Our Founder

Tim Jerome

Tim Jerome

Tim starred as Henri Matisse in Jesse Kornbluth’s new play THE COLOR OF LIGHT at the Schoolhouse Theater in North Salem, NY.  Tim last appeared on Broadway in the role of Monsieur Firmin in Broadway's PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, the role he was selected to play in 2004 when PHANTOM became Broadway’s Longest-Running Show.  He returned to the role in 2012 for PHANTOM's 25th Anniversary.

Prior to that, he was Dick Latessa's understudy inThe Lyons. He was seen very briefly in the Off-Broadway revival of Dracula following a somewhat longer run in the rather more successful revival of Flamingo Court at New World Stages.

He starred as Alfred P. Doolittle in the acclaimed U.S. national touring production of the London revival of My Fair Lady for which he received the Carbonell Award and a Helen Hayes Award nomination. On Broadway, prior to his run in Phantom of the Opera, he played Jane’s father, Professor Porter, in Disney’s Tarzan and Belle’s father, Maurice, in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.  He performed leading roles in the original Broadway casts of Grand HotelThe Moony Shapiro Songbook, Arthur Miller's Creation of the World and Other Business, The Rothschilds,  and was nominated for the 1987 Drama Desk and Tony Awards for his performance as The Family Solicitor in Me and My Girl. 

Musical Selections

Here are some of Tim Jerome's
favorites from past festival participants.

He was featured in Baz Luhrmann’s production of La Boheme in the roles of Alcindoro and Benoit. Also on Broadway, Tim performed leading roles in CatsThe Magic ShowLost in Yonkers, and (the original) Man of La Mancha. He participated in the pre-Broadway development of Ragtime, The Red Shoes, The Baker’s Wife, Assassins, and a host of readings, workshops and showcase presentations of well-known and unknown works of contemporary theatre.

Regionally, Tim appeared at the North Shore Music Theatre (Beverly, MA), Goodspeed Musicals (Chester, CT), the George Street Playhouse (New Brunswick, NJ), Phoenix Theatre (Purchase, NY), The McCarter Theatre (Princeton, NJ) and was a member of the Arena Stage (Washington, D.C.) acting company originating roles in Tom Lehrer’sTomfoolery, Tintypes, A 1940s Radio Hour and David Hare’s Plenty.

In 2008, Tim received a Special Award from the New England Theatre Conference for Outstanding Achievement in the American Theatre.

He is the Founding President of National Music Theater Network, Inc. In 1983, he designed its core programs. NMTN, which promotes new musicals, is responsible for launching several successful programs featuring new works, notably The Songbook Series (monthly at the Donnell Library for 17 years); BroadwayUSA! (1998-2004: the prototype of MainStreet Musicals), and the annual New York Musical Theatre Festival (launched in 2004, winner of the 2004 Jujamcyn Award).

Tim’s film credits include: Streets of New YorkThirteen Days, (Tim Robbins’) Cradle will Rock, (Woody Allen’s)Husbands and Wives, Everyone Says I Love You, Celebrity and Deconstructing Harry, A Price Above Rubies, Compromising Positions, (Costa Gavras’) Betrayed, Billy Bathgate, Spiderman 2, and the indy film The Third Testament.

On television, Tim has had featured roles in Law and OrderThird Watch and others. He also has had a long career in radio and audio as an actor, director and producer starring in over a dozen episodes of Joe Frank’s award-winning radio satire series. In the 1970s, he co-produced the long-running WBAI-Pacifica drama series The Radio, and has appeared on SciFi.com’s Seeing Ear Theatre presentations and in several audio dramas for WNYC’s The Next Big Thing. He has won Earphone and Audie Awards for his recorded books.

A fervent unionist, Tim is a proud member of four performer unions. He has served as a Councilor of Actors Equity Association, as a Board Member of Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and as 1st Vice President of The American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA). He attended Cornell University, Ithaca College (BFA) and Manhattan School of Music (Master of Music).