Rachel Bay Jones

Last updated

Rachel Bay Jones
Rachel Bay Jones stage door pippin.jpg
Jones in 2013
Born
New York City, U.S.
Occupations
  • Actress
  • singer
Years active1989–present
PartnerBenim Foster
Children1

Rachel Bay Jones is an American actress and singer. She has played the roles of Catherine in the 2013 Broadway revival of Pippin and Evan Hansen's mother, Heidi Hansen, in Dear Evan Hansen . The latter earned her an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, and the 2017 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She emerged as one of few artists to have received three of the four major American entertainment awards.

Contents

Early life

Jones was born in New York City and grew up in Boca Raton, Florida. Her mother is Jewish. [1] Her parents were both Shakespearean actors. She dropped out of high school to perform in a local play, then moved to New York City to pursue acting at 19. [2]

Career

Jones's first Broadway role was as an understudy for the lead role of Esther in Meet Me in St. Louis in 1989. [2] [3]

In the early 1990s, she was in the touring company of Grand Hotel , as well as other national and international tours, performing Rent in German and Evita in Spanish. [2] She performed in the 2009 Broadway revival of Hair as the replacement for Mother, Buddahdalirama, and Member Of The Tribe. [4] She was one of the original cast members starring in the revival of Pippin , [2] playing Catherine, Pippin's lover, during the entire run. [5] [6]

Jones and fellow Dear Evan Hansen cast member Ben Platt with their Tony Awards Ben Platt & Rachel Bay Jones with their Tony Awards.jpg
Jones and fellow Dear Evan Hansen cast member Ben Platt with their Tony Awards

Jones portrayed Evan's mother Heidi in the musical Dear Evan Hansen , which premiered at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. in July 2015. [7] She reprised the role in the Off-Broadway production at the Second Stage Theatre in May 2016, [8] and then on Broadway starting in November 2016. [9] At the 71st Tony Awards, she won for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Heidi Hansen. [10]

After leaving Dear Evan Hansen on August 5, 2018, Jones performed at several small venues in Something Beautiful, a one-woman cabaret show that draws music from her expansive career and bringing meaning from her life into the lyrics. [11] [12]

In 2018, Jones appeared in the CBS television drama series God Friended Me , playing the role of Susan. [13] [14] She has also had guest roles on Modern Family and Grey's Anatomy .

She appeared in the concert of Sweet Charity at the Merkin Concert Hall at the Kaufman Music Center on June 17, 2019, presented by the Transport Group. [15]

From January 29 to February 3, 2020 she starred as Diana in Next to Normal at the Kennedy Center Broadway Center Stage series. [16] [17]

In 2021, Jones joined the cast of The Good Doctor as Salen Morrison. [18] This reunited her with former Dear Evan Hansen co-star Noah Galvin (who played the title role, the son of Jones's character, Heidi).

Jones originated the role of Marianne in Stephen Sondheim's [Here We Are] in 2023. [19]

Personal life

She has a daughter, Miranda, and is partner to actor Benim Foster. [12] Jones has one sibling, her brother Darren. [2]

Acting credits

Film

YearFilmRoleNotes
2018 Ben Is Back Beth
2020 Critical Thinking Principal Kestel
2024 Bob Trevino Likes It Jeanie

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
2015 Louie BarbaraEpisode: "Untitled"
2016 The Family SallyEpisode: "Election Day"
2018 Law & Order: SVU TeresaEpisode: "In Loco Parentis"
2018 God Friended Me Susan6 episodes
2019 Modern Family Farrah Marshall3 episodes
2019 Grey's Anatomy CarlyEpisode: "Breathe Again"
2021 Panic Sherri Nill6 episodes
2021 Why Women Kill Maisie Moran3 Episodes
2021–2022 United States of Al LoisRecurring role
2021–2022 The Good Doctor Salen Morrison10 episodes
2022-2024 Young Sheldon Audrey McAllisterRecurring role [20]
2024- Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage Main Cast (upcoming role)

Theatre

Source: Internet Broadway Database [21]

YearProductionRoleNotes
1989 Meet Me in St. Louis Ensemble The Gershwin Theatre
1990 Grand Hotel Hildegarde Bratts / TrudeNational tour
2000 Fiddler on the Roof HodelNational tour
2009-2010 Hair Mother / Buddahdirama / Ensemble Al Hirschfeld Theatre
2010 Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown Swing Belasco Theatre
2011 A Christmas Story: The Musical [22] MotherUS National tour
2011 Hello Again [23] The ActressOff-Broadway, Transport Group
2011 The King and I Anna LeonowensKansas City Starlight Theatre
2012 Pippin Catherine American Repertory Theatre
2013–2015 Music Box Theatre
2015 First Daughter Suite [24] Rosalynn Carter / Laura BushOff-Broadway, The Public Theatre
2015 Dear Evan Hansen Heidi Hansen Arena Stage
2016 Second Stage
2016–2018 Music Box Theatre
2020 Next to Normal [25] Diana Goodman Kennedy Centre
2023-2024 Here We Are Marianne BrinkOff-Broadway, The Shed

Awards and nominations

YearAwardsCategoryWorkResult
2016 Drama Desk Awards Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical [26] Dear Evan Hansen Nominated
2017 Tony Awards Best Featured Actress in a Musical [27] Won
Drama League Awards Distinguished Performance [28] Nominated
Lucille Lortel Awards Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical [29] Won
2018 Grammy Awards Best Musical Theater Album Won
Emmy Awards – Daytime (Daytime Creative Arts Emmys) Outstanding Musical Performance in a Daytime Program [30] Won

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Betty Buckley</span> American actress and singer (born 1947)

Betty Buckley is an American actress and singer. Buckley is the winner of a Tony Award, and was nominated for an additional Tony Award, two Daytime Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, and an Olivier Award. In 2012, she was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Laura Thompson</span> American actor-singer (born 1969)

Jennifer Laura Thompson is an American actress and singer, best known for her theatrical performances. She originated the role of Cynthia Murphy in the Tony Award-winning musical, Dear Evan Hansen, and received a Tony Award nomination for her performance as Hope Cladwell in Urinetown. She is also known for being the first replacement for Kristen Chenoweth as Glinda in Wicked on Broadway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marin Mazzie</span> American actress

Marin Joy Mazzie was an American actress and singer known for her work in musical theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Benanti</span> American actress and singer

Laura Ilene Benanti is an American actress and singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pasek and Paul</span> American songwriting duo

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, known together as Pasek and Paul, are an American songwriting duo and composing team for musical theater, films and television. Their works include A Christmas Story, Dogfight, Edges, Dear Evan Hansen, and James and the Giant Peach. Their original songs have been featured on NBC's Smash and in the films La La Land, for which they won both the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Original Song for the song "City of Stars", and The Greatest Showman. Their work on the original musical Dear Evan Hansen has received widespread critical acclaim and earned them the 2017 Tony Award for Best Musical and Best Original Score. In 2022, they won the Tony Award for Best Musical for serving as producers for the Broadway production of Michael R. Jackson's Pulitzer Prize-winning musical A Strange Loop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa Brescia</span> American musical theatre actress

Lisa Brescia is an American musical theatre actress who has performed as lead and understudy in several Broadway shows. Raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she went on to pursue acting and graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She taught Acting I and IV at Missouri State University and is now set to be the head of the Musical Theatre department at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri.

Coleen Sexton is an American stage actress who made her Broadway debut at age 20 in Frank Wildhorn and Leslie Bricusse's Jekyll & Hyde in 2000. She portrayed the starring role of Lucy Harris in the Broadway production, as an understudy from 1999, and took over the role from Luba Mason in January 2000. She can be seen on the DVD of the show starring Andrea Rivette as Emma Carew and David Hasselhoff in the title role. Before making her debut in Jekyll & Hyde, Sexton was a singer/performer in a Germany-based band called 5NY.

Taylor Hunt Trensch is an American stage and film actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Platt</span> American actor and singer (born 1993)

Benjamin Schiff Platt is an American actor and singer. The son of film and theater producer Marc Platt, he began his acting career in musical theater as a child and appeared in productions of The Sound of Music (2006) and The Book of Mormon (2012–2015), rising to prominence for originating the title role in Broadway coming-of-age musical Dear Evan Hansen (2015–2017). His performance in the latter earned him multiple accolades, including the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical, the youngest solo recipient of the award at the time, in addition to a Daytime Emmy, and Grammy Award. Platt reprised the role of Evan Hansen in the 2021 film adaptation of the musical, produced by his father. He then played Leo Frank in the 2022 New York City Center Gala production of Parade, which transferred to Broadway in 2023 and earned him another nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruthie Ann Miles</span> American actress

Ruthie Ann Miles is an American actress and singer, best known for her roles in musical theatre, especially in The King and I and Here Lies Love, and on television.

<i>Dear Evan Hansen</i> 2015 American musical

Dear Evan Hansen is a coming-of-age stage musical with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and a book by Steven Levenson. The musical follows Evan Hansen, a high school senior with social anxiety, "who invents an important role for himself in a tragedy that he did not earn".

Alex Wyse is an American stage and screen actor, writer, director, and producer. He is best known for playing Kyle in Marvel's Iron Fist, Saul Feinberg in The Bold and the Beautiful, Max Weinbaum in the Broadway production of Good Night, Oscar, Georg Zirschnitz in the 2015 Deaf West Broadway revival of Spring Awakening, and co-writing/directing the feature film Summoning Sylvia

<i>Dear Evan Hansen: Original Broadway Cast Recording</i> 2017 cast album of the stage musical Dear Evan Hansen

Dear Evan Hansen: Original Broadway Cast Recording is the cast album to the 2015 musical Dear Evan Hansen, with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and a book by Steven Levenson. The recording stars Ben Platt, Rachel Bay Jones, Laura Dreyfuss, Jennifer Laura Thompson, Michael Park, Mike Faist, Will Roland and Kristolyn Lloyd. The album was produced by Alex Lacamoire, Pasek and Paul, and featuring musicians include Rob Jost, Adele Stein, Justin Smith, Ben Cohn, Jamie Eblen, Dillon Kondor, Justin Goldner, Christopher Jahnke and Todd Low. The album was released by Atlantic Records on January 27, 2017, and featured at #8 on the Billboard 200, making the highest debut for a cast album after Camelot (1961). It also topped the Internet Albums chart. It further received the Best Musical Theater Album award at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.

William Frederick Roland is an American actor and singer, best known for originating the role of Jared Kleinman in the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen, for which he received a Grammy and Daytime Emmy Award. On film, he is known for his role in the drama film One Penny. Most recently, he played the lead role of Jeremy Heere in the musical Be More Chill both off-Broadway and on Broadway.

"Waving Through a Window" is the second song from Act 1 of the 2015 musical Dear Evan Hansen, which premiered on Broadway in 2016. Benj Pasek and Justin Paul wrote both the music and lyrics for the song, which serves as the main protagonist Evan Hansen's "I Want" song. It has since become the signature tune of the character, one of the musical's most famous songs and an anthem for those who have felt depressed and alone and show a desire for connection.

"You Will Be Found" is the Act 1 finale of the 2015 musical Dear Evan Hansen, which premiered on Broadway in 2016. Benj Pasek and Justin Paul wrote both the music and lyrics to the song.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Micaela Diamond</span> American actress and singer

Micaela Diamond is an American actress and singer. She made her Broadway debut as Babe in The Cher Show (2018–2019). Diamond starred in the critically acclaimed Broadway revival of the musical Parade as Lucille Frank, a performance for which she was nominated for the 2023 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

Mallory Bechtel is an American musical theatre actress based in New York City. She has performed as lead and understudy in several musicals including the Tony Award-winning musical, Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway. She has also appeared in multiple television shows and films. In 2022, she starred as twins Karen and Kelly Beasley on Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colton Ryan</span> American actor (born 1995)

Colton Ryan is an American actor and singer. He is known for his performance as Conrad "Coco" Roy in the Hulu miniseries The Girl from Plainville (2022), for which he garnered critical acclaim, and for playing Connor Murphy, a role which he understudied in the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen and reprised in the 2021 film adaptation. He is also known for playing the main role of Samuel on the Apple TV+ series Little Voice and originating the roles of Gene Laine in Girl from the North Country and Jim Doyle in New York, New York, the latter of which earned him a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical.

"Sincerely, Me" is a song from Act 1 of the 2015 musical Dear Evan Hansen, which premiered on Broadway in 2016. Benj Pasek and Justin Paul wrote both the music and lyrics to the song, whose title takes its name from the phrase with which the musical's main protagonist, Evan Hansen, ends his daily letters to himself.

References

  1. ↑ "A Jewish Guide to the Tonys - Atlanta Jewish Times".
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Tony Awards: Rachel Bay Jones' 'Dear Evan Hansen' Nomination Caps Three-Decade Quest". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  3. ↑ Meet Me in St. Louis playbill (vault), accessed March 29, 2019
  4. ↑ Hair playbill (vault), accessed March 29, 2019
  5. ↑ Champion, Lindsay. "Rachel Bay Jones on Being Scared of Clowns, Her 'Terrifying' Evita Story & Joining the Pippin Circus" broadway.com, June 13, 2013
  6. ↑ Blank, Matthew. "CUE & A: Pippin Star Rachel Bay Jones" playbill, April 9, 2013
  7. ↑ Gioia, Michael (July 30, 2015). "Pasek and Paul's Dear Evan Hansen, About the High School Struggle to Fit In, Premieres in D.C." Playbill. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
  8. ↑ "Tickets Go on Sale Today for Broadway's Dear Evan Hansen – Playbill". Playbill. June 19, 2016. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Dear Evan Hansen Opens on Broadway December 4 – Playbill". Playbill. December 4, 2016. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
  10. ↑ Sullivan, Lindsey (June 11, 2017). "Good for You! Dear Evan Hansen's Rachel Bay Jones Wins Her First Tony Award". Broadway.com. Retrieved November 29, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Rachel Bay Jones: Something Beautiful" theatermania.com, accessed March 29, 2019
  12. 1 2 "Rachel Bay Jones Brings 'Something Beautiful' to Feinsteins at the Nikko" broadwayworld.com, July 19, 2018
  13. ↑ Fierberg, Ruthie. " Dear Evan Hansen's Rachel Bay Jones Lands CBS Comedy Pilot" Playbill, March 26, 2018
  14. ↑ "Listings 'God Friended Me', Air Date March 31, 2019" thefutoncritic.com, retrieved May 17, 2019
  15. ↑ Gans, Andrew. "Rachel Bay Jones, Santino Fontana, More Set for 'Sweet Charity in Concert'" Playbill, May 17, 2019
  16. ↑ McPhee, Ryan. "Rachel Bay Jones to Star in 'Next to Normal' at Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center; New Season Also Includes 'To Kill a Mockingbird' Tour Premiere" playbill, March 28, 2019
  17. ↑ "Broadway Center Stage: Next to Normal" . Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  18. ↑ "The Good Doctor's 'Internal Nemesis' Revealed in Game-Changing Season 5 Premiere — Grade the Episode!". www.yahoo.com. September 28, 2021. Retrieved October 8, 2021.
  19. ↑ "Here We Are".
  20. ↑ Campione, Katie (October 26, 2022). "'Young Sheldon': Rachel Bay Jones & Will Sasso Join CBS Comedy As Recurring". MSN. Deadline. Retrieved October 28, 2022.
  21. ↑ "Rachel Bay Jones Broadway and Touring" ibdb.com, accessed August 25, 2020
  22. ↑ Blank, Matthew. "PHOTO CALL: 'A Christmas Story, The Musical!' on Tour" playbill, November 11, 2011
  23. ↑ Jones, Kenneth. "Alan Campbell, Max von Essen, Elizabeth Stanley Among Interlocking Lovers in NYC Hello Again" Playbill, January 11, 2011
  24. ↑ First Daughter Suite iobdb.com, accessed August 25, 2020
  25. ↑ Gans, Andrew (February 28, 2020). "Watch Rachel Bay Jones, Brandon Victor Dixon, More in Scenes From Kennedy Center's Next to Normal". Playbill. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  26. ↑ Fierberg, Ruthie (June 5, 2016). "Drama Desk Awards Name Shuffle Along Best Musical". Playbill. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
  27. ↑ Hetrick, Adam. "The Complete List of 2017 Tony Winners: 'Dear Evan Hansen' and 'Hello, Dolly!' Lead the Pack" playbill, June 11, 2017
  28. ↑ "Ben Platt, Sutton Foster, and Josh Groban Among 2017 Drama League Award Nominees – Playbill". Playbill. April 19, 2017. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
  29. ↑ BWW News Desk. "OSLO Big Winner at the 2017 Lucille Lortel Awards, Full List!". broadwayworld.com. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
  30. ↑ McPhee, Ryan. "Ben Platt and Dear Evan Hansen Co-Stars Win Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Award" Playbill, April 28, 2018
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.