Jay Russell

Sam & Others

Jay is thrilled to be making his debut at the Vienna English Theatre and to continue his collaboration with director John Going with whom he has had the pleasure of working with on half a dozen productions across the USA.

He made his Broadway debut in The Play What I Wrote, a West End hit directed by Kenneth Branagh. His Off- Broadway work includes last year’s acclaimed revival of The Normal Heart at the Public Theatre, Private Jokes, Public Places, The Green Heart, Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh as well as four classics at the Pearl Theatre Company – The School for Scandal, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Way of the World and The Oresteia.

He toured the US and Canada as Lumière in Disney’s Beauty & the Beast, as well as in the revival of Applause with Stefanie Powers. Some of his regional work includes Oscar Wilde in Gross Indecency, Lord Goring in An Ideal Husband, and Sam in Fully Committed (Repertory Theatre of St. Louis), Algernon in The Importance of Being Earnest and Jane/Edgar in The Mystery of Irma Vep (Cincinnati Playhouse), Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Geoffrey in The Lion in Winter (Utah Shakespearean Festival), Sir Evelyn in Anything Goes with Sandy Duncan (Ordway Theatre), Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors, Tranio in Taming of the Shrew and Motel in Fiddler on the Roof (Pioneer Theatre), Amos Hart in Chicago (Westchester Broadway Theatre), and Otto in Design for Living (Olney Theatre).

His television work includes Law & Order (two episodes), The Sopranos, Spin City, The Jamie Kennedy Experiment, Guiding Light, and As the World Turns. He is the co-star and co-writer of An evening with Burton & Russell, which made its debut at the 2002 New York International Fringe Festival as well as playing several Off-Broadway theatres in New York City. Many many thanks to Jack, Don, Gerri and Jana.