2003-08-17
The St. Petersburg Times
John Fleming

If there’s any justice, Lauren Kennedy will someday get the part that makes her a star. The native North Carolinian has had memorable performances in secondary roles, such as her Betty Schaefer in the tour of Sunset Boulevard, and she played Nellie Forbush in a Trevor Nunn production of South Pacific in London. She was Fantine in Les Miserables late in its long Broadway run.

Kennedy has released her first solo album, and it’s an artful selection of songs by Jason Robert Brown, who won a Tony for his first Broadway show, Parade. Especially fun is her sardonic rendition of I Can Do Better Than That from Brown’s musical that chronicles from end to beginning the breakup of a relationship, The Last Five Years. Brown joins with Kennedy on the duet I’d Give It All for You. B


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