Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer

Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer is an American musical theatre actress and singer born on May 24, 1977, in Manhattan and raised in Livingston, New Jersey. Her father is Jewish and her mother is of Puerto Rican ancestry; Kritzer was raised Catholic. She graduated from Livingston High School in 1995 and earned a degree from the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music in 1999.

Kritzer's Broadway career spans from 2002 to 2023 and includes a range of featured and starring roles. Early Broadway credits include Hairspray, in which she played Shelly, and Legally Blonde, where she portrayed Serena — a performance that earned her the 2007 Clarence Derwent Award. In March 2008, she starred in A Catered Affair as Janey Hurley, the character originated by Debbie Reynolds in the 1956 film; the production ran through July 27, 2008. In March 2010, she joined Tom Wopat, Vanessa L. Williams, and Barbara Cook in Sondheim on Sondheim, a Roundabout Theatre Company revue conceived and directed by James Lapine that ran at Studio 54 from March 19 through June 13, 2010. She later joined the principal cast of Something Rotten! on July 18, 2016, replacing Heidi Blickenstaff in the role of Bea.

Kritzer originated the dual roles of Delia Schlimmer and Miss Argentina in the musical Beetlejuice, which premiered at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C., in October 2018 before opening at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway in April 2019. The production closed on March 10, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When Beetlejuice was announced to reopen in September 2021 — this time at the Marquis Theatre — Kritzer returned to both roles, with the revival opening in April 2022. In 2023, she played the Lady of the Lake in a production of Spamalot that began at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., before transferring to Broadway. That performance earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical (2024) as well as a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical (2024).

Her Off-Broadway work includes The Great American Trailer Park Musical, for which she received a 2006 Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical, as well as Bat Boy, Godspell, and Rooms: A Rock Romance, in which she played Monica in March 2009. In the 2015–16 season, Kritzer starred in the Vineyard Theatre's production of Gigantic, which opened December 3, 2015, and then portrayed Salome in the Roundabout Theatre Company's production of The Robber Bridegroom, which opened March 13, 2016. She received two 2016 Lortel Award nominations for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical that season and won the award for her work in The Robber Bridegroom.

Regional credits include Grease, in which she played Rizzo, and Funny Girl, in which she played Fanny, both at Paper Mill Playhouse, as well as Vanities (Kathy) and Babes in Arms (Baby Rose). She appeared in The Honeymooners as Alice Kramden at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey, beginning September 28, 2017; she had previously participated in a workshop of the musical in 2014. The production starred Michael McGrath as Ralph Kramden, Michael Mastro as Ed Norton, and Laura Bell Bundy as Trixie Norton, and was directed by John Rando. Additional regional work includes the role of Valerie — a character based on Valerie Solanas — in Pop! at the Yale Repertory Theatre in December 2009, a musical based on the life of Andy Warhol.

Among her notable concert and cabaret work, Kritzer starred in Leslie Kritzer is Patti LuPone at Les Mouches, a recreation of Patti LuPone's nightclub act conceived and directed by Ben Rimalower, which premiered at Joe's Pub. The show earned her a 2007 Special Achievement MAC Award. She also starred as Hildy in the Encores! staged concert presentation of On the Town in November 2008. It was during the closing performance of that production that she and musical director Vadim Feichtner, whom she had met at NYU, began their relationship. The two married at New York City Center on February 22, 2013, and have collaborated on multiple productions. In the 2009 New York Musical Theatre Festival, Kritzer performed the role of the angel Gabriel in Judas and Me.

Since February 2024, Kritzer has voiced the character Rosie in the adult animated musical series Hazbin Hotel. She was also cast in Millers in Marriage in 2024.