Ann Harada

Ann Harada (born February 3, 1964) is an American actress and singer who is best known for the musical Avenue Q, in which she originated the role of Christmas Eve, the heavily accented Japanese therapist.

For the Canadian field hockey player, see Ann Harada (field hockey).
Ann Harada
Born (1964-02-03) February 3, 1964
Honolulu, Hawaii
EducationBrown University
OccupationActress, singer
Years active1987-present

Early life

Harada was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. She was raised in Hawaii and attended the Punahou School[1] and Brown University. She was active in theatre from high school. After college, she moved to New York City and, anticipating working in production, worked with producer Suzanne Schwartz.[2] Finding stage production not completely satisfactory, she performed with the New York City Gay Men's Chorus as a vocalist, performed cabaret, and appeared in the Broadway production of M. Butterfly.[3]

Career

Harada earned her Equity Card in 1987 when she was cast in Maury Yeston and Larry Gelbart's 1,2,3,4,5 at Manhattan Theatre Club.[4] She is a member of the Vineyard Theatre's Community of Artists and appeared in four original musicals there including Hit the Lights!.[5]

In 1998, Harada starred in the National Asian American Theatre Company's highly praised All-Asian production of William Finn's Falsettoland. Peter Marks of The New York Times described her rendition of "Holding to the Ground" as a "full-throttle success".[6] Also in 1998, Harada had a small part in the Todd Solondz film Happiness as one of the co-workers of Jane Adams's character.

Harada was in the original Broadway company of Seussical in 2000. She had also been in its first workshop and all of the pre-Broadway iterations of that show. About her experience she said "It was such a roller-coaster ride — everything that could go wrong went wrong. You'd just show up to work every day and go, 'I wonder what's going to happen today.'...There was way too much drama for one show to take, and it didn't deserve that kind of drama because it's really a great little show. . . . I loved it, and I still love it. . . I just keep thinking about what it was like doing that first workshop and us all just being so blown away by it and being so excited."[7]

Avenue Q

Harada was involved in Avenue Q since the first performance of the show at the York Theatre in 2000.[8] Lyricist Amanda Green had recommended Harada to Avenue Q writers Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx. She opened Avenue Q at the Vineyard Theatre in New York in March 2003 and moved with the show to Broadway that July. She took a break for maternity leave in late 2004, returning in early 2005.[8] Her son is named Elvis.[7] Harada left the Broadway company of Avenue Q on 26 February 2006. Her role was taken over by Ann Sanders. In June 2006, she opened the London production of Avenue Q at the Noël Coward Theatre in the West End. She played her last performance on 18 November 2006; the role was taken over by Naoko Mori. She is the only actress who played the role of Christmas Eve in both the Broadway and West End productions of Avenue Q.[9]

About her performance in the Broadway production, Ben Brantley wrote in The New York Times: "Counseling the romantically troubled Kate, she temporarily drops her habitually pinched voice to deliver, in the show's wittiest coup de théâtre, a full-throated ballad in the manner of a 1950's musical diva...The more you love someone/The more you want to kill him, Christmas sings in a shivery, rafters-shaking alto. And though you can construe the song as a satire if you choose, there is no doubt that Christmas means every word she sings."[10] Hilton Als, in The New Yorker, in another rave for the show, noted that Avenue Q "has so much to recommend it...But not to single out the remarkable Ann Harada — a funny girl who can sing, act, and let the audience in on the joke all at the same time — would be a mistake."[11]

On July 6, 2009, Harada returned as part of the final Broadway cast of Avenue Q. The show closed on September 13, 2009. A September 15 article in The New York Times stated the show would relocate to an Off-Broadway location and resume production October 3.[12]

Harada has reprised the character of Christmas Eve for a series of one-night-only benefits for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS originally entitled Christmas Eve with Christmas Eve. The premise is that Christmas Eve (the night) is when all of the fantasies of Christmas Eve (the character) come true and all of those fantasies involve singing duets with Broadway leading men in ways that hysterically reinterpret well-known showtunes. The third annual Christmas Eve with Christmas Eve was on 12 December 2011. [13] The fourth Christmas Eve with Christmas Eve was held on 2 December 2013. Harada's guests for 2013 included Cinderella's Santino Fontana, Max von Essen and Smash co-stars Leslie Odom, Jr. and Wesley Taylor. [14] The fifth edition on December 14, 2015, bore a new name, Christmas Eve's Holiday Hunkfest. It featured Adam Jacobs, Michael Rupert, and Joel Perez among the hunks.[15] The sixth edition Hunkfest on December 14, 2016 featured Santino Fontana, James Monroe Iglehart, and Corey Cott.[16]

After Avenue Q

On April 24, 2007, Harada joined the Broadway company of Les Misérables playing Madame Thénardier; she replaced the British actress Jenny Galloway.[17] Harada left Les Misérables on October 30, 2007, replaced by Galloway.

Harada is featured in the Wes Anderson-directed commercials for AT&T, which began airing in September 2007.[18]

Harada rejoined Avenue Q star John Tartaglia as a guest on his television show Johnny and the Sprites. Harada sings the Laurence O'Keefe song "Everything Must Go" on an episode entitled "The Sprites Save Grotto's Grove". It premiered on the Disney Channel on 22 March 2008.[19]

Harada did "sharp work" in The Muny's production of High School Musical in St. Louis in 2008[20] playing Ms. Darbus, the drama teacher.[21]

She was in the original cast of the Dolly Parton musical 9 to 5 (based on the film of the same name) as Kathy and in the ensemble through June 21, 2009.[22] She left to return to the cast of Avenue Q.

In May 2011, she played the role of Annette in a production of Yasmina Reza's Tony-winning play God of Carnage at George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey.[23]

Her recording of A Last Confession (lyrics by William Butler Yeats) on Steve Marzullo's album Show Some Beauty was a Playlist pick in USA Today in June 2011.[24]

She appeared as Linda, the stage manager of the show-within-a-show, in eighteen episodes of NBC's musical drama Smash alongside Debra Messing, Anjelica Huston, Jack Davenport and her 9 to 5 colleague Megan Hilty.[25]

From January 2013 to December 2014, she has appeared in the Broadway premiere of Cinderella as the stepsister Charlotte. In the original company, she worked alongside Laura Osnes as Cinderella, Victoria Clark as the Fairy Godmother, Harriet Harris as her mother, Cinderella's stepmother, and Marla Mindelle as her sister, the other stepsister, Gabrielle. [26] In its review of the show, Variety said that Harada gives "a hoot of a perf".[27] Scott Brown of New York, in his rave, wrote: "The score floods your brain with Rodgers’s stately, aching melodies, including the bewitching 'Ten Minutes Ago' and the clucking, catchy 'Stepsister’s Lament,' translated here into a go-for-broke chorus number centering on Harada. (If you only know Harada as stolid stage-manager Linda on Smash — and if you’re a faithful enough Smash alpha-viewer to fixate on such things — then you owe yourself this.) "[28]

Harada was the star of her own installment of Lincoln Center's 2014 American Songbook series at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Allen Room in New York City on 22 February 2014. Her set included "OK, That's Ten" a very short, previously unheard song written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman for her character on Smash.[29]

Harada was in the original cast of the "goofily endearing"[30] new original musical Brooklynite, with Matt Doyle, Nicolette Robinson and Nick Cordero. The superhero show opened its world premiere run at the Vineyard Theatre in New York on 25 February 2015.[31]

On 8 June 2015 in a one-night-only concert of Bombshell, Smash's show-within-the show, Harada reprised her Smash role as Linda the Stage Manager , then "as a substitute Marilyn" performed I Never Met a Wolf Who Didn't Love to Howl. "The fun, infections number earned the night's first major ovation", according to Entertainment Weekly's Hillary Busis.[32]

In June 2016, Harada appeared as Maggie Jones in The Muny's "spectacular"[33] production of 42nd Street and was "a treat" in its production of Mamma Mia! in July.[34]

In October 2016, "the excellent Ann Harada" appeared as Stacey in The Women's Project's world premiere of Stuffed, a new play by the comedienne Lisa Lampanelli with "some laughs here, some genuine pain and even a bit of insight".[35]

"Ann Harada is especially good in the unlikely-sounding triple role of the Emperor of Japan, a French admiral and a whorehouse madam" [36] in John Doyle's staging of Stephen Sondheim's Pacific Overtures, which opened at Classic Stage Company in New York on May 4. 2017 and ran through June 18, 2017.[37]

Harada "brings down the house" in the world premiere of the Thanksgiving musical, The New World, at Bucks County Playhouse in October, 2017.[38]

In the March 2019 Encores! production of the dated 1938 Rodgers and Hart musical, I Married an Angel "[i]n a relatively insignificant role, Ann Harada manages to steal the show at the end with the perfectly hilarious delivery of a single line."[39]

In early 2020, Harada played Pile of Poo in the new musical Emojiland, as she told one reporter. "I don't have any dignity and I think it's fine. For better or worse, poo's the most famous emoji. If it's good enough for Patrick Stewart, it's good enough for me."[40]

On April 26, 2020, Harada rejoined three of her Pacific Overtures castmates for Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration on Broadway.com in an "inventive" split-screen-conference-call-like version of the song "Someone in a Tree". In Vulture, Jackson McHenry wrote that the number "really moved [him] in the moment. It’s all about assembling one moment from shattered places and times, somehow both a song about a moment lost to history and about what it’s like to try to comprehend the world right now from your laptop screen."[41]

In October 2020, Harada was announced in the cast of a new musical show from Apple TV+ starring Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key. Written by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio, a backpacking couple get lost and find "the magical town of Schmigadoon, in which everyone acts as if they’re in a studio musical from the 1940s".[42]

Awards and nominations
Year Award Show Award Work Result
1998 National Board of Review[43] USA Best Acting in an Ensemble Happiness Won
2004 Broadway.com Audience Choice Award[44] Favorite Featured Actress in a Musical Avenue Q Won
Outer Critics Circle Award[45] Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance and Puppet Artistry Won
2007 Whatsonstage Award[46] Best Ensemble Performance Won
2013 Broadway.com Audience Choice Award[47] Favorite Funny Performance Cinderella Nominated

Broadway
YearsShowRoleVenue
1989-1990M. ButterflyComrade ChinEugene O'Neill Theater[48]
2000-2001SeussicalMarshal of the CourtRichard Rogers Theatre[48]
2003-2005, 2009 Avenue QChristmas EveGolden Theatre [48]
2006-2007Les MisérablesMadame ThénardierBroadhurst Theater[48]
20099 to 5KathyMarquis Theater[48]
2013-2014CinderellaCharlotteBroadway Theater[48]

Other stage credits
Year Title Role Theater Notes
1998 Falsettoland Trina National Asian American Theatre Company[6]
2000 The Moment When Waitress Playwrights Horizons[49] world premiere
2006 Avenue Q Christmas Eve Noël Coward Theatre[50] UK premiere
2008 High School Musical Ms. Darbus/Ms. Tenny The Muny[51]
2011 God of Carnage Annette George Street Playhouse[23]
2015 Brooklynite Professor Whitman Vineyard Theatre[30] world premiere
2016 42nd Street Maggie Jones The Muny[52]
2016 Mamma Mia! Rosie The Muny[53]
2016 Stuffed Stacey The Women's Project[35] world premiere
2017 Pacific Overtures Madam/French Admiral/Emperor of Japan Classic Stage Company[36]
2017 The New World Hyannis, the Indian Chief Bucks County Playhouse[38] world premiere
2018 The Nerd Clelia George Street Playhouse[54]
2018 Gypsy Electra The Muny[55]
2018 Holiday Inn Louise Paper Mill Playhouse[56]
2018 The Closet Brenda Mishima Williamstown Theatre Festival[57]
2019 I Married an Angel Duchess of Holstein-Kuloff Encores![58]
2019 Dropping Gumballs on Luke Wilson Alice The Working Theater[59] world premiere
2019 Matilda Mrs. Wormwood The Muny[60]
2020 Emojiland Pile of Poo Duke Theater[61]

References
  1. Portraits N.Y.: Ann Harada '81 Archived June 22, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, Punahou Bulletin, Winter 2008. Retrieved March 1, 2012.
  2. "Sleight of Hand". ibdb.com. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
  3. "M. Butterfly Replacements". ibdb.com. Archived from the original on 2012-11-14. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
  4. Harada, Ann. How I Got My Equity Card. Archived July 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved May 2, 2008.
  5. Ann Harada biography from Avenue Q UK production "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2006-07-13. Retrieved 2007-09-08.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Retrieved May 10, 2008.
  6. Marks, Peter. THEATER REVIEW; It's Family That Matters, No Matter What Family Archived March 5, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, July 17, 1998. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
  7. Gans, Andrew. DIVA TALK: Chatting with Les Miz Star Ann Harada Plus Betty Buckley at the Blue Note, Playbill, 27 July 2007. Retrieved September 8, 2007.
  8. Gans, Andrew. DIVA TALK: Catching Up with Avenue Q's Ann Harada; Family Night at the Cabaret Convention and Showstoppers! Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Playbill, 22 October 2004
  9. "Extension and New Cast Member Announcement" (Press release). Avenue Q UK. October 2006. Archived from the original on 2008-09-22. Retrieved 2008-08-12.
  10. Brantley, Ben (1 August 2003). "Theater Review: A Feeling You're Not on Sesame Street". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  11. Als, Hilton. Mayhem and Madness Archived July 3, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, The New Yorker, August 11, 2003. Retrieved September 8, 2007.
  12. Hernandez, Ernio (29 June 2009). "PHOTO CALL: Harada, Larsen and More to Join Final Avenue Q Cast". playbill.com. Archived from the original on 31 January 2013. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
  13. "Christmas Eve Plays Santa for Broadway's Leading Men". broadwaycares.org. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  14. "Christmas Eve with Christmas Eve 2013". broadwaycares.org. Archived from the original on 2015-06-10. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
  15. "Christmas Eve Makes Wishes Come True at Holiday Hunkfest | Broadway Cares". broadwaycares.org. Retrieved 2016-12-11.
  16. "Christmas Eve's Holiday Hunkfest | Broadway Cares". broadwaycares.org. Retrieved 2016-12-11.
  17. Jones, Kenneth. Avenue Vous: Harada Will Be Madame T in Les Miz, With Davis, von Essen and Bruno Archived March 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, Playbill, 20 March 2007
  18. YouTube AT&T Your Seamless World Architect Commercial Archived January 15, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved October 6, 2007.
  19. Gans, Andrew. Avenue Q's Harada and Tartaglia Reunited on March 22 "Sprites" Episode, Playbill, 17 March 2008
  20. Newmark, Judith (24 June 2008). "High School Musical" (– Scholar search). St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
  21. Gans, Andrew; Hernandez, Ernio (18 June 2008). "Harada, Bogardus, McGinnis and More Cast in Muny's High School Musical". playbill.com. Archived from the original on 22 June 2008. Retrieved 13 July 2008.
  22. "9 to 5 Headed for Broadway's Marquis Theatre; Complete Cast Announced". Broadway.com. 15 July 2008. Archived from the original on 31 July 2008. Retrieved 28 July 2008.
  23. Gates, Anita (20 May 2011). "It's All Perfectly Polite. Then the Savaging Begins". nytimes.com. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
  24. Gardner, Elysa (28 June 2011). "Playlist: Sam Phillips' 'So Glad,' plus 10 tracks". usatoday.com. Retrieved 28 June 2011.
  25. "Smash (TV Series 2012-2013)". imdb.com. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
  26. Hetrick, Adam (7 August 2012). "Cinderella , With Laura Osnes, Victoria Clark, Harriet Harris and More, Will Hold Court at Broadway Theatre". playbill.com. Archived from the original on 10 September 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  27. Stasio, Marilyn. Legit Review: 'Cinderella' Sparkles Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Variety, March 3, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  28. Brown, Scott. Theater Review: Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, New York, March 3, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  29. "Ann Harada American Songbook 2014 Presented by Lincoln Center". americansongbook.org. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
  30. Isherwood, Charles (25 February 2015). "Review: 'Brooklynite,' a Superhero Musical With Matt Doyle and Nicolette Robinson". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  31. Marzullo, Joseph (7 January 2015). "PHOTO CALL; Meet the Cast of the Vineyard's Superhero Musical Brooklynite". playbill.com. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  32. Busis, HIllary (9 June 2015). "Here's what you missed from the one-night-only performance of the Bombshell musical from Smash". ew.com. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  33. Gibson, Chris. "BWW Review: The MUNY'S Spectacular 42ND STREET". Retrieved 2016-07-10.
  34. Newmark, Judith (22 July 2016). "'Mamma Mia! makes its supersplashy Muny debut". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 2016-10-18.
  35. Collins-Hughes, Laura (14 October 2016). "Review: 'Stuffed' Details Fights Women Wage With Their Weight". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-10-18.
  36. Teachout, Terry (4 May 2017). "'Pacific Overtures' Review: Shortening Sondheim". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
  37. "Pacific Overtures". Classic Stage Company. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  38. Newman, Neal (12 November 2017). "Review: 'The New World' at Bucks County Playhouse". DC Metro Theatre Arts. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  39. Gordon, David (21 March 2019). "I Married an Angel Is the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt of 1938 — and Not in a Good Way". TheaterMania.com. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  40. Hoffman, Barbara (23 January 2020). "Actress dishes on playing poo emoji character onstage in 'Emojiland'". New York Post. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  41. "Everybody Rise and Discuss Sondheim's 90th Birthday Livestream". Vulture. 27 April 2020. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  42. Petski, Denise (2020-10-01). "Keegan-Michael Key, Alan Cumming, Fred Armisen, Kristin Chenoweth Among 10 Cast For Apple Musical Comedy Project Starring Cecily Strong". Deadline. Retrieved 2020-10-13.
  43. "Awards for Happiness (1998)". imdb.com. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  44. "2004 Audience Choice Awards". broadway.com. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  45. "Awards for 2003-2004". Outer Critics Circle. Archived from the original on 2009-04-28. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  46. "2007 Results". whatsonstage.com. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  47. "Nominees — Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards". broadway.com. Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2013.
  48. "Ann Harada". playbill.com.
  49. "The Moment When". playwrightshorizons.org. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  50. Billington, Michael (29 June 2006). "Avenue Q". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  51. Gans, Andrew (23 June 2008). "Muny's High School Musical, with Harada, Bogardus and McGinnis, Begins June 23". Playbill. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  52. Gans, Andrew (24 June 2016). "Broadway Actors Star in Muny 42nd Street, Beginning Tonight". Playbill. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  53. Gans, Andrew (31 May 2016). "Julia Murney, Ann Harada, Justin Guarini Set for Muny Mamma Mia!". Playbill. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  54. Manley, Patrick (9 May 2018). "'The Nerd' is a zany, fun and ultimately safe trip at George Street Playhouse: review". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  55. Levitt, Hayley (15 May 2018). "Ann Harada, Adam Heller, and More Join Beth Leavel in Gypsy at the Muny". TheaterMania. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  56. Vine, Hannah (31 October 2018). "The Cast of Paper Mill Playhouse's Holiday Inn Meet the Press". Playbill. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  57. Gordon, David (2 July 2018). "At Williamstown, Matthew Broderick in The Closet and Mary-Louise Parker in The Sound Inside". TheaterMania. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  58. "Nikki M. James, Ann Harada, and More to Star in Encores!'s I Married an Angel". theatermania.com. 19 February 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  59. Hetrick, Adam (18 June 2019). "Dropping Gumballs on Luke Wilson, Directed by Theresa Rebeck, Opens Off-Broadway". Playbill. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  60. Seale, Hayley (7 August 2019). "BWW Review: The Muny's MATILDA is Magically Mary". BroadwayWorld. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  61. Collins-Hughes, Laura (19 January 2020). "'Emojiland Review: There's a Rom-Com in Your Phone with Music". New York Times. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
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