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Five on Focus

Kerry Butler

Five Tony Nominees

Best Performance for a Leading Actress in a Musical

Kerry Butler has been Broadway bound her whole life. Having worked on a number of shows, including Beauty and the Beast, Les Miserables, and Blood Brothers, she came to prominence in Hairspray playing Penny Pingleton, a part for which she received the Clarence Derwent Award. In addition, Butler has shown up on such television shows as, One Life to Live, Sesame Street, Another World, and most recently the NBC drama Lipstick Jungle. But this year Butler took audiences breath away in the double role of Clio/Kira in the roller-skating extravaganza Xanadu. The New York Times's Charles Isherwood proclaimed that "Butler, as the Greek demi-goddess Clio, who also roams Venice Beach as the Australian mortal Kira, is simply heaven on eight little polyurethane wheels."

So as she preps for the Tony, we asked Kerry to unroll her five favorite film musicals.

    West Side Story
  • The Little Mermaid

    One of my all time favorites!!! I love everything about it.

  • The Sound of Music

    It's a classic!

  • Singin' in the Rain

    Another favorite. It has Gene Kelly — need I say more?

  • West Side Story

    This is a groundbreaking movie musical. The music moves from the plot seamlessly.

  • Annie

    Just for nostalgia. That was the first Broadway show I ever auditioned for, I even auditioned for this movie! They didn't give me the part, but they did give me a lovely Annie necklace…that I still have.