Janie Seale, a veteran of Broadway musicals who won a Tony Award in 1974 for her rousing turn opposite The Andrews Sisters in the National Revue. here!He died. She was 86 years old.
Seale died June 9 after a brief illness at Englewood Hospital in Englewood, New Jersey, said friend and actor James DePass.
The Detroit native also appeared on Broadway alongside Joel Gray from 1968-69 George M!opposite Debbie Reynolds in the 1973-1974 revival Irenewith brothers Dick and Tommy Smothers I love my wife In 1978-1979, in the 1976 revival Joey pal And in 1977 Happy ending With Christopher Lloyd.
In the World War II collection here!portrayed Mitzi, a Marlene Dietrich-like German spy with a radio transmitter in her lipstick, alongside big band legends Patti and Maxine Andrews (Laverne, the eldest of the three sisters, died in 1967).
“It’s an absolute knockout in its own right, and it blends well with The Andrews Sisters, both physically and vocally,” Clive Barnes wrote in his review of “Sell.” New York Times.
With music and lyrics by brothers Richard Sherman and Robert Sherman, the production ran for 341 performances. (The cast also includes: young Marilu Henner, John Travolta, and Treat Williams.)
Jane Ann Seale was born in Detroit on October 1, 1939. She sang on downtown stages as a child and in several USO shows organized by her mother, Sally, then moved to New York in her early twenties and made ends meet by doing commercials before finding work on the stage.
In 1979, she played Sylvia Rosewater in composer Alan Menken’s first musical production, a Kurt Vonnegut film. God bless you, Mr. Rosewater. Earlier, she replaced Bernadette Peters as the lead in the off-Broadway musical parody Ladies at sea.
In the 1990s, Seale attended Hunter College and eventually worked as a personal assistant to Peter Georgescu, chairman of Young & Rubicam Worldwide. However, she returned to Broadway in 1995 to serve as an understudy and understudy to Carol Burnett in Moon over Buffalo.
Survivors include her son, Jason; Her husband, businessman Earl Fries and longtime NBC News journalist Pat Trice (wrote the 2001 PBS documentary series). America goes to warnarrated by Eric Seyfried, predeceased.
