Rita Gardner
Encyclopedia
Rita Gardner is an American
actress and singer
.
Gardner made her stage debut as Luisa in the original cast of The Fantasticks
in 1960. Additional off-Broadway
credits include The Cradle Will Rock
(1964), To Be Young, Gifted, and Black (1969), Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
(1972), Steel Magnolias
(1987), and The Foreigner
(2004).
Gardner made her Broadway
debut in the short-lived A Family Affair in 1962. She was featured in a brief 1963 revival of Pal Joey
and replaced Susan Watson
soon after the opening of Ben Franklin in Paris
in 1964, after which her Broadway career stalled, finding her serving merely as a standby or understudy in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
(1965), The Last of the Red Hot Lovers
(1969), and Morning's at Seven
(2002). She had a featured role in The Wedding Singer
in 2006.
Gardner's regional theatre
credits include Show Boat
and The Impossible Years
at the Bucks County Playhouse
in New Hope, Pennsylvania
(1983), Lucky in the Rain at the Goodspeed Opera House (1997), and Eleanor: A Love Story at Ford's Theatre
in Washington, D.C.
(1999). She appeared in the national tours of Kiss of the Spider Woman
(1994) and her one-woman show Try to Remember: A Look Back at Off-Broadway (2002).
Gardner's television credits include appearances in Law & Order
, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent
.
Gardner was married to playwright
Herb Gardner; the marriage ended in divorce
.
She was a faculty member for the sixth annual Cabaret Conference at Yale University in 2008.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actress and singer
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
.
Gardner made her stage debut as Luisa in the original cast of The Fantasticks
The Fantasticks
The Fantasticks is a 1960 musical with music by Harvey Schmidt and lyrics by Tom Jones. It was produced by Lore Noto. It tells an allegorical story, loosely based on the play "The Romancers" by Edmond Rostand, concerning two neighboring fathers who trick their children, Luisa and Matt, into...
in 1960. Additional off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
credits include The Cradle Will Rock
The Cradle Will Rock
The Cradle Will Rock is a 1937 musical by Marc Blitzstein. Originally a part of the Federal Theatre Project, it was directed by Orson Welles, and produced by John Houseman. The show was recorded and released on seven 78-rpm discs in 1938, making it the first cast album recording.The musical is a...
(1964), To Be Young, Gifted, and Black (1969), Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris
Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris is an American musical revue of the songs of Jacques Brel.-Original Off-Broadway Production:...
(1972), Steel Magnolias
Steel Magnolias
Steel Magnolias is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross that stars Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Dolly Parton, Daryl Hannah and Julia Roberts....
(1987), and The Foreigner
The Foreigner (play)
The Foreigner is a play by Larry Shue.Set in a resort-style fishing lodge in rural Georgia, the comedy revolves around two of its guests, Englishman Charlie Baker and Staff Sergeant Froggy LeSueur. Charlie is so pathologically shy that he is unable to speak...
(2004).
Gardner made her 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...
debut in the short-lived A Family Affair in 1962. She was featured in a brief 1963 revival of Pal Joey
Pal Joey
Pal Joey is a 1940 epistolary novel by John O'Hara, which became the basis of the 1940 stage musical comedy and 1957 motion picture of the same name, with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart....
and replaced Susan Watson
Susan Watson
Susan Watson 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,...
soon after the opening of Ben Franklin in Paris
Ben Franklin in Paris
Ben Franklin in Paris is a musical with a book and lyrics by Sidney Michaels, and music by Mark Sandrich, Jr. with two songs contributed by Jerry Herman.The story is a somewhat fictionalized account of Benjamin Franklin's adventures in the French capital...
in 1964, after which her Broadway career stalled, finding her serving merely as a standby or understudy in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever is a musical with music by Burton Lane and a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner based loosely on Berkeley Square, written in 1929 by John L. Balderston. It concerns a woman who has ESP and has been reincarnated...
(1965), The Last of the Red Hot Lovers
The Last of the Red Hot Lovers
This article is about the Broadway production. For the film adaptation see Last of the Red Hot Lovers .Last of the Red Hot Lovers is a play by Neil Simon....
(1969), and Morning's at Seven
Morning's at Seven
Morning's at Seven is a play by Paul Osborn.Its plot focuses on four aging sisters living in a small Midwestern town in 1938, and it deals with ramifications within the family when two of them begin to question their lives and decide to make some changes before it’s too late.The original Broadway...
(2002). She had a featured role in The Wedding Singer
The Wedding Singer (musical)
The Wedding Singer is a musical with music by Matthew Sklar, lyrics by Chad Beguelin, and a book by Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy. It is based on the 1998 film The Wedding Singer.-Synopsis:Act 1...
in 2006.
Gardner's regional theatre
Regional theatre in the United States
Regional theaters, or resident theaters, in the United States are professional or semi-professional, theater companies that produce their own seasons. The term regional theatre most often refers to professional theatres outside of New York City...
credits include Show Boat
Show Boat
Show Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working...
and The Impossible Years
The Impossible Years
The Impossible Years is a 1965 comedy play by Robert Fisher and Arthur Marx, son of famed comedian Groucho Marx.The comedy revolves around Jonathan Kingsley, a teaching psychiatrist at the local university, his wife, and their two teenaged daughters...
at the Bucks County Playhouse
Bucks County Playhouse
The Bucks County Playhouse is the State Theater of Pennsylvania, and is located in New Hope, Pennsylvania.When the Hope Mills burnt in 1790, the grist mills were rebuilt as the New Hope Mills by Benjamin Parry. ....
in New Hope, Pennsylvania
New Hope, Pennsylvania
New Hope, formerly known as Coryell's Ferry, is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, USA. The population was 2,528 at the 2010 census. The borough lies on the west bank of the Delaware River at its confluence with Aquetong Creek. A two-lane bridge carries automobile and foot traffic across the...
(1983), Lucky in the Rain at the Goodspeed Opera House (1997), and Eleanor: A Love Story at Ford's Theatre
Ford's Theatre
Ford's Theatre is a historic theater in Washington, D.C., used for various stage performances beginning in the 1860s. It is also the site of the assassination of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
(1999). She appeared in the national tours of Kiss of the Spider Woman
Kiss of the Spider Woman (musical)
Kiss of the Spider Woman is a musical with music by John Kander and Fred Ebb, with the book by Terrence McNally. It is based on the Manuel Puig novel El Beso de la Mujer Araña...
(1994) and her one-woman show Try to Remember: A Look Back at Off-Broadway (2002).
Gardner's television credits include appearances in 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,...
, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...
, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Criminal Intent is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it was also primarily produced. Created and produced by Dick Wolf and René Balcer, the series premiered on September 30, 2001, as the second spin-off of Wolf's successful crime drama...
.
Gardner was married to playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
Herb Gardner; the marriage ended in divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
.
She was a faculty member for the sixth annual Cabaret Conference at Yale University in 2008.