Most Famous "Theater Person"

[darquegk]

Posted: 3/6/11 at 9:01pm

Who is currently the most famous "theater person" working? By that I mean someone who, though known, preferably well-known to the theater public, is most known or most successfully employed in theater, not film or TV- hence none of the Glee cast quite qualify, as their runaway TV success has made Glee, not Hairspray or Spring Awakening, their number one achievement so far. Not a film superstar who does some Broadway- a person who can be definitively called "mostly a theater person" who is still well-known and recognizable.

The two that are jumping to mind for me are Jane Krakowski and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.

[binau]

Posted: 3/6/11 at 9:07pm

Are Bernadette Peters, Donna Murphy and Patti LuPone all 'theater people'? I mean I know they have done other things, but they are most known and most successfully 'employed' in theatre.

[CarHoop]

Posted: 3/6/11 at 9:08pm

its is beatrice bebe neuwirth

[willep]

Posted: 3/6/11 at 9:12pm

I would eliminate Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Jane Krakowski for the same reason you eliminated the cast of Glee...

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 3/6/11 at 9:16pm

Hunter Foster
Jen Cody
Merideth Patterson

But not in that order.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 3/6/11 at 9:22pm

Patti LuPone is probably the most famous theatre person without primarily being known for a particular TV or Film credit.

Jane Krakowski is immediately known from 30 ROCK and Jesse Tyler Ferguson is known for both MODERN FAMILY and CLARISSA EXPLAINS IT ALL. It's hypocritical to say that Matthew Morrison and Lea Michele should be disqualified because of GLEE, and not those two.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 3/6/11 at 9:35pm

Patti LuPone.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 3/6/11 at 9:35pm

Jesse Tyler Ferguson is known for Clarissa Explains it All?

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 3/6/11 at 9:40pm

I think you have Jesse Tyler Ferguson confused with "Clarissa Explains it All" actor Jason Zimbler (yes, I had to look it up). The resemblance is uncanny, but from what I can google, it's a different guy.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 3/6/11 at 9:40pm

WOW. I always thought he was Clarissa's younger brother. IMDb proves me wrong. Well I be...

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 3/6/11 at 9:43pm

I think they must be twins separated at birth.

[SondheimFan5]

Posted: 3/6/11 at 9:50pm

If we are discussing the broad topic of "theater people", then Andrew Lloyd Webber and Stephen Sondheim immediately come to mind. However, if you are referring to simply actors, I would recommend that you specify.

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 3/6/11 at 10:07pm

Bernadette Peters, Patti LuPone, Angela Lansbury, Nathan Lane, Bebe Neuwirth

and more recently: Jane Krakowski, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Kristin Chenoweth, Lea Michele, Matthew Morrison

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 3/6/11 at 10:09pm

Maxwell Sheffield is pretty well-known.

[darquegk]

Posted: 3/6/11 at 10:35pm

The reason for the Glee exemption is that the amount of high-profile tv work the Glee cast have, being in a show that became a massive phenomenon and sold huge amounts of soundtrack material, essentially overshadows most of the theater work they did in terms of success.

Jesse Tyler ferguson is a Broadway character actor who has performed in some well-known shows and currently plays a role on a fairly successful sitcom, but the bulk of his career success lies on the stage. Ditto for Krakowski, who was a hugely successful stage star who parlayed that into being a character actress on TV.

The success and popularity of Glee renders "Light in the Piazza" or "Spring Awakening" secondary in a way that Modern Family or 30 Rock, good shows but not ICONIC television of the past few years, don't necessarily do for "Putnam County Spelling Bee" or "Nine."

[i_love_megan]

Posted: 3/6/11 at 10:35pm

Sutton Foster

[ahhrealmonsters]

Posted: 3/6/11 at 10:37pm

While they've gained fame from other mediums (media?), the following are, in my mind, the most famous for their theatre roles and as theatre actors:

Bernadette Peters
Patti LuPone
Angela Lansbury (this is debatable depending on what generation you are- she began on TV, but many people don't know her from "Murder She Wrote")
Elaine Stritch
Audra McDonald (minus Private Practice, which I really don't know how many people watch)
Joel Grey

I feel there should be another category of people who have done pretty much exclusively famous and are not "famous" per se, but they've been extremely successful:
Marin Mazzie
Sutton Foster
Christine Ebersole

If you are talking about most employed, as in people who get cast constantly, it's different. There are people like Marin Mazzie who are cast in many great roles, but the most employed are generally the gypsies, who go from ensemble to ensemble. Jen Cody (as someone else said) comes to mind.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 3/6/11 at 10:37pm

Bernadette Peters, Angela Lansbury, Nathan Lane, Bebe Neuwirth, Jane Krakowski, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Kristin Chenoweth, Lea Michele, Matthew Morrison all are well-known in Hollywoodland. ESPECIALLY Oscar- and Emmy-winner Angela Lansbury. MURDER SHE WROTE, anyone?

[ljay889]

Posted: 3/6/11 at 10:42pm

Angela Lansbury has 3 Oscar nominations. No wins.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 3/6/11 at 10:43pm

darquegk, your logic is flawed. In one single episode of MODERN FAMILY, Jesse Tyler Ferguson has been seen by more people in one hour on the small screen than he will have ever have accumulated in a lifetime of theatre performances. If a "theatre star" gets a recurring role on a hit TV show, their career is SET. In the world of "celebrity" they will ALWAYS be known for their film/TV work by more people who would recognize them for their theatre career.

If you show a picture of Jesse Tyler Ferguson to all of your non-theatre friends and ask them why he is famous, they will tell you that he is on MODERN FAMILY. No one will know that he was in SPELLING BEE or his other theatre work. Same with Lea Michele, et al.

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 3/6/11 at 11:31pm

Julie Andrews?

[Broadway_Boy]

Posted: 3/6/11 at 11:40pm

There was an article a few months ago that I can't find now, on playbill.com I believe, that had the 100 most important Broadway people. Nathan Lane was number 52 I believe, but he was the first actor on the list.

[KylieS]

Posted: 3/7/11 at 1:58am

Julie Andrews only had the four theatre roles, huh? Yeah, they're iconic Broadway roles, but ask a random person off the street who originated Eliza in My Fair Lady on Broadway or Guinevere in Camelot, and watch their expression go blank. Hell, ask them to name anything she did beyond Mary Poppins and Sound of Music, and odds are at least even you'll get the same look (and they diminish sharply if the person is neither a gay man [and thus likely to know Victor/Victoria] or a twelve-year-old girl [and into the Princess Diaries...]).

I love Julie Andrews to bits and pieces and wish people knew her for more than MP and SoM, but I don't think they do.

ETA: Also, Julie Andrews isn't currently working in theater... certainly not singing, anyway Updated On: 3/7/11 at 01:58 AM

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 3/7/11 at 2:12am

I'd say Idina Menzel would be up high on the list.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 3/7/11 at 2:22am

Liza?