ANIKA LARSEN, Cambridge (Massachusetts)

Her professional debut was in Los Angeles production of RENT in 1997.

Other theatre credits in Broadway include RENT (Nederlander Theatre, 2000), CHESS IN CONCERT (New Amsterdam Theatre, 2003), ALL SHOOK UP (Palace theatre, 2005) and XANADU (Helen Hayes theatre, 2007). She has also worked in some Off-Broadway Shows as: ZANNA, DON´T performing Roberta (Rodney Kirk Theatre, 2002; and John Houseman Theatre, 2003), and HOW TO SAVE THE WORLD AND FIND TRUE LOVE IN 90 MINUTES performing  Julie Lemmon (New World Stages, 2006). She’s co-founder and Associate Artistic Director of Jaradoa Theater Company.

Currently she’s starring SHAFRIKA, THE WHITE GIRL in the Off-Broadway Vineyard Theatre, an auto-biographical Show written by herself. On July 6th she will join the Broadway company of AVENUE Q performing the role of  Kate Monster / Lucy The Slut.


The first musical you saw and/or most impressed you: ANNIE is the show that got me really obsessed about musicals when I was little.  Then in high school it was LES MIZ.  Nowadays it´s IN THE HEIGHTS!

You would like to make a duet with?  When I was little, I was so in love with Christopher Plummer in The Sound of Music that it made my heart hurt.  If I could travel through time and space and sing "Something Good" in the garden in Austria with him (even though I don´t think it´s actually him singing), I might just pass out cold.

Webber o Sondheim? Sondheim--he writes such incredible women!  Although I am determined to play Evita someday...

London or New York? Oh, London´s wonderful, but there´s no city like New York City!

Do you keep the programmes of the musicals you watch? Every one.

The worst moment you’ve had live on the stage was: (as a performer and/or as a spectator) In AVENUE Q, every time you see a puppet in a different costume, it´s a different puppet.  And a couple of times, I made the mistake of going on auto-pilot and bringing the wrong Kate Monster onstage, but not in such a different outfit that the audience would know.  Unfortunately, one time, instead of bringing out Kate in her nightgown, I brought out naked Kate, and I didn´t realize she was naked until I was onstage.  I was horrified!  But I had to keep going, to finish the scene.  I thought I was going to get fired.  Even though Kate was a puppet, I thought she was furious with me.  I cried all through intermission, even though most everyone backstage thought it was hilarious.

An unforgettable moment: (as a performer and/or as a spectator) Liza Minnelli came to see ZANNA, DON´T! and after I finished my solo, in the second between the end of the song and the audience´s applause, she yelled, "YES!"  I will never forget that sound.  She´s an extraordinary woman and her Sally Bowles in Cabaret is one of the performances I most admire ever.  To get her stamp of approval was unbelievable!

Do you have any superstitions before the opening night? Nope!  I don´t believe in superstition, just in being highly prepared.

A musical character that you would like to BE (not perform): Hmm... how about Petra in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC?  I don´t know about all the sleeping around, but I´d definitely love to have her capacity to live fully and freely in the moment, to relish life, and to shrug off the things that aren´t important.

A character of your opposite sex that you would like to perform: For me, it´s never that I secretly want to play characters that are male, it´s that often I secretly want to play parts that aren´t for white girls.  Which has a something to do with the issues I discuss in Shafrika, The White Girl.  I want to play Ti Moune in Once on this Island, or Kim in Miss Saigon, Sarah in Ragtime, or Anita in West Side Story.  The boys can keep their parts for themselves.  Women have it the best in musical theater!

What do you like best/least about your work? The best part of my work is that I get paid to do the thing I love to do most in this world, the thing that makes me feel most alive and most fully realized--how lucky is that?  The worst part is that every job is finite, so you are constantly looking for work, you are constantly hustling, and that is wearying.  There is no job security, no financial security, and that can be scary.  But, you know what?  It should be hard, or it wouldn´t be fair!

What is your favorite musical movie? THE SOUND OF MUSIC.  Absolutely.

The last CD/DVD related to Musicals that you have bought is: THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA cd.  Gorgeous.

What is your favorite line from a musical: From SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, Dot´s lyric: "No one is you, George, there we agree/ But no one is me, George, no one is ME!/ We do not belong together!"  It´s heartbreaking and liberating all at once.

Agree or disagree with TV Shows finding new Musical Stars: I don´t personally watch that kind of reality TV, but I think that anything that brings attention to the theater is good.

You feel proud of: I feel proud of the performance-based outreach programming that my theater company, Jaradoa Theater does to serve the communities of New York City.  www.jaradoatheater.org

Of this moment you’re living as an actress, the most important thing to you is: A good work/life balance.  Which means balancing performing for a salary that pays my bills with working for my theater company in ways that fulfill the part of me that wants to serve others, and still having time to have a personal life and foster my relationships with my loved ones!

Other projects you are working on: I don´t have time for anything else!