Cassidy Janson (born 30 July 1980) is a British actress, known for her work in

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

. She won the 2020 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Performance in a Musical for ''

& Juliet ''& Juliet'' is a 2019 coming-of-age stage musical featuring the music of Swedish pop songwriter Max Martin, with a book by David West Read. The story focuses on a "what if" scenario, where Juliet does not die at the end of Shakespeare's '' ...

''.

Stage career

In 2005 Janson appeared in '' Tick, Tick... Boom!'' at the

Menier Chocolate Factory The Menier Chocolate Factory is a 180-seat off-West End theatre, which comprises a restaurant, bar and rehearsal rooms. It is located in a former 1870s Menier Chocolate, Menier Chocolate Company factory at 53 Southwark Street, a major street in ...

. She played Susan, alongside

Neil Patrick Harris Neil Patrick Harris (born June 15, 1973) is an American actor, singer, writer, producer, and television host. Primarily known for his comedic television roles and dramatic and musical stage roles, he has received multiple accolades throughout ...

as Jonathan and Tee Jaye Susan as Michael. In 2006 she joined the original West End cast of ''Wicked'' as part of the ensemble, later moving to be standby for the role of

Elphaba Elphaba Thropp is a fictional character in '' Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West'' by Gregory Maguire, as well as in the Broadway and West End adaptations, ''Wicked''. In the original 1900 L. Frank Baum book ''The Wonde ...

. Following this, she joined the final West End cast of ''

Avenue Q ''Avenue Q'' is a musical comedy featuring puppets and human actors with music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx and book by Jeff Whitty. It won Best Musical, Book, and Score at the 2004 Tony Awards. The show's format is a parody of PBS' ...

'' as Kate Monster/Lucy the Slut. In 2011 she originated the role of Maggie Saunders in the musical version of

Lend me a Tenor ''Lend Me a Tenor'' is a comedy by Ken Ludwig. The play was produced on both the West End (1986) and Broadway (1989). It received nine Tony Award nominations and won for Best Actor (Philip Bosco) and Best Director (Jerry Zaks). A Broadway re ...

. She appears on the original cast recording. Janson has appeared in several shows Off-West End, including ''Company'' at the

Southwark Playhouse Southwark Playhouse is a theatre in London, located between Borough and Elephant and Castle tube stations. History The Southwark Playhouse Theatre Company was founded in 1993 by Juliet Alderdice and Tom Wilson. They identified the need for a h ...

(as Amy), ''Rooms: A Rock Romance'' at the

Finborough Theatre The Finborough Theatre is a fifty-seat theatre in the West Brompton area of London (part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea) under artistic director Neil McPherson. The theatre presents new British writing, as well as UK and world p ...

(as Monica), and ''

Blood Wedding ''Blood Wedding'' ( es, link=no, Bodas de sangre) is a tragedy by Spanish dramatist Federico García Lorca. It was written in 1932 and first performed at Teatro Beatriz in Madrid in March 1933, then later that year in Buenos Aires, Argentina. ...

'' at the

Courtyard Theatre The Courtyard Theatre was a 1,048 seat thrust stage theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England operated by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). It temporarily replaced The Other Place theatre during the redevelopment of the Roya ...

In 2013 she returned to the Menier Chocolate Factory in ''Candide'', playing the role of Paquette. Following this, she played Ruth in ''Dessa Rose'' at the

Trafalgar Studios Trafalgar Theatre is a new West End theatre in Whitehall, near Trafalgar Square, in the City of Westminster, London. It is set to open in spring 2021 following a major multi-million Pound sterling, pound restoration project aiming to reinstate ...

, alongside

Cynthia Erivo Cynthia Erivo (; born 8 January 1987) is an English actress, singer, and songwriter. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Grammy Award and a Tony Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards and a Primetime Emmy Awa ...

as Dessa. On 30 November 2015 Janson took over the role of

Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one ...

in the West End production of '' Beautiful: The Carole King Musical''. She joined Carole King at the

British Summer Time During British Summer Time (BST), civil time in the United Kingdom is advanced one hour forward of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), in effect changing the time zone from UTC±00:00 to UTC+01:00, so that mornings have one hour less daylight, and ev ...

concerts to perform ''I Feel The Earth Move''. She remained with the production until it closed on 5 August 2017. In 2018 she appeared in a revival of ''

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

'' as Florence at the

London Colosseum The London Colosseum was a building to the east of Regent's Park, London. It was built in 1827 to exhibit Thomas Hornor's "Panoramic view of London", the largest painting ever created. The design of the Colosseum was inspired by the Pantheon ...

, alongside

Michael Ball Michael Ashley Ball (born 27 June 1962) is an English singer, presenter and actor. He made his West End debut in 1985 playing Marius Pontmercy in the original London production of ''Les Misérables'', and went on to star in 1987 as Raoul in ...

Alexandra Burke Alexandra Imelda Cecelia Ewen Burke (born 25 August 1988) is a British singer, songwriter and actress. She won the fifth series of the British television series ''The X Factor'' in 2008, and has been signed to Epic Records, RCA Records and Syc ...

and

Tim Howar Timothy Howar (born 24 November 1969) is a Canadian-born English actor and singer who is currently with the pop-rock band Mike + The Mechanics. Career Howar was born in Spirit River, Alberta, Canada.Mandel, Lyssa"Tim Howar"broadway.com, Febr ...

. In April 2019 she appeared in ''

Man of La Mancha ''Man of La Mancha'' is a 1965 musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh, and lyrics by Joe Darion. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay ''I, Don Quixote'', which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervantes ...

'' at the London Colosseum, sharing the roles of Aldonza and Dulcinea with

Danielle de Niese Danielle de Niese (born 11 April 1979) is an Australian-American lyric soprano. After success as a young child in singing competitions in Australia, she moved to the United States where she developed an operatic career. From 2005 she came to wi ...

. The production played a limited run to 8 June 2019. Following this, she has been cast in the new musical ''

'', which is currently showing on the West End at the

Shaftesbury Theatre The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden. Opened in 1911 as the New Prince's Theatre, it was the last theatre to be built in Shaftesbury Avenue. History The theatre was d ...

. She stars as Anne Hathaway,

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's love,

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

being portrayed by

Oliver Tompsett Oliver Tompsett (born 25 August 1981) is a British actor and singer. He is best known for his portrayal of Fiyero in the West End production of the musical ''Wicked'', and for playing the role of Galileo in the West End Smash hit ''We Will Roc ...

. Janson won an

Olivier Award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known as ...

in the category of Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for her performance of Anne Hathaway.

Leading Ladies

In 2017 Janson teamed up with

Beverley Knight Beverley Knight (born Beverley Anne Smith, 22 March 1973) is an English recording artist and musical theatre actress. She released her first album, ''The B-Funk'', in 1995. Heavily influenced by American soul music icons such as Sam Cooke and ...

and Amber Riley to form a musical theatre

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

, known collectively as the "Leading Ladies". Their debut album, ''Songs from the Stage'', was released on 17 November 2017 and features covers songs from ''

Cats The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of t ...

'', ''

Beautiful Beautiful, an adjective used to describe things as possessing beauty, may refer to: Film and theater * ''Beautiful'' (2000 film), an American film directed by Sally Field * ''Beautiful'' (2008 film), a South Korean film directed by Juhn Jai-h ...

'' and ''

Rent Rent may refer to: Economics *Renting, an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property *Economic rent, any payment in excess of the cost of production *Rent-seeking, attempting to increase one's share of e ...

'' among others.

Debut album

Cassidy Janson announced via her Twitter in late 2018 that she had signed a record deal with BMG. In April 2019 Janson announced that her debut album ''Cassidy'' would be released on 14 June. It features 14 new songs, 12 co-written by Janson herself, and new song written for her by legend and friend

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Janson, Cassidy Living people English stage actresses English musical theatre actresses 1980 births Leading Ladies (group) members