Broadway Star, WMU, Barn Theatre Alum Marin Mazzie Dies at 57
One of the brightest stars on Broadway, actress Marin Mazzie, a WMU alumnus and Barn Theatre veteran, has died at the age of 57.
Entertainment Weekly reports Mazzie died peacefully, surrounded by family, after a three year battle with ovarian cancer. She is survived by her husband, actor Jason Danieley, her mother and brother.
Mazzie, born in Rockford, Illinois, was a Western Michigan University alumus. She also came back to work summer stock theatre at the Barn Theatre in Augusta. While performing at the Barn, Mazzie befriended composer Jonathan Larson, who would go on to write "Rent".
Mazzie's work highlighted her range. She performed comedy to drama, all equally well. Her Broadway debut was in Big River in the mid 1980's. Over the span of her career, she did classics like "Kiss Me, Kate" and "Man of La Mancha", comedies like Spamalot, and dramas, most notably "Into the Woods", "Enron" and "Ragtime". She was a three time Tony Award nominee.
She was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame for 2017, in a ceremony at the Gershwin Theatre held in November 2017
EW says Mazzie was also a "popular concert singer performing at venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Hollywood Bowl, and with the Boston Pops."