Beth Malone
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Elizabeth Ann "Beth" Malone (born January 2, 1969) is an American actress and singer known for her work in
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
,
off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
and regional theatre. She originated the role of
Alison Bechdel Alison Bechdel ( ; born September 10, 1960) is an American cartoonist. Originally known for the long-running comic strip ''Dykes to Watch Out For'', she came to critical and commercial success in 2006 with her graphic memoir ''Fun Home'', which ...
in the musical ''
Fun Home ''Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic'' is a 2006 graphic memoir by the American cartoonist Alison Bechdel, author of the comic strip ''Dykes to Watch Out For''. It chronicles the author's childhood and youth in rural Pennsylvania, United States, fo ...
'', for which she was nominated for the
Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical is awarded to the best actress in a musical, whether a new production or a revival. The award has been given since 1948, but the nominees who did not win have only been publicly ...
.


Personal life and education

She was born in
Auburn, Nebraska Auburn is a city in Nemaha County, Nebraska, United States, and its county seat. The population was 3,470 at the 2020 census. History Auburn is an incorporation of two towns. Calvert and Sheridan combined to form Auburn in 1882, in part to hav ...
, and raised in
Castle Rock, Colorado Castle Rock is a home rule town that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Douglas County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 73,158 at the 2020 United States Census, a 51.68% increase since the 2010 United Sta ...
, the daughter of Peggy and Bill Malone. Her mother is a professional country music singer. Malone played the title role in ''
Annie Annie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Annie (given name), a given name and a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Annie (actress) (born 1975), Indian actress * Annie (singer) (born 1977), Norwegian singer The ...
'' in middle school, and participated in theatre at Douglas County High School. Malone first attended Loretto Heights College for musical theatre. When the school closed in 1989 while she was there, she decided not to continue, because she was successful finding work without a degree. She later completed her degree through the
University of Northern Colorado The University of Northern Colorado (UNC) is a public university in Greeley, Colorado. The university was founded in 1889 as the State Normal School of Colorado and has a long history in teacher education. The institution has officially changed ...
in 1996 and earned an MFA in Acting from
UC Irvine UC may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''University Challenge'', a popular British quiz programme airing on BBC Two ** '' University Challenge (New Zealand)'', the New Zealand version of the British programme * Universal Century, one of the ti ...
in 2000. She began her career working at the Country Dinner Playhouse at the age of 16. Malone moved to New York City at age 21. After a period of not finding work, she returned to
Aspen, Colorado Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Mounta ...
, where she was able to play a wide variety of roles. She received her Equity card performing in a production of ''
Baby An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...
''. She later moved to Sherman Oaks, California, where she began performing in television commercials and performing in many shows in the greater Los Angeles area. Malone is married to Rochelle Schoppert, a music technician.


Career

Malone made her Broadway debut in ''
Ring of Fire The Ring of Fire (also known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, the Rim of Fire, the Girdle of Fire or the Circum-Pacific belt) is a region around much of the rim of the Pacific Ocean where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. The Ring o ...
'' in 2006. She appeared
Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
in the musical ''Bingo: A Winning New Musical'' at St. Luke's Theatre in 2005. She appeared Off-Broadway in ''
The Marvelous Wonderettes ''The Marvelous Wonderettes'' is a jukebox musical comedy with a book by Roger Bean. The show, which uses pop songs from the 1950s and 1960s as a vehicle to tell its story, pays homage to the high school Songleader squads of the 50s. When called ...
'' at the
Westside Theatre The Westside Theatre is an off-Broadway performance space at 407 West 43rd Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The building houses two auditoriums: the Upstairs Theatre, which s ...
as Betty Jean in 2008. She played the title role in '' Annie Get Your Gun'' in the Music Circus at the
Wells Fargo Pavilion The UC Davis Health Pavilion is a theatre venue, located in Sacramento, California, and owned by California Musical Theatre and the Sacramento Theatre Company. Overview The pavilion is the signature feature of the H Street Theatre Project, wh ...
in
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in August 2011, and again at the San Diego Musical Theatre in May 2014. She played the title role in '' The Unsinkable Molly Brown'' at The Denver Center Theatre Company in September and October 2014. She played the role of "Molly Brown" in
The Muny The St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre (commonly known as The Muny) is an amphitheater located in St. Louis, Missouri. The theatre seats 11,000 people with about 1,500 free seats in the last nine rows that are available on a first come, first s ...
(St. Louis, Missouri) production of ''The Unsinkable Molly Brown'' in July 2017. The musical was directed and choreographed by
Kathleen Marshall Kathleen Marshall (born September 28, 1962) is an American director, choreographer, and creative consultant. Life and career Born in Madison, Wisconsin, she graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1980 and S ...
. Gossip columnist Michael Riedel speculated that ''The Unsinkable Molly Brown'' would be revived on Broadway, with Malone in the lead. She played the lead in an industry reading in November 2017 at the Roundabout Theatre Company. "A representative for Roundabout Theatre Company told Playbill there are currently no plans for a future production of the musical." Malone has created a one-woman cabaret show titled ''Beth Malone: So Far''. The show tells her life story, "from her offbeat childhood in small-town Colorado, to her not-quite-normal entrance into acting, to her left-of-center adult life." She has toured with the show in several locations, including Aspen, Colorado, at the
Wheeler Opera House The Wheeler Opera House is located at the corner of East Hyman Avenue and South Mill Street in Aspen, Colorado, Aspen, Colorado, United States. It is a stone building erected during the 1890s, from a design by Willoughby J. Edbrooke that blends ele ...
in 2011, and in New York City in 2012 at the Davenport Theatre. Malone originated the role of (Big) Alison in the musical ''Fun Home'', from workshops, to the 2013 Off-Broadway production at the
Public Theater The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Li ...
. She continued the role in the 2015 Broadway production at the
Circle in the Square Theatre The Circle in the Square Theatre is a Broadway theater at 235 West 50th Street, in the basement of Paramount Plaza, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It is one of two Broadway theaters that use a thrust stage that extends ...
, which concluded its Broadway engagement on September 10, 2016. Critic Steven Suskin called her performance "the glue that holds the show together." She received a nomination for the
Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical The Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical is awarded to the best actress in a musical, whether a new production or a revival. The award has been given since 1948, but the nominees who did not win have only been publicly ...
for her performance. Although Beth has found success on stage and on the screen, her role in ''Fun Home'' was one of the first times she was able to portray a character who identified as homosexual. Malone played the Angel at certain performances in the Broadway revival of
Tony Kushner Anthony Robert Kushner (born July 16, 1956) is an American author, playwright, and screenwriter. Lauded for his work on stage he's most known for his seminal work ''Angels in America'' which earned a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award. At the turn ...
's play ''
Angels in America ''Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes'' is a two-part play by American playwright Tony Kushner. The work won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Tony Award for Best Play, and the Drama Desk Award for O ...
'' at the
Neil Simon Theatre The Neil Simon Theatre, originally the Alvin Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 250 West 52nd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1927, the theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was built for A ...
. Transferring from London's National Theatre, the production was directed by
Marianne Elliott Marianne Phoebe Elliott (born 27 December 1966) is a British theatre director and producer who works on the West End and Broadway. She has received numerous accolades including three Laurence Olivier Awards and four Tony Awards. Initially ...
and stars
Andrew Garfield Andrew Russell Garfield (born 20 August 1983) is an English and American actor. He has received various accolades, including a Tony Award, a BAFTA TV Award and a Golden Globe Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards. ''Time'' ...
as Prior Walter and
Nathan Lane Nathan Lane (born Joseph Lane; February 3, 1956) is an American actor. In a career spanning over 40 years he has been seen on stage and screen in roles both comedic and dramatic. Lane has received numerous awards including three Tony Awards, ...
as
Roy Cohn Roy Marcus Cohn (; February 20, 1927 – August 2, 1986) was an American lawyer and prosecutor who came to prominence for his role as Senator Joseph McCarthy's chief counsel during the Army–McCarthy hearings in 1954, when he assisted McCarth ...
. The limited engagement began previews on February 23, opened on March 25, and closed on July 15, 2018.


Activism

Malone believes supporting the LGBTQ community is very important, and she continually shows her support by performing at over 50 benefits a year for LGBTQ groups and nonprofits. In addition to showing her pride for the queer community, she is also involved in organizations foundations that advocate for all women and their equality, like the Aqua Foundation. Malone uses the success of ''Fun Home'' to propel her advocacy because the show "helped erdefine erown beliefs and commit to them publicly." Malone states how she has recently become aware of how “living erlife openly can be a beacon for other people." When she was performing in ''Fun Home'', she took the time to converse with young girls and boys who struggled with embracing this identity. Malone's advocacy greatly evolved as a result of this Broadway production. Not only was ''Fun Home'' an award-winning musical, it was reportedly also a "social outreach program".


''Beth Malone: So Far...''

In 2011, Beth Malone started to perform her one-woman show, titled ''Beth Malone: So Far''. Malone describes this production as an "autobiographical tale about what it was like for erto be a rural lesbian in the '70s." This one-hour production takes the audience on a journey through her teenage years and young adulthood. Malone pegs herself as "part dude, part lady… all lesbian." This musical cabaret depicts Malone's life, yet she is careful to make sure that her performance avoids the coming-out cliche. Instead, ''So Far'' is a coming-of-age story, which highlights her relationship with her father and how their relationship changed when she came out. Although there are several emotional and "heart-wrenching" moments in the show, Malone's presentation is inherently comedic, and she incorporates humor throughout her concert. Malone has continued to develop and craft ''So Far'' over the years, and she still performs her cabaret throughout the country.


Theatre credits


Filmography


Musical albums

* ''Lunch Shift'' Malone released her first solo album in 2008, and it is available on iTunes and Spotify.


Awards and nominations


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Malone, Beth 1969 births Living people Actresses from Nebraska American musical theatre actresses 21st-century American actresses 21st-century American singers Actresses from Colorado People from Auburn, Nebraska People from Castle Rock, Colorado University of Northern Colorado alumni University of California, Irvine alumni American lesbian actresses 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women singers 21st-century American women singers Singers from Nebraska Singers from Colorado LGBT people from Nebraska LGBT people from Colorado 21st-century LGBT people