Megan Lawrence

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Megan Lawrence (born 1972) is an American actress best known for her roles on Broadway. Among other honors, she has been nominated for a Tony Award. She has also appeared Off-Broadway, in regional theatre and on television.

Life and career[edit]

Lawrence grew up near Baltimore, Maryland. Her father was music professor at Towson University, and her mother taught lower school music. She attended Cincinnati Conservatory for a year and then returned to Baltimore to attend classes at Towson, work as a waitress and consider whether to begin a career in theatre. By the early 1990s, Lawrence began to perform in children's theatre and then adult musicals at a dinner theatre in Maryland.[1]

At the Signature Theatre (Arlington, Virginia) in the 1990s, Lawrence played, among other roles, Marta in Company, Little Red Riding Hood in Into the Woods and Sally Bowles in Cabaret (1995),[2] earning Helen Hayes Award nominations for all three roles and winning for Into the Woods for Outstanding Supporting Actress, Resident Musical.[3] She played the daughter in Kander and Ebb's Over and Over in 1999.[4]

She played Frenchy in a Grease national tour and made her Broadway debut as a replacement for various characters in the original Broadway production of Les Misérables, playing Eponine in 1998 and 1999. She was in the original Off-Broadway cast of Urinetown and returned to the show on Broadway as a replacement, eventually playing Little Sally in 2002 and 2003.[1][5]

Other roles include Hillary Clinton in Monica! The Musical at the New York Musical Theatre Festival and a role in O. Henry's Lovers at the Goodspeed Playhouse in 2003.[6] In 2005, she was in Two Gentlemen of Verona in the role of "Lucetta", produced by The Public Theater at the Delacorte Theater (New York City).[7]

On television, she has appeared as Joyce on the TV soap opera One Life to Live.[1]

Lawrence was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Gladys in the 2006 Broadway revival of The Pajama Game. She also played Mother and Buddahdalirama in the 2009 revival of Hair.[5] She starred as Louise in Broadway's 2016 production of "Holiday Inn, The New Irving Berlin Musical", at Studio 54.

Personal life[edit]

In 1999, she married actor and singer Kevin Kern.[8]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Onofri, Adrienne. "Megan Lawrence: On Top of Her 'Game'", BroadwayWorld, April 23, 2006, accessed May 3, 2012
  2. ^ Rose, Lloyd. "In All Its Ugliness, A Lovely Cabaret ". The Washington Post, August 29, 1995, retrieved January 4, 2017
  3. ^ "Helen Hayes Award Nominees & Recipients, 1995", theatrewashington.org, retrieved January 5, 2017
  4. ^ Davidson, Susan."Some Thoughts on Over and Over", curtainup.com, February 10, 1999, retrieved January 5, 2017
  5. ^ a b Megan Lawrence" ibdb.com, accessed May 3, 2012
  6. ^ Jones, Kenneth. "Three O. Henry Stories Merged Into One Musical, O. Henry's Lovers, at Goodspeed". Playbill, November 13, 2003, retrieved January 4, 2017
  7. ^ Simonson, Robert. "Dawson, Lewis, Lawrence in Cast of Musical Two Gentlemen of Verona ", Playbill, June 27, 2005, retrieved January 5, 2017
  8. ^ "WEDDINGS; Megan Lawrence, Kevin Kern - New York Times". The New York Times. 1999-06-13. Retrieved 2012-05-23.

External links[edit]