Marcia Mitzman Gaven
Since studying at the High School of Performing Arts and the State University of New York at Purchase, she has appeared in many musicals during her career singing in both mezzo-soprano and soprano roles.
In the 1980s she appeared in the musicals The Rocky Horror Show, Oliver!, Zorba, Nine, Anything Goes, Chess, and Welcome to the Club, and in the operas Brigadoon, South Pacific, and Sweeney Todd.
Gaven has also made guest star appearances in numerous television shows and films, playing both live-action and animated roles.
She said in a 1987 interview with The New York Times that "they kicked me out because I missed a major rehearsal", and she never applied for readmission since she had already made her first appearance on Broadway in Grease by then.
"[3] Gaven has also been noted for her strong voice, and was once told by a sound technician at An Evening Dinner Theater in Elmsford, New York, that "We always turn off the mikes when you sing" because she did not need amplification.
[3] In March 1979, when Gaven was twenty years old, she served as the replacement actress for the character Betty Rizzo in the original Broadway production of Grease.
[2] In late 1980, she was cast in the lead role of Janet in the musical The Rocky Horror Show that ran for six nights at Warner Theatre.
[9] That same year, in the Broadway revival of Zorba, Gaven played the role of The Widow who is eventually stoned to death by the townspeople after being held responsible for the suicide of a young boy who fell in love with her.
[3] In Pioneer Theatre Company's fall 1988 production of Anything Goes, Gaven played the lead role of nightclub singer Reno Sweeney.
It is set on an ocean liner on which Reno helps the character Billy Crocker win the heart of the engaged Hope Harcourt who he has fallen in love with.
While reviewing the musical for the Deseret News, Joseph Walker commented that Gaven "is sensational as Reno Sweeney, the saucy, sassy hoofer-with-a-heart-of-gold.
[18] A critic for the Houston Chronicle commended her performance, writing that she "acts the compassionate Nancy with warmth and spirit, and sings in a strong voice full of character.
[2] John Simon criticized the latter musical in a New York Magazine review but praised Gaven's performance, writing: "The cast ranges from the charmless to the hopeless [...] in this mess.
"[22] Associated Press drama critic Michael Kuchwara also wrote negatively about Welcome to the Club while giving praise to Gaven for projecting "a sympathy [to her character] that isn't apparent in the book.
"[21] In December 1990, Gaven once again appeared as Nancy in a revival of Oliver!—this time in a production at 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, Washington.
[25][26] During spring 1992, she played the love interest of a male songwriter and his best friend in the musical The Tin Pan Man (set in 1905) at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts.
[27] Starting at the beginning of July 1992, Gaven appeared in a new musical called The Who's Tommy at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego.
[34] The Broadway production featured some changes to the musical, such as a new song devoted to Tommy's parents that Gaven thought "helps show their side of the story.
She glances across the room at the Tony citation—recognizing her nomination for best featured actress in a musical—as she describes how her throat became infected due to a reaction to the oil in a haze-making compound that designers pump onstage to enhance lighting effects.
[47] Gaven returned to Chess in the summer of 1995 in small-scale production at Hudson Theatre, this time as the lead character Florence Vassy.
[48] The story involves a romantic triangle between the two top players, an American and a Russian, in a world chess championship, and the woman Florence who manages one and falls in love with the other.
[51] From June to September 1997, Gaven played the role of Mother in the Los Angeles production (pre-Broadway) of the musical Ragtime at Shubert Theatre.
[2] The musical tells the story of three ethnic groups in the United States: White Anglo-Saxon Protestants, African-Americans in Harlem, and European immigrants.
[52] Ragtime director Frank Galati praised her in the Los Angeles Times for her "grace and beauty and magnificent voice" and her "extraordinarily keen intelligence—she's a very deep reader of text," and commented that "she seizes the stage with energy.
"[2] Many critics praised Gaven as well,[53][54][55][56][57][58] though Laurie Winer of the Los Angeles Times wrote that she played Mother "valiantly but with a shade too much effort.
It ran for six days at the Community Center Theater in Sacramento, California, and featured Gaven in the role of the philosopher Hesione.
[64] On December 15, 2008, celebrating the fifteenth anniversary of The Who's Tommy, Gaven and the rest of the original Broadway cast reunited for a concert at August Wilson Theatre in New York City.
[72][73][74][69][75][76] Maggie Roswell returned to The Simpsons in 2002[66] after reaching a deal with Fox to record her lines from her home,[77] and Gaven has not worked for the show since that year.
