Kim Crosby (born July 11, 1960) is an American singer and musical theatre actress. She is best known as the original Cinderella in the Sondheim–Lapine musical Into the Woods.

Early life and education

Crosby was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas^[1] and grew up in Springfield, Missouri. She attended Southern Methodist University and the Manhattan School of Music, and she is a former America's Junior Miss.^[2]

Career

Stage work

Crosby appeared in the Broadway production of Jerry's Girls in 1985–86.^[3] She then created the role of Cinderella in Into the Woods in 1987, playing the role in the tryout at The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego and then on Broadway.^[4] It was in this production that she met her future husband, actor Robert Westenberg, who starred opposite her as Cinderella's Prince (and also as the Wolf).^[5]

Her next Broadway role was in the 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls, where she was a replacement as Sarah Brown.^[6]

She reprised the role of Cinderella at the benefit performance of Into the Woods on November 9, 1997 at The Broadway Theatre.^[7]

Off-Broadway, at the York Theatre, she played Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard and Jane Seymour in the musical Six Wives in 1992,^[8] and Marsius in Philemon in 1991.^[9]

Crosby starred as Laurey in the national tour of Oklahoma! opposite John Davidson and Jamie Farr. She also toured for two years with Fred Waring and His Young Pennsylvanians. In regional theatre, she played Maria in West Side Story at The Springfield Little Theatre, Anne in A Little Night Music at the Berkshire Theatre Festival, Stockbridge, Massachusetts (1986),^[10] Hope Langdon in Something's Afoot at the Birmingham Theatre; David Gordon's The Mysteries and What's So Funny? at the American Repertory Theater, Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Jessie Pullman in the musical Georgia Avenue (July - August 1985) at Goodspeed Musicals, Norma Terris Theater in East Haddam, Connecticut. She appeared in workshop productions of Six Wives, Fahrenheit 451, Grovers Corners, and Jekyll & Hyde. She appeared as Lily Garland in On the Twentieth Century at Barrington Stage in 2001.^[11] More recently, she played Sally Durant Plummer in Follies (2005) with the Barrington Stage Company.^[5]

She has appeared in several productions at The Muny Repertory in St. Louis, Missouri. She played Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady in 2001 opposite Westenberg.^[12] She also played Marian in The Music Man in 2004^[13] and Guinevere in Camelot in 2002. Of this performance, the Riverfront Times reviewer wrote: "Crosby can sing a lesser-known song such as "Before I Gaze at You Again" and make us wonder why we've overlooked it all these years. She can sing a popular tune like "I Loved You Once in Silence" and make us realize that Frederick Loewe's score is possessed of a haunting quality reminiscent of Schubert."^[14]

Crosby recently played Mrs. Darling and other characters in the new national tour of Peter Pan alongside Cathy Rigby in the title role, which began performances August 2011 and concluded on April 28, 2013.^[15][16] Crosby temporarily left Peter Pan to star in a production of Into The Woods (her first since the original cast) as The Baker's Wife at Springfield Little Theatre from May 13–29, 2012.^[17] Her most recent show was Hello, Dolly! at Springfield Little Theatre where she played the title role.^[18] Kim also lead Springfield Contemporary Theatre's production of Jerry's Girls in 2016, coming full circle after making her Broadway debut in the ensemble of this show. Ms. Crosby's other productions with Springfield Contemporary Theatre include The Light in the Piazza, Fun Home, and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Television and concerts

Crosby's television credits include Jane in Tarzan in Manhattan (CBS, 1989).^[19] In this version, Jane was a tough-talking New York City cabbie who befriended Tarzan (played by Joe Lara), they are in search of Cheeta and other animals captured and taken from the jungle.^[19] She appeared in the soap operas Guiding Light and All My Children, and in The Cosby Mysteries as "Mrs. Pierce" in the episode "Big Brother Is Watching" (1995).^[20]

Crosby has sung in concert with orchestras both in the U.S. and abroad. She performed with the Florida Orchestra, in Tampa, at Kaleidoscope of Broadway in 2004.^[21] She sang with the South Arkansas Symphony in a Christmas pops concert in December 2004.^[22] She has toured frequently with the ensemble Broadway Nights.^[5][23][24] In the Broadway Nights concert with the Lincoln Symphony in March 2002, the reviewer noted that when singing songs from Phantom, "Crosby stole the show with 'Think of Me'".^[25]

Acting credits

Theatre

Filmography

Personal life

Crosby and Robert Westenberg married on June 19, 1991. They live in Springfield, Missouri with their three children.^[5]