Jay Carey is the production stage manager for "SIX" & he sure does love all his Queens!

Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived...

Have you heard of the Queendom? If not you will certainly know who they are in the next two and a half weeks, because SIX: The Musical will be here and playing Huntsville for EIGHT performances! I can't help but think they've missed the perfect marketing opportunity of never playing anywhere for more than SIX performances! But alas, I digress, and have immediately distracted myself from the topic...

The Queendom is what the SIX fans call themselves, as they approach the theatre, fully armed with their tiaras and sometimes full replicas of the onstage costumes. But don't worry because Jay Carey is the Production Stage Manager of SIX “The Boleyn Tour” and he already has two tours worth of experience with the Queendom. Side Note: And speaking of the Queendom, you will want to tune in to our upcoming "Show & Tell" episodes #14 & #15 which will feature local SIX superfans that you just might recognize. Subscribe to our YouTube channel (@BroadwayHuntsville) so you don't miss them.

Now back to Jay Carey, who I interviewed this past week for Kip's Korner. I have been friends with Jay and his husband Chris for 10 years! We lived in the same coop in Upper Manhattan up until I moved back to Huntsville in 2023. Our dogs, Milo & Roxy, were BFF and hung out together often. I will definitely dig up some old photos of the pups together and share them at the end of this blog post.

We survived the COVID lockdown together. He and my husband, Jim, were both stage managing Broadway shows (Ain't Too Proud & The Phantom of the Opera) when Covid shut down Broadway for 18 months. We used to wave at each other, fully masked, from afar as we walked through Fort Tryon Park with our dogs during those crazy times. Nowadays Jay is still in crazy times, but it's the really good kind of crazy!

Jay has five Broadway stage managing credits to his name (so far) and seven Broadway tours! Here's a quick breakdown of those shows:

Broadway: SIX, Ain’t Too Proud, Jersey Boys, Finding Neverland, Kinky Boots.

Broadway Tours: SIX 1st & 2^nd National, Company, Ain’t Too Proud, Jersey Boys 1^st & 2^nd National, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Fun Bit of Trivia: We were planning for my interview with Jay to be the first episode of the Kip's Korner Podcast. Unfortunately the video recording of our interview got lost in cyber space somewhere. So instead I will be trying to remember our conversation and share it here. Wish me luck! Hahaha.

Hello Jay Carey! I'm so excited to see you in person soon. And everyone in Huntsville is absolutely thrilled that SIX will be here for a full week. Let me start by asking you how high school Jay from Nahant, Massachusetts became such a sought after Broadway & Touring Production Stage Manager (PSM)?

Well I was a theatre kid in high school. I grew up performing in all the shows. Then I majored in theater at Salem State University in Massachusetts. I moved to NYC with everyone else to be a professional performer. There was only one problem: I HATED auditioning. I loved performing but I really hated auditioning.

I had the opportunity to go on the Jersey Boys tour to sell their merchandise so I did. While I was out there they decided to hire a substitute stage manager. Since I was already on the road with them they offered the job to me, and once I started learning how to be a stage manager I had an epiphany: Oh, I'm good at stage managing. This is what I'm supposed to be doing! and I've never looked back.

Why do you think that SIX has become such a global sensation?

We love our Queens and we love our pop icons so SIX is the perfect combination of those things. And it's what the world wanted and needed to see right now. It's such an empowering show for women and everyone who loves them. I've worked with so many Queens between the 1st & 2^nd National Touring Companies of SIX and I love them all! And you will love them too.

Tell me about your experience with Ain't Too Proud.

Everything about Ain't Too Proud was incredible. We had the greatest creative team, cast, crew, management, etc. From top to bottom it was just a phenomenal experience. The audiences were loving the show. There were so many celebrities coming backstage afterwards to meet the cast and share how much they loved the show. We had a yearlong prepandemic run on Broadway with a positive New York Times review and we were making money. But then Covid shut down Broadway for 18 months.

We reopened on Broadway in October of 2021 but the "Omicron" variant of Covid hit us hard in December with almost all of the other Broadway shows too and we just couldn't recover. Sadly, we closed in January. I think we would still be running on Broadway if the pandemic had not happened.

You've stage managed so many incredible shows, do you have a favorite or one that's closest to your heart?

I would have to say Jersey Boys! It started my career. So many of my lifelong friends are from that show. It bought us our home in NYC. It's basically your Les Misérables.

Yes, you are so right! Les Misérables was the show that changed my life forever, both professionally and personally. And Jersey Boys is yours. I love that!

You toured with and stage managed the Broadway play, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Do you have a favorite memory of that show?

Yes of course! We adopted our miniature golden doodle, Roxy, from The Curious Incident. They have mini golden doodle puppies that are in the show and once they reach a certain age they need to be replaced with another puppy. So we jumped at the opportunity to adopt Roxy.

I love that story so much! So Roxy is truly a show-dog.

She sure is! And she's been on tour with different shows with us for most of her life now.

Do you have any advice for our theatre kids in Huntsville that hope to be on Broadway or on the Broadway Tours some day?

Yes! Just remember that you don't have to have it all figured out right now. Just keep studying your craft. Go to college and keep studying theatre. You might realize one day, like me, that your gifts are better suited for stage management. Or company management or being part of the crew on the technical side of theatre. There are so many job opportunities in this industry. It doesn't have to be acting or nothing at all. Just stay open to all possibilities.

100% to all of that! There are so many fantastic jobs out there in the professional theatre world.

Now let’s wrap it up with 5 or 6 “Rapid-Fire Questions” where you say the first thing that comes to mind. No overthinking!

Favorite Broadway Musical: Les Misérables

Least favorite Broadway musical: No Comment (lol)

Best time you’ve ever had in the audience watching a Broadway show: Oh, Mary!

Favorite cocktail: Tito's Vodka & Ginger Beer

Favorite post-show “hang” in NYC after your show: Glass House Tavern on 47th Street between Broadway & 8th Avenue. Runner-Up is Hold Fast Kitchen & Spirits on 46th Street (Restaurant Row); They have the best wings in NYC!

Best Place for Broadway celebrity sighting post-show: I'm going with Glass House Tavern again!

And I couldn't agree more with Glass House Tavern being the best place for Broadway celebrity sightings. And often you can see several members of each Broadway show unwinding there with a drink or two after their show. I've spent many of a night there over the years and I will also have to share some of those pics too.