Happy Birthday to Tony-winning performer Priscilla Lopez, born Feb. 26, 1948, in the Bronx. She began studying dance while in grammar school and, by age 13, landed a spot in the 1961 film West Side Story. She graduated from Manhattan’s High School of Performing Arts and, by age 18, booked her first Broadway job. Unfortunately, that was Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1966), which closed before opening night. Her next two jobs also ended quickly: Henry, Sweet Henry (1967) after 80 shows and Her First Roman (1968) after 17.
Then she was cast as the understudy for Kathy in Company (1970), taking over the role within the year. During that show, she met trombonist Vincent Fanuele, whom she married. In 1974, she replaced Leland Palmer as Fastrada in Pippin, as she participated in taped talk sessions with fellow dancers for Michael Bennett. Sixteen months after those all-night talks, A Chorus Line opened Off-Broadway, transferring to Broadway two months later. For her role as Diana, she received an Obie Award, Theatre World Award, and Tony nomination. Below is Lopez singing “What I Did for Love” at the 1981 Tonys.
Lopez starred in the short-lived Norman Lear TV series In the Beginning (1978), before returning to Broadway in A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine (1980), for which she won a Tony Award. The show’s choreographer, Tommy Tune, asked her to assist him on his next show, Nine (1982). Six months later, she replaced the departing Liliane Montevecchi as Liliane La Fleur. Below is the Hollywood/Ukraine cast in “Doin’ the Production Code” at the 1980 Tonys.
Over the next decade, Lopez worked often Off-Broadway — in the plays Key Exchange (1981), Extremities (1982), and Other People’s Money (1989) and the musicals Non Pasquale (1983) and Times & Appetites of Toulouse Lautrec (1985), which she choreographed. She also appeared in the TV movies Herself the Elf (1983) and Love Cycle: A Soap Operetta (1984) as well as the short-lived series Kay O’Brien (1986). Below is Lopez and Patti LuPone performing “Things Change” in Love Cycle.
In the 1990s, Lopez focused on her family, but toward the end of the decade, she appeared in the play The Passion of Frida Kahlo (1999), as well as in the concerts Babes in Arms (1999) and My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies. Below is Lopez recreating the Chorus Line song “Nothing,” based on her own experiences at the High School of Performing Arts, for My Favorite Broadway.
Lopez kept busy in the 2000s with roles in the Pulitzer-winning Anna in the Tropics (2003) and Class Mothers ’68 (2003), for which she won a Drama Desk Award, as well as the new musicals Newyorkers (2001), The Odd Potato (2005), and Pulitzer nominee In the Heights (2007), for which she received another Drama Desk Award. Her recent musical work includes Berthe in the 2013 revival of Pippin and a cameo in Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical (2021). Below is Lopez singing “Enough” from In the Heights.