Jay Johnson: The Two and Only to Arrive on Broadway in September

Writer-performer Jay Johnson’s solo show Jay Johnson: The Two and Only will finally come to Broadway’s Helen’s Hayes Theatre on September 19. Directed and co-created by Murphy Cross and Paul Kreppel, the production will open officially on September 28.

The show was first scheduled to open on Broadway in March, but postponed its engagement to allow for the extension of Bridge & Tunnel. The show recently played the Colony Theatre in Burbank, California, and will have a four-week run at Boston’s American Repertory Theatre, July 12-August 6. Its creative team will include Beowulf Borrit (sets), Clifton Taylor (lighting), David Gotwald (sound), and Michael Andreas (original music).

Johnson, who is best known for playing the schizophrenic role of Chuck and Bob on the classic television comedy Soap, has a 30-year career as a ventriloquist. In The Two and Only, he gives voice to characters ranging from a subversive monkey to a withering tennis ball.

The show was first seen in New York at the Atlantic Theater in 2004. In their review of the show during that engagement, TheaterMania’s Barbara & Scott Siegel commented, “this is a genuine piece of theater during which [Johnson] gives an adroit history of his craft, interwoven with his own story of growing up and finding his way into show business. He doesn’t do stereotypical ventriloquist things like drinking water and throwing his voice at the same time; his skills are demonstrated in more clever ways as he actually explains some of the tricks of the trade.”