Catherine Walker on Her Soprano Idols, Crappy Jobs & Multi-Tasking in A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder

Age: "Young at heart."

Hometown: Lancaster, PA

Current Role: Phoebe D’Ysquith, the ladylike heiress who vies for the affection of murderous Monty Navarro in the Tony-winning musical A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.

Stage Cred: An original cast member of GGLAM, Walker stepped up to the role of Phoebe in October 2014. The Carnegie Mellon grad made her Broadway debut understudying the title nanny in Mary Poppins and headlined regional productions of Anything Goes, Gypsy, Jekyll & Hyde and more.

"I’ve been singing these beautiful songs for more than a decade. [Composer] Steve Lutvak has been my vocal coach since I moved to the city, and we performed music from the show at cabarets and workshops. It’s been an amazing adventure."

"It felt like I had multiple personality disorder last year when I was playing Miss Barley and covering Sibella and Phoebe. The two [leads] sing opposite harmony and do mirroring choreography, and sometimes I had to change roles mid-show!"

"Julie Andrews and Rebecca Luker were my idols and I studied to be an opera singer, even though I knew I had this love of Broadway. I hope the success of Gentleman’s Guide ushers in a new era of classical-style scores for singers like me."

"High school was tough. I didn’t get encouragement [as an actress] from my teachers, but it forced me to go out in the community. I got my first job playing Rapunzel in Into the Woods at Ephrata Playhouse—and I got engaged on that same stage three years ago."

"I worked three jobs I hated to pay the rent. At one point, I opened an office in the morning, served lunch at the Pink Tea Cup and was cocktail waitress at the Royalton Hotel at night. I had just gotten fired from that job when I booked Mary Poppins."

"Making my marriage a priority helped my career. Before I met Jacques, I was driven, sometimes to a point of desperation, and I think people can sense that energy at an audition. Having balance in my life took the pressure off."