She moved to New York in 1992 and originated roles in various workshops, including Frank Wildhorn's Jekyll & Hyde, Stephen Schwartz's show Snapshots, Polly Pen's The Night Governess and the Marvin Hamlisch/Craig Carnelia/Nora Ephron musical Imaginary Friends.
She created the role of "Emily" (young Scrooge's love interest) in the 1994 Alan Menken/Lynn Ahrens musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol at the Paramount Theatre at Madison Square Garden.
[4] Other Broadway credits include Side Show (1997), James Joyce's The Dead (1999; with Christopher Walken), The Full Monty (2001) and Dinner at Eight, where she was nominated for the Outer Critics Circle Award.
Skinner's role as one half of a pair of conjoined twins in Side Show earned her critical acclaim and a Tony Award nomination shared with co-star Alice Ripley.
That year John Kani and Winston Ntshona, two South African actors, won a nod for the Athol Fugard double bill Sizwe Banzi Is Dead and The Island.
[26] The program includes songs and anecdotes from her storied career that highlight Skinner's versatility as a singing actress and run the gamut from comedic to heartrending to uplifting.
At the Kennedy Center she appeared in Merrily We Roll Along and Company during the 2002 Sondheim Celebration,[27] played Agnes Gooch in Mame (2006),[28] starred in their production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2004), and has performed in concert there in the Barbara Cook Spotlight Series twice.
In November 2012 she originated the starring role of Adelaide, a diva mouse, in The Great American Mousical directed by Julie Andrews based on her book, at the Norma Terris Theatre at Goodspeed Musicals in Chester, Connecticut.
[37][38] In 2015, she played the roles of Charlotte in A Little Night Music at the American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco[39] and Sandra in Big Fish at the Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma in July 2015.
[41] Her Stepmother was lauded as a scene stealer[42] in the COVID-delayed (originally scheduled for 2019) world premiere of the Broadway-bound Britney Spears musical, Once Upon a One More Time, in December 2021.
She appeared as Matron Mama Morton in The Muny's 2022 production of Chicago[43] and received accolades for her turn as Desiree Armfelt in Barrington Stage Company's A Little Night Music.