Maureen Brennan made a dazzling entrance onto the professional stage, earning both a Tony Award nomination and a Theatre World Award for her Broadway debut—an extraordinary feat accomplished while she was still a student at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Personally selected by the legendary Harold Prince, she starred as Cunegonde in the acclaimed revival of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide.
Her Broadway credits include Going Up, Knickerbocker Holiday, Little Johnny Jones, and Stardust. She toured nationally as Mabel in the New York Shakespeare Festival’s production of The Pirates of Penzance and appeared Off-Broadway in Shakespeare’s Cabaret.
A sought-after concert soloist, Ms. Brennan has performed with major orchestras across the country, including the Minnesota Orchestra—where she also starred in Anything Goes at the Guthrie Theater—as well as with the symphonies of Florida, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Baltimore, Detroit, Houston, Omaha, Erie, Boston, Grand Rapids, Knoxville, Portland, Milwaukee, and Hartford. She has also graced the stage of Carnegie Recital Hall in No, No, Nanette, The Cat and the Fiddle, The Gay Divorce, and Mr. Gershwin Goes to Washington.
Her extensive regional theatre work features leading roles in such beloved classics as Calendar Girls, You Can’t Take It With You, Annie Get Your Gun, My Fair Lady, Girl Crazy, Gypsy, Oklahoma!, Show Boat, She Loves Me, Carousel, Side by Side by Sondheim, History of the American Film, The Most Happy Fella, The Desert Song, Something’s Afoot, I Do! I Do!, 42nd Street, A Christmas Carol, Sylvia, Mame, and Footloose.
Ms. Brennan’s voice can also be heard on the soundtracks of Disney’s animated classics Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and she made an on-screen appearance in the film version of The Producers. She was part of the 2002 Sundance Theatre Institute, where she helped develop The Light in the Piazza and Bel Canto, later reprising her role in the Boston premiere of Bel Canto.
Her portrayal of Agnes Gooch in Mame with the Reagle Players earned her a Best Supporting Actress nomination from the Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE). Ms. Brennan also appears on the Rodgers and Hammerstein Foundation’s studio cast recording of Allegro and co-created and performed Sunrise, Sunset: The Songs of Sheldon Harnick with Michael Allosso.
For eighteen years, Ms. Brennan served as a beloved faculty member at The Boston Conservatory, where she shared her deep knowledge of performance, interpretation, and stagecraft with a new generation of musical theatre artists. Her passion for nurturing young talent, combined with her breadth of professional experience, made her a cherished mentor whose influence continues to resonate in the careers of her many students working on stages across the country.