Theatre Register

Susan Watson

Shows · Susan Watson

Actor b. 1938 On stage 19602011

Susan Watson (born December 17, 1938) is an American actress and singer best known for her roles in musical theatre. Watson's first professional role was Velma in the original West End production of West Side Story in 1958. She created the role of Luisa in The Fantasticks and then played Kim on Broadway in Bye Bye Birdie, beginning in 1960. Among many other roles in musicals, she was nominated for a Tony Award for the role of Jenny in A Joyful Noise (1966). She starred in the title role of the Broadway revival of No, No Nanette in 1971. Watson also appeared in several television series and specials.

On stage 8 productions, 51 years

1960 Bye Bye Birdie Martin Beck Theatre · Original · directed by Gower Champion 607 perf.
1961 Carnival! Imperial Theatre · Revival · directed by Gower Champion 719 perf.
1964 Ben Franklin in Paris Lunt-Fontanne Theatre · Original · directed by Michael Kidd 215 perf.
1966 A Joyful Noise Mark Hellinger Theatre · Original · directed by Michael Bennett 12 perf.
1969 Celebration Ambassador Theatre · Original · directed by Vernon Lusby 109 perf.
1970 Beggar on Horseback Vivian Beaumont Theater · Revival · directed by John Hirsch 52 perf.
1971 No, No, Nanette 46th Street Theatre · Revival · directed by Busby Berkeley 861 perf.
2011 Follies Marquis Theatre · Revival · directed by Eric Schaeffer 152 perf.

Each row is a staging this name appears in the cast list of, read from the production record rather than from the person record. The person record names works instead, and a work cannot say which run somebody was in — that is how Elaine Stritch ends up filed under Show Boat 1927 when she was in the 1994 revival. No row here says what part was played, because no cast list records it.

Worked with more than once6 names

Ron Schwinn 2 productions
Roger Braun 2 productions
John Beecher 2 productions
Jack Fletcher 2 productions
Frank Newell 2 productions
Cindi Bulak 2 productions

Both names in the same cast list, more than once. It is not evidence of a partnership — a long-running company puts the same forty people together every night — but it is where one would start looking. 5 of these names are not links because we hold no record behind them; the name is set from the identifier and its punctuation may be wrong.

In the literature8 passages

  • From day one, the show had a special feel, at least among those of us on the inside, a remarkable cast featuring Dick Gautier as Conrad Birdie, Susan Watson as Kim MacAfee, Paul Lynde as her father, Kay Medford as my mother, Chita Rivera as my assistant, Rosie Alvarez, and me in the role of agent and songwriter Albert Peterson. Michael J.…ebooks/Dyke, Dick Van/My Lucky Life in and Out of Show Business_ A Memoir - Dick Van Dyke.txt
  • “How Lovely to Be a Woman” was infused with tongue-in-cheek humor. As Susan Watson sang of the pleasure of wearing the mascara, lipstick, heels, and beautiful clothes of womanhood, she dressed herself in the dowdy trappings of regulation teenage attire—shapeless sweater, blue jeans, baseball cap, argyle socks, and scuffy, pink-furred slip…ebooks/Gilvey, John Anthony/Before the Parade Passes By_ Gower Champion and the Glorious American Musical - John Anthony Gilvey.txt
  • 40 Susan Watson in Dennis McGovern and Deborah Grace Winer, Sing Out, Louise! 150 Stars of the Musical Theatre Remember 50 Years on Broadway (New York: Schirmer Books, 1993), 129.ebooks/Gilvey, John Anthony/Before the Parade Passes By_ Gower Champion and the Glorious American Musical - John Anthony Gilvey.txt
  • “Hymn for a Sunday Evening” from Bye Bye Birdie. With Paul Lynde, Marijane Maricle, Susan Watson, Johnny Borden and the Original Broadway Cast. Narr. Dick Van Dyke. Dir. and chor. Gower Champion. Prod. Edward Padula. The Ed Sullivan Show , CBS, WCBS, New York, 12 Jun. 1960.ebooks/Gilvey, John Anthony/Before the Parade Passes By_ Gower Champion and the Glorious American Musical - John Anthony Gilvey.txt
  • Cast: Chita Rivera, Dick Van Dyke, Kay Medford, Paul Lynde, Dick Gautier, Michael J. Pollard, Susan Watson, Charles Nelson Reillyebooks/Green, Stanley/Broadway Musicals, Show By Show - Seventh Edition - Stanley Green & Cary Ginell.txt
  • Cast: Ruby Keeler, Jack Gilford, Bobby Van, Helen Gallagher, Patsy Kelly, Susan Watson, Roger Rathburn, Loni Ackermanebooks/Green, Stanley/Broadway Musicals, Show By Show - Seventh Edition - Stanley Green & Cary Ginell.txt

Passages naming this person, found by keyword across 178 books. A keyword match is not a biography, and a common name will pull in the wrong one.

What this page does not know

  • What this person played. No cast list we hold records a character against a performer.
  • Any portrait. 1,626 of 7,139 people have one, so this is the usual case rather than the exception.
  • Which of the credits above the roles on this record — actor — apply to. The roles sit on the person and never on a credit, so a director who also acted looks the same here as one who did not.

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