June 29: musical theatre actress and singer Emily Skinner is 43-years-old today.

 

-----

Emily Scott Skinner was born June 29, 1970 in Richmond, Virginia. After attending college at Carnegie Mellon University, she moved to New York in 1992 and took part in a workshop of Jekyll and Hyde. A few years later, she created the role of "Emily" (young Scrooge's love interest) in the 1994 musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol at the Paramount Theatre at Madison Square Garden.

In 1997, Skinner joined the original Broadway cast of Jekyll and Hyde as an ensemble member and understudy for the leads of Emma and Lucy. During previews, Linda Eder, who played Lucy, developed laryngitis, and Skinner sang some of Lucy's songs from backstage, while Eder acted and sang some songs onstage.

Other Broadway credits include Side Show, James Joyce's The Dead, The Full Monty, the Encores! stagings of the Gershwin musical Pardon My English, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and "No Strings," all at New York City Center, and Broadway Actor's Fund benefit concert performances of Dreamgirls and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

Skinner has appeared Off-Broadway in numerous productions at The WPA Theater, Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theater Club, and the York Theatre. She has also directed several concerts in the "Broadway By the Year" series at Town Hall, New York City, including "Musicals of 1979" on June 16, 2008. She was also in the American premiere at Carnegie Hall of Jerry Springer: The Opera in 2008.

Skinner's role as one half of a pair of Siamese twins in Side Show earned her critical acclaim and a Tony Award nomination shared with co-star Alice Ripley. It was the first time in Tony history that two performers were co-nominated as a team for the Best Actress award.

Skinner played the role of "Mrs. Wilkinson" in Billy Elliot in Chicago, starting in March 2010, and since October 2010 has played the role in the Broadway production.

Skinner and Ripley have collaborated on three recordings: Duets, Unsuspecting Hearts, and Raw at Town Hall, taped live during their October 21, 2006 concert. Skinner also recorded a self-titled solo album, which was released in 2001.

She toured the U.S. in 2004 and 2005 in the Disney revue On the Record. She has also sung with orchestras around the world, including the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony, The Virginia Symphony, and The Sydney Pops.

####