In a career that was launched in the early 1950’s (his theatrical debut, however, was at age 9 as Pud in the 1941 Cleveland Playhouse production of On Borrowed Time), Joel Grey has created indelible stage roles each decade since: as the iconic Emcee in Kander and Ebb's Cabaret (1966, Tony Award), as song and dance man George M. Cohan in George M! (1967, Tony nomination), as Charley VII in Goodtime Charlie (1975, Tony nomination), as Jacobowsky in The Grand Tour (1979, Tony nomination), as Olim in New York City Opera’s Silverlake (1981), as Amos Hart in the landmark revival of another Kander and Ebb musical, Chicago (1996) and as the Wonderful Wizard of Oz in Wicked (2004).

After a sensational debut at the famed Copacabana, he appeared Off-Broadway in the Phoenix Theatre’s Littlest Revue (1956) and made his Broadway debut as a replacement in Neil Simon’s first comedy hit, Come Blow Your Horn (1961). “I call these years my ‘replacement period,’” he remembers. Joel followed with starring roles in the Broadway musicals Stop the World I Want to Get Off (succeeding Anthony Newley in 1963) and Half A Sixpence (following Tommy Steele in 1965). He also appeared with Dustin Hoffman in the original production of Harry, Noon and Night (1965) at the American Place Theatre.