When it comes to intense characters who aren’t afraid to do verbal battle with the guys (or gals) on stage, Elizabeth Marvel is every director’s dream. Marvel offers a magic mix of honesty and fearlessness, whether she is playing the author of a family expose in Other Desert Cities or Blanche DuBois lounging nude in a bathtub in ...

When Beth Leavel is leading a show, the rest of the cast can relax in the knowledge that she will make them look good while nailing her own songs, dances, comic moments, love scenes and anything else she is asked to do. No wonder the audience at the 2006 Tony Awards cheered especially loudly when this 20-year Broadway veteran won ...

When Chita Rivera takes the stage as Princess Puffer in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, audiences at Studio 54 erupt in cheers and applause. This great lady of the theater is nearing her 60th anniversary on Broadway, and fans are grateful to spend an evening in the company of a gorgeous, charismatic actress who knows exactly how to please a ...

Sometimes it only takes one great role to turn a respected actor into an in-demand stage star—and in the case of Danny Burstein, that role happened to be an over-the-top Latin lover named Aldolpho in The Drowsy Chaperone. His Tony-nominated performance led to a second acclaimed comic turn (and another Tony nod) as Luther Billis in South Pacific. But ...

As an Oscar nominee for both acting (Training Day) and writing (Before Sunset)—not to mention a Gen X icon for Dead Poets Society and Reality Bites—Ethan Hawke could fill a couple of Role Call features with his memorable screen performances. But Hawke’s stage work is just as impressive, and he would much rather ponder which productions to ...

Theater fans too young to have seen George Hearn on stage at the height of his Broadway career can catch up via film versions of Sweeney Todd and Putting It Together. (Click below to savor Hearn’s rich baritone in two versions of “Pretty Women.”) “Musical theater has been very good to me,” the two-time Tony winner says, adding that ...

For almost four decades, Judith Ivey has morphed into good-time gals, matriarchs, monsters and saints, showing off her range in comedy, tragedy and everything in between. No wonder this two-time Tony winner tells acting students, “I may not be a movie star, but I’ve had a really great career. It’s been an embarrassment of riches.” In the past ...

There’s a lot more to Amy Spanger than the shrewd, sassy girls she has played in Broadway musicals. “I’m not from ‘the other side of the tracks,’ but for some reason I have an affinity for that kind of character,” she says with a laugh. Since wowing critics with her breakout performance in the 2000 revival of Kiss ...

When it comes to classic roles in musical theater, nobody does it better than Hugh Panaro. Although he insists that he thinks of himself as a character actor, Panaro possesses the rich tenor and stage presence necessary to embody leading men ranging from Bobby in Company and Ravenal in Show Boat to Raoul and the title role in The Phantom ...

Marin Mazzie’s musical star turns have run the gamut from screwball comedy in Kiss Me, Kate and Spamalot to the riveting dysfunctional moms she played in Next to Normal and Carrie. “That’s why my show at 54 Below is going to be fun,” Mazzie says of her September 4-8 stint at the popular new theater district cabaret. “After ...