Meredith Braun
Meredith Braun is a notable New Zealand-born actor and singer-songwriter, acclaimed for her contributions to stage and film, particularly in London's West End. Born around 1973 in Auckland, she began her performing career at a young age, gaining early recognition in productions and television, including a role in the 1986 film *The Haunting of Barney Palmer*. Braun gained international fame for her portrayal of Belle in the 1992 film *The Muppet Christmas Carol* and for her performance as Éponine in the West End production of *Les Misérables* during the early 1990s.
Her extensive stage career includes significant roles in musicals such as *Sunset Boulevard* and *The Phantom of the Opera*, showcasing her vocal talents and dramatic prowess. In 2012, she transitioned into music, releasing her debut album, *Someone Else's Story*, featuring well-known showtunes, which received critical acclaim. Braun continued to develop her musical career, releasing a second album in 2017, and has also contributed to the educational field as a principal of musical theatre at the University of Chichester in England. Throughout her career, Braun has balanced her artistic pursuits with family life, raising three children with her husband, who served as her musical director.
Meredith Braun
Actor and singer-songwriter
- Born: ca. 1973
- Place of Birth: Auckland, New Zealand
Significance: Meredith Braun is an internationally acclaimed stage and film actor and a singer-songwriter. A New Zealander, she has established herself as a star in London's West End. Braun is best known for her role as Belle in the 1992 film The Muppet Christmas Carol and her stage turn as Éponine in the 1991–92 West End production of Les Misérables. In 2012 she launched a career in music, releasing her debut album, Someone Else's Story.
Background
Meredith Braun was born around 1973 and raised in Auckland, New Zealand. At the age of five, she landed her first roles on local stage productions and television advertisements. Among her biggest roles during this period was the character of Troy Palmer, whose great-uncle haunts her brother, in the 1986 television film The Haunting of Barney Palmer. Because that film was a joint international production that paired New Zealand's Gibson Group and America's Public Broadcasting Service, it attracted one-time Academy Award nominee Ned Beatty, whose presence lent additional spotlight to all the film's performers, Braun included.
In 1989, Braun played Gloria Pascoe in the family drama The Champion: Yankee Soldier, set in West Auckland during World War II. The following year, at seventeen, Braun moved to the United Kingdom and began appearing on London's West End, one of the world's premier theater districts.
Stage and Film Roles
Braun's first major role was that of Camille in Bernadette, which played at the Dominion Theatre from June to July 1990. She next utilized her talents as Éponine in the Manchester Company's 1991–92 production of Les Misérables and as Betty Schaefer in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard, which debuted in 1993. Webber, a renowned musical theater composer, cast Braun in Sunset Boulevard because he heard her singing voice and predicted that she would become a star. She later played the female lead, Christine, in his Phantom of the Opera in 2000.
Also in 1992, Braun won the role of Belle, Ebenezer Scrooge's sometime love interest, in the Walt Disney Pictures film The Muppet Christmas Carol. Playing opposite film and stage veteran Michael Caine, Braun made her vocal talents known to an even broader audience with her performance of the Paul Williams song "When Love Goes Away." That song was included on the film's recorded soundtrack.
Braun went on to headline as Hideko in the short-lived 1994 musical Out of the Blue, played Princess Irina Romanov in Killing Rasputin in 1998–9 and appeared as Lilly in the Royal Shakespeare Company's The Secret Garden in 2000–2001. The following year, Braun undertook a solo performance in David White and Stephen Clark's musical Cordelia.
Music
After her run on The Secret Garden concluded, Braun decided in 2001 to reduce her demanding schedule, which included eight shows a week. Although she still performed in concerts and made appearances on the television series Doctors, New Tricks, Holby City and Missing, she devoted more time to raising her children.
Braun's passion for music persisted, however, and after a decade-long hiatus, she returned to the spotlight. In 2012, she released her first solo album, Someone Else's Story, for which she performed over a dozen hand-picked showtunes written by Webber, Williams, and Stephen Sondheim, among others. That album received strong reviews from critics and fans alike.
In November 2017, Braun released a second album with Stage Door Records, this one featuring songs by such prominent songwriters as Barry Manilow, Randy Newman, and Carly Simon, as well as two original songs of her own. Braun used as the album's title the song that gave her international prominence: When Love Is Gone. A new arrangement of that song served as the title track for the album, which was also released a quarter-century after The Muppet Christmas Carol.
In the 2020s, Braun served as a principal of musical theatre at the University of Chichester in England.
Impact
Braun began her career on television and on stage in New Zealand, acting at a young age alongside an acclaimed acting veteran. Her own acting and musical talents have led her to a successful international career on stage, on screen, and in the recording studio. Braun inaugurated the part of Betty Schaefer in the musical Sunset Boulevard, and The Muppet Christmas Carol, one of the defining productions of her career, continues to enjoy a wide audience in several countries.
Personal Life
Braun lived in England with her husband, David White, who was the musical director for her productions of Sunset Boulevard, Les Misérables and Killing Rasputin. The couple had three children. Their youngest, Tiger Braun-White, studied the cello at the Royal Academy of Music and performed for When Love Is Gone.
Bibliography
Braun, Meredith. "BWW Interviews: Meredith Braun about Her New Album Someone Else's Story." Interview by Carrie Dunn. Broadway World UK, 14 Mar. 2012, www.broadwayworld.com/westend/article/BWW-Interviews-Meredith-Braun-About-Her-New-Album-SOMEONE-ELSES-STORY-20120314. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.
"Meredith Braun." NZ On Screen, www.nzonscreen.com/person/meredith-braun. Accessed 9 Nov. 2017.
"Meredith Braun." University of Chichester, 2024, www.chi.ac.uk/people/meredith-braun/. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.
Meredith Braun: The Official Website. Meredith Braun, 2017, www.meredithbraun.co.uk. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.
"Meredith Braun Releases New Album—'When Love Is Gone.'" Scoop, 3 Oct. 2017, www.scoop.co.nz/stories/CU1710/S00042/meredith-braun-releases-new-album-when-love-is-gone.htm. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.
"Meredith Braun: Someone Else's Story." Stage Door Records, 2015, www.stagedoorrecords.com/stage9029.html. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.
Murray, Annie. "The Haunting of Barney Palmer: A Perspective." Review of The Haunting of Barney Palmer, directed by Yvonne Mackay. NZ On Screen, 12 Oct. 2008, www.nzonscreen.com/title/the-haunting-of-barney-palmer-1986/background. Accessed 3 Oct. 2024.