Leigh Ann Larkin (born 1980) is an American actress and singer, best known for her performance as

June Havoc June Havoc (born Ellen Evangeline Hovick; November 8, 1912 – March 28, 2010) was a Canadian American actress, dancer, stage director and memoirist. Havoc was a child vaudeville performer under the tutelage of her mother Rose Thompson Hovick, ...

in the 2008 Broadway revival of the musical, '' Gypsy''.

Early life and education

Larkin was born Leigh Ann Wielgus on April 14 in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. She graduated from

North Hills High School North Hills High School is a suburban high school located in Ross Township, a northern suburb of Pittsburgh. It serves students in grades 9–12 in the North Hills School District. The school's mascot is the Indian and its official colors are r ...

in 1998. Larkin went on to study musical theater at the

University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) is a performing and media arts college of the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio. Initially established as the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in 1867, CCM is one of the ...

, graduating in 2002. Shortly after, she moved to

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Career

Larkin appeared in the Disney Theatrical national tour of '' On the Record'', and returned to Pittsburgh in May 2007 to star as Belle in ''

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' (''The Young American and Marine ...

'' at the

Pittsburgh Musical Theater Pittsburgh Musical Theater (PMT) is a professional theatre company located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1990, the company has since expanded with the educational programs offered by the Richard E. Rauh Conservatory of Musical Theater. ...

. She was seen on television in 2008 as Pepper Gleason on '' Lipstick Jungle'', as well as in ''

The Flight of the Conchords Flight of the Conchords is a New Zealand musical comedy duo formed in Wellington in 1998. The band consists of multi-instrumentalists Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. Beginning as a popular live comedy act in the early 2000s, the duo's comed ...

'' in 2009 and in ''

Elementary Elementary may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Elementary'' (Cindy Morgan album), 2001 * ''Elementary'' (The End album), 2007 * ''Elementary'', a Melvin "Wah-Wah Watson" Ragin album, 1977 Other uses in arts, entertainment, a ...

'' in December 2012. In 2007, Larkin performed the role of

in the ''

Encores! Encores! is a Tony-honored concert series dedicated to performing rarely heard American musicals, usually with their original orchestrations. Presented by New York City Center since 1994, Encores! has revived shows by Irving Berlin, Rodgers & ...

'' revival of '' Gypsy: A Musical Fable'', from July 9 to 29, 2007. The ''Encores!'' production transferred to Broadway, where it opened at the St. James Theatre on March 27, 2008, despite

Ben Brantley Benjamin D. Brantley (born October 26, 1954) is an American theater critic, journalist, editor, publisher and writer. He served as the chief theater critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1996 to 2017, and as co-chief theater critic from 2017 to ...

's slightly negative review in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. The show was originally scheduled to close in March 2009 on Patti Lupone's final performance, but closed on January 11, 2009 due to decreases in ticket sales. Larkin described her audition process in a March 2008 interview with ''Broadway.com'': Larkin next played the role of Petra in the 2009 Broadway revival of ''

A Little Night Music ''A Little Night Music'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler. Inspired by the 1955 Ingmar Bergman film ''Smiles of a Summer Night'', it involves the romantic lives of several couples. Its title is a ...

'', starring

Angela Lansbury Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury (October 16, 1925 – October 11, 2022) was an Irish-British and American film, stage, and television actress. Her career spanned eight decades, much of it in the United States, and her work received a great deal ...

and

Catherine Zeta-Jones Catherine Zeta-Jones (; born 25 September 1969) is a Welsh actress. Known for her versatility, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Tony Award. In 2010, she was appointed ...

. The revival opened at the

Walter Kerr Theatre The Walter Kerr Theatre, previously the Ritz Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 219 West 48th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was constructed for the Shub ...

on December 13, 2009. The production temporarily closed on June 20, 2010, and resumed on July 13, with new stars

Bernadette Peters Bernadette Peters ( ''née'' Lazzara; born February 28, 1948) is an American actress, singer, and children's book author. Over a career spanning more than six decades, she has starred in musical theatre, television and film, performed in solo co ...

as Desiree Armfeldt and

Elaine Stritch Elaine Stritch (February 2, 1925 – July 17, 2014) was an American actress, best known for her work on Broadway and later, television. She made her professional stage debut in 1944 and appeared in numerous stage plays, musicals, feature films a ...

as Madame Armfeldt. Peters and Stritch extended their contracts until January 9, 2011, when the production closed with 20 previews and 425 regular performances.Gans, Andrew
"Broadway's A Little Night Music, with Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch, Recoups"
. Playbill. January 6, 2011.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Larkin, Leigh Ann 1980s births Actresses from Pittsburgh American musical theatre actresses Living people University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music alumni 21st-century American women