Jessica Molaskey

Jessica Molaskey, born January 9, 1962, in Wolcott, Connecticut, is an American actress and singer whose Broadway career has spanned from 1979 to 2025. Her stage credits include Sunday in the Park with George, Parade, Dream, Chess, Tommy, Les Misérables, Crazy for You, Oklahoma!, Cats, and City of Angels. In 2025, she is set to portray Miss Jane in the Broadway premiere of Floyd Collins, opposite Jeremy Jordan.

Beyond Broadway, Molaskey has accumulated an extensive body of Off-Broadway and regional work. She originated the role of Alma in the world premiere of the musical adaptation of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown and Taylor Mac, at the Goodman Theater in Chicago. Her Off-Broadway credits include Jason Robert Brown's Songs for a New World in 1995, A Man of No Importance at Lincoln Center, Dream True at the Vineyard Theatre, Stephen Sondheim's Wise Guys at New York Theatre Workshop, and The Most Happy Fella as part of the Encores! series at City Center. Most recently, she appeared in The Connector at MCC Theater Company, earning nominations for both a Lucille Lortel Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award. Her earlier touring credits include the first national tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Molaskey's work extends into television and film. She portrayed Sister Bertha in NBC's The Sound of Music Live!, which starred Carrie Underwood, and her voice was featured in the film adaptation of Chicago. As a concert performer, she has appeared at venues including Carnegie Hall and Disney Hall, and at jazz festivals in Montreal and Monterey.

She has released six solo albums: Pentimento, A Good Day, Make Believe, Sitting in Limbo, A Kiss to Build a Dream On, and Portraits of Joni. Her concert Portraits of Joni, presented as part of Lincoln Center's American Songbook series, featured her daughter Madeleine Pizzarelli on guitar and vocals. Molaskey has also contributed as a songwriter, co-writing "Cradle and All" with Ricky Ian Gordon for Audra McDonald's Build a Bridge album and "The Greedy Tadpole," part of a Carnegie Hall commission for McDonald based on the Seven Deadly Sins.

Molaskey is married to jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli, with whom she has performed at the Cafe Carlyle for nearly two decades. The two also co-host Radio Deluxe, a weekly radio program that airs in 60 cities across the United States and Canada.