Following the Mystery

Maggie Anderson of New Hope, Pa., makes her Philadelphia debut in the new musical ‘Windy City’ at Walnut Street Theatre.

By: Sally Friedman
   She was the kind of kid who seemed to be born singing and dancing. Growing up in the Winston-Salem area of North Carolina, Maggie Anderson was singing and dancing and, yes, playing one of the orphans in Annie at a regional theater at an age when most kids are just playing hopscotch.
   "I loved performing the minute I discovered it," says the New Hope, Pa., resident, who fortunately was born to parents who encouraged their daughter to follow her passion. "I was lucky — nobody lectured me about job security!"
   At a performing arts high school, and then at Elon College in North Carolina and Cincinnati Conservatory, where she earned a master of fine arts degree in musical theater, Ms. Anderson was, she felt, exactly where she belonged.
   "My brothers are scientists, my parents are teachers and social activists, and it was fine for me to say ‘I’m a performer,’" she says.
   But not always easy.
   When Ms. Anderson moved to New York in 1998, she figured she’d be on Broadway in no time. "It’s the dream of most of us who go there," she says during a break from rehearsals at Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theatre, where Ms. Anderson is appearing in the season opener, Windy City.
   It didn’t happen quite that way. "I taught dance and acting at various studios, and slowly found my way into theater," says Ms. Anderson. "Sometimes, it meant going on the road, and sometimes, it was off-off-Broadway. But it was an amazing time in my life."
   Along the way, she discovered the world of soaps, playing a character role on As The World Turns. "There’s a bit of glamour in doing soaps, but it’s also hard and demanding work that requires that you become a quick study," Ms. Anderson says. "A lot of very good people are doing soaps. It’s not at all frivolous."
   Life began to change around the summer of 2001, when Ms. Anderson met the man who would become her husband, guitarist Gregg Cagno, at a summer playhouse where both were performing. In a "plot" straight out of the most romantic movie, the two fell in love quickly, complete with the "bells are ringing"— or more aptly, "guitar strings are playing" — feeling.
   Then came 9/11, and Ms. Anderson’s sense that she was in the eye of the hurricane in New York City. "I guess it was just time to move on, and Gregg and I decided that New Hope would be an ideal place for us," she says. "We could easily commute to both New York and Philadelphia, and there was just so much happening right in the region."
   An ongoing project has been teaching and choreographing dance at the Dance Arts Collaborative in Plumsteadville, Pa. "I love teaching," she says, "although I admit that teaching youngsters at the middle school stage can be challenging."
   For the past four years, Ms. Anderson, who earned her equity status, also has been performing regionally, including work at Bucks County Playhouse. She starred there in Smokey Joe’s Café, Victor Victoria and as Cassie in A Chorus Line.
   The busy actress also has done lavish musicals in Atlantic City, including Anything Goes at the Trump Plaza. But until now, work in Philadelphia, while on her radar screen, had not materialized.
   That changed when Ms. Anderson landed a role as part of the Gruberette Ensemble in Windy City at the Walnut. This production, based on Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur’s famous play The Front Page, focuses on a seasoned Chicago reporter with just one more story to write before he quits to marry the daughter of a movie mogul and "go Hollywood." The madcap play includes an escape, a shooting and a scoop.
   Ms. Anderson and her two compatriots in the show play a musical group that promotes the mayor. They all cover multiple roles, and Ms. Anderson also understudies the lead. "I may never go on," she says, "but then again, you never know…"
   In some ways, that sentiment — "you never know" — can be a metaphor for show business itself. It’s hardly a nine-to-fiver with any predictability.
   Meanwhile, Ms. Anderson and her husband are performing together on Monday nights at Esca in New Hope, the restaurant where they had their first date, and where Gregg proposed to Maggie. They also perform at other local clubs, and are booking holiday parties and private events as a duo.
   "Unlike most people who have ‘normal’ jobs, actors don’t always know what’s next," says Ms. Anderson. "But that’s part of the fun. Sometimes, the mystery makes life much more interesting."
Windy City continues at Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut St., Phila., through Oct. 22. Tickets cost $10-$67.50. For information, call (215) 574-3550. On the Web: www.wstonline.org