AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Carmen Cusack

Artist:Carmen Cusack

Song:Sun Is Gonna Shine

Album:Bright Star: Original Broadway Cast Recording

Carmen Cusack is a Broadway performer who was nominated for a Tony for the 2016 musical Bright Star. She was also nominated for the 2022 musical Flying Over Sunset. She got good reviews but neither show was a hit. I guess Broadway has never fully recovered from COVID which is why we are seeing so many Jukebox Musicals playing there. She was born Apr. 25, 1971 in Denver but she grew up with her grandparents in Fountain, TX. She grew up singing in church. Carmen graduated from University of North Texas with a performing arts degree. Carmen took a job performing on the MS Queen Elizabeth 2. That's when she met her husband and moved to England. After appearing in some British musical productions like Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables, Carmen returned to the US in 2006 and was a standby for the Chicago production of Wicked. Then she was cast in the touring production of Wicked. Carmen got her big break when she was cast to star as Alice Murphy in the 2016 musical Bright Star. This was a new musical written by the husband wife team of Steve Martin and Edie Brickell. It's based on their 2013 album Love Has Come for You set in the Blue Ridge Mountains. So it's kind of a bluegrass musical. Carmen got positive reviews and was nominated for a Tony. But Bright Star got mixed reviews. It opened in March 2016 and closed in June. So it was not a big success. The original cast album is available as a digital download. Carmen did the national tour for Bright Star. Carmen was also Tony nominated for the 2021 musical Flying Over Sunset. But the show was adversely affected by COVID and didn't last long. Carmen hasn't done much in films or TV. She was supposed to be in the 2019 NBC series Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist but was replaced by Lauren Graham. Her only film appearance was in the 2019 Fred Rogers biopic A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. She and her husband now live in Los Angeles. She has been appearing live. But she wants to get into films and TV. Here's Carmen Cusack performing Sun Is Gonna Shine from Bright Star at From Broadway with Love: A Benefit Concert for Orlando at the Disney Theater in Orlando, FL July 25, 2016.