She made her Broadway Debut in THE FIRST (1981), and then appeared in NINE (1982), which was staged by Tommy Tune and had a cast of 21 women (including Diva Anita Morris), and only one male adult(Raul Julia), BABY (1983) with Liz Callaway and Beth Fowler, and STARDUST (1986). Her other Broadway credits during the 80's included revivals of THREE MUSKETEERS and THE THREEPENNY OPERA (re-titled as 3 Penny Opera.) In the latter show Criswell played Lucy, one of the leading roles in a production that was healed by the popular roxk singer Sting. (Listen to what this critic said about Kim's Performance in 3 PENNY- "Kim Criswell as Lucy Brown posesses one of the strongest voices in the cast" - Frank Rich. New York Times.)
Kim Criswell, Born July 19, in Hampton, VA. Graduate UCin. An Actress who came to prominence in stage musicals during the 80s, with a style and voice reminiscent of the much missed Ethel Merman. Criswell grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where, so she says, the "live theatre used to arrive on a bus and stay for just two nights. Her early influences were Julie Andrews, Barbara Streisand, and Judy Garland, and, like them, she started performing from an early age. After Graduating from high school, she studied musical theatre at the University of Cincinatti's College Conservatory of Music before moving to New York where she gained a featured part in a revival of ANNIE GET YOUR GUN.
She has appeared as the featured soloist with several of America's leading symphony orchestra, and took part in Concert stagings of Jerome Kern's SITTING PRETTY at Carnegie Hall, and George and Ira Gershwin's GIRL CRAZY at the Lincoln Center. She won the Helen Hayes Award for her performance in SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM, and played the role of Grizabella (the feline who sings "Memory") fro six months in the Los Angeles productio of Andrew Lloyd Webber's CATS.
Between 1989-1991 Criswell starred in three London Studio Recordings of famous Broadway Shows, ANYTHING GOES, KISS ME KATE, and ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, accompanied by a large orchestra directed by John McGlinn. He also conducted the London Sinfonietta when Criswell joined Brett Barret in COLE PORTER AND THE AMERICAN MUSICAL at the Royal Festival Hall. In September, 1991 she presented her one-woman show DOIN WHAT COMES NATURALLY, at the Shaw Theatre in London, and, just over a year later, co-starred with John Diedrich in a West End Revival of ANNIE GET YOUR GUN. The show was acclaimed by critics ("Criswell is the best Annie we've seen since Dolores Gray.") but it folded after less than two months.
In 1993 she appeared in two very different kind of shows in the UK. The first, ELEGIES FOR ANGELS, PUNKS AND RAGING QUEENS, was a musical play that purported to tell the real life stories of 33 individuals who have met their death through AIDS; while other, a touring nastalgia show, HOLLYWOOD AND BROADWAY II, with Bonnie Langford and Wayne Sleep, found her on more familiar ground.
Her 1993 record release were dissimilar too: THE LORELEI contained a mixture of well known and negelcted show tunes; while the THE HUMAN CRY turned out to be a pop album in a contemporary, and sometimes funky style, and the single "Moment of Weakness", demonstrated her ability to cross over to the pop scene.
During the remainder of the 90s Criswell has starred in musicals such as DAMES AT SEA (1996, Covent Garden Festival), THE SLOW DRAG (1997, Freedom and Whitehall theatres), OF THEE I SING (1998, Opera North), and featured prominantly in SIDE BY SIDE by Cole Porter (1998), a tribute to the famous composer at London's Pallace Theatre, with the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by by John McGlinn. She has also continued to appear regularly on the concert platform, in cabaret with pianist and musical director Wayne Marshall, as well as recording a number of Studio Cast Albums, including Simon Rattle's WONDERFUL TOWN. - Info from Yahoo! Music
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