Lauren Kennedy
Encyclopedia
Lauren Kennedy is an actress and a singer who has performed numerous times on Broadway. She most recently starred in the Off-Broadway show Good Ol' Girls at the Black Box Theatre during the 2009-2010 season. Earlier that season, she starred in Vanities, a new musical, at Second Stage Theatre Off-Broadway, which recently released a cast recording
Cast recording
A cast recording is a recording of a musical that is intended to document the songs as they were performed in the show and experienced by the audience. An original cast recording, as the name implies, features the voices of the show's original cast...

.

Education

Kennedy was raised in Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...

 and graduated from Needham Broughton High School in 1991. She started acting at the North Carolina Theatre
North Carolina Theatre
North Carolina Theatre is a professional theatre located in Raleigh, North Carolina. They perform four mainstage shows each year at Raleigh Memorial Auditorium in the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts. It was founded by De Ann S...

 while in high school. Kennedy attended the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
The University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music is the performing arts college of the University of Cincinnati and is one of the nation's leading music conservatories. In its most recent rankings, U.S. News & World Report ranked Cincinnati sixth nationally among university programs...

 where she was pursuing a B.F.A. in Musical Theatre. She left school at the age of 19, when she was cast in the 1993 Los Angeles production of Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...

's "Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard (musical)
Sunset Boulevard is a musical with book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Based on the 1950 film of the same title, the plot revolves around Norma Desmond, a faded star of the silent screen era, living in the past in her decaying mansion on the...

", After a nine-month run, she moved to New York for musical's 1994 Broadway opening.

Career

Kennedy appeared in the original cast of the short-lived Side Show
Side Show
Side Show is a musical about Daisy and Violet Hilton, conjoined twins who make a change from being a circus act to becoming famous stage performers in the 1930s. The show was written by Bill Russell and Henry Krieger . The show starred Alice Ripley as Violet and Emily Skinner as Daisy...

on Broadway as an ensemble member, where she also understudied Emily Skinner
Emily Skinner
Emily Skinner is an American musical theatre actress and singer. She has performed in such Broadway shows as Side Show, James Joyce's The Dead, The Full Monty, Dinner at Eight and, currently, in Billy Elliot...

, going on over 30 times. She has also starred in Monty Python's Spamalot on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 as a replacement for the Lady of the Lake. Additionally, she has been seen on Broadway in Les Misérables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....

, Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard (musical)
Sunset Boulevard is a musical with book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Based on the 1950 film of the same title, the plot revolves around Norma Desmond, a faded star of the silent screen era, living in the past in her decaying mansion on the...

with Glenn Close
Glenn Close
Glenn Close is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and singer of theatre and film, known for her roles as a femme fatale Glenn Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress and...

, Side Show
Side Show
Side Show is a musical about Daisy and Violet Hilton, conjoined twins who make a change from being a circus act to becoming famous stage performers in the 1930s. The show was written by Bill Russell and Henry Krieger . The show starred Alice Ripley as Violet and Emily Skinner as Daisy...

, and Cinderella
Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...

with New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...

. She originated the role of Cathy in Jason Robert Brown
Jason Robert Brown
Jason Robert Brown is an American musical theater composer, lyricist, and playwright. Brown's music sensibility fuses pop-rock stylings with theatrical lyrics...

's The Last Five Years
The Last Five Years
The Last Five Years is a one-act musical written by Jason Robert Brown. It premiered in Chicago in 2001 and was then produced off-Broadway in March 2002. Since then it has had numerous productions both in the United States and internationally....

in its Chicago premiere, but opted to do South Pacific
South Pacific (musical)
South Pacific is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its...

at the National Theatre in London instead of following the show Off-Broadway (she was replaced by Sherie Rene Scott
Sherie Rene Scott
Sherie Rene Scott is an American actress, singer and writer. She is a co-founder of Grammy winning Sh-K-Boom Records and Ghostlight Records and has appeared in numerous Off-Broadway and Broadway musicals and plays appears on numerous solo and original cast recordings.-Life and career:Scott was...

). In 2004, she starred as Emma Carew in the concert-style version of Jekyll & Hyde - The Musical
Jekyll & Hyde (musical)
Jekyll & Hyde is a musical based on the novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. The original stage conception was by Steve Cuden and Frank Wildhorn. The music is by Wildhorn and the lyrics and book are by Leslie Bricusse.The musical ran on Broadway for 1,543...

 entitled Resurrection, opposite Kate Shindle and Rob Evan
Rob Evan
Rob Evan is a singer and actor, best known as a lead performer in numerous Broadway musicals, a performer in national and international tours of musical productions, and a featured vocalist on several music albums.-Personal:...

. However, she left the tour before it concluded, to be replaced by Brandi Burkhardt
Brandi Burkhardt
Brandi Lynn Burkhardt is an American vocalist, actress and beauty queen. She grew up in Pasadena, Maryland but currently lives in Los Angeles.-Education:...

, who is heard on the recording of the tour.

In 2005, she starred in the world premiere of Frank Wildhorn
Frank Wildhorn
Frank Wildhorn is an American composer known for both his musicals and popular songs. He is most known for his musical Jekyll & Hyde, which ran four years on Broadway, and for writing the #1 International Hit song "Where Do Broken Hearts Go?" for Whitney Houston.-Early years:Wildhorn was born in...

 & Jack Murphy's Waiting for the Moon
Waiting For The Moon (musical)
Waiting for the Moon: An American Love Story, formerly Zelda or Scott & Zelda: The Other Side Of Paradise, is a musical with music by Frank Wildhorn and lyrics by Jack Murphy. It is the second finished production the two have presented, having previously collaborated on The Civil War...

, as Zelda Fitzgerald
Zelda Fitzgerald
Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald , born Zelda Sayre in Montgomery, Alabama, was an American novelist and the wife of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. She was an icon of the 1920s—dubbed by her husband "the first American Flapper"...

, which took place in Marlton, NJ. She was nominated for a Barrymore Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical. In 2006, Kennedy played the role of Princess Nefertari in The Ten Commandments: The Musical
The Ten Commandments: The Musical
The Ten Commandments: The Musical is a musical with music by Patrick Leonard and lyrics by Maribeth Derry. The book is adapted from the French musical Les dix commandements created by Élie Chouraqui from an idea by Albert Cohen....

opposite Val Kilmer
Val Kilmer
Val Edward Kilmer is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! , then the cult classic Real Genius , as well as blockbuster action films, including a supporting role in Top Gun and a...

. From 2007 through 2009, Lauren has worked actively with the new Wildhorn / Murphy musical Wonderland: Alice's New Musical Adventure
Wonderland: Alice's New Musical Adventure
Wonderland: A New Alice, formerly called Wonderland: Alice's New Musical Adventure, is a musical with a book by Jack Murphy and Gregory Boyd, lyrics by Murphy, and music by Frank Wildhorn...

.

She released two solo albums on PS Classics
PS Classics
PS Classics is a record label that specializes in musical theatre and standard vocals. Founded in 2000 by Grammy-nominated freelance producer Tommy Krasker and singer/actor Philip Chaffin, their releases have been critically acclaimed for their meticulous sonic detail and high-quality packaging and...

. An album of all Jason Robert Brown
Jason Robert Brown
Jason Robert Brown is an American musical theater composer, lyricist, and playwright. Brown's music sensibility fuses pop-rock stylings with theatrical lyrics...

 material entitled Songs of Jason Robert Brown, and an album dedicated to new musical writers, titled Here and Now.

Lauren starred in the new musical Vanities at the Pasadena Playhouse
Pasadena Playhouse
The Pasadena Playhouse is a historic performing arts venue located 39 S El Molino Avenue in Pasadena, California. The 686-seat auditorium produces a variety of cultural and artistic events, professional shows, and community engagements each year.-History:...

, in California from August to September 2008. She then followed the musical to its Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...

 venue Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre
Second Stage Theatre is an award-winning contemporary Off-Broadway theater company.-Mission:The theatre's mission is to give new life to contemporary American plays and to produce the world premiers of new plays by both established and emerging playwrights...

.

Lauren is the artistic director of Hot Summer Nights at the Kennedy, a theatre company in Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...

. The company produces during the summer months (June–August) and comprises its casts of local and out-of-town talent.

Personal life

She is married to fellow actor Alan Campbell, whom she appeared with in Sunset Boulevard, since 1999. They have one daughter, Riley Rose.

Barton College Theater

Barton College
Barton College
Barton College is a private liberal arts college located in Wilson, North Carolina. Barton College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, The NC Association of Colleges and Universities; the NC Department of Public Instruction; the NC Board of Nursing; and the Committee...

 in Wilson, North Carolina
Wilson, North Carolina
Wilson is a city and the county seat of Wilson County in the Coastal Plain region of the U.S. state of North Carolina. The 18th largest city in the state, Wilson had a population of 49,167 according to the 2010 census.- Geography :...

, has announced plans to construct a theater building bearing the names of Lauren Kennedy and Alan Campbell.

Broadway

  • Monty Python's Spamalot - The Lady of the Lake (First Replacement) (2006–2007)
  • Les Misérables
    Les Misérables (musical)
    Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....

    - Fantine (2002–2003)
  • Side Show
    Side Show
    Side Show is a musical about Daisy and Violet Hilton, conjoined twins who make a change from being a circus act to becoming famous stage performers in the 1930s. The show was written by Bill Russell and Henry Krieger . The show starred Alice Ripley as Violet and Emily Skinner as Daisy...

    - Daisy Hilton (Standby for Emily Skinner
    Emily Skinner
    Emily Skinner is an American musical theatre actress and singer. She has performed in such Broadway shows as Side Show, James Joyce's The Dead, The Full Monty, Dinner at Eight and, currently, in Billy Elliot...

    ) (1997)
  • Sunset Boulevard
    Sunset Boulevard (musical)
    Sunset Boulevard is a musical with book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Based on the 1950 film of the same title, the plot revolves around Norma Desmond, a faded star of the silent screen era, living in the past in her decaying mansion on the...

    - Mary/1st Masseuse, understudy for Betty Schaeffer (under Alice Ripley) (1994–1995)

Off-Broadway

  • Good Ol' Girls - Several roles, leading actress (2010)
  • Vanities: A New Musical - Mary (2009)

West End

  • South Pacific
    South Pacific (musical)
    South Pacific is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its...

    - Esign Nellie Forbush (National Theatre) (2001–2002)

Regional stage

  • Evita - Eva Duarte de Perón (2011), Casa Mañana
    Casa Mañana
    Casa Mañana Theatre, in Fort Worth, Texas, USA, is located in the Fort Worth Cultural District and is known as the "House of Tomorrow." Originally an outdoor amphitheater, Casa opened in 1936 as the part of the official Texas Centennial Celebration....

    , Fort Worth, Texas
    Fort Worth, Texas
    Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...

  • Lone Star Love
    Lone Star Love
    Lone Star Love, or, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Texas is a musical based on Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor. The score is by Jack Herrick , and the book is by John L. Haber and Robert Horn...

    - (Seattle) (2007) (World premiere)
  • Frank Wildhorn
    Frank Wildhorn
    Frank Wildhorn is an American composer known for both his musicals and popular songs. He is most known for his musical Jekyll & Hyde, which ran four years on Broadway, and for writing the #1 International Hit song "Where Do Broken Hearts Go?" for Whitney Houston.-Early years:Wildhorn was born in...

    's Waiting for the Moon
    Waiting For The Moon (musical)
    Waiting for the Moon: An American Love Story, formerly Zelda or Scott & Zelda: The Other Side Of Paradise, is a musical with music by Frank Wildhorn and lyrics by Jack Murphy. It is the second finished production the two have presented, having previously collaborated on The Civil War...

    - Zelda Fitzgerald
    Zelda Fitzgerald
    Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald , born Zelda Sayre in Montgomery, Alabama, was an American novelist and the wife of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. She was an icon of the 1920s—dubbed by her husband "the first American Flapper"...

     (Marlton, NJ, Lenape Performing Arts Center) (2005) (World premiere)
  • The Ten Commandments: The Musical
    The Ten Commandments: The Musical
    The Ten Commandments: The Musical is a musical with music by Patrick Leonard and lyrics by Maribeth Derry. The book is adapted from the French musical Les dix commandements created by Élie Chouraqui from an idea by Albert Cohen....

    - Nefertari (Los Angeles, CA, Kodak Theatre
    Kodak Theatre
    The Kodak Theatre is a live theatre in the Hollywood and Highland shopping mall and entertainment complex on Hollywood Boulevard and North Highland Avenue in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles...

    ) (2004)
  • Frank Wildhorn
    Frank Wildhorn
    Frank Wildhorn is an American composer known for both his musicals and popular songs. He is most known for his musical Jekyll & Hyde, which ran four years on Broadway, and for writing the #1 International Hit song "Where Do Broken Hearts Go?" for Whitney Houston.-Early years:Wildhorn was born in...

    's Jekyll & Hyde (musical)
    Jekyll & Hyde (musical)
    Jekyll & Hyde is a musical based on the novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. The original stage conception was by Steve Cuden and Frank Wildhorn. The music is by Wildhorn and the lyrics and book are by Leslie Bricusse.The musical ran on Broadway for 1,543...

    Resurrection -Emma Carew (Marlton, NJ, Lenape Performing Arts Center, and Mohegan Sun
    Mohegan Sun
    Mohegan Sun, located in Uncasville, Connecticut, is the second largest casino in the United States with of gaming space. It is located on along the banks of the Thames River. It is at the heart of the scenic foothills of southeastern Connecticut, where 60 percent of the state's tourism is...

    , CT) (2004)
  • White Christmas
    White Christmas (musical)
    White Christmas is a musical based on the Paramount Pictures 1954 film of the same name. The libretto is by David Ives and Paul Blake, with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin...

    - Judy Haines (St. Louis, MUNY) (2004)
  • Breakfast at Tiffany's (musical)
    Breakfast at Tiffany's (musical)
    Breakfast at Tiffany's is a legendary flop in Broadway musical history. The musical is based on the Truman Capote novella and 1961 film of the same name about a free spirit named Holly Golightly...

     - Holly Golightly (St. Louis, MUNY) (2004)
  • The Last Five Years
    The Last Five Years
    The Last Five Years is a one-act musical written by Jason Robert Brown. It premiered in Chicago in 2001 and was then produced off-Broadway in March 2002. Since then it has had numerous productions both in the United States and internationally....

    - Cathy (Chicago) (2001)
  • The Rhythm Club - Petra (Lead) (Washington, DC) (2000)
  • Hot Shoe Shuffle - Maddy (Lead) (Theatre Under the Stars
    Theatre Under the Stars
    Theatre Under The Stars or TUTS may refer to:*Theatre Under The Stars - musical theatre company in Vancouver, British Columbia*Theatre Under The Stars - musical theatre company in Houston, Texas...

    , Houston)
  • Sunset Boulevard
    Sunset Boulevard (musical)
    Sunset Boulevard is a musical with book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Based on the 1950 film of the same title, the plot revolves around Norma Desmond, a faded star of the silent screen era, living in the past in her decaying mansion on the...

    - Mary/1st Masseuse, understudy for Betty Schaeffer (under Judy Kuhn
    Judy Kuhn
    -Life and career:Kuhn was born in New York City and grew up in Bethesda, Maryland. She attended Georgetown Day School in Washington, D.C.She entered Oberlin College in 1976. Although she was very interested in singing and theater, she began Oberlin in the College, not the Conservatory. After taking...

    ) (1993–1994) (Los Angeles)
  • Good News (musical)
    Good News (musical)
    Good News is a musical with a book by Laurence Schwab and B.G. DeSylva, lyrics by DeSylva and Lew Brown, and music by Ray Henderson.The show opened on Broadway in 1927, the same year as Show Boat, but its plot was decidedly old-fashioned in comparison to Show Boats somewhat tragic and daring...

    - Corda (Wichita) (1993)

Film

  • Lost in Yonkers
    Lost in Yonkers
    Lost in Yonkers is a 1991 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Neil Simon. After eleven previews, the Broadway production, produced by Emanuel Azenberg and directed by Gene Saks, opened on February 21, 1991 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, where it ran for 780 performances...

  • The Ten Commandments: The Musical
    The Ten Commandments: The Musical
    The Ten Commandments: The Musical is a musical with music by Patrick Leonard and lyrics by Maribeth Derry. The book is adapted from the French musical Les dix commandements created by Élie Chouraqui from an idea by Albert Cohen....

    starring Val Kilmer
    Val Kilmer
    Val Edward Kilmer is an American actor. Originally a stage actor, Kilmer became popular in the mid-1980s after a string of appearances in comedy films, starting with Top Secret! , then the cult classic Real Genius , as well as blockbuster action films, including a supporting role in Top Gun and a...


Discography

  • Good Ol' Girls: Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording
  • Vanities, a new musical
    Vanities
    Vanities is a comedy-drama stage production written by Jack Heifner. The story centers on the lives and friendship of three Texas cheerleaders starting from high school.-Production history:Vanities had one of the longest Off-Broadway runs on record...

    : Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording
  • Lauren Kennedy: Here and Now (solo album)
  • Lauren Kennedy: Songs of Jason Robert Brown (first solo CD)
  • The Ten Commandments: The Musical
    The Ten Commandments: The Musical
    The Ten Commandments: The Musical is a musical with music by Patrick Leonard and lyrics by Maribeth Derry. The book is adapted from the French musical Les dix commandements created by Élie Chouraqui from an idea by Albert Cohen....

     World Premiere at Kodak Theatre, DVD
  • Dracula: The Musical: Concept Recording (not yet officially released)
  • I Sing, the new musical: Original Cast Recording
  • South Pacific
    South Pacific (musical)
    South Pacific is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The story draws from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific, weaving together characters and elements from several of its...

    : 2002 Royal National Theatre Recording
  • Side Show
    Side Show
    Side Show is a musical about Daisy and Violet Hilton, conjoined twins who make a change from being a circus act to becoming famous stage performers in the 1930s. The show was written by Bill Russell and Henry Krieger . The show starred Alice Ripley as Violet and Emily Skinner as Daisy...

    : Original Broadway Cast Recording
  • Sunset Boulevard
    Sunset Boulevard
    Sunset Boulevard is a street in the western part of Los Angeles County, California, that stretches from Figueroa Street in downtown Los Angeles to the Pacific Coast Highway at the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Palisades...

    : Original Cast Recording
  • Good News!
  • This Ordinary Thursday, The Music of Georgia Stitt
    Georgia Stitt
    Georgia Stitt is an American composer and a lyricist.-Early life:Stitt spent her childhood in Covington TN. She attended Vanderbilt University and received a B.Mus. degree in Music Theory and Composition, and New York University M.F.A...

  • Life Upon the Wicked S.T.A.G.E: A Tribute to Jerome Kern
  • Paul Simon.

External links

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