Pictured clockwise from above; the cast of Seinfeld, Alexander as Donny Clay, the cast of Merrily We Roll Along. than a way of covering his baldness. He was trying to prove a point to producers who had denied him acting roles simply because they couldn’t see him as any other character but George Costanza. Quite simply, Alexander — whose real love is musical theater, and who is an excellent song-and-dance man — had been unfairly typecast. “I thought about (doing) the show with the toupee. And we recognized that it was strange, for a guy that everyone knows is bald, to be wearing a toupee,” he says with a chuckle. “So we actually begin the (stage) show with material about the hair, and all the crazy things that people do to try and make an impression. It became a way to dispel the image of George and have a kind of a hook for the show. But let me make this clear — as much as the hair is the star, it does not dominate the evening.” Alexander did try and make the show a little easier for the audience to understand than Donny Clay by adding some biographical material. There’s also little observational comedy element — again, not stand-up a la Seinfeld, but still funny stuff — along with some audience interaction. “It’s more of a variety show,” he says. Because of his theatrical background, there’s even a little music in the show. Again, though, he won’t be reprising anything musical he’s ever done in the theater. “I’m not up there singing ‘Impossible Dream,’” Alexander says with a laugh. “The music is there for comedic value.” Alexander always dreamed of a career 36
Holiday 2015 | LIFESTYLE
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in the theater. After graduating Livingston High School in 1977, he attended Boston University for three years but dropped out before the beginning of his senior year when he began getting acting gigs in New York. In the early 1980s, he landed a featured part in one of Stephen Sondheim’s best flops, “Merrily We Roll Along.” That led to appearances in shows like “The Rink,” “Broadway Bound,” “Accomplice” and “Jerome Robbins’ Broadway,” for which he won the 1989 Tony Award for best featured actor in a musical. Not long after the Tony, he won the role that would change his life when he was cast as George in “Seinfeld.” At the same time, he decided to put his theater career on hold for nearly 15 years for two of the best reasons in the world: his two young sons. But the kids are grown now and on their own, and Alexander is looking to get back on Broadway in a major way. Earlier this year, he replaced “Seinfeld” co-creator Larry David in David’s Broadway comedy “Fish in the Dark.” He’s hoping that will lead to more projects, and says one is in the works now that he hopes to develop and star in next year. “I love the (live) stage because you can make an instant connection with the audience,” he says. “That’s what was so great about doing (‘Seinfeld’) for all those years. We
did it in front of a live audience.” But he knows Broadway has changed dramatically since he last bounced the boards on a full-time basis more than 25 years ago. There’s intense competition among producers looking to install shows in theaters. “There’s a limited number of theaters now, about 12 of them have shows that are never going to leave and there’s a huge (waiting list) for every available theater,” he says. “So it’s hard to get in there unless you have five gigantic movie stars that are ready to step into the piece. It’s very tricky to cut into the head of the line.” Although overcoming the George typecasting has been one of his biggest career challenges, Alexander refuses to say it’s part of the so-called “Seinfeld curse,” an urban acting myth that says other than Jerry Seinfeld, the other three stars of the show have had trouble finding success during the 18 years since “Seinfeld” aired its final episode on NBC. “There’s no curse,” he says. “‘Seinfeld’ was a gift. There’s no telling what would have happened with my career had ‘Seinfeld’ not come along.” n