‘Seinfeld’ veteran revisits first love

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, October 12, 2016

He was one of the stars on one of the greatest television series, “Seinfeld,” but Jason Alexander was more than blessed with comedic delivery during his early days on stage.

He sang and danced, fulfilling his childhood dreams even before reaching fame as George Costanza.

“It all started with singing. I loved singing as a kid, fell in love with theater music, and my parents took me to Broadway shows,” he says. “All of my fantasies about being a professional actor were about working on Broadway and in theater — if it was musical theater, I would be a happy guy. I was laser-focused.”

So it isn’t with any “Seinfeld” connection or anything else that brings Alexander to Portland. It’s to sing Broadway tunes with the Oregon Symphony, under the direction of pops conductor Jeff Tyzik, at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 16. Tickets start at $23, and are available at http://www.orsymphony.org.

His acting, singing and dancing career began in New York, where he appeared in Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along,” Kander & Ebb’s “The Rink,” and Neil Simon’s “Broadway Bound.” Perhaps his biggest Broadway role was in “Jerome Robbins’ Broadway,” for which he won a Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical in 1989.

In his traveling show, Alexander tells a biographical story about his Broadway life and stage history. He likes everything from Sondheim to Jason Robert Brown to Leonard Bernstein. With “Hamilton,” Lin Manuel Miranda “has blown my mind with that project; to reshape history that way is brilliant.”

He adds: “My musical tastes are all over. I tend to like musical storytellers. I’m really big on story songs.”

Alexander enjoys standing in front of big symphonies and singing and dancing.

“I get to pick everything I want to sing,” he says. “The show is funny and irreverent, but also normal symphony and pop music.”

Alexander has appeared in many TV series and movies, including “Pretty Woman.” He’s also done many voice-over roles and directed.

But, clearly, his role as George Costanza in “Seinfeld,” a friend of Jerry Seinfeld’s and an assistant to New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, made him part of television history.

At about the same time he won a Tony Award, Alexander received an offer for a role in a new sitcom called “Seinfeld.” Alexander remembers what happened.

“My favorite question all actors get, ‘How do you pick your roles?’ We don’t pick,” he says. “These opportunities in television come around, great opportunities, how do I turn that down? You usually take them because it pays better than theater. I took ‘Seinfeld’ and didn’t think it’d go anywhere. I’d make money and go back to theater. …”

Well it lasted from 1989 to 1998, a famous show about nothing but ordinary life starring Alexander, Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards.

It became an iconic show.

“It is a wonderful surprise,” Alexander says. “No one is happier or more shocked from ‘Seinfeld,’ that it had success, than us. Almost 20 years later, it seems to still be speaking to the next generation and around the world. We’re thrilled.”

Fans can recall the episodes and the zingers from “Seinfeld,” a classic case of actors melding with writers very well.

“We always had lovely relationships with writers,” Alexander says. “The writers got what we were doing with the characters. If you look at the ‘Seinfeld’ script, you wouldn’t know where the punchlines were. But, if you know the actors well, ‘I know what he’s going to do with that.’ There was trust and sympatico with the writing.”

There was a “Seinfeld” reunion show. But away from the set, the actors have never maintained close relationships. They greet one another warmly and always have the bond because of “Seinfeld,” but never to where they socialize or anything.

“We were amazing workplace friends,” Alexander says. “The stuff of dreams, but never social friends. Jerry was a single guy for most of the show, working constantly on the show. Michael had his life. Julia and I were married to people and had babies.

“When the show ended, we had no real history with that. I tend to stay more in touch with Julia. … When we do get back together, it’s like back in high school, same dummies as we were.”

Alexander, 57, and his wife, Daena E. Title, live in Los Angeles and they have two sons.

He and his son, Gabriel, have developed a web series. He’s also writing a TV series. He’ll do some stage acting.

Alexander had a huge role in TV history, even with his start on stage. He’ll talk to college students and advise them about their future.

“If you’re a theater student, go make your career,” he says. “If you’re not building something, you’re crazy.”