Joan Hess
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Joan Hess most recently completed her fifth Broadway show as the wealthy and hilarious Tanya in Broadway’s Mamma Mia, and was seen as Jessica (the “Leggy Blonde”) in HBO’s new Grammy-award–winning comedy series, Flight of the Conchords. Prior to that, she had the great fortune to play the plum role of Billie Dawn in Garson Kanin's classic play Born Yesterday. Ms. Hess has been featured on Broadway as Sophia in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (in which she also understudied the lead roles of Christine and Muriel) and as Bridgette in Bells are Ringing (in which she understudied Faith Prince in the lead role.) She has been seen on Broadway as Edie and Hattie in Kiss Me Kate, and as Patsy in Crazy for You. She appeared at Lincoln Center in the leading role in Dessa Rose, the powerful new Lynn Ahrens/Stephen Flaherty piece, directed by 10-time Tony Award nominee, Graciela Daniele.
She has played Betty in the First National Tour of Sunset Boulevard, Polly in the First National Tour of Crazy for You, and toured with 42nd Street and Beehive.
Regional theater audiences have enjoyed her in the title role in Gypsy at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, and at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park as Picasso’s first love, Fernande Olivier, in the World Premier of La Vie en Bleu. She received a Best Actress Nomination for her work as Ann in The 1940's Radio Hour at Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theater. She has also been seen in the lead role of Maddy in the Australian import Hot Shoe Shuffle, Lilly McBain in Swingtime Canteen, Irene Molloy in Hello Dolly with Avery Schreiber, Peggy in The Taffetas, Irene in Crazy for You, Grand Hotel, Closer than Ever, Sweet Charity, and the lead role in the World Premiere of Noel Coward and Jeffry Hatcher's Bon Voyage at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, among others.
Her Non-Musical Regional credits include Steel Magnolias (Shelby), Six Characters in Search of an Author (the Actress), The Dining Room (Second Actress), and Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale as Queen Hermione.
Ms. Hess was featured in the PBS Great Performances series My Favorite Broadway: The Love Songs, hosted by Julie Andrews. She has performed with many symphonies across the country from the Atlanta Symphony, North Carolina Symphony and the Detroit Symphony to the Winnipeg Symphony and the Florida Sunshine Pops in Boca Raton. In 2002, she had the privilege of singing for the World Economic Forum following Mayor Bloomberg's address.
Joan served as script supervisor on the independent short film entitled Down in the Mouth. She also hosted and produced live television for three seasons, acted in over thirty commercials, and modeled for years. Joan, a Colorado native, is blissfully married to actor and powerhouse tenor, David Hess, with whom she recently toured South Africa, England and Italy for the Travel Channel’s Fantasy Rails for Millionaires.