Jan Maxwell
Encyclopedia
Jan Maxwell is an American stage and television actress. She is a four-time Tony Award
nominee.
, West Fargo, North Dakota
and Moorhead State University. She has a fifteen year old son, Will Maxwell-Lunney, who is currently attending Laguardia High school.
– David Zippel
musical City of Angels
in 1989. She eventually took over the dual roles of Carla Haywood and Alaura Kingsley.
She appeared in Brian Friel
's Dancing at Lughnasa
, which won the Tony Award
for Best Play. She replaced original cast member Brid Brennan
in the role of Agnes. She appeared in A Doll's House
in 1997 opposite Janet McTeer
; Neil Simon
's The Dinner Party
in 2000 opposite John Ritter
and Henry Winkler
and Sixteen Wounded in 2004 with Judd Hirsch
and Martha Plimpton
.
In 1998, she played Elsa Schraeder in the first Broadway revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music
.
In 2005, she received a Tony Award
nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, for the stage production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
in the role of Baroness Bomburst
. She won the Drama Desk Award
for this role.
In 2006, she starred in Roundabout Theatre Company
's Off-Broadway revival of Joe Orton
's Entertaining Mr. Sloane for which she received a Drama Desk nomination for Best Actress. In 2006, she also reunited with her Sound of Music co-star Richard Chamberlain
in Hawaii Opera Theatre
's production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I
in Honolulu, Hawaii
.
In 2007, she starred in the Broadway production of Coram Boy
, for which she received her second Tony Award
nomination, for Best Featured Actress in a Play.
She has made numerous guest appearances, mostly in different roles, in the long-running NBC
crime drama Law & Order
.
Her off-Broadway and regional credits include performances in The Seagull
at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
in 1985, in House & Garden
at the Manhattan Theatre Club
in 2002, in A Bad Friend at the Newhouse Theatre, Lincoln Center in 2003; and at Carnegie Hall
in the Stephen Sondheim
concert, Opening Doors in 2004.
In 2008 she appeared Off-Broadway with the Potomac Theatre Project/NYC in Howard Barker's Scenes from an Execution and was nominated for a Drama Desk and NYITT award. In 2008, Maxwell appeared on Broadway
in the Manhattan Theater Club production of To Be or Not to Be
in the role of Maria Tura at the Friedman Theatre. To Be or Not To Be was adapted for the stage by Nick Whitby and was directed by Casey Nicholaw
.
She appeared as Julie Cavendish in the Broadway revival of The Royal Family at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in late 2009. For this role she won the 2010 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play
. Maxwell most recently starred as Maria in the Broadway revival of Lend Me a Tenor
, which began performances at the Music Box Theatre
on March 11, 2010. She won the Outer Critics Circle Award
as Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play for this role.
Maxwell received two 2010 Tony Award
nominations: one for her leading role in The Royal Family in 2009 and another for her featured role in Lend Me a Tenor in 2010. She is only the fourth actress to receive double nominations in a single year.
Maxwell played the role of Phyllis in the Kennedy Center production of the Stephen Sondheim
musical Follies
, running from May 7, 2011 through June 19, 2011 at the Eisenhower Theater in Washington, DC. Her co-stars were Bernadette Peters
, Elaine Paige
, Ron Raines
and Danny Burstein
. She is reprising her role in the Broadway limited engagement, which started in previews on August 7, 2011 at the Marquis Theatre
.
She appeared in the PTP/NYC (The Potomac Theatre Project) Off-Broadway production of the Howard Barker play Victory: Choices in Reaction, in a limited engagement in July 2011.
She is also a voice actress and has read several audio books, including Mary Higgins Clark
's Two Little Girls in Blue
and No Place Like Home
.
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nominee.
Biography
She is the daughter of former First District Judge Ralph B. Maxwell (who served served in North Dakota from 1967–1978) and Elizabeth Maxwell, a lawyer for the EPA. She attended West Fargo High SchoolWest Fargo High School
West Fargo High School is a public high school located in West Fargo, North Dakota. It currently serves about 1,300 students and is a part of the West Fargo Public Schools system. The official school colors are green and white and the athletic teams are known as the "The Packers"...
, West Fargo, North Dakota
West Fargo, North Dakota
As of the census of 2000, there were 14,940 people, 5,771 households, and 4,091 families residing in the city, however the current population of West Fargo is estimated at over 26,000 residents. The population density was 2,049.2 per square mile . There were 5,968 housing units at an average...
and Moorhead State University. She has a fifteen year old son, Will Maxwell-Lunney, who is currently attending Laguardia High school.
Career
Maxwell made her Broadway debut as an understudy in the Cy ColemanCy Coleman
Cy Coleman was an American composer, songwriter, and jazz pianist.-Life and career:He was born Seymour Kaufman on June 14, 1929, in New York City to Eastern European Jewish parents, and was raised in the Bronx. His mother, Ida was an apartment landlady and his father was a brickmason...
– David Zippel
David Zippel
David Joel Zippel is an American musical theatre lyricist.-Biography:Zippel was born in Easton, Pennsylvania. He is a 1976 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. While there, he wrote a "bizarre political musical" called Rotunda...
musical City of Angels
City of Angels (musical)
City of Angels is a musical comedy with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by David Zippel, and book by Larry Gelbart. The musical weaves together two plots, the "real" world of a writer trying to turn his book into a screenplay, and the "reel" world of the fictional film.-Productions:City of Angels...
in 1989. She eventually took over the dual roles of Carla Haywood and Alaura Kingsley.
She appeared in Brian Friel
Brian Friel
Brian Friel is an Irish dramatist, author and director of the Field Day Theatre Company. He is considered to be the greatest living English-language dramatist, hailed by the English-speaking world as an "Irish Chekhov" and "the universally accented voice of Ireland"...
's Dancing at Lughnasa
Dancing at Lughnasa
Dancing at Lughnasa is a 1990 play by dramatist Brian Friel set in Ireland's County Donegal in August 1936 in the fictional town of Ballybeg. It is a memory play told from the point of view of the adult Michael Evans, the narrator...
, which won the Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for Best Play. She replaced original cast member Brid Brennan
Brid Brennan
Brid Brennan is an Irish actress, best known for her theatre work. She was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland.-Theatre work:Brennan created the role of Agnes Mundy in Brian Friel's play Dancing at Lughnasa. She played the role in the original Dublin, West End and Broadway productions, winning a...
in the role of Agnes. She appeared in A Doll's House
A Doll's House
A Doll's House is a three-act play in prose by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premièred at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having been published earlier that month....
in 1997 opposite Janet McTeer
Janet McTeer
Janet McTeer, OBE is a British actress.-Life and career:McTeer was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom, the daughter of Jean and Alan McTeer...
; Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
's The Dinner Party
The Dinner Party (play)
The Dinner Party is an original one-act play written by Neil Simon. It tells the story of six unknowing guests who are invited to a private dining room in a first-rate restaurant in Paris. Two things are apparent: they are three divorced couples, and one of them has set up the party.The play opened...
in 2000 opposite John Ritter
John Ritter
Jonathan Southworth "John" Ritter was an American actor, voice over artist and comedian perhaps best known for having played Jack Tripper and Paul Hennessy in the ABC sitcoms Three's Company and 8 Simple Rules, respectively...
and Henry Winkler
Henry Winkler
Henry Franklin Winkler, OBE is an American actor, director, producer, and author.Winkler is best known for his role as Fonzie on the 1970s American sitcom Happy Days...
and Sixteen Wounded in 2004 with Judd Hirsch
Judd Hirsch
Judd Hirsch is an American actor most known for playing Alex Rieger on the television comedy series Taxi, John Lacey on the NBC series Dear John, and Alan Eppes on the CBS series Numb3rs.-Early life and education:...
and Martha Plimpton
Martha Plimpton
Martha Campbell Plimpton is an American actress and singer and former model. Plimpton is a screen, stage and television actress. She first appeared as Jonsy in the feature film River Rats before rising to prominence in the Richard Donner film The Goonies portraying the character Stef...
.
In 1998, she played Elsa Schraeder in the first Broadway revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music is a musical by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the memoir of Maria von Trapp, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers...
.
In 2005, she received a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, for the stage production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (musical)
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, also known as Chitty the Musical, is a stage musical based on the 1968 film produced by Cubby Broccoli. The music and lyrics were written by Richard and Robert Sherman with book by Jeremy Sams.-Productions:...
in the role of Baroness Bomburst
Baroness Bomburst
Baroness Bomburst is a fictional character and one of the antagonists in the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and in the later stage musical adaptation. The character was created by screenwriter Roald Dahl and did not appear in the original Ian Fleming novel....
. She won the Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
for this role.
In 2006, she starred in Roundabout Theatre Company
Roundabout Theatre Company
The Roundabout Theatre Company is a leading non-profit theatre company based in New York City.-History:The company was founded in 1965 by Gene Feist and Elizabeth Owens and now operates five theatres, all in Manhattan: the American Airlines Theatre ; Studio 54 ; the Stephen Sondheim Theatre The...
's Off-Broadway revival of Joe Orton
Joe Orton
John Kingsley Orton was an English playwright.In a short but prolific career lasting from 1964 until his death, he shocked, outraged and amused audiences with his scandalous black comedies...
's Entertaining Mr. Sloane for which she received a Drama Desk nomination for Best Actress. In 2006, she also reunited with her Sound of Music co-star Richard Chamberlain
Richard Chamberlain
George Richard Chamberlain is an American actor of stage and screen who became a teen idol in the title role of the television show Dr. Kildare .-Early life:...
in Hawaii Opera Theatre
Hawaii Opera Theatre
The Hawaii Opera Theatre is an opera company located in Honolulu, Hawaii, which became active in 1961. The company typically performs three operas during February and March in Blaisdell Concert Hall...
's production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I
The King and I
The King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...
in Honolulu, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
.
In 2007, she starred in the Broadway production of Coram Boy
Coram Boy (play)
Coram Boy is a play written by Helen Edmundson with music composed by Adrian Sutton, based on the 2000 children's novel of the same name by Jamila Gavin, an epic adventure that concerns the theme of child cruelty...
, for which she received her second Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nomination, for Best Featured Actress in a Play.
She has made numerous guest appearances, mostly in different roles, in the long-running NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
crime drama Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
.
Her off-Broadway and regional credits include performances in The Seagull
The Seagull
The Seagull is the first of what are generally considered to be the four major plays by the Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov. The Seagull was written in 1895 and first produced in 1896...
at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts center located on the Potomac River, adjacent to the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C...
in 1985, in House & Garden
House & Garden (plays)
House and Garden are a diptych of plays written by the English playwright Alan Ayckbourn, first performed in 1999. They are designed to be staged simultaneously, with the same cast in adjacent auditoria, and were published together as House & Garden. House takes place in the drawing room, and...
at the Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club is a theater company located in New York City. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has grown since its founding in 1970 from an Off-Off Broadway showcase into one of the country’s most acclaimed...
in 2002, in A Bad Friend at the Newhouse Theatre, Lincoln Center in 2003; and at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
in the Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
concert, Opening Doors in 2004.
In 2008 she appeared Off-Broadway with the Potomac Theatre Project/NYC in Howard Barker's Scenes from an Execution and was nominated for a Drama Desk and NYITT award. In 2008, Maxwell appeared on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in the Manhattan Theater Club production of To Be or Not to Be
To Be or Not to Be (play)
To Be or Not to Be was a Broadway play, a remake of the 1942 film To Be or Not to Be. It was written by Nick Whitby and produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club, New York City. Previews started on September 16, 2008 and the show opened on October 14 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre for a limited...
in the role of Maria Tura at the Friedman Theatre. To Be or Not To Be was adapted for the stage by Nick Whitby and was directed by Casey Nicholaw
Casey Nicholaw
Casey Nicholaw is an American theatre director, choreographer and performer. He has been nominated for Tony Awards for directing and choreographing The Drowsy Chaperone , for choreographing Monty Python's Spamalot , and choreographing The Book of Mormon , as well as winning for his co-direction...
.
She appeared as Julie Cavendish in the Broadway revival of The Royal Family at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in late 2009. For this role she won the 2010 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play
The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play was first awarded at the 1974–1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since...
. Maxwell most recently starred as Maria in the Broadway revival of Lend Me a Tenor
Lend Me a Tenor
Lend Me a Tenor is a comedy by Ken Ludwig. The play was produced on both the West End and Broadway . Although it received seven Tony Award nominations, it won only one, for Best Actor. A Broadway revival opened in 2010. Lend Me a Tenor has been translated into sixteen languages and produced in...
, which began performances at the Music Box Theatre
Music Box Theatre
The Music Box Theater is a Broadway theatre located at 239 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan.The once most aptly named theater on Broadway, the intimate Music Box was designed by architect C. Howard Crane and constructed by composer Irving Berlin and producer Sam H. Harris specifically to...
on March 11, 2010. She won the Outer Critics Circle Award
Outer Critics Circle Award
The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on and Off-Broadway and were begun during the 1949-1950 theater season. The awards are decided upon by theater critics who review for out-of-town newspapers, national publications, and other media outlets...
as Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play for this role.
Maxwell received two 2010 Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
nominations: one for her leading role in The Royal Family in 2009 and another for her featured role in Lend Me a Tenor in 2010. She is only the fourth actress to receive double nominations in a single year.
Maxwell played the role of Phyllis in the Kennedy Center production of the Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
musical Follies
Follies
Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. The story concerns a reunion in a crumbling Broadway theatre, scheduled for demolition, of the past performers of the "Weismann's Follies," a musical revue , that played in that theatre between the World Wars...
, running from May 7, 2011 through June 19, 2011 at the Eisenhower Theater in Washington, DC. Her co-stars were Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters is an American actress, singer and children's book author from Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Over the course of a career that has spanned five decades, she has starred in musical theatre, films and television, as well as performing in solo concerts and recordings...
, Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16...
, Ron Raines
Ron Raines
Ron Raines is an American actor. He is known for the role of Alan Spaulding on the long-running television soap opera Guiding Light. Raines also performs in musical theatre and in concert with symphony orchestras....
and Danny Burstein
Danny Burstein
Danny Burstein is a versatile American actor who is known for his work in theater, film and television. He won the 2008 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical and was nominated for the 2008 Drama Desk Award and 2008 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical...
. She is reprising her role in the Broadway limited engagement, which started in previews on August 7, 2011 at the Marquis Theatre
Marquis Theatre
The Marquis Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 1535 Broadway in midtown-Manhattan.Situated on the third floor of the Marriott Marquis Hotel, the 1611-seat venue was designed by developer/architect John C. Portman, Jr...
.
She appeared in the PTP/NYC (The Potomac Theatre Project) Off-Broadway production of the Howard Barker play Victory: Choices in Reaction, in a limited engagement in July 2011.
She is also a voice actress and has read several audio books, including Mary Higgins Clark
Mary Higgins Clark
Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins Clark Conheeney , known professionally as Mary Higgins Clark, is an American author of suspense novels...
's Two Little Girls in Blue
Two Little Girls in Blue
Two Little Girls in Blue is a musical theatre work composed by Paul Lannin and Vincent Youmans, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and a libretto by Fred Jackson. The musical premiered at the George M...
and No Place Like Home
No Place Like Home (novel)
No Place Like Home is a thriller novel written by Mary Higgins Clark and published in 2005.-Plot summary:The story starts with 10 year old Liza Barton accidentally shooting and killing her mother and shooting and injuring her stepfather Ted...
.