Lee Summers (born 1958) is an American theatre, television and film actor, singer, librettist, composer, director and theatre producer best known for creating and producing Off-Broadway's From My Hometown. As a director, Summers is a two-time winner of both the 2022 and 2018 Audelco Awards for 'Best Director of a Musical' for "Ella, First Lady of Song" and for "On Kentucky Avenue," respectively. As an actor, Summers made his Broadway debut in the original production of Dreamgirls. His one-person show Winds of Change would garner him the 2010 Bistro Award for "Most Outstanding Entertainer." In 2018 he was nominated for an Audelco Award for 'Best Featured Actor in a Musical,' for "On Kentucky Avenue." Summers has appeared in numerous TV/Film roles, such as Core FOI (Fruit of Islam) in Malcolm X, a neurosurgeon on Law & Order; a turn-of-the-century cook on Boardwalk Empire, and as a Police Sergeant, opposite Tom Selleck on Blue Bloods.
Early life and career
Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Summers' first professional job was performing on the Showboat at Opryland USA while enrolled at Tennessee State University. An opportunity to tour singing the role of "Porgy" in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess prompted Summers to leave TSU during his senior year. After the tour, Summers moved to New York (1980) where, on his first night in Manhattan, he'd meet choreographer Michael Peters (Dreamgirls, Beat It), which would lead to his is Broadway debut. Fast forward 20 years later, Summers reprised the role he played in the Original Dreamgirls for the Dreamgirls 20th Anniversary Benefit Concert with Lillias White, Billy Porter, Audra McDonald, Norm Lewis and Heather Headley. Later, at the invitation of Broadway vocal arranger Chapman Roberts (Five Guys Named Moe), Summers performed at Carnegie Hall.
In 1986, after a stint performing in Monte Carlo with Jenifer Lewis, Summers returned to work on a one-man show in Indiana, where when traveling one night he suffered a near-fatal car accident. On his journey to a full recovery, his voice as a stage writer emerged, leading to his creating and performing in what would become the Off-Broadway hit, From My Hometown.
Writing led to Summers joining the Dramatists Guild of America, and his work or incarnations thereof, have been produced and presented On and Off-Broadway, at numerous regional theatres such as the Milwaukee Repertory, where Summers collaborated with Kevin Ramsey to premiere their original tap-dance musical, If These Shoes Could Talk, - now re-titled, "I Remember Harlem," starring tap dancer Harold Nicholas, of the legendary Nicholas Brothers, in his farewell stage performance. For this work, Summers and Ramsey were the first recipients of The New Professional Theatre Award - an award later bestowed upon such notables as Michael R. Jackson, Katori Hall and Colman Domingo.
Other venues and regional theatres where Summers' works have been produced include The Arkansas Repertory Theatre, The Ensemble Theatre, Karamu Theatre, The Phoenix Theatre, The Meadow Brook Theatre, The Madison Theatre at Molloy College, Theaterworks in Palo Alto, California, The Triad Theatre, New World Stages, AMAS Musical Theatre, Crossroads Theatre, RACCA's Seaport Salon, The Kirk Theatre, Gramercy Theatre, Radio City Music Hall's workshop spaces, The Kennedy Center and many others.
Other notable projects in development include Summers as librettist, co-lyricist and co-composer with Timothy Graphenreed, for Yo' Alice (Adaptation of Alice in Wonderland) which was conceived by Maurice Hines. Summers also collaborated with Hines on, Ella, First Lady of Song for which Summers currently serves as book writer/director. Ella, First Lady of Song premiered at New Jersey's Crossroads Theatre in 2004 starring Freda Payne (Band of Gold), again produced in 2014 by MetroStage in Alexandria, Virginia, followed by a production at the Delaware Theatre Company in 2018. In 2022, the musical was produced by the Madison Theatre at Molloy College garnering six AUDELCO nominations, winning five, including "Best Musical."
Summers' funk musical, The Funkentine Rapture, was selected for the 2005 National Alliance for Musical Theatre Festival (NAMT) starring Tony Award Winner Billy Porter and presented in workshop at Theatreworks (Silicon Valley), directed by Robert Kelly. The Funkentine Rapture was presented in concert at 54 Below in June 2017, starring Tony Award Winners, James Monroe Iglehart and Lillias White.
Summers made his producing debut in 2003—partnering with Amas Musical theatre and Ben Blake for the developmental production of From My Hometown. The production transferred commercially to the Gramercy Theatre in 2004 with Summers as Lead Producer.