The Underrated - Marin Mazzie

So for this Underrated post, I decided to write about one of my favorite stage actresses... 

Marin Mazzie

She first came onto the Broadway scene as a replacement in the musical, Big River.  But, it was her role as Clara in Stephen Sondheim's Passion that put her on the Broadway map and earned her her first Tony nomination for Best Featured Actress:

If you watch the video, you'll notice two things right away.  First the fact that she's practically naked throughout the scene but, more importantly the second she opens her mouth and starts to sing, you don't notice anything else but that amazing voice!  She was definitely set to become a Broadway star.

A few years later in 1998, she received her second Tony nomination as Mother in the epic musical Ragtime.  In a huge cast of characters (which included Brian Stoke Mitchell and Audra McDonald) her Mother stood out as a woman whose "proper" life is turned upside down when she discovers a "small negro child" buried in her backyard.  Towards the end of the show, she sings "Back to Before" which, for me, is one of THE best songs in a show full of stand out numbers!

After Ragtime, she went on to star in the revival of Kiss Me, Kate! as actress Lilli Vanessi (again with her Ragtime co-star Brian Stokes Mitchell) and earned her 3rd Tony nomination, this time as Best Lead Actress.

I had the chance to see Kiss Me, Kate after it had been nominated for 12 Tonys and she was hilarious as Lilli Vanessi  and her show within a show character, Katherine.  I really thought she was going to win that year but, the award went to Heather Headley for Aida instead.

A few years after Kate, Ms. Mazzie appeared in a special called My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies in which she participated in an Andrew Lloyd Webber medley with Audra McDonald and Judy Kuhn.  Watch the video and try not to be blown away by the three of them.  It's about 7 minutes but, I promise, it's worth it.

After having starring roles in Spamalot and the short-lived Enron, she took on a role that many weren't sure she would be able to manage.  That of Diana, the bipolar wife and mother in the Pulitzer Prize and Tony winning musical, Next to Normal.  Many people were unsure if she'd be able to successfully follow in the footsteps of the role's originator, Alice Ripley, who won the Tony for Best Actress.  I'm a big Marin fan but even I had my doubts.  Well, she shamed all of us naysayers when she proceeded to take a character so clearly etched in our minds and turn it into her own.

The clip above is from Broadway on Broadway and not the show itself but, it's a perfect example of a song that I didn't quite care for until I saw Marin perform it in the show.  She brought a subtlety to the character that didn't overshadow the rest of the cast and you could see every emotion across her face.  She was brilliant!  If anyone ever deserved a Tony for replacing someone in a Broadway show, it's Marin for this role.  No one thought that you could improve on Alice's brilliant performance and, yet, Marin was just as brilliant and, in my opinion, even better.

If you don't know who she is, hopefully I've just given you reason to go to YouTube or iTunes to search her and give a listen.  I'm not sure why she's not a bigger star than she is but, she truly deserves to be.

Until next time...