Maria Friedman

Maria Friedman ( Freedman; born 19 March 1960) is a British actress and director, best known for her work in musical theatre.

She is an eight-time Laurence Olivier Award nominee, winning three. Her first win was for her 1994 one-woman show, By Special Arrangement. She has also twice won Best Actress in a Musical for the original London productions of Passion and Ragtime.

She played Elaine Peacock on EastEnders from 2014 to 2017. In 2023 the role was recast with Harriet Thorpe taking over the role of Elaine.

Friedman was the narrator in the 1999 straight to video version of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Early life
Maria Freedman was born in Switzerland, one of four children of Clair Llewelyn (née Sims), a concert pianist, and Leonard Friedman ( Freedman), a violinist for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Her younger sister is the theatre director and producer Sonia Friedman; other siblings are violinist Richard Friedman (now deceased) and Dr Sarah Beecham. Her father was from a Russian-Jewish immigrant family, whereas her mother is English. She began her education in Germany (where her family moved), and by the age of five moved with her family to England after the divorce of her parents.

Career
In 1989, she appeared in the lead female role of Hayyah in the play Ghetto by Joshua Sobol at the Olivier Theatre in London. In the following year she appeared in another Royal National Theatre production as Dot in Sunday in the Park with George by Stephen Sondheim.

She won an Olivier Award for her one-woman cabaret Maria Friedman By Special Arrangement and another Olivier Award (Best Actress in a Musical) in 1997 for starring in Sondheim's Passion. She appeared in Passion in the West End at the Queen's Theatre in 1996 as Fosca. She starred in Chicago in the West End at the Adelphi Theatre as Roxie starting in 1998.

In the 1999 film of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, she played the narrator. She played the role of Mother in the West End production of Ragtime at the Piccadilly Theatre starting in March 2003, winning the 2004 Olivier Award, Best Actress in a Musical.

In 2004, she originated the role of Marian Halcombe in Lloyd Webber's musical The Woman in White in the West End and on Broadway in 2005. As previews for The Woman in White started for the Broadway production, she was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer and left the show to have surgery to have the lump removed. Less than a week after the surgery she returned to the stage for the previews and performed on the official opening night. She said she would begin radiation treatment for the cancer in December 2005. The Broadway production closed after only 109 performances on 22 February 2006, in part due to her and co-star Michael Ball's frequent absences due to illness. (Friedman had planned a six-week absence for further treatment, with Judy Kuhn to be her replacement, but remained for the duration of the run once the closing was announced.)

As well as other musical shows, Friedman participated in Hey, Mr. Producer!, the concert celebrating the works of Sir Cameron Mackintosh, in which she sang "You Could Drive a Person Crazy," "Broadway Baby," and "How Many Tears?" Similarly, she participated in Sondheim Tonight live at London's Barbican Centre, singing "Losing My Mind" (from Follies) and "More" (from the film Dick Tracy). She has also had several one woman shows: Maria Friedman – By Special Arrangement and Maria Friedman – By Extra Special Arrangement and has performed these in several top cabaret venues in both the UK (most recently at Trafalgar Studios) and New York City, including several engagements at the Café Carlyle. She can be heard on many cast recordings; and has released several solo albums including Maria Friedman, Maria Friedman Live, Now and Then, and Maria Friedman Celebrates The Great British Songbook. Friedman has won three Laurence Olivier Awards and been nominated for seven.

In 2010, Friedman appeared as a soloist in the BBC Proms tribute to Stephen Sondheim at the Royal Albert Hall, London. She sang the role of Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd opposite Bryn Terfel. In October 2014, Friedman joined the cast of EastEnders as Elaine Peacock, the mother of established character Linda Carter (Kellie Bright). She has since appeared in December 2014 and February to March 2015 to date, before returning for a three-month stint in September 2015.

Friedman has directed several musicals. Having previously appeared as an actor in a 1992 production of Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, in 2012 she directed a revival of the musical, which started at the Menier Chocolate Factory and transferred to the West End at the Harold Pinter Theatre in April to July 2013. This production of Merrily We Roll Along subsequently ran at the Huntington Theatre Company in Boston, Massachusetts starting in September 2017, directed by Friedman. An off-Broadway production of Merrily directed by Friedman based on her Menier Chocolate Factory staging premiered at the New York Theatre Workshop in 2022 and subsequently transferred to Broadway at the Hudson Theatre the following year. In 2015, she directed a revival of High Society at The Old Vic Theatre. The production was played in the round. She directed a revival of Stepping Out in the West End at the Vaudeville Theatre in 2017.

Personal life
Friedman has two sons, one with director and writer Jeremy Sams and one with cameraman Oleg Poupko. She was married to dancer Roland Brine; her husband is Adrian Der Gregorian.

Stage productions

 * Blues in the Night (1987) - Girl with a Date
 * Ghetto (1989) - Hayyah
 * Sunday in the Park with George (1990) - Dot/Marie
 * Square Rounds (1992) - Munitionette; Clara Haber
 * Merrily We Roll Along (1992) - Mary Flynn (Haymarket Theatre, Leicester)
 * By Special Arrangement (1994) - Herself
 * April in Paris (1994) - Bet
 * By Extra Special Arrangement (1995) - Herself
 * The Break of Day (1995) (Royal Court) - Nina
 * Passion (1996) - Fosca
 * Lady in the Dark (1997) - Liza Elliot
 * Chicago (1998) - Roxie Hart
 * The Witches of Eastwick (2000) - Sukie
 * Ragtime (2003) - Mother
 * The Woman in White (2005) - Marian
 * Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) - Mrs. Lovett
 * The King and I (2009) (Royal Albert Hall) - Anna Leonowens
 * Merrily We Roll Along (2012–13, 2017, 2022–24) (as director)
 * Fiddler on the Roof (2019) - Golde

Filmography

 * Red Dwarf (1989) - Waitress
 * Heil Honey I'm Home! (1990) - Eva Braun
 * Casualty (1991–92) - Patricia Baynes
 * Hey, Mr. Producer! (1998) - Performer
 * Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1999) - The Narrator
 * EastEnders (2014–17) - Elaine Peacock
 * The Sound of Music Live (2015) - Mother Abbess (UK version of The Sound of Music Live!)