Biography
Alison Fraser is a nationally acclaimed performer who has appeared in concert at such venues as Carnegie Hall, The White House, Town Hall, The Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, The Tisch Center for the Arts, The Folger Shakespeare Library, The Greater Trenton Symphony, 54 Below, The Wilma, The Emelin, Joe’s Pub and Symphony Space. She is a two time Tony Award nominee for The Secret Garden and Romance/Romance, a Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Award nominee for First Daughter Suite, a Drama Desk Award nominee for The Secret Garden, and a Carbonell Award winner for Romance/Romance. She is the first ever recipient of Philadelphia’s Barrymore Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of The Blonde in Marion Adler, Scott Wentworth, and Craig Boehmler’s film noir musical Gunmetal Blues under the direction of the late Jiri Zizka. Fraser is a Callaway Award-winner for her role as Lady Utterword in Heartbreak House.
On Broadway, she originated such roles as Martha in The Secret Garden, Josefine/Monica in Romance/Romance, and Dorine in Tartuffe: Born Again. She took over the role of Helena Landless in Rupert Holmes' The Mystery of Edwin Drood. She created the role of Ms. Darbus in the professional theatre premiere of Disney‘s High School Musical under the direction of Jeff Calhoun and played Tessie Tura in City Center’s production of Gypsy starring Patti LuPone and directed by the legendary Arthur Laurents. The production later transferred to Broadway. In the First National Tour of Wicked, Fraser toured the country as Madame Morrible.
She originated the role of Trina in William Finn’s March of the Falsettos and In Trousers (Playwrights Horizons) for which she also provided vocal orchestrations, Miss Drumgoole in Todd Rundgren and Joe Orton’s Up Against It (New York Shakespeare Festival), Uta in Charles Busch and Rusty Magee’s The Green Heart (Manhattan Theatre Club), Connie/Petula/Brenda in Beehive at the historic Village Gate, and Marion Ames in Swingtime Canteen. She appeared in the American premiere of the Olivier Award winning Honk! as Ida, and the American premiere of the Australian musical Prodigal as Celia at the York Theater.
Ms. Fraser had the honor of participating in The Signature’s 25th Anniversary season playing the Landlady in Adrienne Kennedy’s Funnyhouse of A Negro and Mommy in Edwards Albee’s The Sandbox under the direction of Lila Neugebauer. She originated the role of Matron opposite Shirley Knight in the world premiere of Tennessee Williams’s last full length play In Masks Outrageous And Austere; Nancy Reagan and Betty Ford in Michael John LaChiusa’s First Daughter Suite at The Public Theater; Arsinoë in David Ives‘s The School for Lies, directed by Walter Bobbie at Classic Stage Company; Sister Walburga in Charles Busch’s critically acclaimed comedy The Divine Sister. Fraser was a member of the revolving cast of Daryl Roth’s Off Broadway hit, Love, Loss, and What I Wore and originated the role of Faith in Wendy Beckett’s A Charity Case. Ms. Fraser starred in Aaron Mark's one woman horror play Squamish, earning nominations for both Outer Critics Circle and Off-Broadway Alliance awards.
She has appeared in several critically acclaimed productions at the famous George Street Playhouse including Lips Together Teeth Apart, Gunmetal Blues, Lend Me A Tenor, Getting the Band Back Together. Also at George Street, Ms. Fraser created the role of Sarah in the world premiere of Arthur Laurents' Come Back, Come Back, Wherever You Are, co-starring Shirley Knight. Ms. Fraser was honored to have created the title character in Christopher McGovern’s musical Lizzie Borden, and she appeared with cabaret great Andrea Marcovicci in Ted Sperling’s highly praised production of Lady In the Dark at The Prince Theatre in Philadelphia.
Ms. Fraser stars in a one-woman show entitled Tennessee Williams: Words and Music conceived and directed by David Kaplan with musical direction by Allison Leyton-Brown. The show premiered at The Tennessee Williams Festival in his birthplace of Columbus, Mississippi and went on to great acclaim at the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Festival and the New Orleans Tennessee Williams Festival. A recording of the show was released on the Ghostlight Records label. With longtime friend and frequent co-star Mary Testa, Fraser received the Bistro Award for “Outstanding Duo Performance” for Together Again: The Songs of Rusty Magee.
Additional recordings include three solo CD's, plus several cast albums including First Daughter Suite, The Secret Garden, Romance/Romance, Beehive, March of the Falsettos, In Trousers, Gypsy and more. She has narrated audiobooks by such authors as Chris Bohjalian, R.L. Stine, Eric Van Lustbader, Judith Krantz, Julie Garwood, Sandra Brown, Linda Lael Miller, Margaret Mitchell, and Jude Deveraux. She is featured in the hugely popular video games Grand Theft Auto IV and V. Her voice has been heard on literally thousands of television and radio advertisements.
Fraser's television credits include Blue Bloods, HAPPY!, Gotham, HAPPYish, Smash, High Maintenance, Law and Order: SVU, Between the Lions, and Third Watch. Feature Film credits include The Sound of Silence, Tommy Battles The Silver Sea Dragon, Family Games, Blow Torch, Socks and Bonds, Commentary, Jack and His Friends, Spectropia, Me and Him, Mixing Nia, The Thing About My Folks, and Landscape with Invisible Hand.
She can also be seen in the Bright Eyes music video directed by John Cameron Mitchell and the award winning horror film In The Blood. Her web series work includes the recurring role of Aunt Heidi in the award winning web-series Jack In A Box, written and produced by Michael Cyril Creighton, Bette Bugget in Elisabeth Gray's Understudies and the recurring role of Veronica Bailey on Wesley Taylor and Mitchell Jarvis’s It Could Be Worse. She is a published journalist - her profile of the late great Anthony Newley was featured in TimeOut Magazine and American Theater Magazine (May 2012) published her In Memoriam piece on Jiri Zizka.
Fraser has shared the stage and screen with such luminaries as Peter Sarsgaard, Patti LuPone, Steve Coogan, Sam Rockwell, Shirley Knight, Chistopher Meloni, Tony Randall, Jack Klugman, Mandy Patinkin, Cameron Monaghan, Stephen Pasquale, Laura Benanti, Scott Bakula, Boyd Gaines, Charles Busch, Paul Reiser, Peter Falk, Megan Boone, Roger Bart, Nathan Lane, Marion Seldes, Armand Assante, Elaine Stritch, Kelli O’Hara, Chip Zien, Sonoya Mizuno, Howard McGillin and John Cameron Mitchell.
Ms. Fraser is the widow of the late composer and performer Rusty Magee. She has a son, Nathaniel. In 2010, she graduated summa cum laude from Fordham University where she now teaches as a professor in the theatre department.