Caissie Levy (born April 15, 1981) is a Canadian actress and singer known for her performances in musical theatre on Broadway and in the West End. Her early credits included Penny Pingleton in Hairspray, Elphaba in Wicked and Sheila in Hair. She originated the role of Molly Jensen in Ghost the Musical and played Fantine in the 2014 Broadway revival of Les Miserables. Levy originated, and is currently Elsa in Frozen on Broadway.
Early life[]
Levy was born to Jewish parents Mark, a general practitioner, and Lisa Levy, an administrator at her husband's practice. She has two elder brothers, Robi and Josh, who are film directors/writers/producers known as The Levy Brothers. Levy graduated from Westdale Secondary School in 1999. Set to study Shakespeare in Canada, Levy was given the suggestion to audition for New York's American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA); on a whim she did and was accepted. She has also taught several audition workshops for students in the NYC area. She attended Camp Ramah in Canada.
Career[]
A week after graduating from AMDA she was cast in the role of Maureen Johnson in the U.S. national tour of Rent. Levy then played the role of Penny Pingleton in both the Broadway and U.S. national tour companies of Hairspray after understudying the role in the Toronto company. During this time, she also covered the role of Amber Von Tussle. In 2008, Levy starred as Elphaba in the Los Angeles sit-down production of Wicked. She had previously understudied the role on Broadway and briefly served as standby in Los Angeles. She next starred as Sheila in the Broadway revival of Hair in 2009–2010 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. She transferred to the West End revival in 2010 at the Gielgud Theatre.
In 2011–2012, Levy originated the role of Molly Jensen in Ghost the Musical at Manchester Opera House and then in London's West End at The Piccadilly Theatre. She transferred to the Broadway production in 2012 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. She can be heard on the cast recording for Hair and Ghost the Musical as well as singing, "Please Don't Let Me Go" on the re-release of composer Scott Alan's album Keys. Levy can also be heard singing "Dear Daddy" on composer Bobby Cronin's album and "I Am Yours" on composer Jonathan Reid Gealt's album Thirteen Stories Down.
Levy released an EP in 2013 and planned two concerts at the London Hippodrome Casino the same year. Also in 2013, Levy starred as Sara in the Manhattan Theatre production of Murder Ballad, a musical by Trip Cullman at the off-Broadway Union Square Theatre. She played Fantine in the Broadway revival of Les Miserables at the Imperial Theatre in 2014–2015.
Levy originated the role of Elsa in the stage adaptation of Frozen, which opened in Denver in 2017 and moved to Broadway in February 2018.
Personal life[]
On October 30, 2011, Levy married actor David Reiser in an evening ceremony at the Soho Beach House in Miami, after five years of dating. In March 2016, Levy gave birth to the couple's first child, a son named Izaiah.