User:Gogogogary/Gary Landon Wright

Gary Wright

Gary LaDon Wright (born February 23, 1961, Orlando, Florida, U.S.A.) is an American actor, singer, entertainer & promoter/producer responsible for creating, performing & marketing/booking "The Great American POP Show! A Lively History of Popular Song in America" and "Singing BOOKS! A Musical Magic Carpet Ride" for thousands of presentations in schools, theatres, libraries, and museums in the NY, NJ, CT, PA & MA area. He is brothers with Kevin Wright who has also been a professional singer/entertainer.

Career

Gary Wright was raised in Winter Haven, Florida, and attended Winter Haven Senior High School where he was a member of the band under the leadership of Jim Parker & the Vocal Ensemble under Joe Jones. He attended Polk State College on a full drama scholarship where he appeared as "Pippin" in their first full-stage production of their new Fine Arts Theater. He then attended The University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music where he was a Deans List Student, a member of the Earl Rivers University Singers & Motet Choir, & appeared as Baby John in "West Side Story", Makeout in "Over Here" & "The Boyfriend."

Gary first performed as a magician/illusionist - winning a county-wide talent show & being hired to man a 3 person show at FL's Cypress Gardens in the late 70's & early 80's. Theater Winter Haven gave him his first theater roles as the Scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz" & Clarence Day Jr. in "Life With Father," among others. He was given the Corey Woodard Memorial Award for his contributions there. He also appeared as Rolf in Mark Howard's "The Sound of Music" through the Bartow Community Theater & Mordred in "Camelot" with the Lakeland Community Theater. As a singer/dancer, Gary worked at Opryland in Nashville, TN where he in their "I Hear America" show. He also performed for a short time at Kings Island, OH in a piece entitled "I Believe in Country." A former Actors Equity AEA member, Gary added a letter to his middle name to become Gary Landon Wright & he appeared at numerous theaters around the country including The Wagon Wheel Playhouse, IN; StageWest, MA, Walnut St. Theater, PA, St. Michaels Playhouse, VT & Westchester Broadway Theater, NY where he performed as Joseph in Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in one of their longest-running productions. Gary really found his largest audiences though as Barnaby Tucker in the 1983 National Tour of "Hello Dolly!" with Carol Channing, and in the 1985 Broadway revival of "Take Me Along!" where he played the part of Richard Miller. The show had previously played highly-praised runs at the Goodspeed Opera House, CT, the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, & the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. He also became a Screen Actors Guild SAG member & AFTRA member & was featured in several soap operas, & national commercials & industrials in the 1980's for Ajax Dishwashing Liquid, NyQuil Cold Medicine, Grummans Data Systems Institute, Elias Brothers Restaurants, Goodings Grocery Stores, Haagen-Dazs, and Ore-Ida.

Gary performed as "The Retro Crooner" in cabarets, nightclubs, theaters & at The Mabel Mercer Cabaret Convention in the 1980's and 1990's. Liz Smith wrote "Wright harks back to times when lyrics were lyrics and men were proud to sing them," and Joe Franklin featured him several times on his nighttime television show. After serving as the staff music teacher at the Chelsea Day School, he mounted his Gary Wright Music c/o Retro Productions shows, beginning with Lincoln Center's Meet-the-Artist series which featured "Pop Show!" for several seasons of sold-out engagements. He also worked with Karen Bacon to provide Holiday music programs for Chase Bank employees. He currently presents his programs directly, through several BOCES offices in Long Island & Westchester, through agency Arts Horizons, and currently resides in New York City, New York.