Kerry Butler

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Kerry Butler
Kerry Butler performing at a benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina in New York City, October 23, 2005.
Born	June 18, 1971 (1971-06-18) (age 36)^[1] Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York^[1]
Spouse(s)	Joey Mazzarino^[2]
Official website

Kerry Butler (born June 18, 1971 in Brooklyn, New York^[1]) is a Tony Award-nominated American actress known primarily for her work in theatre.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life and career

Born in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York, Kerry Marie Butler began acting in commercials at age three.^[3] She notes that growing up, "When I saw Annie ... I knew that was what I wanted to do."^[4] After a four-year hiatus imposed by her mother, Kerry started acting again at the age of nine and has been at it since.^[3]

Butler graduated from Ithaca College in 1992, where she majored in musical theatre. She toured with the musical Oklahoma! in Europe in the role of Ado Annie. Other New York roles included Vicki in the workshop of Bright Lights, Big City, Barrow in The "I" Word and Claudia in The Folsom Head. She also has done work on various commercials.^[5]

Butler made her Broadway debut in 1993 in the role of Ms. Jones in the musical Blood Brothers, where she also understudied the role of Linda. In 1995, Butler played the role of Belle( she didnt orginate, Susan Egan did) for the Toronto production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, where she was nominated for the DORA Award for her performance, and eventually transferred to Broadway. After playing Belle for over two years, she left the musical in July 1997 and was replaced by Deborah Gibson. She then moved over to Les Misérables to play the coveted role of Eponine.

In 2001, Butler played the love interest Shelley in the acclaimed Off Broadway original musical Bat Boy: The Musical. Though the show had a "fanatical following," Butler noted that "We were really building an audience before Sept. 11. And after that we never recovered. People didn't want to go out at all, let alone downtown."^[4] Bat Boy closed in late 2001.

[edit] Hairspray

In February 2002 Butler was cast as Penny Pingleton(which she orginated) in Hairspray, the musical version of the John Waters 1988 film of the same name. After an out-of-town tryout in Seattle, Hairspray opened on Broadway on August 2002 and "became an immediate Broadway smash."^[6] Even in a star-studded ensemble cast, reviewers singled Butler out for her sparkling performance as the spastic sidekick.^[7] The show would go on to win eight Tony Awards including Best Musical. The fact that Butler was not nominated for a Tony for Featured Actress in a Musical for her role was, according to BroadwayWorld.com, the "talk of the town."^[8] She was, however, nominated for the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards, and received the Clarence Derwent Award for her performance. Butler herself noted that "I got more press from not getting [the Tony nomination] so it was really good."^[8]

While Hairspray went into pre-production, Butler played the free-spirited performance artist Maddie in the limited run of the intimate Australian musical Prodigal at the York Theatre. In March 2002 Butler also appeared on the TV show Sesame Street as Ms. Camp, a letter carrier. During her run in Hairspray Butler filmed a TV pilot for Fox entitled Twins, but it was not picked up for the season.^[8]

[edit] Little Shop of Horrors and beyond

Following the end of her Hairspray contract in July 2003, Butler was cast in the role of Audrey in the first-ever Broadway production of the musical, Little Shop of Horrors. The show had enjoyed a long run Off-Broadway in the 1980s and had been adapted into a 1986 film starring Rick Moranis, Steve Martin and Ellen Greene, who also created the role of Audrey Off Broadway. Butler revisited her long-lost childhood Brooklyn accent to play Audrey, the love interest with a sadistic dentist boyfriend and a heart of gold.^[9] A fan of Little Shop composer Alan Menken,^[2] who also wrote the music for Beauty and the Beast, Butler received an Outer Critics Circle nomination for Little Shop.

After leaving the show in the summer of 2004, Butler traveled to San Francisco where she created the role of scheming, foul-mouthed teenager Dedee Truitt in the new musical The Opposite of Sex, which had its world premiere at the Magic Theatre that fall. The musical is based on Don Roos' 1998 film starring Christina Ricci and Lisa Kudrow.^[10]

In the fall of 2005, Butler appeared in the original Off-Broadway musical Miracle Brothers at the Vineyard Theatre. She played the role of Isabel, a mother made miserable by the rebelliousness of her son as well as her unhappy marriage. In the summer of 2006 she reprised her role of Dedee in The Opposite of Sex at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and followed that by taking on the role of Kate, the Ayn Rand-loving runaway bride, in the New York Musical Theatre Festival production of Party Come Here.

Butler also portrayed the manipulative heiress and recovering alcoholic Claudia Reston on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live, from January 2006 until January 2007, when her character was written off the show.

[edit] Xanadu

Beginning May 2007, Butler returned to the Broadway stage to star in the new musical Xanadu, based on the 1980 roller-disco film starring Olivia Newton-John. She plays Clio, a Greek muse who inspires and falls in love with a struggling artist. Butler mastered roller skating for the role and spends nearly the entire show on skates.^[11] Widely expected to be a flop, the musical opened in July 2007 to extensive critical acclaim and was the surprise hit of the summer.^[12]

In February and March 2008, Butler appeared as Reese, the assistant to a fashion designer who steals her boss's work, in the first season of the television series Lipstick Jungle, on NBC.^[13]

For her role in Xanadu, Butler is nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical^[14] and the Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance.^[15]

[edit] Faith, Trust & Pixie Dust

In May 2008, Butler released her first solo album on the PS Classics label. The album is entitled Faith, Trust & Pixie Dust and features some of Butler's favorite songs from Disney films and shows given "intimate, acoustic" arrangements. The title is taken from the lyrics of the Jonatha Brooke song "I'll Try", from the film Return to Neverland, which is featured on the album. Of note is the track "This Only Happens in the Movies", an unreleased song written by Alan Menken being given its inaugural recording.^[16] The full track listing is below.

In a unique contest sponsored by her official site, Butler let fans submit suggestions for one song to be included on the album, with the winner, chosen by Butler, joining her in the studio when the song was recorded. The winning entry, chosen by actor Brandon Purves, was "God Help the Outcasts", from the animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame.^[17]

[edit] Personal life

Butler continues to perform in various workshops, readings and benefit concerts. She is a vegetarian and activist whose concerns include youth mentoring, human rights violations, genocide and environmental issues.^[18]

Butler is married to childhood friend^[7] Joey Mazzarino, and they have an adopted daughter named Segi.^[2]

[edit] Credits

[edit] Theatre

[edit] Broadway

Xanadu - Clio/Kira, 2007-Present
Little Shop of Horrors - Audrey, 2003-2004
Hairspray - Penny Pingleton, 2002-2003
Les Miserables - Eponine, 1998-1999
Beauty and the Beast - Belle, 1995-1997
Blood Brothers - Ms. Jones, 1993

[edit] Off Broadway/Regional/Tour

Party Come Here at the New York Musical Theatre Festival - Kate, 2006
The Opposite of Sex at the Williamstown Theatre Festival - Dedee Truitt, 2006
Miracle Brothers at the Vineyard Theatre - Isabel, 2005
The Opposite of Sex at the Magic Theatre, San Francisco - Dedee Truitt, 2004
Prodigal at the York Theatre - Maddie, 2003
Bat Boy The Musical - Shelley Parker, 2001
The "I" Word - Barrow
The Folsom Head - Claudia
Oklahoma! - Ado Annie

[edit] Demos, readings and workshops

Baby
Xanadu
The Little Mermaid
The Man in the White Suit
Legally Blonde: The Musical
The Wedding Singer
Easter Rising
Taboo
Le Passe Muraille (later named Amour)

[edit] Film

Second Honeymoon (CBS) - Jennifer Luckenbill
Borough of Kings [also known as Brooklyn Sonnet] (Lions Gate) - Anna Callahan
Campfire Stories (Independent) - Beatrice

[edit] Television

Lipstick Jungle (TV Series) (NBC) - Reese, 2008
One Life To Live (ABC) - Heather, 2000; Claudia Reston, 2006-2007
Hometown (CBS) - Patti
Another World (NBC) - Tina
Sesame Street (PBS) - Charlotte Camp, 2002
Crackle Box (PBS) - Tunie
Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders (Synd.) - Gwenevere

[edit] Cast recordings

Xanadu - Original Broadway Cast, 2007
Anna Karenina - The Broadway Musical, 2007
Little Shop of Horrors - New Broadway Cast, 2004
Hairspray - Original Broadway Cast, 2003
Prodigal - Original Off-Broadway Cast, 2003
Bat Boy - Original Off-Broadway Cast, 2001

[edit] Solo album

Faith, Trust & Pixie Dust - Released on May 13, 2008

Track Listing:

  "This Only Happens in the Movies"
  "When You Wish Upon a Star"
  "I'll Try"
  "Call Me a Princess"
  "Colors of the Wind"
  "It's a Small World"/"God Help the Outcasts"
  "Baby Mine"
  "Minnie's Yoo Hoo"
  "Second Star to the Right"
  "The Bare Necessities"
  "When She Loved Me"
  "Disneyland"

[edit] Other recordings

Featured on Carols for a Cure: Volume 9 - "Away in a Manger", 2007
Featured on The Broadway Musicals of 1945 - "Here I Go Again", duet with Eddie Korbich; "It Doesn't Cost Anything to Dream"; "Slightly Perfect", duet with Scott Ailing; "What's the Use of Wond'rin", duet with Marc Kudisch, 2007
Featured on Guy Haines' New Guy in Town - "Sure Thing", duet with Guy Haines, 2005
Featured on NEO: New, Emerging, Outstanding - "Any Day", duet with Laura Bell Bundy and "Inside Your Heart", duet with Deven May, 2005
Featured on Jamie deRoy & Friends: Volume 6: When I Grow Up - "Some Shoes Are Harder Than Others to Fill", 2005
Featured on Jamie deRoy & Friends: Volume 5: Animal Tracks - "Lion Tamer", 2003
Featured on Jamie deRoy & Friends: Volume 4: Family - "The Portrait", 2002

[edit] Awards and Nominations

2003 Outer Critics Circle for Outstanding Featured Actress, Hairspray Nominated
2003 Drama Desk for Outstanding Featured Actress, Hairspray Nominated
2003 Clarence Derwent Award for Most Promising Female Performance, Hairspray WINNER
2004 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical, Little Shop of Horrors Nominated
2008 Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance, Xanadu Nominated
2008 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, Xanadu Nominated

[edit] References

[edit] External links