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Maria
Friedman is a first-rate singing actress, whom many
consider to be the current reigning Leading Lady of the English Stage.
She's also a throw-back to the old-school style of the
Over-the-Top Diva and the premiere British interpreter of the work of
Stephen Sondheim. A three-time Olivier Award-winner, first for
her one woman show Maria Friedman by Extra Special Arrangement,
second for her shattering portrayal of Fosca in the original London
cast of Sondheim's Passion, and most recently for her
performance as Mother in the original London staging of Ragtime.
Her first professional performance was in the 1980 staging of Oklahoma!
at the Leicester Haymarket, where she triumphantly returned in 1992 as
Mary in the British premiere of Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along.
In 1987 she appeared in Blues in the Night with Carol Woods
and was recognized by London theatre critics and audiences alike.
Most recognize her from her performance as the Narrator in the video
of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat starring Donny Osmond, and she appears on studio cast
recordings of Cabaret as Sally Bowles and A Little Night
Music as Petra. She has frequently made her home at the
Royal National Theatre of London, as Hayyah in Joshua Sobol's Ghetto,
Liza Elliot in Kurt Weill's Lady in the Dark (Olivier Award
nomination), and Dot in Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George
(Olivier Award nomination). Recent stage performances include
Roxie Hart in Chicago (Olivier nod), Sukie in Cameron
Mackintosh's production of The Witches of Eastwick with
Lucy Arnez, and Marian in Lloyd Webber's The Woman in White
(Olivier nod). August of 2005 was to have marked Maria's
American stage debut, playing Rose
in Gypsy at the Ector Theatre in Odessa, Texas, however, British Equity pulled
out at the last minute (right on the heels of Betty
Buckley's Sweeney Todd cancellation). Her American
stage debut came later in the 2005 Theatre season, in the Broadway
production of The Woman in White. Recently, Friedman
underwent surgery for stage one breast cancer, and all of her fans
thoughts are with her. |
