Christina Leidel
Actress/Musician
Atlanta, GA
Theatre reviews
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"The excellent Christina Leidel runs a veritable gamut in the exceedingly difficult role of Becky. At first, she generates a genuine sympathy as an “upstart nobody” in society, and then a certain admiration with her determined aptitude for taking matters into her own hands and charting her own course in life. Later, her increasingly selfish conniving is deviously compelling to watch, until she gets exactly what she deserves and her fortunes change again, before finally redeeming herself and reclaiming a hard-earned respect."
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- Atlanta Journal Constitution (Vanity Fair)
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"Leidel plays Bridget as a conniving character who pushes tensions in the Borden house for her own agenda. Since the character is of a lower class, her anger is often directed at the Borden daughters, as well as their parents. The actress takes on an Irish accent, and her music has a traditional Celtic flavor, even when she is performing rock. Her voice has a richness that blends well when all the characters harmonize."
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- ArtsATL (Lizzie)
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"Christina Leidel, plays Bridget, the family housekeeper; she often has a wicked twinkle in her eye; one gets the feeling she knows pretty much everything that is going on. Ms. Leidel sparkles. All these women are fine singers."
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- Atlanta INtown Paper (Lizzie)
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"The four members of the acting ensemble, qualified stage performers all...strut and posture as tangible rock 'n' roll stars as much as they portray genuine characters...The most intriguing and fascinating portrait on view is Leidel's subtly layered and relatively nuanced turn as the vaguely insinuating, slightly menacing young housekeeper. On the one hand that's not overly surprising, given some of her previous work...But in "Lizzie" on the other hand, she follows [director] Acker's lead in the sense of branching out in a bold and unpredictable direction. Whoever thought she might have a headbanging heavy metal diva in her bag of tricks?"
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- Atlanta Journal Constitution (Lizzie)
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"Ms. Leidel’s work was a revelation to me; I wasn’t that familiar with her work before, but I am now. With great poise and acuity she reveals the hidden aspects of her character’s cleverness and sensuousness. She’s someone whose career bears watching."
-Atlanta INtown Paper (Night Must Fall)
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"Christina Leidel as Halina steps in and out of so many characters, I completely lost track of how many different hats [she] wore. Yet [she] wore them all without breaking a sweat. Leidel's careful cultivation of distinctly different characters was perfectly tailored every time [she] swapped one hat for another even if [she] only had a few seconds to do it....Not an ounce of [nervousness] was in the bodies of any actor on stage as they switched from German, Yiddish, French, Spanish, and English. That dedication to pronunciation and accuracy sharpened the efficacy of their message and wove their spell over the audience even more tightly."
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-Broadway World (Indecent)
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"The delicate ambience achieved in this play is unlike any I've ever seen....[Here, the actors] are at the pinnacle of excellence."
-Atlanta INtown Paper (Indecent)
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"This multi-talented ensemble breathes life into dozens of diverse characters who dance, sing, and occassionally play instruments...the transitions and leaps in time are never lost, nor are the rapid switches between characters...smaller characters who flicker only briefly on stage are imbued with depth and originality...The entire cast is glorious, but several performances stand out...the chemistry between Stephanie Friedman and Christina Leidel is electrifying."
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-ArtsATL (Indecent)
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“A tender, affecting story….Mr. Lang and Ms. Leidel are transcendent in their roles, making us truly care about them both….Mr. Periasamy and Ms. Leidel in particular give standout performances that should be seen and savored.”
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-TheaterReview.com (The Yalta Game)
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“McDonough’s staging of the introspective and eloquently written Yalta Game is more satisfying on the whole, thanks in large part to the graceful performance of Christina Leidel...”
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-Atlanta Journal Constitution (The Yalta Game)
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“Christina Leidel is precisely the sort of commanding figure you want in a busy Lady trying to run a household with all these resident geeks.”
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-Charleston City Paper (Arcadia)
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“Leidel carries equal amounts of innocence and optimism in the role. A sweet portrayal….in the nightmarish bedroom scene [Fruma Sarah] is intriguing and hilarious.”
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- Lowcountry Today (Fiddler on the Roof)
“The ever-resourceful Christina Leidel, whose acting résumé includes the full gamut of characters, is an absolute hoot as Grandma, whose dementia on the rise and bedroom antics add an extra comedic punch to the play. If you don’t know it, Christina is an avid actor by night who teaches college physics by day, and who is among the most talented stage presences in town. She has full physical and vocal command, and a rare ability to completely inhabit her characters. What a joy it is to see her commitment to this in a children’s play.”
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-Charleston Today (Little Red Riding Hood)
“The evening belongs to Christina Leidel as Guinevere. Leidel has been one of Charleston’s best kept secrets for too long… and she finally gets an opportunity to show local theatre-goers what she can do—and what that is, is considerable! She is not only beautiful and graceful in this role—two attributes that she hasn’t often had a chance to strut in her two years here—but her voice is glorious. She is funny, lyrical, full of heart and heart-break with the vocal control of a professional. She does more in a few words than most performers do in paragraphs. There is so much skill there and so much going on with her, that her performance elevates the entire production.”
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- Charleston Today (Camelot)
“Christina Leidel as Guenevere was beautiful and commanding, her singing sweet and strong.”
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- Charleston City Paper (Camelot)
“Following up her exceptional dual portrayal as twin sisters in ‘The Exact Center of the Universe’ Christina Leidel plays Agnes, providing a believable counterpoint to Peter. Leidel cultivates the role with each and every scene providing equal parts vulnerability, apprehension, and transparency as Agnes reluctantly becomes seduced by Peter’s hallucinations.”
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- Lowcountry Today (BUG)
“Christina Leidel does a nice job of teasing out the nuances of the two very different twin characters, Mary Lou and Mary Ann Mele. Mary Lou is a spunky, outspoken anthropologist; Mary Ann a timid, practical wife and mother.”
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- Charleston City Paper (The Exact Center of the Universe)
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The sketches’ common thread is the versatility of the four actors… All these transitions and versatile shifts in acting are breathtaking. This splendid cast would be well worth seeing again on stage.”
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- Charleston Today (The Satire Diaries)
“The performances in this production were strikingly good…Christina is not what she appears from start to finish, and Leidel’s performance is layer upon layer of veils, some placed intentionally, and some so deep that forty years of therapy wouldn’t scratch the surface. There is a moment in the play—one of the highlights—where Christina sings a haunting, soulful song about reaching for hopeless love. Leidel’s command of the stage and of her vocal instrument are impressive—made more so by the fact that the actress came up with the melody on her own. By the end of the play, the audience, which was uncharacteristically silent and rapt throughout, collectively wished they could put their arms around this broken girl.”
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- Charleston Today (Red Light Winter)
“Leidel has a convincing French accent. She also has a lovely singing voice….the strongest chemistry is between Stoner and Leidel.”
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- Charleston City Paper (Red Light Winter)
“Christina Leidel’s frank and adoring Desdemona is immensely attractive and cleanly transparent…The scene in which she confides her chagrin to Emelia is deeply touching. The [final] scene plays out with a breathtaking intimacy of emotion….These four have a beautiful mastery of the language and verse.”
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- Austin Live Theater (Othello)
“Even more of a surprise was Christina Leidel as the Green Monkey, who spends perhaps only ten minutes on stage, but in that time becomes one of the memorable performers in the piece. She tackles the ridiculous character with such energy and earnestness that we can't help but sit awe-struck as she channels her monkey, while never overtly miming it in a cliché manner. She gets not just to the heart of the character, but to its bone and marrow, taking it to unexpected places while still maintaining her character. She also brings some well-needed levity to the piece, throwing in some comedy in the midst of the gloom that permeates the production.”
- Austin Theater Examiner (Sarah Silver Hands)
“The well chosen Paradox Players cast is one of warmth, humor and jousting for personal space…Christina Leidel as Jo is in the center of the birth order and at the crux of the plot. Leidel creates a character who’s vulnerable and full of longing, and the movement of the piece is her process of sorting out her own emotions, ambitions, and life decisions. Leidel is attractive and visibly tentative as she explores those choices. She has us rooting for Jo through a series of disappointments and challenges.”
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- Austin Live Theater (Independence)
“The two ships’ captains…make a great romantic duo, and their voices are terrific together.”
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- The Bastrop Advertiser (The Lady Pirates of Captain Bree)