Kate Reinders (born December 10, 1980
) is an American actress and singer, who has performed as lead and
understudy in several
Broadway shows. Reinders was born in
Seattle,
Washington, but raised in
Spring Lake, Michigan. She attended
Western Michigan Christian High School, graduating in 1998.
Career
Reinders' Broadway debut was in ''
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' as a
swing
Swing or swinging may refer to:
Apparatus
* Swing (seat), a hanging seat that swings back and forth
* Pendulum, an object that swings
* Russian swing, a swing-like circus apparatus
* Sex swing, a type of harness for sexual intercourse
* Swing rid ...
and understudy for characters Amy Lawrence and Becky Thatcher. She next joined the 2002 Broadway revival of ''
Into the Woods'' as an understudy for Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Milky White, and Rapunzel. Her first starring role was in the 2003 revival of ''
Gypsy'' as June; she went on to play Caroline in the 2005
jukebox musical ''
Good Vibrations''.
Reinders played
Glinda in the 2005 Chicago production of ''
Wicked'', alongside
Ana Gasteyer as
Elphaba
Elphaba Thropp is a fictional character in '' Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West'' by Gregory Maguire, as well as in the Broadway and West End adaptations, ''Wicked''.
In the original 1900 L. Frank Baum book ''The Wonde ...
; for this role, she received a
Joseph Jefferson Award nomination for Best Actress in a Principal Role. She and Gasteyer finished their runs in the Chicago company on January 22, 2006. On May 30, 2006 Reinders replaced
Megan Hilty as Glinda in the Broadway production. While playing this role she performed "Popular" in a Daily Double about ''Wicked'' on an all-celebrity episode of
Jeopardy!. TV personality
Nancy Grace gave the correct question. Reinders ended her run on January 7, 2007, along with former Chicago co-star Ana Gasteyer.
Reinders performed in the show ''Party Come Here'', which ran as part of the Williamstown Theatre Festival from July 25 through August 5, 2007. She appeared in the play ''The Fabulous Life of a Size Zero'' at the
Off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
DR2 Theater in 2007.
Reinders was also a member of the band Tastiskank, along with
Sarah Litzsinger. Reinders and Litzsinger co-starred opposite
Constantine Maroulis
Constantine James Maroulis (; born September 17, 1975) is an American actor and rock singer. He was the sixth-place finalist on the fourth season of the reality television series '' American Idol'', and received a nomination for the Tony Award ...
in an independent TV pilot called ''Teachers.'' She also had a recurring role as Ginger on the third season of the television series ''
Ugly Betty''. Reinders starred as a regular character, "Paula Morgan", on the
Lifetime
Lifetime may refer to:
* Life expectancy, the length of time a person is expected to remain alive
Arts, entertainment, and media
Music
* Lifetime (band), a rock band from New Jersey
* ''Life Time'' (Rollins Band album), by Rollins Band
* ...
series ''
Sherri'' starring former ''
The View'' co-host
Sherri Shepherd. The show premiered on October 5, 2009.
Reinders returned to the
Gershwin Theatre on October 27, 2008, and took part in ''The Yellow Brick Road Not Taken'', a selection of scenes and songs cut from early drafts of the musical ''Wicked''.
Reinders appears in the
Mohegan Sun
Mohegan Sun is an American casino, owned and operated by the Mohegan Tribe on of their reservation, along the banks of the Thames River in Uncasville, Connecticut. It has of gambling space.
It is in the foothills of southeastern Connecticut, ...
commercial "Everyone's Invited", singing to the tune of the
Rick James song "
Super Freak" alongside former Wicked co-star
Saycon Sengbloh
Saycon Sengbloh (born October 23, 1977) is an American actress and singer. She was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play and won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play and an Obie Award for Outstandi ...
. She appears in the concert revue ''For The Record: Baz Luhrmann'' in Los Angeles, presented by ''ROCKLA'' for ''Show at Barre''. It opened February 12, 2011, and closed June 30, 2011, with
Jenna Leigh Green,
Arielle Jacobs, and
Tracie Thoms. Reinders voices the character Jezebel in the video game ''
Saints Row: Gat out of Hell''.
Reinders originated the role of Portia in the Broadway musical comedy ''
Something Rotten!'', which opened April 22, 2015, at the
St. James Theatre
The St. James Theatre, originally Erlanger's Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 246 West 44th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1927, it was designed by Warren and Wetmore in a neo-Georgian style a ...
. Her last performance was on July 16, 2016.
Reinders was seen recently on Broadway as the standby for Corky in ''
Meteor Shower
A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate, or originate, from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extre ...
''.
It was announced on October 8, 2018, that Reinders would assume the role of
Cynthia Weil
Cynthia Weil (born October 18, 1940) is an American songwriter who wrote many songs together with her husband Barry Mann.
Life and career
Weil was born in New York City, and was raised in a Conservative Jewish family. Her father was Morris Wei ...
in the Broadway production of ''
Beautiful: The Carole King Musical'', replacing
Kara Lindsay on October 19. As of 2019, she has been portraying Miss Jenn in the
Disney+ series ''
High School Musical: The Musical: The Series''.
Personal life
Reinders was born on December 10, 1980, in
Seattle,
Washington. She married fellow actor Andrew Samonsky in May 2016.
Reinders gave birth to her son Luke in 2017.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Theatre
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
*
* Kate Reinder
JoyHog! Inquisitor.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reinders, Kate
American musical theatre actresses
Living people
People from Muskegon, Michigan
1980 births
Actresses from Michigan
Singers from Michigan
Singers from Washington (state)
Actresses from Seattle
People from Spring Lake, Michigan
21st-century American women