Victoria Clark

Victoria Clark (born October 10, 1959) is an American actress, musical theatre soprano, and director. Clark has performed in numerous Broadway musicals and in other theatre, film and television works. Her voice can also be heard on various cast albums and in several animated films. In 2008, she released her first solo album titled Fifteen Seconds of Grace. A five-time Tony Award nominee, Clark won her first Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 2005 for The Light in the Piazza. She also won the Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, and the Joseph Jefferson Award for the role. She won a second Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 2023 for Kimberly Akimbo.

Life and career

Clark was born and raised in Dallas, Texas, the daughter of Lorraine and Banks Clark.^[1] She studied the piano and attended the Hockaday School, an all-girls school in Dallas. She attended the Interlochen Arts Academy before going to Yale University, graduating in 1982.

At Yale, at the age of eighteen, she sang the role of Mabel in Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera The Pirates of Penzance. She also sang the title role in Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience, and directed a production of Ruddigore for the Yale Gilbert & Sullivan Society. After college, Clark studied at New York University's Musical Theatre Master's Program at Tisch^[2] as a stage director and began to direct operas and musicals professionally. Although she continues to direct, she has primarily focused on singing and acting.

Clark's stage work includes understudying^[3] in the original Broadway production of Sunday in the Park with George (she never went on) and roles in the Broadway musicals Guys and Dolls (1992–93), A Grand Night for Singing (1993–94), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1995–96, as Smitty), Titanic (1997–99, creating the role of Alice Beane), Cabaret (1999–2000, as Fraulein Kost) and Urinetown (2003, as Penelope Pennywise),^[4] as well as numerous roles Off-Broadway, in national tours and in regional theatre. She played Doris MacAfee in the City Center Encores! production of Bye Bye Birdie in 2004.^[5]

In 2005, Clark won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical, a Drama Desk Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, and the Joseph Jefferson Award for her performance in the musical The Light in the Piazza (2005–06). Broadway.com commented on Clark's performance, "What is indisputable is that Victoria Clark has created a character for the ages. Lucas has done a superb job in fleshing out Margaret within the confines of a musical-theater libretto, and Clark responds with consummate precision and grace. Calling hers the musical performance of the year would be accurate. It would also be a drastic understatement."^[6] She appeared as former showgirl Sally Durant Plummer in the Encores! staged concert presentation of Follies in February 2007 at City Center. She next created the role of Margaret Brennan in The Marriage of Bette and Boo Off-Broadway in 2008 for the Roundabout Theatre Company.^[7]

Clark appeared in Prayer for My Enemy, a new play by Craig Lucas Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons from November 14 through December 21, 2008. The play concerned the consequences that the Iraq war has had on an American family, co-starred Michele Pawk and Jonathan Groff, and was directed by Bartlett Sher.^[8]

Clark has also appeared in movies, sung in several animated feature films, and appeared in roles in television episodes. She can be heard on a number of Broadway cast albums and other recordings. In 2008 she released her first solo album, Fifteen Seconds of Grace, produced by PS Classics. Clark teaches voice and studies acting at the Michael Howard Studios and voice with Edward Sayegh. Clark received the 2006 Distinguished Artist Award from the New York Singing Teachers' Association.

Clark played the Mother Superior in the Broadway production of Sister Act, which opened on April 20, 2011.^[9] For this role she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.^[10] Clark portrayed Sally in the Kennedy Center/Broadway production of Follies, running at the Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, from May 3 through June 9, 2012.^[11][12]

In 2013, Clark starred in the Manhattan Theatre Club's production of The Snow Geese by Sharr White alongside Mary-Louise Parker and Danny Burstein.^[13] Previously, she starred as Marie/the Fairy Godmother in the Broadway production of Cinderella.^[14] For this role, she received her second Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.^[15] She returned to the Broadway production of Cinderella for a run lasting from January to September 2014.^[16][17] In December 2014 Clark appeared as Carrie Mathison's mother on the Season 4 finale of Showtime's series Homeland.^[18] Clark played Mamita in the Broadway revival of Gigi, which opened in April 2015.^[19] For this performance, Clark received another nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.^[20]

In 2017, Clark appeared in the title role of Sousatzka in Toronto. It was intended to be a pre-Broadway tryout for controversial producer Garth Drabinsky.^[21] In 2022, she recorded Maury Yeston's December Songs, featuring orchestration by Larry Hochman.^[22]

After persuasion from longtime friend and composer Jeanine Tesori,^[23] Clark first donned the candy necklace and late 90s fashion of the title role of Kimberly Akimbo in its acclaimed and extended 2021 Off-Broadway run at the Linda Gross Theatre, produced by the Atlantic Theater Company, for which she garnered Lucille Lortel and Outer Critics Circle Awards.^[24] The musical debuted on Broadway in 2022, winning Clark her second Tony Award.

In 2025, Clark joined the cast of The Gilded Age as Joan Carlton.

Personal life

Clark married Thomas Reidy on August 1, 2015, in North Carolina. Her son is from her previous marriage.^[25]

Filmography

Stage credits

Awards and nominations

References

1. ^ [1] Playbill.com
2. ^ Gioia, Michael (October 31, 2014). "Victoria Clark's Full-Circle Moment Directing Light in the Piazza at Pace University". Playbill. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
3. ^ "Victoria Clark – Broadway Cast & Staff | IBDB". www.ibdb.com. Retrieved 2023-05-26.
4. ^ "Victoria Clark". Playbill. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
5. ^ Jones, Kenneth (May 6, 2004). "Put on a Happy Face: Bye Bye Birdie Gets Starry Encores! Concert With Ziemba, Roberts and Jenkins May 6–10". Playbill. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
6. ^ Grode, Eric (April 18, 2005). "The Light in the Piazza". Broadway.com. Archived May 20, 2005 at the Wayback Machine.
7. ^ "Entrances and Exits: Tony Award Winner Victoria Clark". The 8th Avenue Observer. September 28, 2008. Archived October 3, 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
8. ^ "Current Season". Playwrights Horizons. Archived December 16, 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved November 18, 2008.
9. ^ Hetrick, Adam (February 1, 2011). "Victoria Clark, Fred Applegate, Chester Gregory Will Be Part of Broadway's Sister Act". Playbill. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
10. ^ Jones, Kenneth & Gans, Andrew (May 3, 2011). "2011 Tony Nominations Announced; Book of Mormon Earns 14 Nominations". Playbill. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
11. ^ Gans, Andrew (January 11, 2012). "Victoria Clark Will Be Sally in L.A. Follies with Elaine Paige, Jan Maxwell, Danny Burstein, Ron Raines". Playbill. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
12. ^ Gans, Andrew (May 18, 2012). "DIVA TALK: Catching Up With Follies Star and Tony Award Winner Victoria Clark". Playbill. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
13. ^ "The Verdict: Critics Review The Snow Geese on Broadway Starring Mary-Louise Parker". Playbill. October 25, 2013. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
14. ^ Geselowitz, Gabriela (November 21, 2012). "Full Broadway Cast Announced for Cinderella, Starring Laura Osnes". Broadway.com
15. ^ Gans, Andrew (April 30, 2013). "Nominations Announced for 67th Annual Tony Awards; Kinky Boots Earns 13 Nominations". Playbill. Retrieved December 30, 2021.
16. ^ "Wish Granted! Victoria Clark Returns to Cinderella as the Fairy Godmother". Broadway.com. January 21, 2014. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
17. ^ Rosky, Nicole (August 11, 2014). "It's Possible! Judy Kaye Will Join CINDERELLA Cast as 'Fairy Godmother'". BroadwayWorld
18. ^ Gans, Andrew (November 24, 2014). "Victoria Clark Lands Role On 'Homeland'". Playbill. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
19. ^ Gioia, Michael (January 16, 2015). "Broadway-Bound Gigi, Starring Vanessa Hudgens, Begins Kennedy Center Run Tonight". Playbill. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
20. ^ "An American in Paris & Fun Home Top 2015 Tony Nominations". Broadway.com. April 28, 2015. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
21. ^ Gans, Andrew (March 27, 2017). "What Do Critics Think of the New Musical Sousatzka?". Playbill
22. ^ Gans, Andrew. "New Recording of Maury Yeston's December Songs, With Tony Winner Victoria Clark, Released November 11", Playbill, November 11, 2022
23. ^ Collins-Hughes, Laura (2023-05-10). "How the Star of 'Kimberly Akimbo' Found Beauty in Her Voice Again". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-05-26.
24. ^ "Victoria Clark Bio". Playbill.com. Retrieved May 25, 2023.
25. ^ Shattuck, Kathryn (August 15, 2015). "Victoria Clark and Thomas Reidy: An eHarmony, and Musical, Match (Published 2015)". The New York Times
26. ^ Catsoulis, Jeannette (September 11, 2014). "A Weakness for Cops, a Crime to Solve 'Archaeology of a Woman,' Starring Sally Kirkland". The New York Times

External links

• Victoria Clark at IMDb
• Broadway World's profile of Clark
• Excerpts from reviews by the major NYC newspapers
• Curtainup review of Clark's performance
• Victoria Clark – Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org
• TonyAwards.com Interview with Victoria Clark
• Time Out New York Interview with Victoria Clark