Molly Ranson is an American actress and singer. She was born in New York City.
Ranson made her Broadway debut in the Tony Award-winning production of August: Osage County in 2007. She joined the cast of Jerusalem on Broadway in 2011, as Pea. The show started in 2009 at the Royal Court Theatre in London and moved to the Apollo Theatre in the West End in 2010, followed by incredible reviews and starred Mark Rylance both in the UK and on Broadway. [1]
She originated the role of Melody in the play Bad Jews in 2013. [2]
Ranson took part as Carrie White in the 2009 reading of the revival of the musical Carrie, alongside Sutton Foster and Marin Mazzie. The hope was to make the show ready for Broadway, after its flop in 1988, when it closed after only 5 performances. [3] After the new reading the show finally opened Off Broadway at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in 2010. [4]
In 2015 Ranson was cast as Natalie Drexel in the comedy Fish in the Dark , with Larry David playing Norman Drexel. When the show was extended, the role was taken over for six weeks by Jason Alexander. [5]
In 2022 Ranson starred in Prayer for the French Republic , while rehearsing for Plaza Suite , which opened right after the first closed. [6] She was asked to take part in Prayer back when in grad school by playwright Joshua Harmon, who had just started writing the play at the time. [7] [8] The show is a family drama, presenting various aspects of the life of the Jewish Benhamou's in contemporary Paris (2016-2017) as well as the earlier generation of the Salomon's, using the same apartment space during WWII. [9]
Year | Title | Role | Theatre |
---|---|---|---|
2007 | August: Osage County | Jean Fordham (understudy and replacement) | Imperial Theater |
2010 | The Burnt Part Boys | Frances Boggs | Playwrights Horizons |
2011 | Jerusalem | Pea | Music Box Theatre |
2009–2012 | Carrie | Carrie White | Lucille Lortel Theatre |
2012–2013 | Bad Jews | Melody | Roundabout Theatre |
2015 | Fish in the Dark | Natalie Drexel | Cort Theatre |
2017 | Linda | Bridget | Manhattan Theater Club |
2020 | Plaza Suite | Jean McCormick and Mimsey Hubley | Colonial Theatre |
2022 | Prayer for the French Republic | Molly | Manhattan Theater Club |
2022 | Plaza Suite | Jean McCormick and Mimsey Hubley | Hudson Theatre |
2023 | Prayer for the French Republic | Molly | Samuel J. Friedman Theatre |
Year | Title | Role | |
---|---|---|---|
2012 | Submissions Only | Dawn Iris | 1 episode |
2016 | Horace & Pete | Brenda | 1 episode |
2020 | New Amsterdam | Melissa Singer | 1 episode |
Year | Award | Category | Nominated Work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2012 | Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Carrie | Nominated |
2012 | Lucille Lortel Award | Outstanding Lead Actress | Carrie | Nominated |
2012 | Drama League Award | Distinguished Performance | Carrie | Nominated |
2014 | Lucille Lortel Award | Outstanding Lead Actress | Bad Jews | Nominated |
Betty Buckley is an American actress and singer. Buckley is the winner of a Tony Award, and was nominated for an additional Tony Award, two Daytime Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, and an Olivier Award. In 2012, she was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.
Tammy Lee Grimes was an American film and stage actress.
Plaza Suite is a comedy play by Neil Simon.
Harriet Sansom Harris is an American actress known for her theater performances and for her portrayals of Bebe Glazer on Frasier and Felicia Tilman on Desperate Housewives.
Charlotte d'Amboise is an American actress and dancer. She has played starring roles in musical theatre, and has been nominated for two Tony Awards and won the Los Angeles Ovation Awards for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for Chicago. She has also appeared in films.
Beth Leavel is an American stage and screen actress and singer.
Carrie is a musical with a book by Lawrence D. Cohen, lyrics by Dean Pitchford, and music by Michael Gore. It is based on the 1974 Stephen King's horror novel of the same name, and integrates elements from its 1976 Brian De Palma's film adaptation.
Carietta N. White is the title character and protagonist of American author Stephen King's first published 1974 horror novel, Carrie.
Chu Chem is a musical with a book by Ted Allen, lyrics by Jim Haines and Jack Wohl, and music by Mitch Leigh.
John Howard Gallagher Jr. is an American actor and musician best known for originating the role of Moritz Stiefel in the 2006 rock musical Spring Awakening, which earned him a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. He also played Johnny in Green Day's Broadway musical, American Idiot, Lee in the 2011 Broadway production of Jerusalem, and Edmund in the 2016 Broadway revival of Long Day's Journey Into Night. He portrayed Jim Harper in Aaron Sorkin's drama series The Newsroom, starred in the HBO mini-series Olive Kitteridge, and played Emmett DeWitt in 10 Cloverfield Lane.
Annaleigh Amanda Ashford is an American actress, singer, and dancer. Her early roles on Broadway include in the musicals Wicked (2007), Legally Blonde (2007), and Hair (2010). She received the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for playing Essie Carmichael in You Can't Take It With You (2014–2015). Her other Tony-nominated roles include Lauren in Kinky Boots (2013) and Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2023). She also starred in the Broadway revival of Sunday in the Park with George (2017).
Caissie Levy is a Canadian-American actress and singer, mainly known for her work in musical theatre on Broadway and in the West End. Her early Broadway credits included Penny Pingleton in Hairspray and Sheila in Hair, a role she also played in the West End. She originated the role of Molly Jensen in the West End and Broadway productions of Ghost: the Musical and played Fantine in the 2014 Broadway revival of Les Misérables. Levy also originated the role of Elsa in Frozen on Broadway. For her performance on the cast recording of Caroline, or Change, she was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album in 2023.
Lesli Margherita is an American stage and screen actress. She is best known for originating the roles of Inez in the musical Zorro, for which she won a Laurence Olivier Award, and Mrs. Wormwood in the Broadway cast of Matilda the Musical.
Carrie Alexandra Coon is an American actress. In television, she has starred as grieving mother Nora Durst in the HBO drama series The Leftovers (2014–2017) and as Gloria Burgle in the third season of the FX anthology series Fargo (2017). She won a Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress for The Leftovers and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress for Fargo. She also starred in the second season of the anthology drama series The Sinner (2018), and has played aspiring socialite Bertha Russell in the HBO series The Gilded Age since 2022.
Fish in the Dark is a play by Larry David that focuses on fifteen characters as they deal with a death in the family. The play premiered on Broadway in 2015.
Jenn Colella is an American actress and singer. She began her career as a comedian and then branched out into musical theater. In her New York debut in Urban Cowboy, she earned a 2003 Outer Critics Circle Award nomination. More recently, she landed a Tony Award nomination, and won the Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, and three regional theater awards for her portrayal of Annette/Beverley Bass in Come from Away. She received a Grammy Award in January 2018 for her role for the Dear Evan Hansen original cast album. See: Awards and nominations
Joshua Harmon is a New York City-based playwright, whose works include Bad Jews and Significant Other, both produced Off-Broadway by Roundabout Theatre Company.
Bad Jews is a dark comedy play by Joshua Harmon. After a beloved grandfather dies in New York, leaving a treasured piece of religious jewelry that he succeeded in hiding even from the Nazis during the Holocaust, cousins fight over not only the family heirloom, but their "religious faith, cultural assimilation, and even the validity of each other's romances."
Micaela Diamond is an American actress and singer. She made her Broadway debut as Babe in The Cher Show (2018–2019). Diamond starred in the critically acclaimed Broadway revival of the musical Parade as Lucille Frank, a performance for which she was nominated for the 2023 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.
Prayer for the French Republic is a 2022 play by Joshua Harmon. It centers on a Jewish family living in France as they struggle with their identity due to rising tensions from anti-Semitic attacks. The play touches on topics such as Zionism and fascism. The play won the 2022 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play.