Hannah Waddingham

Age: 33. “I don't mind [telling] because, one, I haven't got any lines on my face yet, and two, I wouldn't have been able to sing this role when I was 28.”

Hometown: South London, England

Currently: Making her Broadway debut after an acclaimed performance in the London production as the Lady of the Lake in Spamalot.

Diva in Training: The daughter of British opera singer Melodie Waddingham, young Hannah felt the call of the stage from childhood, when she watched her mom perform at the London Coliseum. “Singing is very much in the blood,” she says, adding cheekily of her Spamalot first-act number, “‘The Song That Goes Like This' is absolutely me doing an impression of my mother. But as much as I love opera, I always knew that I'm an actress who happens to sing.” A stellar student at Streatham High, “a very posh girls' school,” Waddingham could have gone on to Oxford or Cambridge but chose the more hands-on Academy of Live and Recorded Arts in London. “I didn't want to ‘read drama,'” she explains. “I wanted a brass-tacks college where I could get on with it.”

The Devil and Rod Stewart: Because she is “5'11” in stocking feet,” Waddingham never played ingenues, which was fine with her. “I was more known for rock,” she says, “for the kinds of parts where I come out and…” the vivacious actress lets loose a high, bluesy screech. Her London stage credits include Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Beautiful Game, Grease, Lautrec and the role of Satan in Tonight's the Night, a Rod Stewart tribute musical that led to a duet with the rock icon at the Olympic torch ceremony. “I had to wear my costume from the show,” she recalls, “so there I was, waiting for the torch in a PVC catsuit with sparkly devil horns, a red belt that reads ‘WICKED' and a blonde wig down to my bum. Rod Stewart and I were discussing taking care of my voice, and he said, ‘You should raise the head of your bed so the acid doesn't attack your throat, and take Gaviscon before you lie down.' I said, ‘We're standing on a stage next to Buckingham Palace. Have you any idea how ridiculous this conversation is?' It was one of the most surreal moments of my life.”

Idle Chat: As the Lady of the Lake, Waddingham gets to combine her vocal chops and gift for comedy in a performance that's giddy fun from start to finish. “To me, she's the ultimate female,” the actress says of her character. “She takes no prisoners, and you can either come along for the ride or not.” A self-described “complete geek” about all things Monty Python, Waddingham was taken aback during rehearsals for the London production when Eric Idle pulled her aside to help revise “The Diva's Lament,” her big Act Two number. “There's a line about the Tony Awards that doesn't mean anything in England, and he said, ‘We need to change this a little.' I thought, ‘Oh my god, I'm rewriting lines with Eric Idle!'" Adding to her excitement was appearing opposite Tim Curry as King Arthur. “He and Carol Burnett and Bernadette Peters singing ‘Easy Street' in the film Annie was the reason I wanted to do song and dance,” she says now. “It was unbelievable to work with him.”

Broadway, Here I Come: At last year's Olivier Awards ceremony, the Spamalot producers asked Waddingham if she'd be interested in appearing in the Broadway production. She was a step ahead of them: “When I took the role in London, I thought, ‘If anything is going to get me to Broadway, it's this, if I do it right.' Broadway is musical theater mecca; it's what I've worked toward all my life.” By the time Waddingham's visa came through, her debut was set to coincide with Clay Aiken's as Sir Robin. “He's a triumph in the show,” she says of the American Idol runner-up. “His accent is flawless and his voice is beautiful. In fact, I said to him, ‘You must get this all the time, but I'm your colleague now, so can I have one of your CDs please?'” As for herself, “Coming out of that floor [as the Lady of the Lake] and thinking, ‘I'm on Broadway,' is everything I dreamed it would be.”

British Invasion: As always, Broadway boasts its share of English actors this season, including a pal of Waddingham's who was a finalist to play Spamalot's Lady in London. “Jenna Russell is one of my closest friends,” the actress says of the star of Sunday in the Park with George. “We're going to have ‘Brits Abroad Mondays,' cook a roast and watch Antiques Roadshow together." Sounds like a jolly good fun.