Meg Bussert

Meg Bussert, born October 21, 1949, in Chicago, Illinois, is an American actress, singer, and university professor whose Broadway career spanned from 1971 to 1994. She earned a BA from Purchase College and an MAT from Manhattanville College before establishing herself as a leading presence in musical theatre.

Bussert made her Broadway debut in the 1973 revival of Irene, playing the Debutante. Three years later she served as standby for the roles of Lettie and Hope Langdon in Something's Afoot. Her career advanced significantly in 1980 when she was cast in two concurrent revivals: The Music Man, opposite Dick Van Dyke, in which she played Marian Paroo, and Brigadoon, opposite Martin Vidnovic, in which she portrayed Fiona MacLaren. The Music Man closed after 21 performances, while Brigadoon earned Bussert a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. Both performances together brought her the Theatre World Award in 1981.

That same year, Bussert appeared as Guinevere in a Broadway revival of Camelot, with Richard Harris starring as King Arthur. The production was recorded for broadcast by HBO, and her work in it earned her a CableACE Award nomination. She later returned to Broadway in 2005 as the standby for the role of Florence Foster Jenkins in Souvenir.

Beyond Broadway, Bussert accumulated an extensive body of regional and touring work. She played Nellie in a 1985 US tour of South Pacific, appeared in Phantom at the Westchester Broadway Theater in 1992, and took on roles in Damn Yankees, The Most Happy Fella, and Cabaret. She performed as Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music at the Paper Mill Playhouse in 2003 and again at the Ogunquit Playhouse in 2010. Her operatic and operetta credits include concert performances of The New Moon and The Firefly at Town Hall, The Student Prince with the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, a North American tour of H.M.S. Pinafore produced by Mirvish, and the Portland Opera's production of Lucy's Lapses in 1990.

Bussert has also maintained an active concert career, performing in recitals and cabarets. In 2013 she appeared at the Laurie Beechman Theatre in New York City in a concert titled Two Legit to Quit: a Riff-Free Evening. In addition to her performing work, she holds a full-time position as associate professor of Vocal Performance at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, where she teaches Acting and Music Theatre Studies.