ABOUT ELENA

Elena Shaddow was last seen on Broadway in The Visit playing Ottile Schell, written by Terence McNally, John Kander and Fred Ebb (John Doyle, dir) and starring Chita Rivera.  On television she was prominently featured as Sister Sophia in NBC’s The Sound of Music Live! starring Carrie Underwood. She has also appeared on CBS’s Conviction & Person of Interest, ABC’s Time After Time and Warner Brothers Films’ The Intern. She originated the role of Francesca Johnson to critical acclaim in the pre-Broadway production of The Bridges of Madison County at Williamstown Theater Festival, directed by Bartlett Sher and written by Jason Robert Brown and Marsha Norman. On Broadway she starred as Anne Dindon in the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of La Cage Aux Folles at the Longacre Theater. Her past Broadway productions include The Woman in White (Trevor Nunn dir.), Fiddler on the Roof and Nine (both directed by David Leveaux), Sweet Smell of Success (Nicholas Hytner dir.), and Les Misérables.  Off Broadway, Elena starred as Fanny in Fanny at City Center Encores! She was also a member of the Greek Chorus in The Bacchae directed by Joanne Akalitis at The Delacorte Theater as part of The Public Theater's New York Shakespeare Festival. In London, Elena had the honor of playing Magnolia Hawkes in Show Boat at the Royal Albert Hall, the first musical of its size to be staged in said venue, opposite the wonderful John Owen Jones.  (Francesca Zambello, dir). Elena also had the distinct honor to originate the role of Clara Johnson in the First National Tour of The Light in the Piazza (2007 Helen Hayes Best Actress Nomination) opposite Christine Andreas (Bartlett Sher, dir), to critical acclaim.  Some of her favorite regional credits include Maria in The Sound of Music and Lili in Carnival! (both at Papermill Playhouse), Marian Paroo in The Music Man and Cinderella in Into the Woods (both at The Muny), Olivia in Twelfth Night and Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest, (both at Shakespeare Theatre of NJ), and Lupita in the world premiere of Frank Loesser's Señor Discretion Himself (Arena Stage - 2005 Helen Hayes Best Actress Nomination). Recent readings/workshops include Superhero by John Logan & Tom Kitt, Anastasia by Terence McNally, Lynn Ahrens & Steven Flaherty, MTC’s The Unknown Soldier by Michael Friedman & Daniel Goldstein (Trip Cullman, dir), Mrs. Hughes (Kate Whorisky, dir), The Unsinkable Molly Brown (Kathleen Marshall, dir) and Love Never Dies by Andrew Lloyd Weber (Jack O'Brien, dir). Elena has been seen in such concert venues as New York City's 54 Below and The Metropolitan Room, London's Royal Albert Hall, The Fox Theatre in St. Louis, New Brunswick's State Theater, Syracuse’s Crouse-Hinds Theater, the Newport Performing Arts Center, and Wilkes-Barre's F. M. Kirby Center, to name a few. Elena graduated from New York University's Steinhardt School with a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance. She is originally from Chagrin Falls, Ohio, married to the amazing Michael Harrington, and they are the super lucky parents of Adelina, 9, and Liam, 5.