When Jay Frisby joins with the rest of the South Pacific cast of sailors and Seabees to sing “There’s Nothing Like a Dame” and “Bloody Mary” appearing at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre beginning October 4, it will be another big moment for the Columbia, Md. native.
But Frisby, part of the national tour of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific that will be touring through next May, is no stranger to big moments.
While at Howard County’s Glenelg Country School, he was hailed by student critics for a portrayal of Huck Finn that was so controversial, a scheduled broadcast of a scene on C-SPAN was banned.
He has toured the world with Yale’s famed Whiffenpoof singers and performed professionally as Adrian in Smokey Joe’s Café, Dilophosaurus in Jurassic Parq the Musical, Chino in West Side Story and Tweedle-Dum in @lice in www.onderland, an adaptation of the Lewis Carroll classic, Alice in Wonderland.
So the role of Tom O’Brien, a sailor in South Pacific, is just another step in a performing career that began at the age of seven.
“Jay is an incredible energetic, committed person who really has a vision for what he wants,” Amy Lee, a producer on his senior project at Yale said in a 2009 interview for Yale News.
In the same interview, his project advisor, Emily Coates, said, “He’s exceptionally observant, which is the quality you find in the finest artists.”
Examples of Frisby’s dancing, singing and acting are available on his web site, www.JayFrisby.com.