Jue steals the show as he rapidly modulates between characters, performing with charisma and humor". [55] In early 2016, Jue played sushi master chef Koji in Tokyo Fish Story by Kimber Lee at Theatreworks. [56] Later in the year, he reprised his roles in Tiger Style! in Boston. [57] The following year, he played Larry Yee in "King of the Yees", by Lauren Yee, in Chicago and Los Angeles. A reviewer for Chicago Sun-Times wrote: "You will, without any question, fall madly in love with Larry Yee, or more precisely, with Francis Jue, the wiry, wide-eyed, shrewdly comic, comically un-hip and altogether remarkable actor who plays him with such effortless guile." [58] Jue repeated the role in 2019 at the San Francisco Playhouse. [13] A reviewer for The San Diego Union-Tribune commented that in Wild Goose Dreams at La Jolla Playhouse in September and October 2017, "Jue portrays the father with a winning, playfully comic touch". [59] Jue starred as DHH in David Henry Hwang and Jeanine Tesori's new "play with a musical", Soft Power, which opened at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles in May 2018 and moved to San Francisco's Curran Theatre in June. [60]
In mid-2019, Jue played Resten in The Language Archive at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. [61] In 2022, with Yale Repertory Theatre, he starred in Today is My Birthday by Susan Soon, [62] and with San Francisco Opera, he played Monk in Dream of the Red Chamber . [63] He then reprised his roles in Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 with American Repertory Theater at the Loeb Drama Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. [64] In 2023, he reprised his role in Cambodian Rock Band first at Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas, [65] then at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California [66] and later at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. [67]
Jue's television credits include Dorian on Talk to Me (2000, ABC), voice of James in Nikki (2000, Cartoon Network), Dr. Yamagatchi on One Life to Live , Dr. Fong and later Judge Ong on Law and Order: SVU (2004–06; 2013, NBC), Dr. Tom Li on The Good Wife (2009–10, CBS) and Dr. Halberton on Law & Order (2010, NBC). From 2014 to 2019, he played the recurring role of Chinese Foreign Minister Ming Chen on the CBS TV series Madam Secretary . [68] In 2020 and 2021, Jue appeared as the recurring character Fred on season 1 of the Starz series Hightown. [69]
On film, Jue appeared in the 1999 comedy short, Puppet, Love & Mertz, as Mertz; [70] and he made his feature film debut as Ang Hsu in Joyful Noise , in 2012, starring Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah. [71] He played Chris in the 2019 short suspense-thriller Rendezvous. [72]
In 2021, Jue starred in San Francisco Mime Troupe's radio serial "Tales of the Resistance, Volume 2: Persistence", Episode 2. [73] He appeared as Dr. Chester Lu in the 2022 film White Noise . [74] and Jason in the 2003 drama Our Son . [75]
Paula Vogel is an American playwright who received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play How I Learned to Drive. A longtime teacher, Vogel spent the bulk of her academic career – from 1984 to 2008 – at Brown University, where she served as Adele Kellenberg Seaver Professor in Creative Writing, oversaw its playwriting program, and helped found the Brown/Trinity Rep Consortium. From 2008 to 2012, Vogel was Eugene O'Neill Professor of Playwriting and department chair at the Yale School of Drama, as well as playwright in residence at the Yale Repertory Theatre.
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. Starting just after the 2014 ceremony, the American Theatre Wing is joint presenter and administrative manager of the Obie Awards. The Obie Awards are considered off-Broadway's highest honor, similar to the Tony Awards for Broadway productions.
Georgia Bright Engel was an American actress. She is best known for having played Georgette Franklin Baxter in the sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show from 1972 to 1977, Pat MacDougall on Everybody Loves Raymond from 2003 to 2005, and Mamie Sue on Hot in Cleveland from 2012 to 2015 She was nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards and a BAFTA award.
Will Eno is an American playwright based in Brooklyn, New York. His play, Thom Pain was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 2005. His play The Realistic Joneses appeared on Broadway in 2014, where it received a Drama Desk Special Award and was named Best Play on Broadway by USA Today, and best American play of 2014 by The Guardian. His play The Open House was presented Off-Broadway at the Signature Theatre in 2014 and won the Obie Award for Playwriting as well as other awards, and was on both TIME Magazine and Time Out New York 's Top Ten Plays of 2014.
Jeanine Tesori, known earlier in her career as Jeanine Levenson, is an American composer and musical arranger best known for her work in the theater. She is the most prolific and honored female theatrical composer in history, with five Broadway musicals and six Tony Award nominations. She won the 1999 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music in a Play for Nicholas Hytner's production of Twelfth Night at Lincoln Center, the 2004 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music for Caroline, or Change, the 2015 Tony Award for Best Original Score for Fun Home, making them the first female writing team to win that award, and the 2023 Tony Award for Best Original Score for Kimberly Akimbo. She was named a Pulitzer Prize for Drama finalist twice for Fun Home and Soft Power.
The Lieutenant of Inishmore is a black comedy by Martin McDonagh, in which the 'mad' leader of an Irish National Liberation Army splinter group discovers that his cat has been killed. It has been produced twice in the West End and on Broadway, where it received a Tony Award nomination for Best Play. In 2014, The Lieutenant of Inishmore was ranked in The Daily Telegraph as one of the 15 greatest plays ever written.
Lynn Nottage is an American playwright whose work often focuses on the experience of working-class people, particularly working-class people who are Black. She has received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice: in 2009 for her play Ruined, and in 2017 for her play Sweat. She was the first woman to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama two times.
Lillias White is an American actress and singer. She is particularly known for her performances in Broadway musicals. In 1989 she won an Obie Award for her performance in the Off-Broadway musical Romance in Hard Times. In 1997 she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for portraying Sonja in Cy Coleman's The Life. She was nominated for a Tony Award again in 2010 for her work as Funmilayo in Fela Kuti's Fela!.
Stephen Adly Guirgis is an American playwright, screenwriter, director, and actor. He is a member and a former co-artistic director of New York City's LAByrinth Theater Company. His plays have been produced both Off-Broadway and on Broadway as well as in the UK. His play Between Riverside and Crazy won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
David Greenspan is an American actor and playwright. He is the recipient of six Obies, including an award in 2010 for Sustained Achievement.
Derek McLane is an American set designer for theatre, opera, and television. He graduated with a BA from Harvard College and an MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
Alex Timbers is an American writer and director and the recipient of Tony, Golden Globe, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and London Evening Standard Awards, as well as two OBIE and Lucile Lortel Awards. He also received the 2019 Drama League Founder's Award for Excellence in Directing and the 2016 Jerome Robbins Award for Directing. He was nominated for a 2020 Grammy Award. For his work on Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Timbers won a 2021 Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical.
Rajiv Joseph is an American playwright. He was named a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, and he won an Obie Award for Best New American Play for his play Describe the Night.
Katherine Baldwin is an American singer and actress known for her work in musical theater. She received a Tony Award nomination for her work in the 2009 Broadway revival of Finian's Rainbow. She also co-starred opposite Bette Midler, David Hyde Pierce, and Gavin Creel in the Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly!, for which she received Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle award nominations for her work as the saucy millineress Irene Molloy. Baldwin continued with the production until it closed in August 2018.
David Cromer is an American theatre director, and stage, film, and TV actor. He has received recognition for his work on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and in his native Chicago. Cromer has won or been nominated for numerous awards, including winning the Lucille Lortel Award and Obie Award for his direction of Our Town. He was nominated for the Drama Desk Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award for his direction of The Adding Machine. In 2018, Cromer won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for The Band's Visit.
Dave Malloy is an American composer, playwright, lyricist, and actor. He has written several theatrical works, often based on classic works of literature. They include Moby-Dick, an adaptation of Herman Melville's classic novel; Octet, a chamber choir musical about internet addiction; Preludes, a musical fantasia set in the mind of romantic composer Sergei Rachmaninoff; Ghost Quartet, a song cycle about love, death, and whiskey; and the Tony Award winning Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, an electropop opera based on War and Peace.
Leigh Silverman is an American director for the stage, both off-Broadway and on Broadway. She was nominated for the 2014 Tony Award, Best Direction of a Musical for the musical Violet and the 2008 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Director of a Play for the play From Up Here.
Lucas Hnath is an American playwright. He won the 2016 Obie Award for excellence in playwriting for his plays Red Speedo and The Christians. He also won a Whiting Award.
David Cale is an English-American playwright, actor, and songwriter, best known for his solo performance works.
Soft Power is a musical with book and lyrics by David Henry Hwang and music and additional lyrics by Jeanine Tesori.