Alexandra Silber

Alexandra Silber
Born Alexandra Michelle Silber[1]
(1983-07-03) July 3, 1983
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation Actress, singer, playwright
Years active 2005–present
Website alexandrasilber.net

Alexandra Michelle Silber (born July 3, 1983) is an American actress, singer, playwright, and educator, who has been described by The New York Times as "glamorous and hyper-articulate,"[2] and by The Huffington Post as "the fastest-rising soprano in Musical Theater."[3] She has performed roles on Broadway, in London's West End, on television and film, and concert stages across the globe. She currently teaches on the musical theatre faculty at Pace University.[4]

Education and acting career

Born in Los Angeles and raised in metro-Detroit,[5] Silber is a graduate of both the Interlochen Center for the Arts and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.[2] In July 2005 she made her West End debut as Laura Fairlie in the original production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Woman in White.[6] She returned to the West End in 2007-2008 to portray Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof and again in 2008-2009 to perform the role of Julie Jordan in Carousel at The Savoy Theatre.[7]

In 2010 Silber made her American stage debut as Julie Jordan in Los Angeles with the Reprise Theatre Company.[7] In 2011 she appeared as the Young Wife in the Off-Broadway revival of Michael John LaChiusa's Hello Again and as Sophie De Palma to Tyne Daly's Maria Callas in the Kennedy Center and Broadway revival of Terrence McNally's Master Class.[8][9] In 2012 she performed the role of Nina in a concert version of Robert Wright and George Forrest's Song of Norway with Judy Kaye, Jason Danieley, the American Symphony Orchestra, and the Collegiate Chorale at Carnegie Hall.[10] That same year she appeared as Jenny in the United States premiere of Howard Goodall's Love Story at the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia, and was seen Off-Broadway in Nora Ephron's Love, Loss, and What I Wore.[11][12]

In 2013 Silber performed in concert and recorded on disc the role of Maria in West Side Story with the San Francisco Symphony under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas.[13] That recording was nominated for the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, and Silber performed music from West Side Story at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards.[14] In the summer of 2013 she appeared as Amalia Balash opposite Santino Fontana in Jerry Bock's She Loves Me at the Caramoor International Music Festival.[15] In December 2013 she performed in the world premiere of David Del Tredici’s Dum Dee Tweedle with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin.[16]

In 2014 Silber starred in Victor Lodato and Polly Pen's Off-Broadway musical Arlington.[17] Later that year she was the soprano soloist in Andrew Lippa's oratorio I Am Harvey Milk with the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles at Walt Disney Concert Hall.[18] In the summer of 2015 she performed the role of Eliza Doolittle to Anthony Andrews' Professor Higgins in Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady at The Muny in St. Louis.[19]

Silber's screen credits include guest roles on the television series Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and The Mysteries of Laura. In 2014 she portrayed the title role in Kiss Me, Kate, with the John Wilson Orchestra for the BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall.[20] She performed on that program again in 2015, this time singing music from West Side Story and Candide.[21] In January 2015 she appeared on PBS' Great Performances as a part of the Live from Lincoln Center series, performing the balcony scene from West Side Story at Avery Fisher Hall for the October 2014 Richard Tucker Opera Gala. She also appeared in the 2007 Stephen King horror film 1408.

She is currently appearing as Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof.

Work as a playwright

As a playwright, Silber has written modern language adaptations of three classic Greek tragedies through a commission by the Dutch Kills Theater. The first work she adapted, Sophocles' Antigone, premiered at The National Opera Center on February 2, 2015 in a staged reading under the direction of Tony Award nominee Sheryl Kaller with a cast that included John Cullum, Peter Scolari, Jason Tam, and Silber.[22] The second work she penned, a modern English translation of Euripides 415BC tragedy The Trojan Women, was given its first fully staged performance at the Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, New York on June 18, 2015.[23] The work had previously premiered in a staged reading at Shetler Studios on May 18, 2015 under the direction of Drama Desk Award-nominee Carolyn Cantor. The third and final work, a contemporary-language version of Euripides' Medea, is scheduled to premiere in Manhattan in 2017.[22]

References

  1. ↑ https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VLXB-ZBT
  2. 1 2 Anita Gates (February 12, 2014). "After Marquee Roles, an Epiphany: Alexandra Silber Sings Wartime Blues in ‘Arlington’". The New York Times.
  3. ↑ "Introducing Cheyenne Jackson and Alexandra Silber as San Francisco Symphony's Tony & Maria in West Side Story". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2015-10-19.
  4. ↑ "Interview – American actress Alexandra Silber back in the UK making her cabaret bow at Crazy Coqs". musicaltheatrereview.com. August 8, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Alexandra Silber". Downtown Newsmagazine. Retrieved 2015-10-20.
  6. ↑ Andrew Gans (June 16, 2005). "Henshall, Humbley, Silber, Collett and Cormick to Join London's Woman in White". Playbill.
  7. 1 2 Matthew Blank (February 11, 2014). "CUE & A: Vineyard Theatre Arlington Star Alexandra Silber". Playbill.
  8. ↑ Anthony Tommasini (July 26, 2011). "Broadway’s Callas vs. Callas Herself". The New York Times.
  9. ↑ Ben Brantley (March 20, 2011). "Web of Love, Explicitly Woven in Shades of Anguish". The New York Times.
  10. ↑ Andrew Gans (April 30, 2013). "Judy Kaye, Jason Danieley, Alexandra Silber, Santino Fontana Sing a Song of Norway April 30 at Carnegie Hall". Playbill.
  11. ↑ Kenneth Jones (September 12, 2012). "Love Story, the Musical, Opens Sept. 12 at Walnut Street; Alexandra Silber, Will Reynolds Star". Playbill.
  12. ↑ Andrew Gans (February 1, 2012). "Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Alexandra Silber, Robin Strasser Explore Love, Loss Off-Broadway Starting Feb. 1". Playbill.
  13. ↑ Anthony Tommasini (July 9, 2014). "Classical Playlist: ‘West Side Story,’ Schubert, Haydn and More". The New York Times.
  14. ↑ Brian Wise (February 8, 2015). "And the Classical Grammy Winners Are...". WQXR-FM.
  15. ↑ Steven Suskin (June 24, 2013). "An Early Summer Night's She Loves Me With Santino Fontana, Alexandra Silber and Montego Glover". Playbill.
  16. ↑ "DSO – "Violin Concerto No. 2" & "Dum Dee Tweedle" (Concert)". Detroit Music Magazine. December 1, 2013.
  17. ↑ Charles Isherwood (March 2, 2014). "Home Fires Are Burning Out:In ‘Arlington,’ an Army Wife Fights a Lonely Battle". The New York Times.
  18. ↑ David Ng (July 17, 2014). "Harvey Milk oratorio getting a staging in Los Angeles". Los Angeles Times.
  19. ↑ Judith Newmark (June 16, 2015). "'My Fair Lady' opens the Muny season". St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
  20. ↑ Ivan Hewett (August 3, 2014). "BBC Prom 21, Kiss Me, Kate, review: 'fabulous'". The Daily Telegraph.
  21. ↑ Chris Caspell (September 5, 2015). "Prom 67 – Bernstein Stage and Screen (On the Waterfront, Candide, West Side Story) – John Wilson Orchestra with Julian Ovenden, Louise Dearman, Scarlett Strallen, Lucy Schaufer". www.classicalsource.com.
  22. 1 2 Matthew Blank (January 30, 2015). "John Cullum, Peter Scolari, Jason Tam and Alexandra Silber Set for New Antigone Reading". Playbill.
  23. ↑ Austin Regan. "Opening Night At The Wedge!". dramaleague.org. Retrieved October 20, 2015.

External links

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