A native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Susan Watson made her musical debut in the original West End production of West Side Story, before she returned to New York to create the role of Kim MacAfee in the original Broadway production of Adams and Strouse’s 1960 hit musical, Bye Bye Birdie.
A sister-in-law of composer and lyricist Tom Jones, Watson appeared briefly off-Broadway in The Fantasticks and returned to the show in time for its national television broadcast in 1964. After touring with the national company in the 1961 musical Carnival!, Watson returned to Broadway in 1964 in the role of Janine Nicolet in the Sandrich and Michaels’ musical Ben Franklin in Paris.
After earning a Tony® nomination for her role as Jenny Lee in Oscar Brand’s short-lived 1966 musical, A Joyful Noise, Watson portrayed Angel in Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt’s 1969 musical, Celebration.
Before settling in southern California, Susan Watson enjoyed her greatest success on Broadway in the title role of the hit 1971 musical revival of Vincent Youmans’ classic comedy, No, No, Nanette.
