Kerstin Anderson

Kerstin Bridget Anderson, born September 10, 1994, in South Burlington, Vermont, is an American stage actress and singer whose career has spanned national tours, Broadway, and regional theatre across the United States. Her father, Frederick G. "Ted" Anderson, worked as a scientist with IBM, and her mother, Kathleen "Kathy" Kilcoyne, served as a college athletic director. Anderson began performing at an early age, and while a student at South Burlington High School she took on the title role in Peter Pan with the Lyric Theatre Company in 2010. Her high school years also included playing Asaka in Once on This Island in 2011 and Elle Woods in Legally Blonde in 2012. In addition to performing, she directed You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown in 2011 for Spotted Pup Productions, a newly formed community theatre company, and played Heidi in that organization's production of [title of show] in 2012. She also competed on her high school's dance team, which won the Vermont state championship during her junior year.

After graduating in 2013, Anderson enrolled at Pace University, where she starred as Clara in The Light in the Piazza, directed by Victoria Clark, and as Annie in The Visit. In 2014, before completing her degree, she played Shy in the Forestburgh Playhouse production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. She then left Pace after her second year to join the national tour of The Sound of Music, in which she was cast as Maria Von Trapp.

The Sound of Music tour launched in September 2015 and ran through July 2017. Critical reception of Anderson's performance was broadly positive. Writing in the Los Angeles Times, Margaret Gray described her soprano as "flawlessly soaring" and praised her physical presence in the role. Tim Smith of The Baltimore Sun noted her effectiveness as an actor, observing that she connected naturally with the children in the cast and conveyed Maria's spiritual and romantic journey with persuasion. Jordan Riefe of The Hollywood Reporter called her "a fine fit for the tricky role," while Bob Verini in Variety remarked on her "natural glow." For her work in the tour, Anderson received a 2017 IRNE Award nomination for Large Theater: Best Visiting Actress.

Anderson made her Broadway debut in the 2018 revival of My Fair Lady, appearing as Eliza Doolittle. She entered the production originally as an understudy before becoming the alternate for the role, performing Saturday matinée performances beginning July 8, 2018. She later shifted to Tuesday night performances in October 2018 and continued in the role until the production closed in July 2019. Her Broadway activity, as documented in verified records, spans 2015 to 2018 and includes both The Sound of Music and My Fair Lady.

Following her Broadway run, Anderson returned to the role of Maria Von Trapp for Northern Stage in Vermont from November 2019 to January 2020. In February and March 2020, she played Lucy Lemay in the musical Unknown Soldier, composed by Michael Friedman, at Playwrights Horizons in New York, a role she reprised at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., from March to May 2024. She appears on the cast recording of Unknown Soldier, which received notice in Musical Theatre Review. In November 2021, she played Sister James in Doubt: A Parable at Westport Country Playhouse in Connecticut. The following spring, she originated the role of Simone in the musical Afterwords, with music and lyrics by Zoe Sarnak and book by Emily Kaczmarek, at 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle in April and May 2022. In early 2024, she played Diana Dahl Bennett in Cult of Love at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California, running from January through March. That June, she portrayed Anne Egerman in a concert production of A Little Night Music at Lincoln Center's David Geffen Hall.

In March 2025, Anderson played Jenna in Waitress at 5th Avenue Theatre and at Theatre Under the Stars in Houston, Texas. Natalie de la Garza of the Houston Press described her performance as "the most grounded and the most affecting" in the production and wrote that the show reached another level when Anderson sang. Gemma Wilson of The Seattle Times called her singing "sensational" and cited her performance as a reminder of what makes musical theatre distinctive. Anderson is also scheduled to play Natalie Haller in All Shook Up at Goodspeed Musicals in Connecticut from June to August 2025.