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Robby May-Place appeared in leading and ensemble roles in plays and musicals during the roughly six years he performed in Sarasota from 2009 to 2015. The 41-year-old, who was originally billed as Robert David May, died Thursday from complications of liver disease in Springfield, Missouri. It has been more than five years since he last performed on a Sarasota theater stage, but he made quite an impression on audiences in several key roles.
Jud Fry in “Oklahoma!”: He made his Sarasota stage debut in a production of the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical at the Players Centre for Performing Arts.
Max Bialystock in “The Producers”: In 2011, he returned to the Players Centre as the bigger-than-life producer who cooks up a scheme to make money by staging the biggest flop in Broadway history.
“Robert David May (as he was billed then) is doing just that as Jud Fry . He has a deep, booming voice perfectly suited to his solid build, which helps him make Jud the physically and emotionally intimidating man he’s supposed to be in the Oklahoma territory.”
He was a physically imposing man which made him seem perfect for some of the darker characters he played over the years. But for anyone who knew him, even just a bit, it was obvious he was really just a big teddy bear, a warm, caring human being who happened to command attention on stage with his presence and robust voice.