In June 1982, Jay Rogers came to New York City to make his Broadway debut in Buddy Sheffield’s flop musical, Cleavage. And while Cleavage only lasted one night, Rogers was in the Big Apple to stay, going on to many successes, and to a 
life in which he was beloved by many. But after battling an extremely aggressive cancer since January of this year, he finally succumbed to it on Friday, October 28th.
Rogers is probably most well-known for his turn in the flamboyant When Pigs Fly, for which he won the 1996 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical. His immediate, previous stage outing was in Off-Broadway’s Whoop-Dee-Doo! in 1993. In 2015 he played The Wizard in Transport Group’s Off-Broadway revival of Once Upon a Mattress.
Rogers was no stranger to the cabaret world as a performer and director. He was a multiple Bistro Award winner (1989 and 1993).
As a director, he worked with Lypsinka, Sue Matsuki and Richard Skipper, among others. In film, Rogers appeared in This Train (2001), Home with Amy Sedaris (2017) and Christmas Eve Eve Or: The Things I Can’t Remember (2021)
Scott Barbarino, publisher of NiteLife Exchange remembers Jay Rogers: “I first got the chance to know Jay Rogers and his brilliance at the original Duplex on Grove Street. Jay was a gentle, kind and caring human being who just happened to be a genius and a very funny fellow—well respected for his performances, and, of course, bon mots and wit. He will be sorely missed!”
Rogers was also a singing bartender/waiter at the now legendary Eighty Eights on West 10th Street. His early cabaret shows bore titles such as Broccoli Head and Yes This is My Real Voice. In writing about Rogers in a Bistro Award tribute, Gerry Geddes fondly remembered 
him as a member of the cast of Monday in the Dark with George, directed by Geddes, a revue of the songs of George Winters, which also featured Helen Baldassare and Dick Gallagher. The two worked together again on A Night at the Bistros in which former Bistro Award-winning vocalists performed songs by Bistro Award-winning songwriters. Since 2015, Rogers also staged and performed in many editions of Ricky Ritzel’s Broadway.
Ralph J. “Jay” Rogers hailed from Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He earned a BFA from William Carey College (now William Carey University) in Hattiesburg. At William Carey, Rogers and fellow student Keith Thompson wrote and produced It’s Make Believe in 1975, a musical that became the first season of the Carey Summer Showcase, which morphed into the Carey Dinner Theatre in 1978. From 1976 until his move to NYC, he was a member of Sheffield Ensemble Theatre (SET), a group that specialized in improv and original work. 
His work with SET included productions of Yarns, Beans, Bananas, The Robber Bridegroom, Dames at Sea, Magnolia Magic and others.
Roger’s mother Wanda Wilson Rogers passed away in March 2012; his father, Jack Rogers, a college professor and educator, joined her in death in November 2015. He is survived by his sister, Amanda Breckenridge, and nieces Hadley Breckenridge, Amy Chizk and Lisa Rosenthal.
Rogers is also survived by his husband, Aaron Morishita, whom he had been with since 2009. We at NiteLife Exchange extend our most sincere condolences to Aaron Morishita, as well as all of Jay’s friends and family.
To read our article with Jay, click here.
Hear Jay’s genius in this YouTube clip.
