Jim Alexander and wife Cindy Robinson |
|
This multimedia benefit production of Chess at The Ford Amphitheatre on September, 17th at 8:00PM will be presented in honor of a dear friend and colleague,
producer/director/choreographer Jim Alexander, who sadly died on May 25th, 2007 of heart failure Jim had conceived the idea for this special benefit event.
Jim was the former Producing Artistic Director of Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma. He received numerous awards and critical acclaim for his productions of West Side Story, Song and Dance, The Pirates of Penzance, A Chorus Line, Evita, Godspell, The World Goes ‘Round, Man of La Mancha, An Inspector Calls, Always...Patsy Cline, Peter Pan, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Die Fledermaus, Guys and Dolls, Fiddler on The Roof and Jesus Christ Superstar. He had most recently directed Song and Dance: Tell Me on a Sunday, starring his wife, Cindy Robinson, which opened on February 24th, 2007 in The Deaf West Theatre in North Hollywood. He was also the Founder and CEO of The Quest Theatre Company. Please visit www.theatrequest.org.
Producer Brian Michael Purcell wrote: "After the show that night (Song and Dance) we all went out for dinner and Jim and I started talking about the theatre business. It was like I was talking with another me. In the midst of our conversation Jim brings up that the next show he wanted to produce which was Chess. Originally, Jim had talked to me about playing Freddie opposite Cindy in the production and I was very much interested. I also told him that I have a production company and why don’t we co-produce. He became very interested.
We came to an agreement about ideas for the cast, the look and concept of the show, etc. For the next month we had numerous lunch and phone meetings, we even looked at the Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood and fell in love with space and put a hold on it. Everything was going smoothly and the collaboration was on. I felt like we had been working with each other for years....(On the morning I learned that) Jim Alexander had suffered a fatal heart attack, I was speechless and cried for hours. I had not only lost a partner and mentor but a close friend. I could not even imagine how Cindy was feeling. But out of the darkest moments must come the light. I drove to the Ford that morning and put down the deposit for the show. I pulled myself as an actor out of the show and now I was in Jim’s shoes as Director and Producer. This is what Jim wanted and what he lived for. So there was no way I was not going to put this show on. It had meaning before being a fundraiser for BC/EFA, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, but now it has even more meaning and heart! We are doing this in the memory of Jim Alexander husband, father, friend, producer, director and mentor to everyone he met."
|
