Susan Derry Headshot

An accomplished and versatile actor and singer noted for her “soaring soprano” and “striking theatricality” (The New York Times), Susan Derry is at home in a wide range of roles. She made her Broadway debut in the Tony-winning revival of Wonderful Town and performed the role of Christine in The Phantom of the Opera in Hamburg, Germany with the Neue Flora Theater. She garnered critical acclaim for her portrayal of Francesca Johnson in The Bridges of Madison County at Keegan Theatre in Washington DC; the Washington Post proclaimed ”the ace this staging is Susan Derry“ and Broadway World called it the role of her career. Susan sang Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady with the Utah Symphony Orchestra opposite the late Peter Scolari as Professor Henry Higgins and made her Off-Off Broadway debut in The Shrill Collective’s world premiere of Megan Bussiere’s A Period Piece as Sam; the play was a finalist for the 2019 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference Prize. Susan’s debut album, I Wish It So is available everywhere music is streamed.

Her most recent DC appearance was the exciting challenge of portraying the Witch in Stephen Sondheim’s iconic Into the Woods. Other theatrical career highlights include Marian in The Music Man; Kate/Lilli in Kiss Me Kate; Desdemona in Othello; Fiona in Brigadoon; Meg in Crimes of the Heart; Helen in Saturday Night; Agnes in I Do! I Do!; Betty Schaeffer in Sunset Boulevard; Betty in White Christmas, and Gwendolen in The Importance of Being Earnest. Susan has professional experience in opera, as well, premiering the role of Olivia in Gary Glickmans’ adaptation of Twelfth Night with American Opera Projects and singing Jessica in the American premiere of Reynaldo Hahn’s The Merchant of Venice with Portland Opera.

Susan was the centerpiece of the Bold New Works series in Virginia, an initiative to create world-premiere musicals; her performance in the first piece, a new version of The Turn of the Screw, was hailed as “brilliant.” Since then, she has earned accolades as Mary Shelley in Monsters of the Villa Diodati; as a daughter struggling with her mother’s decline from Alzheimers in Kaleidoscope and as a hard-edged single mother in Witch, based on the #MeToo movement. All four works feature Susan prominently on the cast albums.

“But nothing will touch that first moment for me - that first moment of togetherness, of live performance since the start of the pandemic. And I realize it's why I do this; it's why I can't wait to see my family at Thanksgiving and Christmas, why I FaceTime my nieces every night and am totally over the moon when I get a call from my son. It's why I laugh with my friends, why I love a glass of wine with my husband in the evening. It's why I made my album.”

Susan’s one-woman evenings, initially curated for DC audiences, have found a warm reception and a devoted following. Her commitment to vulnerable storytelling and truthful, compelling song choices resonates with audiences, and her latest, Ingenue You When, premiered live at Feinstein’s 54 Below in New York, receiving a BWW Best Debut Show nomination. Other solo creations include It’s Got To Be Love, about finding happiness among the high notes, Days and Dazed, a look at how anything can happen in the busy middle of your life, Wonderful You, an intimate exploration of her #legenDerry family and Stranger Here Myself, her paean to her Irish roots.

Susan’s holiday evening, I Wish It So, was created for online audiences during the pandemic and set a record in attendance for the host venue, with multiple return engagements in DC. It became her debut album of the same name, produced by Nevermore Records.

Ingenue You When returned to New York at Green Room 42 in April of 2023; her latest solo show Thank You For Coming debuts in May 2024.

In other concert settings, Susan headlined as a guest soloist at Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops on an evening of Frank Loesser’s music under the direction of Rob Fisher and the late, great Skitch Henderson. She also has the esteemed honor of appearing in the Encores! Series at New York City Center eleven times. Additionally, she has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall’s Community Sings series, the Lawton Symphony, the Palm Beach Orchestra, in Kennedy Center galas, Sondheim Award galas, and with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in Leonard Bernstein's Mass conducted by Marin Alsop. 

A champion of new works, Susan Derry co-founded UrbanArias, DC’s contemporary opera company, in 2009 and continues to amplify their message of excellence and accessibility in DC and beyond as Board President.

Susan earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University and a Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music. She serves as an adjunct professor of voice at American University and has a thriving private studio. She lives in the DC area with her husband.