Ann Harada

Ann Chiemi Harada, born February 3, 1964, is an American actress and singer whose Broadway career has spanned from 1988 to 2026. A native of Honolulu, Hawaii, she attended the Punahou School, where she was active in theatre, before going on to study at Brown University. After relocating to New York City, she worked with producer Suzanne Schwartz, performed with the New York City Gay Men's Chorus, and appeared in cabaret before making her Broadway debut in M. Butterfly.

Harada earned her Equity card in 1987 when she was cast in Maury Yeston and Larry Gelbart's 1,2,3,4,5 at Manhattan Theatre Club. She became a member of the Vineyard Theatre's Community of Artists and participated in four original musicals there, among them Hit the Lights! and the world premiere of Brooklynite, which opened February 25, 2015. In 1998, she starred in the National Asian American Theatre Company's production of Falsettoland, with Peter Marks of The New York Times singling out her rendition of "Holding to the Ground" as a "full-throttle success." That same year she appeared in a small role in Todd Solondz's film Happiness. She was part of the original Broadway company of Seussical in 2000, having also participated in the show's first workshop and all of its pre-Broadway iterations.

Harada is best known for originating the role of Christmas Eve in Avenue Q. Lyricist Amanda Green recommended her to writers Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, and Harada was present from the show's first performance at the York Theatre in 2000. She opened the production at the Vineyard Theatre in March 2003 and moved with it to Broadway that July. Ben Brantley of The New York Times described her delivering "a full-throated ballad in the manner of a 1950's musical diva...in a shivery, rafters-shaking alto," while Hilton Als of The New Yorker called her "a funny girl who can sing, act, and let the audience in on the joke all at the same time." After taking parental leave in late 2004 and returning in early 2005, she departed the Broadway company on February 26, 2006. She then opened the London production of Avenue Q at the Noël Coward Theatre in the West End in June 2006, playing her final performance there on November 18, 2006, making her the only actor to have played Christmas Eve in both the Broadway and West End productions. Harada returned to the Broadway company on July 6, 2009, remaining through the show's closing on September 13, 2009. Beginning in 2009, she also reprised the character for a series of one-night-only Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS benefits, originally titled Christmas Eve with Christmas Eve, which later became Christmas Eve's Holiday Hunkfest; the final edition took place on December 14, 2016.

On Broadway, Harada joined the company of Les Misérables on April 24, 2007, playing Madame Thénardier and replacing Jenny Galloway, before departing the production on October 30, 2007. She was in the original cast of 9 to 5 as Kathy, performing through June 21, 2009. From January 2013 to December 2014, she originated the role of the stepsister Charlotte in the Broadway production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, with Variety noting that she gave "a hoot of a perf." She reprised the role of Jack's Mother in the Broadway revival of Into the Woods beginning September 27, 2022, having first played the part in the Encores! production in May 2022, where The New York Times described her as a "comic genius" in a Critic's Pick review. Her other Broadway credits include Hair and Chess.

Beyond Broadway, Harada appeared in eighteen episodes of NBC's Smash as Linda the stage manager and reprised the role in a one-night-only concert of Bombshell on June 8, 2015, performing "I Never Met a Wolf Who Didn't Love to Howl." She starred in the Apple TV+ musical comedy series Schmigadoon! from 2021 to 2023 as Florence Menlove, the wife of the Mayor, singing "He's a Queer One, That Man o' Mine" in the series' third episode. In February 2025, she reprised and originated the stage version of Florence Menlove in the world premiere of Schmigadoon! as a stage musical at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. She also appeared in Wes Anderson-directed commercials for AT&T and guest-starred on the Disney Channel series Johnny and the Sprites, singing the Laurence O'Keefe song "Everything Must Go" in an episode that premiered March 22, 2008.

Among her notable regional and off-Broadway credits, Harada played the triple role of the Emperor of Japan, a French admiral, and a whorehouse madam in John Doyle's staging of Pacific Overtures at Classic Stage Company, which ran from May 4 to June 18, 2017; the Wall Street Journal noted she was "especially good" in the part. On April 26, 2020, she joined three Pacific Overtures castmates for Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration, performing "Someone in a Tree" in a split-screen video format; Wesley Morris of The New York Times named it one of the best performances of 2020, and the production won the 2021 Drama League Award for Outstanding Digital Concert Production. In May 2022, she played Jack's Mother in the Encores! production of Into the Woods prior to her Broadway run. In November 2023, she originated the role of Myra Babbitt in the world premiere of Babbitt at La Jolla Playhouse. Her Muny credits include Ms. Darbus and Ms. Tenny in High School Musical on Stage! in 2008, Maggie Jones in 42nd Street and a role in Mamma Mia! in 2016, and Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast in 2023. In early 2020, she played Pile of Poo in the musical Emojiland, and in June 2024 she appeared in the American premiere of Lucy Kirkwood's The Welkin at the Atlantic Theater Company.