Beth Leavel (born November 1, 1955) is an American stage and screen actress and singer. She is best known for her performances in Broadway musicals such as The Drowsy Chaperone, Baby It's You! and The Prom, receiving Tony Award nominations for all three and winning for The Drowsy Chaperone.
Her Broadway debut was in the 1980 production of 42nd Street as a replacement for Annie Reilly.[3] Leavel was in the original Broadway cast of Crazy for You (1992) as Tess Parker and an understudy for Polly Baker.[4]
In 1999, she played the roles of Mabel and Mrs. Lydia Bixby in The Civil War.[5] Leavel returned to the Broadway revival of 42nd Street in 2001 as a standby for Maggie Jones and Dorothy Brock, eventually playing the latter.[6]
Leavel succeeded Andrea Martin as Frau Blucher in the Broadway production of Young Frankenstein on July 15, 2008, and remained with the show until it closed on January 4, 2009.[8][9] She starred in the world premiere of the burlesque-rich musical Minsky's in Los Angeles, which ran at the Center Theatre in the Ahmanson Theatre from January 21-March 1, 2009; the musical also starred her former Young Frankenstein co-stars Christopher Fitzgerald and Sarrah Strimel.[10]
She starred as Donna Sheridan in the Broadway production of Mamma Mia!, succeeding Carolee Carmello in the role on September 22, 2009, and leaving the show on October 10, 2010.[12]
Leavel was cast as Bea in the musical Something Rotten! and began the workshop/reading for it, held in 2014.[19] Before the musical opened on Broadway (in March 2015) she was replaced by Heidi Blickenstaff because "the writers decided that the character needed to be younger so she could become pregnant, a key plot point."[20]
.jpg)
