If you wander into the Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar in Palm Springs and notice a smiling, cherubic-faced man regaling patrons with tales from Broadway, you have stumbled upon Jim May.
Born in South Bend, Ind., in 1953, May was the youngest of three boys; his dad was an engineer, and his mom a piano teacher. After his mom finished a lesson in their home, May, as a 5-year-old, would climb up on the piano bench and use one finger to pick out the melody of what was just played. Recognizing her son’s musical talent, his mom found him an excellent teacher.
“That was a wise move,” May said. “I think having my own mother as my piano teacher would have complicated things.”
May’s mother encouraged him to pursue a career in music. “I think she was living vicariously through me to some extent,” he said. “She had been a concert cellist and gave it up to marry and have kids, as many women of that generation did.”
May played only classical music until the family moved to Scottsdale, Ariz., and he entered high school. That’s where May got the theater bug.
“The progressive vocal director at Saguaro High did two fully staged Broadway shows every year, plus two more in the summer,” May said. May was either in the pit or onstage for shows including The Sound of Music, Carnival!, Mame, Gypsy, Sweet Charity and Fiddler on the Roof.
“My two best friends and I wrote a musical called Life Is What You Make It,” May said. “It had a Mary Poppins type of wholesomeness. Dick Van Dyke’s daughter, Stacy, happened to be a classmate, and we were very fortunate to have Dick direct our show in 1971. President Nixon even wrote us a letter to support what we ‘good’ kids were doing, instead of protesting the Vietnam War.”
In 1971, May enrolled at Northwestern University. He was practicing seven hours a day, playing only classical music. There was a rule at the time that freshmen and sophomores were not allowed to perform recitals.
“I had already been doing recitals in high school, so I went to the powers that be and protested,” he said. “They finally relented. I was the first freshman to give a solo recital at Northwestern.”
Toward the end of his time at Northwestern, May wrote several things for The Waa-Mu Show, a variety show written, directed and produced by students at Northwestern since 1912.
After college, May taught piano at the Jack Benny Center for the Arts in Waukegan, Ill.
“I also conducted my first show, Anything Goes, and the opera Amahl and the Night Visitors,” he said. “I conducted the night cast and orchestra at Mariott’s Great America. Liz Callaway was in my show. She was just 14 years old, and fantastic, even then!”
In 1980, May moved to Los Angeles. His first professional show was Li’l Abner starring Joe Namath. In 1981, May was part of director Michael Bennett’s tour of A Chorus Line. He did the national tour of La Cage Aux Folles from 1984-1986. Then came Teddy and Alice on Broadway in 1987.
“It was an adaptation of John Philip Sousa music, with lyrics by Hal Hackady,” he said. “It starred Len Cariou as Teddy Roosevelt and only lasted four months at the Minskoff.”
“Let it go. Don’t hold on to things—grudges, etc. It’s the only peaceful way to live.”
Jim May, regarding his life’s philosophy
May then headed back to L.A. for Les Miserables at the Shubert (which is no longer there). “After a year, I traveled up to San Francisco to do the show for a year. Then on Christmas Day 1990, I became the music director of the Broadway company of Les Miz, and stayed until 1992.”
In the mid-’90s, May was music director for Sunset Boulevard. He worked with several actresses who played Norma Desmond, including Glenn Close, Betty Buckley and Diahann Carroll. He rehearsed with Faye Dunaway, though she never actually performed the role.
“On Glenn Close’s last night, the theater was packed with her fans,” May said. “When she got to the line, ‘I’ve come home at last!’ in the song “As If We Never Said Goodbye,” the crowd leapt to their feet, cheering and applauding. We had to stop the show. Then, a week later, when Betty Buckley took over the role, and audience was full of her fans, the same thing happened!”
From 1995-1997, May did the national tour of Beauty and the Beast.
“Disney knew I spoke Spanish, so they asked me to go to Mexico to put together the first Spanish-speaking company of the show,” he said. “It was titled La Bella y La Bestia.”
In 2003, May went to the Goodman Theatre in Chicago and worked with Stephen Sondheim and Hal Prince on the production of Bounce, later called Road Show.
“During the sitzprobe (a German term for ‘seated rehearsal’), I asked Sondheim about his musical genius and if he heard keys for songs in his soul. For instance, did the gorgeous ‘Johanna’ from Sweeney Todd just have to be in E flat?” May said. “He patted his beard and said, ‘Hell no; it’s whatever key they can sing it in!’”
May moved back to Arizona and worked on numerous shows at Arizona Broadway Theatre.
In 2025, May felt like he needed a change. He had a few friends here in the Coachella Valley, so he made the move. Since then, he’s played for several local cabaret shows and revived the soirees he used to host at his L.A. home.
“They are wonderful intimate Broadway evenings where I invite some talented singers I know to perform,” he said. “We invite a small audience, have wine and nibbles first, and then put on a little show. The first one I did here was last fall, when our theme was Sondheim. They’re great fun.”
When asked about his philosophy of life, May said, simply: “Let it go. Don’t hold on to things—grudges, etc. It’s the only peaceful way to live.”
If you spot Jim May at Tommy Bahama some evening, say hello, and pull up a chair. Chances are, you’ll end up with a new friend.
Bonnie Gilgallon has written theater reviews for the Independent since 2013. She hosts a digital interview show, The Desert Scene, which can be heard on www.thedesertscene.com and viewed on Mutual Broadcasting’s YouTube channel. Learn more at bonnie-g.com.
