3 Photos
[caption id="attachment_51920" align="alignnone" width="500"] Joel Grey.[/caption]
Joel Grey, an actor that has achieved cult-like adoration from fans primarily for his Tony and Academy-Award winning performance as Master of Ceremonies in “Cabaret” will appear at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor on Saturday, June 11 at 5 p.m. for “A Conversation with Joel Grey.” The evening will include Mr. Grey reading selections from his memoir, “Master of Ceremonies,” as well as a conversation between the actor and Bay Street artistic director Scott Schwartz about Mr. Grey’s distinguished life and career.
[caption id="attachment_51919" align="alignleft" width="220"]
Joel Grey[/caption]
Born Joel David Katz to a Jewish American family in Cleveland, Ohio in 1932, Mr. Grey began his life in the theater at the age of nine, starting in children's theater and then moving to the main stage. He was hooked, and his seven decades long career charts the evolution of American entertainment - from Vaudeville performances with his father, Mickey Katz, to the seedy gangster filled nightclubs of the forties, the bright lights of Broadway and dizzying glamour of Hollywood, to juggernaut musicals like “Cabaret,” “Chicago,” and “Wicked.”
“Master of Ceremonies” is a memoir of a life lived in and out of the limelight, but it is also the story of the man behind the stage makeup. Coming of age in a time when being yourself tended to be not only difficult but also dangerous, Mr. Grey had to act both on and off the stage. He spends his high school years sleeping with the girls-next-door while carrying on a scandalous affair with an older man. Romances with to-die-for Vegas showgirls are balanced with late night liaisons with like-minded guys, until finally the actor falls in love and marries a talented and beautiful woman, starts a family, and has a pretty much picture perfect life. But 24 years later when the marriage dissolves, he has to once again find his place in a world that has radically changed.
Tickets to “A Conversation with Joel Grey” are $20. For more information, call (631) 725-9500 or visit baystreet.org.
