Theater News

Soap Stars on Stage

Brent Barrett, Kerry Butler, Norm Lewis, Judith Light, and Robert Newman are among the theater veterans who made a mark in daytime drama.

Laura Bonarrigo in Dance of the Seven-Headed Mouse
(© Carol Rosegg)
Laura Bonarrigo
in Dance of the Seven-Headed Mouse
(© Carol Rosegg)

Soap opera devotees are not just a particularly loyal group of people, but they also tend to have extremely long memories. So even decades after an actor has left the world of daytime drama, the performer’s role in a favorite show can still resonate with the fans. Here are 10 soap opera veterans who can be found trodding the theatrical boards around the country this month.

Brent Barrett
Brent Barrett is one of the crown jewels of musical theater, having played such iconic roles as The Count in Grand Hotel, Frank Butler in Annie Get Your Gun, the title role in The Phantom of the Opera, and the suave Billy Flynn in Chicago, a part he resumes on Broadway on July 7. But Barrett’s first big brush with fame was as the insanely jealous Tony Barclay on ABC’s All My Children, who accidentally killed the woman he loved, the adorable Jenny Gardner.

Laura Bonarrigo
In the current Off-Broadway play Dance of the Seven-Headed Mouse, Laura Bonarrrigo plays a woman who goes into a tailspin after the unexpected death of her daughter. But suffering is nothing new for this actress, who as Laura Koffman played the sweet but troubled Cassie Callison for many years on ABC’s One Life to Live, constantly dealing with the misguided actions of her mother, Dorian Lord.

Kerry Butler
One of the musical theater’s most beloved stars, Kerry Butler has shone on Broadway in Beauty and the Beast, Hairspray, Little Shop of Horrors and Xanadu. Later this month, she’ll play Brenda in the star-studded production of the new Marc Shaiman-Scott Wittman tuner Catch Me If You Can, which has a pre-Broadway tryout at Seattle’s Fifth Avenue Theater. But Butler has tried her hand at daytime as well, portraying the extremely unhappy Claudia Reston on One Life to Live with complete conviction.

Vanessa Bell Calloway
Audiences at the Pasadena Playhouse will no doubt enjoy the performance of this multi-talented star (and six-time NAACP Image Award nominee) in the crowd-pleasing musical Crowns. But All My Children watchers can truly say they knew her when, since she got her big break in 1985 as the sultry Yvonne Caldwell on the ABC sudser, before moving onto a successful career in nighttime television and feature films.

Jennifer Landon
The daughter of the late, great Michael Landon showed that acting was definitely in her genes during her multi-year run as Gwen Munson on the CBS drama As The World Turns, winning three Daytime Emmy Awards in the process. Later this month, her fans will have the chance to see her up close and personal in Pericles Redux, an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s play, at L.A.’s Kirk Douglas Theater.

Norm Lewis
Having appeared in such musicals as Side Show, Dessa Rose and The Wild Party — and now playing King Triton in Disney’s The Little Mermaid — Norm Lewis is one of the theater world’s most physically and vocally attractive performers. But this versatile actor proved to be equally well-suited to the demands of daytime drama during his run as assistant district attorney Keith McLean on All My Children.

Judith Light
(© Joseph Marzullo/WENN)
Judith Light
(© Joseph Marzullo/WENN)

Judith Light
Judith Light has shone brightly whether starring in the primetime television series Who’s The Boss and Ugly Betty or onstage in such dramatic fare as Wit, Colder Than Here, or A.R. Gurney’s Children, now at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. But she first gained attention — and lots of it — as One Life to Live‘s Karen Wolek, who tried to juggle the double life of upstanding doctor’s wife and small-town prostitute. Light not only earned her two consecutive Emmy Awards as Best Actress for her groundbreaking work, but many daytime viewers consider her to be among the finest actors ever to grace the genre.

Robert Newman
When the CBS drama Guiding Light goes off the air in September after a 57-year run, few actors will be missed more than the dynamic Robert Newman, who has spent almost two decades as businessman (and ladies man) Josh Lewis. These days, however, Newman is also practicing a different profession — onstage that is — as psychiatrist Pete Peterson in the Off-Broadway musical Sessions at the Algonquin Theater.

Charles Shaughnessy
It’s no mystery why Charles Shaughnessy continues to work; as viewers of the Barrington Stage Company’s upcoming production of Anthony Shaffer’s popular thriller Sleuth will discover. But long before he endeared himself to nighttime television viewers as Maxwell Sheffield on The Nanny, he was a daytime favorite as Shane Donovan on NBC’s Days of Our Lives.

Richard Shoberg
Many theatergoers who enter into the Snapple Theatre Center to see the long-running mystery drama Perfect Crime probably don’t even know who’s in the cast. But longtime All My Children viewers have a delightful surprise in store, since the show’s current ensemble includes Richard Shoberg, who has spent over three decades on the show as good guy Tom Cudahy (one of supervixen Erica Kane’s many, many, many ex-husbands.)