Biography
Born on March 19, 1960, in Switzerland, British singer and actress Maria Friedman entered the world as the daughter of Russian violinist Leonard Friedman and concert pianist Clair Friedman. The household relocated to Germany soon afterward, where her father joined the Bremen Philharmonic, yet her parents separated when she reached age five, prompting her mother to bring Friedman along with her two sisters and brother to England. Drawn to music, she first studied cello before setting the instrument aside. Following an uneven scholastic path that included a short enrollment at Arts Educational School, she moved in with her boyfriend, dancer Ronald Brine, in London while still sixteen or younger; the pair later married in 1985. A string of non-musical positions filled her early working years until singing gigs surfaced, securing her Equity card by 1980. Her stage debut occurred in the chorus of a West End revival of Oklahoma!, which premiered September 17, 1980, and closed September 19, 1981; she appears on the cast album without any solo audibility. Regional engagements came next, leading to a minor role in Blondel that opened in the West End on November 9, 1983, ran until September 22, 1984, and yielded a cast album. Her subsequent notable credit arrived via a featured spot in the West End revue Blues in the Night, which began June 12, 1987, produced a cast recording, and held her through February 1988. More regional work preceded her return to the West End in the play-with-music Ghetto, staged from April 27 to November 9, 1989; during the same span she contributed to a studio cast recording of The Student Prince. Her performances drew the notice of Stephen Sondheim, resulting in her participation on a March 1990 studio cast recording of A Little Night Music and her starring turn as Dot in the first West End mounting of Sunday in the Park with George, which opened March 15 and ran through June 16, 1990. In 1991 she joined the original studio cast album of Off the Wall. Beginning that September she gained television prominence in the series Casualty, remaining until February 1992. On April 14, 1992, she led a revival of Merrily We Roll Along in Leicester that closed May 9 and later generated a cast album. Her next West End appearance came in Square Rounds, which opened October 1 and ran through January 16, 1993. In November 1993 she portrayed Sally Bowles on a studio cast recording of Cabaret. From February 1, 1994, she spent three months in the play April in Paris while launching her one-woman show Maria Friedman by Special Arrangement, which earned her first Olivier Award. That August she gave birth to son Toby, fathered by Jeremy Sams. In 1995 she resumed cabaret with the new solo program Maria Friedman by Extra Special Arrangement and used these shows as the foundation for her debut solo album, Maria Friedman, later reissued as Broadway Baby. In October 1995 she performed in The Break of Day in Leicester before its London transfer on November 28, where it ran until January 13, 1996. She next entered Sondheim’s Passion, which toured and then opened in London on March 26, continuing through September 28; the role brought her second Olivier Award, for Best Actress in a Musical, plus a cast album. On March 11, 1997, she appeared in the first London production of Lady in the Dark, which ran through August 2 and produced its own cast recording. In November 1998 she joined the London revival of Chicago as a replacement, remaining through June 1999, taking a four-month hiatus, and returning until February 2000. On July 18, 2000, she starred in the new West End musical The Witches of Eastwick, staying until June 2001 and appearing on the cast album. April 2002 marked the start of another one-woman show in London; that summer she gave birth to her second son, Alfie. On March 19, 2003, she returned to the West End in Ragtime, which closed June 14 and secured her third Olivier Award. She brought the solo show to New York’s Café Carlyle in 2003. In 2004 she issued her second solo album, Maria Friedman Live. Her next London musical, The Woman in White, opened September 14, 2004, under Andrew Lloyd Webber’s involvement; she remained until May 2005 and featured on the cast album. She traveled to New York for her Broadway debut in the same show, which began previews in October. Breast cancer was diagnosed during this period, necessitating treatment, yet she recovered enough to perform on the November 17, 2005, Broadway opening, earning favorable reviews even as the production closed February 19, 2006. She revisited the Café Carlyle for a month-long engagement beginning May 2, 2006, coinciding with the American release of Now and Then, a reissue of the 1995 album Maria Friedman augmented by two new tracks: “Smile” and a rendition of “Children and Art” from Sunday in the Park with George accompanied on piano by Stephen Sondheim.
Albums
